Blogs from Accra, Greater Accra, Ghana, Africa
The Road to Accra and the People we Meet
Published: March 3rd 2012Africa » Ghana » Greater Accra » Accra
February 29th 2012
The road from Tema to Accra is only 18 km, however, the traffic is so bad that it takes between 1.5-2 hours to get to the capital. The road is being widened; the Chinese have given money for infrastructure building in Ghana. But the project moves slowly, as much a product of corruption as it is limited resources. Tro-tros, pick up and drop off travelers along the way, a cheaper means of travel, and one we should have considered for this adventure had we known we would all be sitting in gridlock for as long as we are. A taxi didn't turn out to be the time saver we had expected. Sitting in our taxi, we move so slowly that our driver periodically turns the engine off to save gas. He pulls over and pees at ... read more
Accra, Ghana and drive to Lome, Togo
Published: November 10th 2011Africa » Ghana » Greater Accra » Accra
November 4th 2011
When I flew into the airport in Accra, it was the normal type of chaos that I expected. Tons of people waiting at the belts for luggage, none of the bank machines worked and of course one of my pieces of luggage was half unzipped by the time I took it off the belt. I'd read before I travelled not to pack anything electronic, or worth stealing because it would be gone so I put all of my laptops and electronics in my carry on bags - a good thing apparently. I bought a sim card, exchanged some American money into Ghanian cedis and grabbed a taxi to my hotel. Initially Ghana looked like a typical Caribbean city - very hot, and very dry with terrible drivers. The one thing that made Ghana different were the ... read more
November 3rd 2011
It’s been a while since my last blog, mostly because I didn’t think I had anything that interesting to talk about. Now I think I do, because I’m in Africa. It’s always been my dream to come here but I never thought it would happen, and now it has. The journey even getting here was pretty interesting so I’ll start there. Because of the flood situation in Bangkok we got moved to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia for about 5 days until things settled down. It’s quite interesting watching all of the news coverage, especially CNN because while it was somewhat accurate a lot of it was completely wrong. The flooding in northern Thailand was, and still is, very bad. Hundreds of people died and many more had their entire houses destroyed. The water was meters deep in ... read more
June 29th 2011
This week I think I will start off by talking about work, as it was slightly different this week and I guess I am out here to work after all. So besides the usual giving talks to schools, we also visited 3 HIV patients (and gave them each some money that Louise's friend donated) and did a radio broadcast to the local village. Visiting the HIV patients was very interesting. On the Thursday we visited 2 who lived in the same village - both very poor and living out of 1 room only. One of the patients had had the virus for 8 years and the other 5 and both were struggling to live with it. Neither of them were able to hold down jobs and both relied on children for support. Neither could afford health ... read more
I'm Ghana Have a Great Time
Published: June 19th 2011Africa » Ghana » Greater Accra » Accra » Korle BuJune 12th 2011
Arrived in Accra at 1am. Security took about an hour to get through. Then I went to arrivals and met the guy who was taking me to the school, a fella called Christian. He didnt speak great English, and was with 3 other people. We got in a car and headed off. Five minutes after we left the airport a bus in front of us went off the road and crashed into a barrier. It was going about 60mph at the time and the driver had almost gone through the windscreen, completely shattering it. Christian looked at me and said "Your first fatality in Ghana!" and started laughing. Brilliant. Then 10 minutes later we drive into a really busy market. It was like something from District 9. Big fires here and there, people banging on the ... read more
June 8th 2011
Hello, This weekend marked Christa's last weekend in Ghana before she leaves (which incidentally is later today,) so naturally we all met up to say goodbye. The original plan was to meet up in Kumasi on Friday to watch the Congo vs Ghana Africa Cup of Nations qualifier and then go down to Accra for the weekend. So, Louise and I went to buy tickets for the game on Thursday - although when we got there we were told that none were sold in advance (which is typical of Ghana really,) so one could call it a bit of a wasted trip. However, as we arrived the Ghana football team were also arriving at the stadium for a press conference. Chaos ensued. As soon as the gates into the stadium opened everybody in the crowd suddenly ... read more
May 24th 2011
Hello everyone, sorry it has been so long since my last entry but I haven't been on the internet for a while! First things first, the wedding reception, which I was about to go to last time I was writing. This was a rather interesting affair, although quite similar to an English one in many ways. It was held in a big hall at a University just on the outskirts of Accra and was a buffet meal with a high table and there were some speeches - so far very English. However, the start time was officially 3:30 and we were some of the first there at 5pm, with guests continually arriving throughout the night. The members who sat at the high table didn't actually know they would be sitting at it until they were called ... read more
May 21st 2011
Well….today was my first day in Ghana. Got here at 7am Ghana time and have not stopped since. We stopped first at the dress shop to get dresses made for our stay and to bring home as souvenirs. It was really neat and “Mercy” the seamstress can make any dress in any style and fabric you want. We then went out to lunch and I tried a type of fufu (boiled cassava and plantains usually boiled and pounded into a white gooey mush that resembles the glue you used to eat in kindergarten) mine was a variant of fermented maize…yum! After you wash your hands in the bowl of water on the table, you pour the soup and meat over the fufu. You then cut a piece of fufu (with your right hand only) crater it ... read more
Harold, The Cockerel and Marriage
Published: May 14th 2011Africa » Ghana » Greater Accra » Accra » Korle BuMay 14th 2011
Hey all, I believe I left off last time saying that we were going to kill the chicken, the goat, my host sister was getting married and I actually have work to do! Thus, I start this entry by saying that all of these things have now happened successfully. I didn't see the chicken being killed, but I did see the fact that the eat more or less every part of the chicken (even the head) and the taste of revenge is sweet. It was a very tasty bit of chicken, and Helen's sister cooked (she is an amazing cook!) it with a really nice spicy tomato-y sauce and Fufu. I have to say, the only slight disappointment is how they eat the meat. Because they eat the whole thing they do just hack the chicken ... read more
April 14th 2011
Hi all, So now I have been in Ghana for 5 days, and I think it would be fair to say that it is a little different. I think the first thing that is notable is definitely the driving. The Ghanaians simply cannot drive. For example, after being met at the airport by the African company taking care of us volunteers (SYTO), the driver proceeded to drive us to our hostel where we are staying here in Accra before we go off to our projects tomorrow. On missing the junction, he thought it sensible to reverse back down the 3 lane highway straight in to another vehicle before proceeding to get out and shout at the other drive in Twi (the local language) that he shouldn't have crashed into him. The next day he decided to ... read more
