Awkwaba Ghana!

If there’s one country on our itinerary that will continue to hold my heart tightly in its grip, I think it will be Ghana. I have a particular affection for Ghana’s people…for their strength and dignity and joy, and for the warmth they extended us time and time again during our stay there.

You really can’t begin to understand Ghana until you wrap your head around (A) its diversity, (B) its history, and (C) the continent (with all its many problems) to which Ghana belongs (posts about some of these points in the days to come).

Imagine a country roughly about the size of Oregon containing 46 active languages, and 72 different ethnic groups. This makes a question like “What language do you speak in Ghana?” a complicated one.

Ghana is also a very young country; 52 years ago it wasn’t Ghana and it wasn’t independent.

This means that Ghana hasn’t figured out how to neatly package itself for foreign consumption (the tourist industry is still VERY new here), and I have to say that I found this to be incredibly refreshing. Believe it or not, there’s not even one McDonalds in the entire country (thank heavens there’s still a place on the globe to which that phrase applies).

We were actually the first cruise vessel ever to anchor at the port in Tema, and we’re also the largest group of students to ever visit Ghana (since we’re the first Semester at Sea voyage to ever stop in Ghana…which is all to say that there were many firsts for all in involved.

Allie and I had an amazing time at a local university on our first day in Ghana. We got to have lunch with some Ghanaian students, and then sit in on a lecture one of their professors was giving on traditional African proverbs. After the lecture, we taxied into the city (Accra) and explored, made some local friends at the market (chatted with them for a while), and had dinner at a traditional Ghanaian restaurant.

On Wednesday, we hiked a mountain up to these stone caves at Shai Hills Game Reserve. At the top, there was the most beautiful view of the savanna stretching for miles on all sides (Lion King style). We also saw some baboons and a few antelope. The tour of the Asokombo Dam was interesting (granted turbines and power plants have never really been my thing). It’s an impressive feat for sure (the lake created by this dam covers 4% of the country), and my professor is super enthusiastic, so that helps things.

Thursday was my tour of the castles/slave dungeons. It was a very long bus ride to Cape Coast (Ghana has LOTS of traffic), all totaled I spent about 7.5 hours on a bus, but I was glad I got the opportunity to visit both Elmina Castle, the first colonial fort ever built in sub-Saharan Africa (constructed by the Portuguese before Columbus even started his journey for the Americas, and later taken by the Dutch), as well as Cape Coast Castle (built by the British) which were the two most significant forts in the facilitation of the trans-Atlantic slave trade. It is as grotesque and nauseating as you could imagine—and something that will stick with me for a lifetime.

My last day in Ghana, Madeline, Allie, and I trekked around Accra (the capital) and Tema (our port city), getting harassed by vendors and making friends along the way. We were on a mission to find Ghanaian chocolate and fresh plantain chips—and this mission took us on quite an adventure that I will spare you the details of for fear my mother might faint (I’ve got to save some stories for when I return home, right?). BUT, I can say we did find both chocolate and heavenly, wonderful, divine plantain chips (and got a healthy dose of laughter in there too).

More thoughts on Ghana to come, but for now, I must say goodnight (I have papers to write…boo!). I miss everyone in Pasadena, SLO, and beyond ever-so-much! I do hope all is well!

Love. Anna