Greetings from Ghana. We arrived safely and uneventfully on Wednesday and now we’re in a business conference center an hour outside of Accra for 10 days while we get settled and recover from jet lag.
It’s been an adventurous first few days. On the ride from the airport on Wednesday, I noticed that our Peace Corps bus driver was running red lights. I leaned forward in my seat to see what kind of danger we might be in. Turns out he was just following the lead of the motorcycle-cop escort that I wasn’t aware of. It’s a great way to beat rush hour traffic. The ride back into Accra the next morning (also with a motorcycle-cop escort) was even more exciting. We spent more time going the wrong way in the lane of opposing traffic than we did in the proper lane. But we sure got to our destination a lot faster than if we’d had to wait in rush hour traffic. I don’t think we’ll be able to count on such service every day.
For yesterday’s adventure (dubbed the Ghana Quest) we were each given GH₵ 50 (50 Ghanaian cedis, about $4.50), divided into three groups, and each group was given a different destination with instructions to travel there, learn something about the locale, and return to our hotel by public transportation (tro-tros: think of a full size van carrying up to 20 people squeezed together). For my group our quest was to go to Independence Square, which honors the founding of the republic in 1960. Although the instructions were relatively clear, there was a bit of a language barrier between us and the tro drivers (i.e., there’s a difference between the “official” language – English – and the patois of the street). After getting halfway to our destination (@ GH₵ 10/ea), we found ourselves in a busy market where we find a different tro to Independence Square. Miscommunication led us to get on the wrong tro (@ GH₵ 17/ea). We found ourselves 15 miles in the wrong direction. Our tro driver helped us find a taxi that took us directly to our destination, but at a cost of GH₵ 100 for the four of us. For those doing the math, we had spent all the money we were given (and then some) just to get to our destination, and we were about an hour behind schedule. Nevertheless, we explored our assigned landmark, learned some history, and then found a tro-tro going in the direction of our hotel. Fortunately one of our group had some cash left over from her visit to Ghana last year, so we were only 2 hrs late getting back. The fact that there were four of us together and the knowledge that getting lost was not unexpected, we enjoyed ourselves a lot.
Short observations:
- One of our cohort is deaf, as is one of the volunteers already serving here (they’ll be teaching at schools for the deaf). Watching them and others communicating so animatedly via sign language has been inspirational; it introduces a whole new dimension to communication. I want to learn at least some sign language.
- I haven’t gotten to know so many people so well in such a short span of time since my freshman year of college.
- Comfort Zone? Comfort Zone? I think the airline misplaced my comfort zone because I haven’t seen it since I arrived. That may be because I’m still feeling jet lagged, but then there are the differences in language and food. On top of that, everything we learn is potentially important to our experience as volunteers, so there’s a lot of incentive to pay attention during presentations. I feel a bit like I’ve been strapped to a rocket that’s already taken off.
Lastly, some local sights:
Not A Typical Day 
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