Reality check

I have been home for awhile now. Settled back to my old habits and patterns ... taking everything for granted again .. hot running water, electricity that is not tempermental, the quietness (everyone is not honking at everyone else!) .... the streets clean ... the pollution hidden .

In Ghana hot water is rare and running water a luxury. The electricity seems to be as much off as on. The noise can be unbelievable with every car honking... every vehicle so old and complaining noisely belching deisel fumes .. And  the pollution and garbage is so in your face. Since it costs money to have your garbage taken away, it is either dumped somewhere or burnt. Everywhere you look there are black plastic bags and the small square clear water bags littering every surface. People sweep up the garbage from their personal space so the immediate area around the shops and homes are cleared. It is the public areas that take the brunt. Along the roads, the streams and rivers ... it is the rivers and streams that are full of stagnant water and waste that really caught my heart ... the open sewers bubbling and pungent..

I said despairingly to Etienne, my son the biologist ... 'Ghana is just so pollluted!' His answer was swift and brutal: 'It is just as polluted here. We are just more successful at hiding it!'  This brought me up short and made me think..

It is this that lingers ...the idea that  if Ghana, who cannot hide her garbage, has this pollution that in some places looks like a disaster hatching what kind of damage are we as an affluent society with all of our excesses  doing to the world?

In Ghana you go to the market and buy plantains, carrots and mangos that were grown in the next village. You put this in a plastic bag and walk home and prepare the food and eat it. The plastic bag is thrown out! I drive in my large car to a huge supermarket where i buy produce that has been flown in from Australia and China, prepared with preservatives, packaged in plastic and then placed in a cardboard box  ... but hey!  i have my own re-usable shopping bags!!

Seeing the garbage and pollution in Ghana was a reality check. Somehow, somewhere my garbage which is 100x more than the average Ghanian is going somewhere damaging our world....

The water was a dark murky grey and the whole area smelt pungent. Kids were running barefoot along the banks darting in and out... people live and work here ... It was like looking at Hell ... is this where we are heading?  

Jet lag

Well, i have finally really landed! This return home was the worst jet lag i have ever experienced. Clara, my daughter, has been living and working in Burkino Faso as a young doctor. She wrote me an email saying she is now traveling again and how strange it felt ... as she had felt so part of the community in which she had been living not a visitor at all. This really struck a chord with me. Perhaps the reason why the jet lag was so difficult was because i, too, had felt part of the community there. I, too, had started to feel part of the world there. Both volunteering with Lady Volta and the bead Hunt had really given me a focus ... and had given me a way into a community in a real way.

Over the last few days i have been updating the funkyFrog.ca website. This has been a really good bridge to bring me all the way back home. I have been thinking about my trip from the perspective of being at home and telling people about it. This has really helped ground me.

I made a page each  for the two necklaces i made while sitting with Yaya and Rita beading.. I decided to call the necklaces by the name of the young ladies who modeled them for me.

Bernice's necklace  was the first one i made. I had already chosen the beads back in Montreal. It was a good ice breaker as i had something to do during that first stage when i am very shy !! Everyone was so welcoming that it didn't take me long to feel comfortable. Bernice was the one who showed Kathy and I around ... so i got to know her quite quickly.  http://www.funkyfrog.ca/html/bernice.html

Rita's necklace is made of the first beads i found on the beadHunt so it is very special to me.  Rita is also very special to me! She is so vital and full of life ... in the last week i was there she had done her hair 'au natural' ... a beautiful curly mass and she was wearing batik dresses ... she looked like the next Miss Africa!! truly a beautiful young lady!!


http://www.funkyfrog.ca/html/rita.html

I also did a small photo Essay of Lady Volta ... which i hope to add to as i go along.


http://www.funkyfrog.ca/html/ghanaBlurb.html


I have  started cataloguing the beads ... hopefully i will be able to start adding the beads to the site in the next while...

Also i had amazing news ... Pure Art which is a very cool organization  ...  a fair trade store and foundation doing wonderful work... has committed to being the distributor for Lady Volta's products here in Montreal and Hudson.. The products will go into the stores in early spring. Brigitte has asked me to do a talk as well on my experience with Lady Volta. I am really looking forward to doing this and helping to promote Lady Volta.  [http://pureart.ca/index.asp ]

Returning home

My return home was in stages. First i left my hideaway by the sea... that last morning the sea was quite wild. Wind whipped the shore and rain came into my window...

I had managed to get a breakfast just before the storm broke so i sat it out sipping my coffee and eating my delicious granola and fruit ... enjoying the fury of the storm in the small cell that was now my cozy room.

I set off when the rain stopped .... walking .. i wanted to say my goodbyes...

Finally after a good walk around i called a taxi ... after the usual dickering we settled on a price and off i went ..

... my first step back into another world. The hotel i had chosen was right next to the airport so the next day i would not have to battle traffic ...

After the chaos and heat, it was like stepping into a museum or church... everything was quiet, hushed and the air was deliciously cool..

my room was gigantic and there was a bath with hot water!!!

i immediately put on my bathing suit and went for a swim in the beautiful empty pool... for the first time in over a month my body was losing that feeling of being over heated... i could feel it coming down to a normal temperature..

... and i started missing the heat and chaos! i couldn't believe it!

.. so i decided on a crazy whim to go into town to eat for the last time at the restaurant Baku which has the most amazing Ghanaian food ....(and the restaurant was always full of ...Ghanaians.. so i felt that was the final stamp of approval!)

...of course leaving the hotel, the taxis tried to completely rip me off but i knew what was fair ... one taxi turned me down but another man was delighted to take me..

..once in the taxi i saw why ... the traffic was completely at a standstill so when the man said he would wait for me i said, 'Sure, of course' !!

i had a delicious lunch and another walk around before heading back... i arrived back at my oasis steaming hot and happy.

I was glad i had decided to give myself one night in a fancy hotel (at home i would have found it quite standard but after my 'cell' it was the very height of luxury!!) ... i got a chance to decompress and adjust back to the completely different world i live in in Canada...

i had time to really think about what i had seen and done before leaving. Time to give thanks.

The trip home was an adventure but it went like clockwork... everything worked out perfectly all the way home...

i actually arrived in Montreal about two hours before a major snowstorm! how amazing is that?

My son, Etienne was there to greet me and in his arms for a delicious hug ... i was home.

Tuesday

As the morning dawned the wind picked up ... storm clouds swirled in... driving rain lashed the shoreline.

I was cosily protected in my little room... and decided to wait out the storm!!

Finally it tapered off just in time for Dela's arrival at 10 am... since he had to leave tomorrow and while i still had his help i had made arrangements to move my luggage to the hotel i would be staying at out near the airport (the hotel agreed to store it for the night)... i was so glad i did this as we lugged the suitcases over to the taxi!!

After depositing the luggage we kept going out of town..

We were going to visit the University of Accra as there was a museum there in the Archeology department that is suppose to have a fine collection of old beads..

We arrived after a bumpy tro tro ride ... they are fixing the highway here... this means the whole highway is closed off and the cars are left to drive on the side which is packed earth ... and extremely bumpy!!

The museum was disappointingly small and like so many things in Ghana, neglected and abandoned.. what was there was very interesting though. It seemed like a fine finale to browse through beads i knew were the original one that had made their way to Africa so long ago...

After the museum, i wanted to visit the Botanical Garden described in the Bradt guide... it was suppose to be behind the Zoology department... we asked everyone ... no one seemed to know where it was.. but thought it was over that way... pointing vaguely in a direction...

Finally we stumbled on a large clue: 'Botanical Garden Road' ..!! We followed this road ... giggling to ourselves that if we had asked where an asphalt parking space was probably everyone would know its exact location... Nature just wasn't a precious commodity here...

.... finally we stepped into an oasis, a tiny Shangri-la ....stepped back into a time when Africa was only green... for once something in Ghana had flourished.. in fact had relished being abandoned and neglected...

The air was thick and sweet ... my lungs just couldn't get enough of it as i breathed in deeply. It was totally silent except for birds chirping and swooping around.. i stood still in one spot inhaling the scent of some flowers...

i realized my journey had taken me to the cities and that this was the first time i had found myself in Nature...

It seemed fitting that my last real day of visiting Ghana should find me here... a kind of reconciliation... there is always hope. Nature is strong and resilient.

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Kaneshie Market

The main market is housed in that big yellow building but there are vendors outside as well...
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Market Day

The girls left to get their Togo visa ... then they were off back to Ho by tro tro. Matt, a young traveller we had met was going with them.

(Matt drove a car from England to Mali. The car will be auctioned off and that money will go to charity ... now he is traveling around Africa... he has a blog on Twitter called 'Anyone for desert?" I always wanted a reason to check out Twitter :)

And i was on my own again... which i was surprised to find out.. was really ok!

I have been looking at that anger i found inside myself which seemed to come from a hard, cold place that is however such a source of strength to me. I am starting to really see that i am two halves. The one half is gentle, loving and generous. The world responds to this half. This half is so easily hurt and humiliated as it loves and feels joy. It is the part of me i protect above everything. And then there is the other half that i have always tried to reject and push away. That half is hard, strong and implacable. She is like a solid rock. It is the one i see in the Ghanaian face....

I think it is what attracts me so much to the Ghanaian people.. there is such a feeling of stoicism and a hardness in their faces yet in a split second a smile shows their other half is right there as well...

The anger is what really put me in touch with this half but there is much more than anger there... Since opening up to this side a lot of the fear, humiliation and unease i have been dogged by all my life has eased. It is like i have found that person i have always been looking for. Someone i can trust and depend on no matter what. She is there for me.. i know that now...

Today Dela and i were going to check the cargo rates... It was great to be with him again as i got to go back to using the tro tro. In the city this is so confusing i think you need a Phd to work it all out!! Dela is completely at home in this world... especially in Accra as he grew up here.

We found our way to the base where the cargo planes are. First they insisted i pay 2 ghanas to enter! .... This is the sad part... corruption is rife here so you are continuously suspicious but if you are not on your guard you will be fleeced. Then we had to get through an onslaught of 'front men' all vying for you to go to their office... awful! Finally i just jumped into the first office i could find that actually was a cargo company as i couldn't find United Airline Cargo... the one i found myself in was British Airways... After a lot of hassle i found out that for me to send just a small amount would be very expensive but it would be worthwhile if i had over 200 lbs... in other words, it would be more economical for me to bring my stuff with me this time.. i would see about 'next time' ... but now i had more information so i was content.

Now came the fun part of the day. The bead search in Accra begins! Even though i knew i couldn't buy anything i was still really keen to see what the markets here had to offer... again research for the future was my thought!

Dela was in his element. He gave me a wonderful whirlwind tour of the three main markets of Accra. We were hopping on and off tro tros and on the go all day!

The first market was the Makola Market which is in central Accra. Dela asked people as we went... there were some beads but they were all the shiny baubles from china....The real draw here seems to be gold or gold plated jewelry... there were stall after stall all crammed together filled with the cheap glitter... like plastic has replaced the woven baskets of their ancestors so their rich heritage of beads has been replaced by junk. Progress.

One thing that is still very loved is fabric... there were piles teetering to the roof of the gorgeous brightly coloured fabric Africa is reknown for... Dela used to sell fabric so he was able to point out the fabrics still made in Ghana.. i bought one piece that i could not resist that was a genuine GTP fabric (guaranteed wax printed in Ghana) A thought was percolating that fabric could be a beautiful combination with beads!! ...even without bargaining this gorgeous piece of fabric was $4/yard!! Another thought to pursue in my future endeavors!!!

Finally after chasing in one direction to some possibility after another we both decided there were no beads to be found here!!

Next we were barreling along in a bus tro tro off to the once biggest indoor market in West Africa... Dela is not sure if it still holds this title today.

We go over a bridge... the river is a horrifying sight of pollution and garbage.. i cannot help but gasp and say 'my God!' quite loud...Dela takes the moment to say in a loud voice, 'That is why we must stop using the plastic bags!' ... this started a mini revolution!!!

When Dela had said to me it was futile for him to not use plastic bags as this would make no difference i had told him about the demise of plastic bags in Canada. I said it was not long ago that my son had told me i should stop using plastic bags. I had thought the same thing as Dela but since Etienne was passionate about it i did as he asked... Now a few years later no one used plastic bags ... everyone was using cloth bags ... for me it had been one person saying to me 'Stop using plastic bags'

Dela has taken this to heart but he is now a man with a mission!! He is not going to stop at one person!!!

The commotion that broke out over this statement was both humorous and touching. The woman who adamantly defended the plastic bag said it was the europeans that had taught them to put things into a plastic bag to conserve things and they were right!!! I was so moved by her vehemence... what good intentions can do... The 'idea' sold about the plastic bag is one that swept Ghana like wild fire... now that damn plastic bag is loved and given out lovingly for every tiny thing you buy!!

'We put things into the plastic bag all right but what happens to that bag when we take those things out?' Dela demanded. 'Are the Europeans going to teach us about this too? No, we Ghanaians have to think about it for ourselves!!'

I sat there a bit dazed as the battle escalated to war ... it did not come to blows but i wonder if we had not arrived at the market at this time what could have happend??

He certainly planted a seed there!

Kaneshie Market is truly massive... it is housed inside a three story cement building... surprisingly this actually works... the cement and the fact it is all natural lighting keeps the building quite cool. It is a relief to be out of the relentless sun... we stroll around in the dimness enjoying the market. Again the only stalls of beads we come across are the gaudy chinese junk...

Next Dela takes me to Jamestown as the next market is close by here. It was such a different visit than the one the girls and i made... He took me to meet his cousin who owns and operates a sewing workshop for making choir gowns and all sorts of church finery.

The little atelier was very clean and airy ... everyone working away happily... a different spectacle than i had imagined going on behind these walls..

He discouraged Dela when he heard he was taking me to the Agboblushie Market... he said the roads were very bumpy.. as i found out this was an understatement...

..the tro tro we took to get there was covered in a kind of upholstering inside... Dela started talking casually to the conductor and i wondered what he was talking about... noticing him gesturing to the roof of the tro tro much to my horror i saw bugs darting in and out of holes in the upholstery... ooohh! my hair immediately stood on end! Once i would have screamed for them to stop and jumped out but i am 'stoic' now... tee! hee! ... my skin crawled and i asked Dela what he was talking to the guy about... he said he was suggesting a product that could kill all of these creatures!! I laughed to myself because i knew exactly which product he was talking about!!

On the tro tros Salesmen have captive audiences and in between stops they drone on and on about some product... it just goes on and on... i swear it is a kind of hypnotism ... and it works! Here was Dela telling him about this 'Zapbugs' or some such stuff like people repeat commercials from the tv back home!!! The giggles eased the shudders for a bit....

Thank god we didn't have much further to go after that..

Then I saw some sights that made me burst into tears ... there is a section there that surpasses Dantes' hell... and human beings work and live there. What kind of world is this coming too?
Dela tried to console me but i was not crying for me i was crying for this earth.

He lead me away and we found ourselves in what i think Van Gogh must have seen with all the potato farmers during their harvest. There were millions of yams... Each stall was selling yams and there were piles of yams behind them with trucks with more piles of yams...

There was something quite beautiful about this that soothed my aching heart. I couldn't take photos as i felt that was too rude.. But imagine an orange hard packed ground with piles of brown gnarly root like vegetable that are quite big ... some about 2 feet long.. with the black skin of the vendors who are wearing the very wide brimmed straw hats... a peaceful and beautiful monochromatic scene..

then we went into the market proper and with all the familiar smells and sights of colorful fruit and vegetables my equanimity was restored somewhat ... but my heart overflowed with compassion and admiration for the cheerfulness i saw there in the face of such adversity as i knew they must face living in these surroundings...

It was here in this market i found the best stash of beads yet! Ironic.. i felt i had travelled far to find them. Even the starting prices were reasonable ... but alas i could only buy a few tokens.. Dela who has found a real love for his ancestors' craft, bought a small bracelet to go with the beads he got from Kumasi. He has a real eye for the beads. He like the millifori beads.

Milifori beads are also called Trade beads... the original millifori bead was made mostly in Venice for merchants coming to do trade in Africa. The Africans were trades but had no use for european currency but loved the beads. The original beads are made with layered glass and are all unique and very colorful. These beads are being produced today in both glass and polymer clay... the antique milliforibead is very expensive and hard to find... but the newer versions are still very beautiful.

I had a wonderful time just browsing around the beads ...

Next time Agboblushie Market would be the first stop on my route....

in the meantime i hope the Ghanaian government wakes up to the terrible and urgent disaster brewing in their front yard!

Prince Charming!

I am excited about coming home ... for all kinds of reasons..

I am looking forward to adding beads and new necklaces to www.funkyFrog.ca!!

I feel a dream i have had for so long... coming to Ghana to buy beads has really been more than i dreamed.....

..and in a way the dream has just begun!

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Tourists in Accra

We woke to pouring rain!! Our idyllic getaway is suddenly more like a drowned out camping spot.... the communal bathrooms have leaky roofs... in fact the thatched roofs are all leaky!! The rain even came into the girls' room as they are not set under a porch like my room is... we all feel a bit bedraggled as we sat at wet tables to eat breakfast!

But my new adventurer spirit is not daunted for long...

We set out after breakfast for a real day of playing tourist ... we are going to visit a fort, a lighthouse and a museum...

The fort and lighthouse are in Jamestown, which is a really a shanty town in Accra... The fort is crumbling and decaying... a horrible reminder of a distant past... it had a kind of faded beauty ...

The lighthouse is still well kept... but the shanty town has grown in the five years since i last walked there...

The museum was a walk across town and was quite minimal...

The best part of our day was a wonderful discovery... a restaurant frequented by Ghanaians where we ate a delicious feast...

Our last stop as tourists was the Cultural Center. We had decided to go back... I felt they should go back because i remembered i enjoyed it much more the second time after the shock of the vendors.... so even though they felt trepidation we went..

The Center was very quiet as it was Sunday... and those vendors that were there were less aggressive. We all split up and really enjoyed ourselves... Both Kathy and Clarisse did their first bargaining bearing off their prizes quite triumphantly... i know that feeling...

I got a few beads just to keep my hand in ...

We spent the evening watching the sun go down and reading...

It had been a really nice interlude: the weekend. I had really enjoyed the time spent with Kathy and Clarisse.. we had discovered Accra together...The girls would go off on their own tomorrow and i would be starting the last leg of my adventure!


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Beach Bums

We set off early from our rooms and walked into Osu... this is an area of Accra where foreigners seem to congregate...

Breakfast at Frankie's... the same Frankie's we had gone to back when i was here with CCS.. Frankie's hasn't changed at all but everything around it has! Whereas Frankie's was this clean, shining beacon, now it has become a slightly shabby place amongst many newer gaudier places.... Pancakes and maple syrup... my system seems to have a craving for that kind of food... all the vegetables and fruit i have eaten something nice and stodgy seemed just the thing! ....

Downtown Accra is a hodge podge of buildings along side the shacks .... there is not any rhyme or reason to the place except the roads are straight! The open sewers add to the already potent mix of exhaust fumes and Harmattan winds!! Everyone is selling something somehow somewhere... How many sunglasses can the world need?

The continual onslaught of noise and harassment chases us on... we finally jump into a taxi in search of a beach..

The beach is in a million dollar surroundings... white sand, perfectly frothy waves ... dotted with black plastic bags .. the thorn in the side.

It is not so bad here though ... Clarisse, a sailor and water baby, is determined to go swimming... i am game as the water feels cool and refreshing... i just won't put my head in the water!!

It was quite wonderful to swim in the sea...

The beach is busy.. there are horses, wind surfers, swimmers, people playing football ... and of coarse, the vendors...

You cannot escape the people who want to be your friend so they can sell you something.... so you need to simply have creative answers and ways to get them to move on!!!

One needs to keep firmly in the front of one's mind that these people are simply trying to eke out a living...

There are a lot of kids in Accra who come up to you and touch you and look imploringly at you in silence... it is very eerie and disturbing...apparently these kids have been taught how to beg by their parents.. they are not from Ghana but neighboring countries in trouble... the contrast between these kids and the bright young people selling water or mangos or sunglasses is night and day.... The vendors are an irritant for 'us' but they work hard and honestly...

A lot of our irritation and frustration comes from feeling the contrast between 'us' and 'them'. There we are enjoying our day as beach bums ... just hanging out.. and they are working so hard....

We bought bananas and peanuts which they sell together... the peanuts are slightly warmed! we bought water ... and plantain chips ... so even as beach bums we helped the economy go round!!

We spent the afternoon under our umbrella just enjoying all the action.. the windsurfers were quite amazing... acrobats in the water!!

Finally we were starting to feel the sun so we decided to push on to our next destination.. the Artist Alliance.

This was in a large, elegant old building that had a decayed, abandoned air... but it was fun and quite blissful to wander around looking at everything... It felt more like an abandoned museum than anything else... but we could poke around and touch everything.. really fun. There were some beads ... i was tempted but decided to hold off in case the markets yielded anything...

Beads are everywhere in Accra it seems ... yesterday we had visited the Cultural Center which is just down the road from us. There seems to be even more vendors than the last time i was in Ghana and so who are even more aggressive in their desperate attempt to get you to see that their stock was unique! It makes for a very heavy atmosphere... but one man with beautiful beads was laid back so i got to check out what he had...

It makes me realize i did very well in my shopping. My stash is very interesting and varied... The prices so far in Accra are much higher as well....

We ended the day at a restaurant Christianne had recommended called Tribes...

Well, the day was rounded off completely back at our funny, little hotel ... Kathy went off to bed leaving Clarisse and i sharing a beer and yakking a bit longer....

The crashing lull of the waves sent me off to sleep....

Accra

The next morning Christianne drove Kathy, Clarisse, Shoko and i to Accra... what a difference it makes travelling in a car!! We just had to say we want to pee and Christianne was whizzing off the road ... all the girls spread out to pee behind a bush and off we went again.... aaahhh!

Arriving in Accra was a bit of a shock for me as the traffic here has more the tripled! ... also it was Friday so the whole of Accra was on the move.

We eventually found our way to our hotel down this most sketchy dirt road but which led all the way to the sea!

I got some men to help me disgorge my luggage ... and gladly gave out cedis for their efforts! ..oh my, the bags are heavy!

I was totally captivated by our funny little hotel on the sea! Our rooms are small cement cells but the surroundings more than make up for them...

That afternoon we went off for our first 'getting to know' Accra walk... we found ourselves on a beach and delighted to wade in the cool water!!

That evening we ate at the vegetarian restaurant in our hotel and had a most delicious supper!!

It was then that we found out what the fly in the ointment was (there always is one, right?) ... the place is a hang out for Rastas smoking Ganga... and constantly trying to befriend us... for me this is a tiny issue but Kathy finds this very trying...

I am just looking forward to sleeping with the sound of the waves that i can hear even without the hearing aide!!! ...

..one thing Etienne was very present here... and i realized it is because the restaurant reminds me a lot of the place we went for his birthday in Panama!! ... i had to skype him to let him know...

... the conversation with him sounding like he was down the street!! was a wonderful closing of my day...

Ho

I am back in Ho and it really feels like home. Everything is so familiar.. It is interesting because now i am 'back in' the landscape... instead of separated and peering out at it!!

There is less of a traffic jam...both cars and human.. yesterday the streets had been jammed packed as it had been market day... but still oranges spill over the sidewalk in a hug pile.. their delicious pungent scent cutting through the exhaust fumes... a relief to my senses! I am always amazed to find that perfume in amongst this thick air...

the dance of vendor and seller has already begun..there is one young woman selling bread .. her eye is caught by some fancy high heels a young man is showing around.. he gives her one to try on... and brings down a few more so she can compare from the box on his head. He has the shoes hooked over the side of the box by their heels making the box into a window front!!

She prances around in the shoes ..her dusty flip flops abandoned...showing them off to her fellow lady vendors ... they all smile approvingly... a sale is made!!

Going in to the office that morning feels right.. all the ladies say 'welcome!' and we chat... The place is its usual beehive of activities..

I am a tiny bit uptight as today is the day i am going to try and pack...so rather than put off the inevitable i decide to take the bull by the horns...

i nip out to the road where i can flag a taxi back to the house (i am now staying in town as my room has been taken over by Clarisse...) Arriving at the house Kafui and Maggie greet me...

I borrow the scales from Shoko's room and start to work. It is hot work as i have to weigh everything individually and then altogether in the suitcase as i want to be able to change around the parcels in case... trying to divide it up so the space and weight make a good balance is quite tricky!! Finally i have managed and there is still room for around 10 pounds or so ...

In Accra i will have to be very careful!!

That afternoon i had a lunch date with Martina, Dela's wife. I was really delighted that she had asked me to come over and eat as she was the first Ghanaian who had actually invited me home.

Being a vegetarian in Ghana is very much an oddity. When Martina had first asked me to come home, Dela had told her i was a vegetarian and this really threw her... She felt that she could not make something tasty enough for me to enjoy without meat or fish!! She was truly perplexed .. and i could see disconcerted as well that i would be judging her ability as a cook with her having such a hindrance!! Teeeee hee! It was just too much of a mind twister to try and explain to her that i would not judge her for not putting something in that i didn't enjoy.... so i just said i was sure it would be fine!

And it was! It was a delicious vegetable stew with mushrooms and boiled plantain... and the inevitable boiled egg.... I was delighted that i truly thought it was delicious ... she was a real 'Jewish Mama' ( like my good friend Robin!! :) ... she really was feeling i didn't like her food unless i was eating it!!! and to be able to eat 'enough' so she felt good was actually not a big problem!!

The whole experience was so moving for me... They live in what i would call a compound ... Six families live there in rooms that make the three sides of the square with a wall and gate on the fourth side... A family has a kitchen that is separate from the other rooms (this is actually a a good idea as the heat from the stove will not heat up the living rooms)... I helped her bring the food from this tiny kitchen over to a porch where we sat on low benches with a low table.

She asked me if i needed a knife and fork because, of course, the Ghanaian eats with her right hand. ... I made a joke of it saying that for us we had been trained NOT to touch the food with our hands ... that was playing with our food!! She found that very intriguing... but she brought a water basin... and she went through a ritual of washing that right hand very well before the meal..

We ate on the porch because it was so hot... while we were eating a woman came into the compound and up through the porch to her door... saying that 'i was invited!' ... i looked with puzzlement at Martina...they had been chatting and laughing and she smiled and said that this was her porch!! ..as i said personal space is not the same as at home!!! ... the neighbor really meant it!!

We polished off our plates and both of us were nice and full... it had been Martina's first vegetarian meal!! and she said she had really enjoyed it!!! I laughed and said, 'See! you don't need meat and fish to make it taste good!' She said she was going to try it again...

During the meal she had asked me about Canada ... once again i tried to explain how there were goods and bads about everything... She was dismayed by the fact that we need so much clothing in the winter!! and that we could freeze to death if we didn't have houses with windows and furnaces... I said we could buy just about any fruit or vegetable but that most of the time this produce has travelled far... In Ghana everything is grown and harvested here so the fruits and vegetables are so tasty and good... she could understand this... She told me that people who have been always tell them that it is not so great over there... but they never believe them!!! I laughed and said, 'Oh, you should!'

But then Ghanaians are not the only ones who think it is greener on the other side of the fence....

After lunch she swung the baby, who had conveniently fallen asleep during lunch, onto her back and we set off for her little shop...

I had asked her to make me a couple of dresses out of some batik i had bought... She was shyly proud to show me her work... They were both designs she had made ....very well done! to think she had done it without a pattern was quite amazing...

She would like to go back to school so she could learn how to teach design and sewing... she is only 35 years old so i encouraged her to go for her dream! She has a very young baby right now but when he is older she is going to try to follow her dream...

In the meantime she is going to visit VEG ..... I talked to Christianne and Shoko about her... she is so interested in learning new things.. when she had picked me up i had shown her around the shop... she had immediately wanted to learn how to make the earrings as well... perhaps she will be able to attend some workshops at VEG...

Then i had to head back to the Office for a party... It was Kafui's birthday .... and a good bye to me (that part was a surprise!!)

It was a perfect way to end my sojourn in Ho... all the women were there with their babies having soft drinks and cake ... laughing and chatting...


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Martina is fixing a little something on my dress... and singing to her baby!!

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Hitting the road again!

I am awake when Dela phones me telling me he is on his way... A mad dash and i am ready...

I had asked the front desk to wake me at 4 am .. She had seem quite pleased to wake me up but not a peep from her...

I lumber down the stairs.. my backpack has gained a few pounds ... even a small stash of beads weighs a ton... oh my luggage!! (i will think of that tomorrow.. Scarlet always was my role model for these things!!)

I arrive at the reception only to find my way out of the hotel locked!! I peer in ... the receptionist is fast asleep on the sofa... Sorry but i had no remorse about pounding on the door to wake her up .. (we did have history.. :) ..and i had a date with a bus!

Dela was there and the gatekeeper let us out of the ground... it was still very dark but with a cool breeze it was actually a nice time to be out...

I was feeling much better that morning .. it made me realize how awful i had been feeling... for the first time my head was clear..

We found a taxi quite easily .. and Dela said, 'To the Metro bus stop, please.' ..at least that is what i imagine he said..

Now this is another huge mystery to me... this Metro Bus stop.... There are three categories of travel here... the tro-tro, the Metro bus and the luxury Voyageurs. Now the tro-tros have their station but these other buses stop on the side of the road at some spot that everyone just knows... no signs... just ancestral knowledge or something!!

I was still very skeptical about the whole thing... and even more so when we arrived and no one was there ...

Dela was positive so i settled in to wait ... soon enough a couple arrived looking for the bus to Ho! ..and after that people started trickling over ... some looking for Ho and others other places that people seem to be able to direct them to no problem! All very mystifying to me... we were just on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere...

Finally the bus shows up... i am first in line to buy a ticket..Dela gets me on the bus tucking my backpack under the seat..

He is staying to do some work for another client that is coming in next week.. so i am going on my own... it is just a bus ride straight back so i will be all right , i assure him... so off he went.

The bus slowly fills up ... the conductor tells us we will leave in half an hour... and hour later she says the same thing....

I get out of the bus to stretch my legs... this bus is like a big tro tro ... the seats are as squished together and as uncomfortable as a tro tro!!

4 hours later!!!! ... the bus pulls out into the morning traffic! So we take a long time to get out of Kumasi... but we are on our way!

All morning long even though i feel much better my cough is quite persistent so i have been sucking the strepsils continuously...

We stop at the first village about an hour later... from what i can gather it is simply a pit stop... there is a washroom there but it is simply a low cement wall that people go into.. i think it is simply troughs ... i need to pee but not enough to brave this unknown..

We start off again... and this is when i start to have severe cramps... really severe... i think i was on the verge of passing out... there was a window just in front of me that sent reviving cool air into my face... i am sure it is the only thing that kept me from passing out... a man tried to shut it, i fiercely held it open... he shouted at me but the others could see i was in trouble and told him to leave it... for ages i passed through this awful time where the world was like an over exposed photograph ... very white.. and i couldn't see well... but i knew there was absolutely nothing to be done.. that i had to go through these cramps....

It was my nightmare that i would be really ill all by myself... Here i was in a bus in the middle of nowhere surrounded by strangers... But it is amazing how that inner self looked after me... i remembered to simply breathe the cramps in and out.. even though i would start to panic , i would resolutely go back to the breathing...

But finally i knew there was only one solution.. I stood up and directing my shout at the conductor said 'I need a toilet!' There was a burst of commotion as they all processed what the crazy white woman had said....(i laugh now!!)

One man came to my rescue and nodded to me ... i just knew he would take care of it ... funny that...

Finally after what seemed like an endless time .. they stopped outside a real Rest Stop with a real washroom... My saviour led me outside and showed me the way ... he even paid the 20 pesawas to the attendant...

I took my time .. and then washed my face with cool water ... and felt so much better having gotten rid of whatever had been so disliked by my body!!

I was a different woman coming on the bus... i thanked everyone for stopping and said i was sorry i had made them wait... They were no longer strangers .. they smiled at me and told me not to worry!!

And we set off again... the whole effort had wiped me out so i actually dozed for quite awhile...

Then we started dropping people ... apparently you could get dropped wherever... we dropped a young man of at a small village where his smart city getup looked so out of place.. we dropped a couple that must have been moving they had so much baggage.. even a fufu pounding stick.. i keep wanting to take a picture of these.. they are really quite beautiful and obviously quite an essential tool here!

Of course every time we stopped we would be swarmed by people selling food.. and as people were starting to get hungry lots of transactions were taking place... which also took time..

Now that i was feeling better (i had wondered if i had simply had too many strepsils!!) ... life just felt so good again.

Even though i was coated in a layer of sweat and squished i was enjoying the ride again.. It had come to me that this bus's only aim was to go from Kumasi to HO with a full load of passengers... there was no timetable to fulfill, no other obligation except to get us to where we wanted to go...

and , you know what, in Ghana that is quite a feat!!

They say it is a 4 hr trip but i left my hotel at 4 am and arrived at Ho at 3:30 pm but i was all in one piece..

...after a quick shower i was back to myself!!

I met everyone at the Office... it was the end of the day but everyone was delighted to see me... i heard Welcome! from every direction..

It was really like coming home!

I walked home with Clarisse and Cathy..

Christianne and Shoko arrived just after i had done the beer run to see my bootlegger (i was there, i wan't there.. i could see in the old woman's eyes that either way was normal.. humbling but good somehow)

We all sat down to a delicious cold beer ... and then supper!

I was so hungry!! i hadn't eaten all day.. nor had i eaten much in Kumasi really.. but i feasted that night..

Kafui had surpassed herself .. i had soya kabobs that were super spicy and a vegetable mix... it was heavenly and i ate and ate....

It was wonderful to be back among friends.


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the bus that brought me back to HO... in the station at Ho...
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Tuesday

A VISIT TO KOFOFRUM

Tuesday morning i was glad to simply sit under the Mango trees in the garden ... do some blogging and reading... my cold need some time out!

i hadn't been allowed to loll around in bed though... the hotel staff had rung me at 6:45 am demanding to know what i would like for breakfast!! ... and no lollygagging either!! ... a little while later they phoned to tell me in a no nonsense voice that it was ready!! ..in other word get your bum down here!! ... i always giggle to myself that people say we in Quebec are terrible with service: Well, everything is relative! ..i for one will appreciate even decent service after here.... hee! hee!!

Earlier i had connected with Karen, a professor of biochemistry at the University of Kumasi, who i had met during my last time volunteering. She had brought donated computers to the high school in which several of our volunteers were working. Volunteers with any computer skills were encouraged to pitch in with teaching basic computer skills once the computers had been set up .... this was five years ago... and i had been pleased to pitch in!

She had been delighted to hear from me ... and we worked out an afternoon that the both of us would enjoy..

We decided to visit a small village called Kofofrum... Ghana is famous for two types of beads ... the recycled glass beads which are mainly made in the Volta Region and the brass beads, which are made more in this area.

Kofofrum is a village very close to Kumasi and there is a brass-moulding co-operative here...

We set out in luxury as Karen has a car ... (which she can't drive!!! It is a standard like all cars here....i totally sympathize... but one of her students, Saviour drove for us)

Dela was able to direct him and we were there in no time... Karen was very pleased as she had been looking for this village for ages!!

It was tiny scruffy village with a small sign and yet it housed some real craftsmen that are carrying on a tradition learned from their fathers who learnt it from their fathers ...

The lost wax method has been around for centuries... their ancestors used gold but now they use mainly brass... and recycled brass at that ... they showed us something that looked like a kitchen sink pipe!! ...

They were pleased to demonstrate the very intricate and painstaking process using wax, clay, charcoal and even dung got in there somehow..

i tried to take photos but they don't explain much...but I found a very good photo essay explaining the process here: http://eshopafrica.com/gallery/process/lostwax.html

The village depicted in the photos i found on the internet is a much more organized and successful looking place than Kofofrum... but Karen says now that she knows where it is she will spread the word.. and she will bring visiting students there...

Afterwards, i spent some time sifting through their beads and pendants picking out a few for the funkyFrog hord!!!

On the way to lunch we stopped at a pharmacy so i could see if i could buy some throat lozenges as my cold had gotten to the scratchy cough phase and i was running out.. at the second place we found strepsils!! yeah!

Over lunch we caught up on news. I found out Saviour had been one of the students at the Keta High School and he would be going back to the states to do a Masters in Education... the best part was he would be coming back to Ghana to teach...

Also it turned out the Saviour was a real fan of Dela's music.. Dela has produced two albums... Saviour was really happy to learn that Dela was making another one! Dela was quite stunned to hear that Saviour had found the second album while in the States... music seems to be Dela's real passion.

Karen mentioned something that i found disturbing... Apparently the Chinese are building the roads here in Ghana and generally taking a serious interest in Africa generally... you know why? .. their work force is starting to demand more money so they are looking to out source in the future!! It made my heart sink hearing this... The world is a very strange place....

That evening i turned in very early as tomorrow i had a 4 am date with a bus!!

Hot Pepper

One last thing about the market...

Each section has its specialty..

There are rows and rows of shoemakers looking more like a sprawling outdoor factory than anything... the glue they are using is very potent and harsh... then there are the tailors and the seamstresses... rows of sewing machines whirring away with fabric everywhere.. there are sections where the potters are selling their ware, they don't actually make it here as it would entail a hug oven.. the fish and meat sellers.... the vegetable section... and somewhere in there i stumbled on them selling hot, red pepper in vast quantities! People selling it were continuously coughing... some had handkerchiefs across their noses! I could immediately feel it in my nose and throat... people urged me to away pointing to the lethal redness!! i snapped one quick photo and was glad to escape!!!

Market Vignettes

You will not find anything aesthetic in Ghana's cities... there is no symmetry, rhyme or reason in the city planning... the buildings are ugly cement fortresses, they are usually dingy and dirty.... half of them are unfinished eysores...

No, Ghana's beauty is certainly not skin deep. You need to look past all the dirt and decay to the individual person and the world they have fashioned in this madness...

It continually amazes me to see people calm and cool dressed beautifully in crisp colourful garments ...

To see people calmly going about their work amidst all the calamity...

Above all to see that resilience and patience in these people's faces that i only now have found ... even though i have had all the advantages.

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More of the Market

I am now really trying to respect the individual person and avoid taking photos without their express permission ... but i held the camera high just to get the impression of the overwhelming aspect of it all.... but the photo of course does not come close...

Add heat, grit in your throat, people shouting and laughter, music being blared from dueling radios, babies crying, the incessant beeping of horns, whistles blowing... people jostling you from all sides.. no sense of taking one's turn .... just full charge ahead... people pushing you form behind and muttering if you are politely waiting for a young girl to go by with a box that must have a small fridge in it .. add sweat dripping down your forehead!!!

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Kejetia Market, Kumasi

This market is suppose to be the largest open market in west Africa. Apparently it burnt down both in 1995 and 2009 but it is back to "its gloriously hectic former self"... now that the Bradt guide got right!!

And the Bradt guide continues: 'Incredibly, some 10,000 traders operate within a 12 ha market with many more stalls spilling out along the surrounding streets.

On the inside, the market takes on a labyrinth aspect, confusing at first, but in fact quite orderly.'

---- in the photos below yo can see the market from above... under those roofs teems life! -----

Will you be my valentine?

The doves are cooing all around me! what more lovely symbol of Valentine's Day can there be?

It is very breezy and cool this morning.. i am sitting out under the mango trees having just finished my breakfast of omlette, toast and nescafe coffee... i added my own mango as well!!

I am feeling a bit sluggish because last night my cold had reached a bit of a crescendo... it is hard to dramatize a cold, i mean, get over it right? But that awful feeling of your head full of cotton batting and that there is this mean Genie in your throat tickling you with a feather .... and you have left the cough mixture and tylanol you had brought all the way from Canada back in Ho ....
and you are far from home ....trust me.. you are feeling pretty miserable!!

But with the light of day and the front desk waking you up at the crack of dawn to come and eat your breakfast everything rights itself again!!

Yesterday Dela and i checked out the bus situation to Ho... it leaves at this seeming random spot by the road at 5 am in the morning ... so we will need to be there around 4am !!! Wow! worse than an airplane... this will not be a greyhound bus but something in between...

Then we set off to investigate the Bead Market... We got lost a bit but slowly we were getting orientated ... Amazingly enough the whole market is on a grid with main lanes running parallel to the big roads and then tiny alleys running perpendicular to the main lanes.... so if you kept straight either way you would end up eventually coming out onto a main road....

We arrived at the Bead area only to find that there were not many more vendors than yesterday ... My 'friend' Abraham was there to greet me ...

It was nice in that even though he had a lot of beautiful beads all the pressure to buy was gone ...

I had already managed to purchase a beautiful assortment of the most exciting beads ... It was an assortment that would be a very good start to my small online business.

Also of course was the restriction of weight ... i was right on the cusp and so this curbed a lot of enthusiasm.

Nevertheless i sat in Abraham's small Ali Baba's cave and drank in all he could tell me about the beads... He obviously loves the beads and knows a lot about them....

I had met Abraham at the other market... i had bought some strands of really nice brass beads and in exchange he let me choose a brass symbol ... i chose ' love and relationships' ... it seems fitting to wear it today on Valentine's Day in celebration of young love!!!

Abraham is a very good salesman with no oiliness or pressure ... He told me he would like to see me come back for beads again and again...

And that is what it felt like ... that he was establishing a business relationship...

He brought out some strands of small beads that i knew were the ones that are broken up and restrung with filler, cheaper beads ... i don't know i thought that was a good move .... :)

Finally i had a small pile of interesting beads ... we negotiated, i sitting on my small bench and him sitting easily on his heels...

i reflected how far i had come... there i was negotiating calmly with a good certainty of what the beads were worth ... feeling quite at home.

... a far cry from that red faced person whose heart pounded and who was so clumsy and humiliated by the whole ordeal!!!

I went off feeling like i had passed an exam or something...

In one way Kumasi was extremely disappointing bead-wise... Abraham's stall turned out to be the only one that was interesting...

Later Dela left me on my own to wander around... and i crisscrossed that market ... wandering for hours ... and didn't find any other beads...

I was not disappointed however, in that, it meant that if there were future Bead Hunts, i now knew the area to concentrate on...

I still had the Accra markets to check out, of course ...

I feel my trip to Kumasi has been good for reasons that i had not expected. I found out that i can be sick and feeling sorry for myself far, far away from home But still be allright!! I found out that i can find my way around and look after myself ...

And that i had a much more in depth and real understanding of Ghana because of this .....

As much as i have felt like people treat me as an 'Idea' (rich, white person) rather than a person in her own right so have i fallen into this same trap...

Yesterday afternoon, when i left Dela and wandered I 'went into' myself and tried to be a part of what was going on... instead of seeing people with all sorts of impossible things on their heads ... i realized that young girls earn their living transporting goods from point a to point b using their big silver trays they can balance so expertly on their heads... The weight creates permanent wrinkles in their young foreheads so they look worried and anxious but you can see a patience and resilience that i now recognize.

All around me were people living a life as complete with troubles, accomplishments, excitements, expectations as mine!

I think my honeymoon with Ghana is over and the real work on the relationship must now start ....

and i made a start when i walked into the neighbourhood near my hotel and bought some mangos and a pineapple a woman running a small stand just sitting on the side of the road... she treated me like a person buying mangos and a pineapple and i had the right change....

On my own

When we arrived Saturday we found that several of the places suggested to me were booked... Finally the last one had a room... i decided to take it even though it was quite far out..

Knoks Hotel is very pretty from the outside ...for a change! ...completely covered in vines with a courtyard.

The room looked beaten up ... is the best way to describe it... The blinds were all broken, the walls very grubby, the doors of the closet not closing ... but the bed was clean and very smartly made...

My cold had really developed with sneezing, sore throat and stuffy nose so i was glad to jump into that smart bed quite early!!

The next day was Sunday so Dela and i had made arrangements that we would meet around noon... i still was really under the weather with this cold and wanted to just take it easy for the morning...

Also i had decide to move to a more central hotel ... and i had made a reservation at the Sanborn Hotel that got very good reviews in the Bradt guide.

So at noon off we went .. upon arriving at the hotel i was told to come back in two hours as the rooms had not been vacated...

i left my luggage there and we went wandering in the Market.. The Market was quite empty but I wanted to orientate myself for Monday...

Eventually we found our way to the Bead Stalls..

The Market is this sprawling, seemingly chaotic area ... after awhile you could sense there was a kind of order. Apparently each vendor had a spot that he returned to each day (and apparently paid rent!!)... some had permanent stalls.. Along the main roads were the vendors who set up for the day ... with all kinds of contraptions in front of buildings.. then in behind the buildings in narrow alleyways are the permanent stalls.. Outside it is hot and sunny but in there it is almost covered making it cool and dim..

The Bead Market is in an area like this .. with small wooden huts ... the walls are laden with beads. Since it was Sunday only two or three stalls were open...

I told everyone that it was my first day and that i was orientating myself... the vendors here were the most laid back i have encountered. One of the men recognized me from Kofarudia Market..... I had bought a few beads from him and he gave me a brass pendant. They have symbols that mean something ... for example there is one for 'humility and strength' ... (i thought that was a very beautiful combination) , another that meant 'fortitude' .. but i got the one for 'love and relationships'. It is my symbol for renewed life...

It was fun to connect up with someone i had already met... i promised him i would find him again ... His stall is An10 ....

After wandering around a bit more... we tried our luck at the hotel again.. This time they were able to show me to my room ... oh my goodness! ...suddenly my last room looked like paradise...

The bed was dirty and looked like someone had slept on top of the covers... There were dirty, heavy curtains covering windows on two sides of the room but when you looked out it was into garbage ... it was tiny, dirty, dingy and dark!

After standing in it for awhile, i knew i would be claustrophobic with no escape... i wouldn't be able to go outside as there was no yard just road on all sides.. i couldn't even open the windows...

It was not the first time the Bradt Guide had really let me down. The information in it is invariably wrong.

That morning at Knoks Hotel as i was leaving i had noticed other rooms being cleaned and had checked them out... They were very clean and recently painted with new blinds. It was then i realized that the hotel was being upgraded and i had gotten one of the rooms that hadn't been finished yet... in fact the desk in my room was in the middle of being refinished as i arrived.. the guy was working on it in the hall with all the windows closed!! If someone had ignited a match i think the whole place would have exploded the fumes were so intense... i demanded that he open a window so that he and i would live to see another day... He looked at me all puzzled!! ... but i got him to open the window!!

All that to say, i got Dela to phone and ask that if i came back could i have one of the rooms that were already fixed... it seems i could come back and choose my room!! ... I guess Saturday night is the busy night and everyone was leaving today...

So we returned back to Knoks and this time i felt like i was coming home!! What a relief .... to wrestle open my door (i guess all the rooms have these doors that you practically have to break down!!! :) ... and see that immaculate, pristine bed!! ...boy! everything is relative!!

Something that was sinking in is the difference it makes whether you are a volunteer as opposed to an ordinary tourist here ... It is something i am going to think about but it is disconcerting how different people's attitudes are towards you ... It gives the world a feeling of an unreality again... who do people see? .. i become not a person to be discovered in her own right but an idea ... Another opportunity to be very honest with oneself.

I am very glad that i decided to go off on my own ... and i have work to do!! Investigate this new world of beads!!

A journey into the unknown

So the day dawned when i would be setting forth on my own... granted Dela would be accompanying me but i would really be responsible for myself in a very new way... i must confess there had been some anxiety about it when i first dreamed up the idea ... but as the time approached i was actually ready to test my new mettle!

When i woke up around 5 it was into pitch blackness and a silence... the electricity was off ... this has become so commonplace now that i just grabbed my flashlight and started finishing my packing with its light... it gave the whole endeavour one of mystery and stealing away!!

I could have my breakfast as the stove was gas... brewed my last yummy coffee.. chopped a banana into my cereal ...

Soon i was ready to set off... putting on my backpack; which is the one i used on all the hikes through Europe, brought wonderful memories of all the other times of setting forth on a brand new day into a brand new world.... there just isn't a feeling like it!! I sent up thanks for those wonderful memories and looked forward to the new ones i was going to create today!!

Dela was at the tro tro station and like old hands we got into our tro tro... which was already half way full... We were off shortly after that..

The first leg of the journey to Koforidua was now so familiar.

Nature here has this eternal hopefulness... I had thought about it when i went to bed the night before: the frogs were making a cacaphony and then this morning i woke up to 'silence' that was filled with the happy chatter of a million birds...

And the flowers here are frilly and flamboyant and colourful ... they all have that same nature as lilies or orchids... There is a tree with not a leaf on it but it is covered in pink orchid like flowers...

There is a feeling that Nature is biding her time and smiling at the frantic nature of the human who tries to tame her... people hack down plants, burn whole swatches of fields... all in a frantic mission to claim the land as their own. The area that they manage to hack out is all dusty orange earth with dilapidated buildlings and shacks placed haphazardly around.

Yet right next door is Nature. In all her glory and majesty. Huge trees, lush green vegetation, delicate flowers, birds, lizards, chickens and their chicks, goats and their cavorting babies, herds of puzzled sheep!!! You have the feeling she is just biding her time and waiting....

And puny man with his stands of fruit and vegetables all beautifully organized ... with the area around the stand pristine and swept clean... pretending they are in control...

There is a no man's land between the human world and Nature which is all the endless trash which is mainly black plastic bags and the small plastic bags water is sold in. ( i will try and take a photo of these bags ...)

Never are you so aware of this dichotomy as when travelling distances ... in between the villages is Nature, lushly green and gorgeous looking more mysterious than anything in the thick dusty air...

Then you start to have the garbage and you know a village is looming ... Now that my eye is acclimatized i see the care and organization these villages have... The red dirt around the houses are all swept clean... There is order in the area around the pump where people are filling up basins with water.. washing is laid out to dry... the firewood in organized piles ... the stands by the side of the road always a colourful feast of bananas, papaya, mangos, okra, tomatoes ... Now as we approach Kumasi there are also clay pots piled impossibly high .. in darker oranges and blacks.. People make baskets here out of grasses as well ... they are out for sale as well... But despite all the grueling work the villages look dusty and folorn ...

That contradiction i find so prevalent here is shown up in this constant dance of Nature and the Human being, beauty and ugliness, strength and fragility, permanence and change .. here the people are the visitors.....

We are in a tro tro that is well kept... since it is used for long distances ... our trip will be about 4 hours..

I have come to think tro tro drivers must be the best drivers in the world!! As we careened down the highway i was praying... we passed 3 major accidents involving small vehicles and these impossibly big trucks ... i kept my eyes averted and continued my mantra!!

And all the while the radio is on and the Ghanaian radio announcer shouts like the most fervent evangelist you can ever imagine! oh, my!

To top it all off i was starting a cold.. at first i thought it was the dust ... my throat really hurt and i was sneezing all the time... but slowly it started to be apparent this was a real cold. There had been a cold going through the office, starting with the babies and then moved on to Bernice ... Pricilla was coming down with it as i left..

The other thing is the tro tro... this is a mini van with 4 rows of seats placed into it ... so far i had been lucky to have always sat next to a slight woman... well.. this time on my longest journey yet.. i was sandwiched between this enormous man and the window!! And there is no such thing as personal space in a tro tro!! I am convinced the tro tro is a conspiracy to tame the masses ... for four hours 15 people were wedged in together in a hot tincan that was hurtling down a highway! There was not one word of complaint or angry word... it was a study of utter patience and resiliance. I keep saying to Dela that this is where Ghana's beauty lies: in her people who have grace under such difficult cicumstances. God! back in Canada there would have been Mutiny on the Bounty in about 5 minutes flat... This Canadian tried to start a rebellion by asking her neighbor if he liked the person screaming on tthe radio? 'Yes, he is very good.' he said to me and then nodded back off!!! Defeated, i sat in my tiny corner and practiced patience!!

Fianally it was apparent we were getting closer to Kumasi ... the villages were closer and closer together and there were a lot of larger buildings (all mostly unfinished, of course)

And then we were there!

The tro tro station is very close to the market... and it was Saturday! We were caught in a traffic jam so i was treated to a close up view of a teaming mass of humanity the likes of which i had never seen before! My jaw literally dropped open! .. i know it was open because i caught my neighbour smiling at my increduality...i quickly closed my mouth :0 ... :)

Then we were out in amongst it all... it was chaotic, frenetic and disorientating... i kept my eye on Dela's quickly receding back and hustled my way through the crowd feeling a bit nonplussed..

Very soon though, it came through that though there were more of them, these were the same people i have come to know and respect...

I will try and describe a moment that sums it up for me.... After orientating ourselves with everyone's help we jumped into a shared taxi ... a person jumped in just a little bit later to share our taxi and then left before we did giving the driver a 5 ghana bill... The driver didn't have change but even though he was on a traffic roundabout surrounded by a bewildering array of cars he managed to reach out his hand with the bill , gave it to a nearby conductor of a passing trotro who then passed back the change ... all in the matter of seconds!!!...

this is Ghana...