A fine mess of contradictions

Akwaaba

Welcome to Africa! These were the first words I heard as we landed on Ghanaian soil. Ghana is unlike anywhere I have ever been. The plane ride was definitely one of my better. I flew a small plane from Toronto to New York (like under 30 people!) which actually made me kind of nervous but on my 10 hour flight from NYC I sat beside a really nice guy going to Liberia for his dad's funeral. He was born there but he hasn't been back in years and he honestly seemed more freaked out than I was! So we chatted for a bit about what it was going to be like, and how he wasn't sure what to expect. He left Liberia during the civil war, so he was not only nervous to be going to Africa he said, but nervous to go to Liberia, a place he barely remembered after living in the States for so long. The flight was spacious and there seemed to be other volunteers around, and I had a decent meal that made me feel slightly ill because I never eat plane food but ate the whole disgusting thing to take my malaria pill. I managed to sleep a little too. I woke up in the middle of the night seeing our plane on the monitor move closer to our African destination and had a mini panic attack realizing I couldnt go back!

The airport wasn't bad at all. That was one of my biggest fears because everyone told me it was super intimidating, but besides the woman questioning my visa for a while, I got through okay and customs joked around with me. I still have a Canadian apple with me- take that US security and Ghanaian! haha I just really wanted to have it around in case. Anyways, Sylvia the Ghanaian coordinator was waiting for me and we took a cab ride to the house. The house originally scared me a little- not because it wasnt nice, just because I had potentially expected it to be nicer? I don't know, but then once I explored the area I realized we were really living in luxury. I share the bottom bunk with another girl from Toronto, so its pretty decent. And the food they make is actually really accomodating to my sensitive stomach so far! (SO FAR, everyone who lives there has been sick or had a horrible story so I'm not counting on staying healthy for too long, oh God).

But my first day my supervisor took me around Accra and we even found a place where we could eat the salad, so I had some of that and some hummus and the town is pretty wild. We took a tro -tro which is like a cab/bus . Basically they put about 15 people in a car thats supposed to seat about 8 people max and then they try to close its rusty door and you pay for as far as you go. We went into Osu, an area of Accra and we wandered around, and I was able to go to the bank, which thankfully was air conditioned because it is going to be a very sweaty trip I'm sure. I met a lot of her local friends as well, who are all really nice and really cool. Ghana is hot- all the time- you sweat non-stop, in your sleep, practically the second you step out of the shower. So, I'm going to be going through a million water bottles a day.I'm also definitely going to have to learn more Twi- everyone here mixes it with english, so its going to be a lot more necessary in my placement in Kumasi.

Let me just give you a little description of Accra. Traffic is madness. There are areas so impoverished that its actually impossible for me to comprehend. Raw sewage flows in gutters and CHICKENS, yes chickens are swimming in it- making me very reluctant to eat any chicken while I'm here if they are eating garbage and poo. But the neighbourhood kids are all the cutest things I've ever seen, and just run around with no shoes and stare at me. I havent really stuck out here because there seem to be a lot of NGO's and a lot of foreigners around. We obviously have to be careful, but its not bad. The place is beautiful in such a different way. People in the area we visited today - Jamestown- live in housing I cannot even imagine. Like no roofs, garbage everywhere, nothing I've ever seen in real life. We visited a beach as well, that was just coated in garbage. They dont have recycling and I dont think they have a sustainable place to put garbage either because its everywhere. As a Canadian, I realize how naive I've been about the world. It is so dramatically different that its actually incomprehensible, like I could not even imagine if I lived my life like that. Ghanaians are super friendly- obviously not everyone- but in general I have met a lot of nice people. For the next week we will be here in Accra doing some cultural training, learning what to eat, and where to go and how to be safe. I'm actually terrified to take a tro-tro on my own- I would screw it up right away with the 10,000 cedi's etc conversion I'm almost always in the dark about the money. But it will come to me. Everything here is cheap- we took a cab all around the city for a few hours and it cost us 6 Canadian and my supervisor thought it was a rip-off!

Kersten my supervisor is from B.C. and she's really great. Knows a lot about the culture, but also recognizes the doesnt know everything. She's taught me a lot, just about safety and dealing with locals. There are twelve other people living in the house- some from Journalism for Human Rights and some from other NGO's. Everyone is young and pretty nice, from all over Canada and the world. Some girls from Holland are going to be travelling to Kumasi with me - thankfully- so we can brave our new city together and maybe travel at some point? Right now, things are sooo different, but I think I could grow to love it here with a little adjustment. I miss everyone at home of course, but I'll keep you all updated. I'm eventually going to get a cell phone, it just might take a little time. Nothing moves quickly here- especially not the traffic! But if I can get internet - if the power works which it tends not to do- I will send emails and updates to you all....Wish me luck!

posted by Kate @ 12:44 PM