A Day in Ghana

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A typical day in Accra, Ghana starts out around 7 am with the passing of the garbage truck which plays a tinkly tune, much like an ice cream truck. After a breakfast of toast, I head outside into the lovely 90 degree weather. The road I live on is really just a dusty red path that stains your feet, shoes, and clothes with orange dirt. At this time in the morning the street is usually filled with lots of Ghanaina children heading off to school. Reaching the end of the road I come to the shack that sells various items and plays rediculously loud music 24 hours a day. Around the corner is a soccer field, always filled with people of every age playing soccer. Round the next corner and I reach one of the main bustling streets of Accra. Walking through I must weave my way around the vendors, shops, and stands. I pass guys in aviators and converse next to women carrying 100 bananas on their heads and a babies tied to their backs, next to muslim men dressed fully in robes, next to school kids fighting to get a spot on a tro tro (which is like a mini bus). On the walk I pass a Lebanese restaurant next to a church, next to a chop bar selling goat meat on a stick and fried plantains, next to a gas station next to a shop selling things likely found on the street. I have to navigate through all these people and shops and the traffic.
The Lonely Planet guide book describes driving in Ghana as a combination of driving in New York City and Rome. Having never been to either of these places I will attempt to describe it in my own words. Here are the rules:
1) Don't stop. If you must stop do so for only the briefest possible moment.
2) Hit/run over/frighten as many pedestrians as possible. In fact the concept of pedestrian doesn't even exist here. Walkers have no rights and vehicles have no rules about walkers.
3) Whenever possible drive on the grass/sidewalk/median. See above rule.
4) Never allow any space to go wasted. Tro tros are the main form of public transportation. They are small buses which should probably carry no more than 12 or so people. There's never a tro with less than 20 people on it.
5) Never use features such as seatbelts, windshield wipers, brakes. Other volunteers have told me stories such as riding on a tro when the door fell off, or witnessing the wheel of a car fall off in the middle of the road.
6) Most importantly, honk the horn as much as possible. Bored? Honk. Happy? Honk. Tired? Honk. In every situation you can and should honk.
All of this takes place at a high speed, a high density of traffic on roads which, if paved at all, haven't been in the last 100 years and are lined by two foot deep sewer canals.

Well I've only described a brief portion of my morning and I've already written way too much. There is just so much here. It is so very Africa. After being here a week I'm still not used to seeing these things everyday. Despite the incredible differences, I feel like I'm settling in and becoming quite comfortable here.

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Comments

[Steve]

Driving
The driving rules remind me of those in New Orleans only you also need to be drinking.