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Published: March 16th 2009
Hello,
Again, I must apologize for not writing sooner. I’ve had a busy past few weeks.
School is becoming more frustrating as time goes on. Sadly, out of the 4 classes I am taking, only 2, African Philosophical Thought and Africa in the International Setting, have any redeeming value. The other 2, Leadership 4 and West African Cultural Values, are, essentially, a waste of time. It’s really disappointing when, after traveling thousands of miles around the world, I have to spend several hours a week sitting through classes and doing assignments I don’t care about whatsoever.
On a lighter note, I’ve had an amazing past few days because last week was Ashesi’s spring break and I had some time to get out of Accra. We started the week with a CIEE planned trip to Kumasi, Ghana’s second largest city located in the Ashanti region. On Saturday, after a 5-hour bus ride north, we visited the museum of the Ashanti King then went to the Kumasi market. The next day, we visited a small community outside the city that was known for its Adinkra fabric. This fabric consists of hand-woven pieces of cloth that are stamped with Adinkra symbols.
These symbols come from the Akan people and each one has a different philosophical meaning. From there, we traveled to another small community that was known for its kente cloth. This cloth is what most people think of when they think of “African cloth”. It is hand-woven on traditional looms and is incredibly intricate and colorful.
Sunday night, some friends and I traveled back to Accra to get ready for our own adventure. Early Monday morning we took a tro-tro to Akosombo, a port city on the shore of Lake Volta, the largest man-made lake in the world. After getting some good pictures of the Akosombo Dam, which provides most of Ghana’s electricity, we headed for the port to board the M.V. Yapei Queen for our ferry voyage northward. This overnight ferry is primarily a cargo vessel that carries yams and drinking water to villages that boarder the lake, but also takes passengers. For about 6 dollars, we had a nice alternative to another long, boring bus ride.
We arrived at our destination, Yeji, late on Tuesday night. After getting in a bit of a quarrel with a greedy hotel manager at one of the hotels in town,
we were finally able to get a shower and a good night sleep. At dawn on Wednesday morning, we awoke to try and get one of the local fishermen to run us across the lake to the northern shore. We were quickly ushered onto a massive canoe (about 80 to 100 feet long) and waited patiently as other townspeople and their cargo, piled in. When the canoe was packed with upwards of 200 people, we began our voyage across the lake to the small town of Makongo. Once in Makongo, we boarded another tro-tro bound for Tamale, the central hub for the Northern region.
2 hours into the sweaty tro-tro ride, I asked the driver if I could ride on the roof. After I got out of the uncomfortable cabin, the ride was much more enjoyable. As the warm savannah air blew past, I was able to get some great pictures of traditional mud hut villages that wouldn’t have looked out of place had they existed a few hundred years ago. Upon arrival in Tamale around noon, as the West African sun beat down upon our weary bodies, we hurried over to the bus station to try and get
the only transport of the day to Larabanga, a small village about 6km outside of Mole National Park. We were disappointed to learn that all the tickets were sold out. As we sat and pondered how we would be able to reach our destination, we were befriended by a man named Muhammad. He worked for the tourist board of Larabanga and helped us acquire tickets that would allow us to stand on the bus for the 4-hour journey. Apparently, several other people had the same idea and for the majority of the journey, the isles of the bus were so crampt I wasn’t able to reach into my pocket to check my cell phone. Needless to say, it was a relief when we arrived, exhausted and smelly, to Larabanga in the late afternoon.
We were greeted at the bus stop by a man named Al-Hassan, one of the Salia brothers with which we had arraigned to stay with. Although I was skeptical of him at first, he turned out to be the friendliest, most welcoming hotel manager I have met in Ghana. We spent the evening gathered around a fire, eating rice and stew, and talking/playing soccer with his
younger nieces and nephews. As we were all very tired, we retired early to the roof of the guesthouse and spent the night under the stars.
The next morning, we rented bikes and rode the 6km down the dusty, bumpy road to Mole National Park. Upon arrival, we check into the Mole Motel and headed to the restaurant for lunch. In the late afternoon, we headed out on a guided walk around the park. We were lucky enough to see 5 elephants, kob, waterbuck, warthogs, and several kinds of birds up close. The next morning, the 7 of us rented a car to take up deeper into the park with the hopes of seeing more animals. This turned out to be a bad idea because the diesel engine of the car was so loud it scared off the majority of the wildlife we encountered. We also discovered that the tse-tse fly (small biting flies that carry African sleeping sickness) is attracted to colorful slow-moving vehicles and were covered in bites when we returned from our overpriced adventure. Later that afternoon, we rode back to Larabanga to stay another night on the roof of the Salia brothers guesthouse.
Before
I continue, let me warn any fellow travelers reading this: DON’T STAY AT THE MOLE MOTEL UNLESS YOU LIKE RUDE, OVERPRICED SERVICES AND AMMENITIES. The staff at the Motel was horrible, always trying to cheat us and treating us much more like a dollar sign than a human being. Stay in Larabanga.
We awoke extremely early on Friday morning to catch the 4AM bus from Mole back to Tamale. When we arrived in Tamale, we went and bought tickets for the overnight bus back to Accra. As we had the whole day to explore Tamale, we decided to check out the central market and cultural center. The market was nothing special but the cultural market was really interesting and I bought some pretty cool souvenirs. At 4PM we boarded the bus back to Accra and arrived home at about 3AM. Luckily, my friend had purchased some sleeping pills from a local pharmacy so the 11-hour trip went by relatively quickly.
I’ve found that traveling around this country is both the most rewarding and most frustrating experience I’ve had so far.
I have never been more aware of the issue of race than I am now. Although I’ve
been here for over 2 ½ months, I still feel very white. People call out to me as I walk down the street, “Hey White Man!” Sometimes, when the subject of white travelers comes up, Ghanaians will refer to us as “you people” (not as though we are to be despised, but rather that we are different from the majority). Although it is much more rare than when I first arrived, I will still get the occasional taxi driver that will try to charge me 7 cedis for a ride that should be 2. As frustrating and uncomfortable these things are, in a strange way, I am glad I’m experiencing them. I feel these are things I need to experience these things if I am to be successful in helping people in the developing world. When I first heard W.E.B. Dubios say that the biggest problem of the 20th century was the color line (ie: race), I thought he was crazy. But now, after truly experiencing race and “what it means to be white”, I fully agree his statement. Race is something that cannot be learned or taught. It needs to be lived to be understood.
The longer I’m
here, the more I realize how little I really need. Things I once considered “essential” to a happy life (ie: running water, showers, washing machines, new clothes) no longer seem that important. In general, America is a place where it is difficult to be deemed “successful” unless you have acquired financial wealth and material goods. People define themselves by what they own and how much they can buy. Don’t get me wrong, its nice to be able to enjoy the finer things in life, but the fact is, there is more to life than how much money one can make. After being out of the country for a short period, I truly see how trivial and unrewarding this lifestyle is. Now, more than ever, I am beginning to realize it is experiences, much more than “things”, that bring true happiness. I would much rather prefer an evening with a few beers, a campfire, and some good company after a long day of traveling to an expensive “night on the town” any day.
Enjoy the pictures...when I eventually get them uploaded. The internet is being annoying...
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Mom
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What an adventure!
Thanks for the stories. I am so impressed with your wisdom! and I can't wait to see your pictures. Love, Mom