Ghana History

On Saturday we took our second trip to Accra for a bit more sight-seeing. We stepped off the tro-tro and straight into the biggest and busiest market area of the capital. We needed to get through the sea of bodies to get to the coast where we had things we wanted to see. Through the crush and dodging people I saw traders of fabric, meat, peppers of every colour, spices and most interestingly giant live African snails. I could only assume that these were for food and after the lack of meat we’ve been having in Sogakope, I found myself thinking that the meaty snails would actually make a pretty good meal! I am actually having dreams about food and fantasies about roast pork sandwiches with apple sauce and crackling mmm!

We visited the Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Park. Nkrumah was the first President of Ghana, securing its independence from the British in 1952. The park had a pretty interesting museum of Nkrumah’s life and housed his tomb. He also pioneered the idea of a formal union of the African nations which he did achieve. However, sadly I have not seen evidence to suggest that his future-focussed vision of Ghana’s development into a self sufficient nation without need for foreign aid, has yet been achieved.

We left the park and after a short walk reached the coast, cutting through what looked like a city slum to see the Atlantic ocean. There were huts right on the edge of the cliffs and a Rastafarian bar inviting passers-by to come in and chill out. I wish I could say that the view was beautiful but the ocean is full of rubbish along the coast in Accra, which washes up on the small beaches at the bottom of the cliffs. We made our way along the coast and found the restaurant we’d read about in the guide book, that sat right on the edge of the cliffs. We had the usual Ghanaian wait but ate some pretty nice vegetarian food.

After lunch, Jonny and I went along to Fort Ussher. We passed a Cadbury’s factory which I got very excited about but sadly they did not have chocolate for sale L We reached the fort which was quite hard to identify as it is one of many run down and derelict buildings in the area. There was no one at the door so we wandered in a little cautiously and found a man lying on a bench in the middle of the fort. He turned out to be the security guard and agreed to give us an unofficial tour around the fort which has not yet been developed into a tourist site. Ashamedly, the fort was used to house slaves by the British. The guide showed us where men were chained to the floor, where they were hanged and where the men were bought and sold. The place was very eerie with short sayings and images of Jesus etched into the walls by the captives. We were also shown the room in which Nkrumah himself was imprisoned by the British as a revolutionary for his resistance against the colonial rule. It was very interesting and I’m glad we did it but I was quite glad to leave.

We walked down to a very large art market. As usual, I couldn’t help buying some local African art and met a great guy calling himself ‘Black Rasta’. There are a lot of Rastafarians in Ghana, especially in Accra and Black Rasta taught me a lot more about their beliefs and Jah, their God. After the sticky heat and not-so-welcome hassle in the market we headed home.

On Sunday, Jonny asked if I wanted to watch the Manchester United vs Arsenal match in the local football ‘hut’ he has found. And it was exactly that, a ‘hut’ with a TV, in which they charge viewers to watch the game. Predictably, despite the exciting score of 8-2, I was not that interested in the football. However, 50 pesewa (about 20 pence) was more than worth witnessing 50 Ghanaian men’s’ jaws dropping to the ground when a white woman walked into their sanctum to watch the football. Very funny!!

As eluded to in previous blogs, the NGO we are working with have not been especially forthcoming with volunteering projects for Jonny and I. Jonny is doing great as he has established his own link with coaching Akatsi Football Club and we are both still helping every day we can at the local orphanage. However, I have been growing increasingly anxious to teach and plan for the upcoming return to school after the summer holidays. I decided to make my own contact at a local school called Comboni. It is a technical and vocational school but follows a normal school curriculum as well. I met with the Headmaster and Deputy Head on Thursday and they seem very keen for me to help the English department. It all sounds very promising. I have to say that the formal meeting about teaching took about 20 minutes and the rest of the hour was trying to explain to the Deputy that just because I did not have a faith, that I did not worship Satan! It was all light-hearted and he was fascinated as he had never heard that there are people in the world that do not follow a religion. He did not understand how I could exist without belonging to a group or having a religious identity. I finally said that, whilst I don’t necessarily identify with this label, some people call such individuals atheists. He even called his colleague in to show him ‘an atheist’ which was followed by more disbelief and laughter. After much hilarity and advice from his colleague that I should dump Jonny and marry an African man, I left feeling quite hopeful about my teaching future at the school.