I Awake in Accra

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August 21: I arrived on a cool Tuesday night and was promptly plunged, wild eyed, into the hive of activity immediately outside Kotoka airport. Pushing through the touts, I was packed into a waiting van and shuttled to the University, where I was handed a key to my room, a cold dinner of rice and chicken in a styrofoam box, and a roll of toilet paper. It seemed like such a dream.

The past few days I have been acclimating to the weather, which has been extremely easy considering the usual temperature is around 80F and a cool breeze blows off the coast. My second night in Accra, I ventured to the beach with two friends to experience a Rastafarian party. It was a good time: blaring live reggae music; hundreds of Ghanaian rastafarians dancing and rejoicing on the beach; and all the while the cool waters of the Atlantic lapping at our feet. As I relaxed under a few palms, mesmerized by the bonfire (and a pretty German girl dancing with abandon around it), I was treated to a couple shots of akpeteshie with our natty-dreaded hosts. The home made spirit, distilled from fermented palm wine, gave me an entirely new understanding of why the 140 proof beverage is called "firewater."

It was also here that I was first truly impressed by the kindness of the people. A new Ghanaian friend walked with us along the beach for quite a while, and asked if we were enjoying West Africa. When we responded with a resounding "yeah!" he handed Andrew a book about Ghana and said he wanted us to learn as much as we could about the country. When Andrew said he had no money to pay for the gift, the Ghanaian simply replied that he expected nothing in return. It was his way of welcoming us to his country.

The next day, the small group of Americans toured the campus and became "familiarized" with the different departments. The campus is very large, with a population of about 27,000 students from across Africa. We were given a class on etiquette in Ghana by one of the professors, a short talk about health and disease that caused me to reminisce about the drivers ed course I had taken in high school, and a few tips on the Ashanti Twi (pronounced chree) language, which, among other languages, is widely spoken in the area. Although my spelling of the language will undoubtedly be far from correct, I'll share a few common phrases I have picked up:

Medassi: Thank You
Medassi Pa: Thank you very much
Medassi Papapapa (said in a rapid, sputtering manner): Thank you! (Emphatically)
E te sen: How are you?
Eye: Good
Boko: Fine
Obruni: White person
Merekokea Nana (pronounced May-co-chea Nana): "Im going to greet the chief" (a Ghanaian euphemism for going to urinate).

I'll post again when time permits. Take care.

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Photos

Cape Coast
View of the Ghanaian coast from the town's infamous slave fort.

Comments

[Brenda]

sounds thrilling
Brian, sounds as if you are going to have a truly enriching experience! So happy to hear that the weather is so comfortable and gentle--I imagined it would be brutally hot. What great news! And the image of the rastafarians dancing on the beach to the reggae music sounds liberating! What a wonderful life!

[Aunt Connie]

Awesome
Thank you for letting us live vicariously through your writings. I think you're awesome. Aunt Connie

[Brande]

cool
Brian, Wow! Is all I can say. I can't wait to see some pictures. Soak it all up! Brande