Inna Keewa Key (I Miss You or Discomfort is Just a Symptom of an Unfamiliar State of Being, so Familiarize Yourself)

I’ve been doing so much travelling lately and despite the long hours and unpaved roads I seem to have a taste for it now! I absolutely love Tamale but any chance to get out and see more of Ghana is an opportunity I simply have to jump on J.

Needless to say I took full advantage of various family members’ travel plans and decided to just casually tag along and see how far across the country that would take me! Little did I know I’d get to cross six of Ghana’s 10 regions!

Luckily one of my cousins was getting ready to head back to college in the Brong-Ahafo region after a mid-semester break, there we’d meet our aunt Amina who had some errands to run in the capital Accra … so my route was pretty much set! My plan was to attempt a trip all the way down South to Accra and then back up North to Tamale, by road, within a week…

My route across the country!

Our journey begins on a cool Monday morning at precisely 4AM. My cousin Zalia and I had to go to the bus station and buy our tickets, which of course could only be bought on the day of travel! By the time we arrived at the station the line was so long that there was a good chance that we wouldn’t even get standing room. In our dire desperation we had to bribe a transport worker who was a friend of a friend of someone important, to get us tickets (when in Rome right?) Thankfully it worked and by 6AM we were off on a 4 hour journey to Techiman.

I’ll interrupt the flow of this post/the  journey to note a few key travel survival tips that I’ve picked up. For ease of comfort during long road trips such as this it is key to: drink as few fluids as possible and eat a lot of bread and bananas; it’ll keep you from squirming in your seat every time you hit a pothole or from needing to use questionable bathroom facilities or popping a squat in the bush.

After an relatively calm trip to Techiman, we still had to get to Attebubu, the town where my cousin attends college and where my aunt was meeting us. This meant chartering a taxi to drive us the 2.5 hours. I’m sure this leg of the trip should have taken longer, but our driver was flying around corners and speeding to beat no discernable traffic but rather his own personal record. As exhausted as I was by this point, it was the scenery that kept me alert. Ghana is absolutely stunning and in a few (relatively) short hours we’d moved from the dry savannah of the North to the forest belt in the middle of the country. It was so green with an abundance of banana and plantain trees all over the place.  

Once in Attebubu I received the grand tour of the small town from its bustling marketplace to the Teacher’s Training College Campus. In a country like Ghana, I always make the assumption that the further North you go, the harder the living conditions and vice versa. That little illusion was shattered in Attebubu; here we were, a good almost 7 hours South of where Tamale (where I normally live) and I found myself in a town with a water shortage and questionable electricity distribution. Long story short, I took a bath in the pitch black darkness with half a bucket of water … that was an experience, definitely made me feel like more of a local though.

Day #2 and my aunt and I are getting ready to continue on South. This started with getting a seat on a Tro-tro from Attebubu to Kumasi, one of Ghana’s most populated cities in the Ashanti Region. Tro-tros are like big vans from the 1970s that can carry about 15 people (legally), if not more – they’re very Scooby-Doo Van-esque and notorious for less than stellar driving records.

 

Scooby Doo Van - The Mystery Machine





Tro-tro ... see the resemblance?









I was a little apprehensive to have to be in one for 2 hours, but at least I wasn’t alone. Again, the scenery was enough to keep me distracted; especially this really amazing gorge we passed that just gave an amazing view of the mountainous areas of Ghana. 

Cliffside beauty

  

Once reaching a severely over-populated Kumasi (takes forever to get anywhere). We got seats on a coach to take us from Kumasi to Accra; a straight 6 hour shot. Now I have to mention how nice this coach was; it had full air conditioning, two flat screen televisions and lots of leg room (essential when you’re tall!) … faaancy J Road trippin’ in style, as it were. The most memorable part of this bit of the trip was that as we were leaving, a man got up and started a 30 minute preaching spiel in Twi (Chwee, the local language) where he blessed the bus, the journey, warded off  highway robbers (yeah, that actually happens here!). He did all this before introducing his friend who was selling Anti-Hemorrhoid tea?! And it was a hardcore sell too, like a live infomercial! And people were actually buying it! That kind of commercialism would never fly in Canada, let alone with hemorrhoid tea. Only in Africa.



That 6 hour bus ride took us through the Ashanti, Eastern and Greater Accra regions – phew! Little did I know my aunt was about to spring a surprise on me … we weren’t going straight to Accra – no, no. We were actually going to continue on further West into the Central Region to see my mom’s eldest sister (my aunt Zet) whom I hadn’t seen since I was 8! This meant getting picked up by relatives (42 - my family count!) and driving an hour from Accra to Kasoa (Ka-soo-wa), spending the night then waking up at the crack of dawn on Wednesday (Day #3) to take another Tro-tro into Winneba on a 1 hour journey.



Cocoa beans :)

16.5 hours and 6 vehicles later and we had finally arrived! I was so excited to be in Winneba, visiting my aunt and her husband (44). Since she was busy during the day with her job teaching, I spent a lot of time with her husband who showed me all around their property and around their small coastal town.

They had actual COCOA BEANS growing in their backyard! Ghana is famous for them but I’d never actually since or touched one!  



Traditional fishing on Winneba beaches





Winneba seaside fish market



We then went on a driven tour of Winneba from the beautiful beaches full of towering coconut trees, to the seaside market full of fresh catch-of-the-day and finally to the university campuses spread out across the town. 

 

Winneba University campus

 After a couple of chill days in Winneba I went down to Accra to spend some time with my dad’s side of the family whom I hadn’t really seen since my grandma’s funeral 2 months ago (52). They did a really great job of taking me across the entire city and pointing out big landmarks like the University of Ghana and Kwame Nkrumah circle (a major round-about) 



Chowing down with my cousin Keilan :)

Sunday was time for some reverse culture shock when I spent the day with my cousin Keilan, and his friends and we were reminiscing about the first time I had come to Ghana in 1995. My brother and I had insisted on eating pizza and it had been an absolute disappointment for those of us who knew what it should have tasted like and for Keilan who had never tasted it before. Accra has become much Westernized and now pizza is apparently quite common, you can even order it to your house. So we went out for pizza and I will say, it was pretty legit, I was surprised at how good it tasted … oh globalization! 

  



The evidence ...

On my very last day in the city I made my final stop at Teshie, one of the main army barracks in Accra, to visit my mom’s younger brother, whom again, I had not seen since 1998! He barely recognized me and we had so much catching up to do J Luckily, during that visit too, his son, my cousin Taufiq came home from work and we got a chance to hang out as well (54). It was nice to reconnect with people I’d been inseparable with on my trips to Ghana as a child, I was very thankful for that opportunity!



I woke up on Tuesday faced with a solo journey back home. I had opted for the road; it would be long and tiring but it would be a heck of a lot more interesting than just taking the plane, and at least this time it would be a straight 12hr (or so) shot across the country!



We left Accra at 9AM and pulled into the Tamale transport yard by about 10PM that evening. Surprisingly, I was awake the entire trip that took us through five regions and all manners of traffic; city, highway and highway construction. We passed toll booths, bodies of water, villages, towns, fringe towns and hubs that had transformed into mini-villages due to their proximity to the major highway routes. I literally watched the scenery modify from dense tropical forest to flat and sparse grassland and felt the moisture evaporate each mile we moved further North.



I pretty much took all of this past week to recover from the journey(s) but I got to see, live and breathe 6 more regions of my beautiful home, bringing my total to 8 - only 2 more to go! (Western and Volta Regions).

Moo Ba Moo Zamaa Yara Ba (We're No Longer Children)

March is in full swing and there’s no better way to gear up than with a ROADTRIPPP. That’s right, part 2 -  this time YA Director Agnes, fellow volunteer Alex and I ventured to Wa, the capital of the Upper West Region where the organization operates locally to combat youth poverty. 

The route between Tamale (right) and Wa (left). The roads can be so bad that people often travel further south to link up with a better route.

We met some of the standard organizational beneficiaries including school children, trades apprentices and women’s co-operative groups. 



School visit





Hairdressing apprentice



Women's co-operative group



Over the three days spent in Wa, we also had the privilege to meet some truly unique and inspiring individuals within the community who act as reminders of the great potential we all carry. There were three particular encounters that helped me  put things in perspective; a gathering at the transport yard with young street porters and two home visits to children supported by the organization.

In the last post I discussed the upcoming YA campaign to peacefully involve street youth in the 2012 election. Through co-ordination with our Wa-based staff a meeting was arranged at the main transport yard with at least 20 young porters between the ages of 18-25. The purpose was to discuss the importance of their peaceful engagement in the election and to highlight important skill building sessions that would equip them to become informed community advocates amongst their peers.



Nashiru & I

 To be completely honest I (regretfully) had preconceived notions of an uneducated group who would instinctively accept whatever plans we proposed because they were uninformed and didn’t know any better - after all, isn’t that how they had ended up earning a living in a transport yard? Instead, I was (deservingly) slapped with the refreshing reality of a dynamic dialogue with the group, headed by their leader Nashiru.

We proposed training sessions to explain rights, democracy and the new biometric registration process. The need for sessions on conflict prevention and the co-existence of political ideologies was also a necessary inclusion given the group’s extensive experience with party-imposed bribery and its subsequent violence.

During the meeting

The young men raised practical questions and points from issues regarding substituting their time earning money to attend training, while others worried about facing the threat of violence themselves in the attempt to spread the message of peace. They also thoughtfully addressed the need for visual indicators (clothing & accessories) to affiliate them with the credibility of YA while actively campaigning during public rallies and marches. These were important organizational matters to consider as we were putting these youth on the front lines to literally be agents of change.

I walked away truly impressed by their maturity and willingness to harness control over their future welfare. It was living proof to me that given opportunity, outlook and desire are important pieces of the puzzle in changing one’s circumstances. Needless to say, this group will be one to watch for motivating change amongst their peers as the election season gets underway.



Group shot! :)


Lastly we had two home visits with YA beneficiaries. Normally, when the organization supports school children it is routine to conduct school, home and community visits to gain a holistic view of the their development as a problem in one area can often negatively affect the others. So far we’ve done quite a few school visits and spoken to several teachers, but this was the first time we were going on-site to view living conditions.



Agnes (YA Director) & Richard

We first met Richard, a polite and charming  12 year old boy who lives with his grandmother and uncle. Richard has a rare spinal condition and intestinal disorder that trouble him with decreased mobility and physical control over his bowels. He requires the use of a wheelchair and a constant supply of diapers due to the nature of his condition and is therefore heavily physically and emotionally dependent on his family. YA has been financially supporting Richard’s educational pursuits despite his medical problems. Although his developmental challenges see him currently enrolled at the Nursery 2 level, Richard speaks English at a High School level, enjoys learning  and has high aspirations of studying Computer Science.



Rosemary & Agnes (YA Director)

Rosemary is  a teenage girl who has overcome many obstacles to make it to where she is now. As a child, she was labeled as a “witch” by members of her community. Unfortunately, this is can be common in rural communities where witchcraft (aka “Juju” or African Electronics) is still practiced and a well-held traditional belief. One day she climbed a tree to escape the taunting, fell, broke her arm and was unable to seek medical attention due to the community’s belief that she would use sorcery to heal herself. Eventually, her arm had to be amputated to stop infection spreading from the broken bone. By this point the entire community, including her mother had rejected Rosemary and she had nowhere to turn until YA intervened. In co-operation with the Department of Social Welfare, the organization conducted counseling sessions for Rosemary, her mother and the community and rented a structure for the family to live in away from the influence of witchcraft believers. Rosemary is now a 15 year old girl who is reunited with her family and progressing in her education at the primary 3 (grade 3) level.

Our time in Wa made me reflect on the innocence of childhood and youth - it’s supposed to be a time for young people to learn, develop and grow within a nurturing and safe environment, free from suffering, doubt and pain. Given this definition,  the said individuals are by no means children. The bus station porters have had their naivety manipulated against them and are now being educated and empowered as young adults who understand that they have a right to and a say in their own destinies. Conversely, innocent children like Richard and Rosemary both face challenges that will forever alter their journey through adolescence, despite this they are embracing the opportunities they DO have with open arms. This makes them all so much more than children with the ability to simply hope for a better tomorrow;  they are living proof of the determination it takes to transform those dreams into realities they can live today.

I am honoured to have met them and to be able to share what is surely just the beginning of their stories so far …


PS: Click this link to check out the Youth Alive blog where I'll be writing in-depth stories about the people and communities the organization reaches!