Arrival in Ghana: Cape Coast

AKWAABA OBRUNI

(Welcome White Person)

I made it.  After a grand total of 16 hours in the air, I am finally in Ghana. 

And it couldn’t be better.

We landed in Accra, the capital of Ghana, and then traveled together by bus with all of our bulging luggage to Cape Coast, the coastal city rich with culture that we would be staying in for our first week.  On the ride to Cape Coast, we stopped in a market area and wandered around for a bit.  I met this nice lady pictured below and her male friend.  She offered me a pear drink and a plantain and her friend told me he loved me.  I gave the man the drink and took the plantain for myself gratefully.  She was very sweet and was extremely excited to be in a picture with me.  I wish I had caught her name. 

There are 15 of us and we all stay in one home under the generosity of our host-mom and chef extraordinaire Veronica here in Cape Coast.  There is no internet connection at our house, which allows us all to get closer together and really take in the experience first-hand.  We do have a guitar and pool table and many of us brought compact games we play.  I thoroughly enjoy our down time in the house, which we have most evenings after dinner. 

The first morning here, we went to a church and it was spectacular.  The sermon was powerful and told the story of Jesus “stooping down” to a sinner and explaining to the persecutors that “one who has not sinned should cast the stone”.  Although I’m not religious, the reverend spoke volumes.  There was a ton of singing and dancing and we were given time to wander around the church to make a new friend or two.  Church was our first real taste of Ghanaian culture.  Our next taste came shortly after… 

We left the church and walked to a beautiful beach.  We put our feet in the water and collected shells until one of our people noticed some men working in the distance.  They were pulling in a net they had set out at sea in order to catch some fish.  There must have been 20 men yanking the rope with all their might.  The rope extended off into the ocean; we could not see the net.  It could have been miles from shore for all we knew.  All 15 of us helped pull but we couldn’t stay long enough to see the net actually get pulled onto the sand, but still it was fulfilling work.  The men all thanked us and we moved on our way. 

The next day (Monday, September 29^th) we had orientation and cultural induction where we learned about what we would be doing in Cape Coast and some customs known to the area and to Ghana in general (such as only using your right hand to greet people as your left hand is reserved for bathroom use, and never crossing your legs while meeting with someone older than you).  Then we had a cultural excursion to Cape Coast Castle.  On our guided tour, we saw both the male and female slave dungeons of the castle as well as the sleeping quarters of the royal English who resided there.  The castles walls extend right up to the water’s edge, so to say the least, it was gorgeous.  Incidentally, I didn’t bring my camera. Yay me. 

Later that night, we had training for the medical outreach we would be partaking in the next day.  This entailed pricking people with sterile pins, checking their blood type (or blood group as they call it here in Ghana), testing to see if the person has malaria, and sterilizing and bandaging wounds.  We learned all of the very meticulous techniques outside in the evening by flashlight. 

For those of you that may be interested in the way the medical stuff worked, read this paragraph.  If not, proceed past these scribblings and continue on at your leisure.  Thank you.  First, the pricking.  Pins were concealed in a little plastic covering, which had a top that you could twist off.  The actual pin part was about a third of a centimeter long.  The trick was to prick hard and fast, and then enough blood would surface for all of the tests.  For the malaria test, we used a tiny syringe to place the blood onto the test kit was a sheet of plastic with a divot for the blood, a chemical that caused a reaction if the person had malaria, and a narrow cloth-like sheet in which lines would appear, indicating the status of the person.  One line across the cloth meant no malaria.  Two lines was bad news.  For the blood grouping, you had to take three droplets of blood, spreading them out on a sterile tile, and place a unique chemical in each one.  The yellow chemical was first and it if there was no reaction with the blood and the chemical then the person had A type blood.  Next was blue, and if there was no reaction with the blood and the chemical, the person had B type blood.  Finally, the clear solution indicating whether the blood type was positive or negative.  Reactions in both yellow and blue meant O and reactions in neither meant AB.  I also spent time doing wound care.  There we sterilized wounds using alcohol soaked cotton balls and then dressed the wounds with gauze and that reddish brown goop surgeons use to prep patients on the table.  I forgot the name of it.  That was a lot of information.  Sorry.

So we went to a more indigenous village (I’ve come to say “indigenous” as opposed to “less developed” as I have spent more time here) to perform our medical outreach.  We were introduced to the chief and his assistant and then we began our work.  Resources were low, and we didn’t have enough malaria pills to hand out to those that had the illness, so that was unsettling, but still we did our part in diagnosing the problem.  I tested the blood of all kinds of Ghanaians: men, women, old, young (getting a sufficient amount of blood to come out of the kids for the tests while they were screaming and crying posed a challenge but we all pulled through).  There was one particular girl who had been stuck with the pin a few times by another global gapper to no avail.  So I swooped in and finally got some blood from her after sticking the poor girl for a fourth and final time.  That little girl in the blue dress whose name we couldn’t quite make out (Maglet?) was the first person with malaria we had to diagnose without giving the pills to.  After that, I went to the wound care station, which was even worse.  There, I only treated two young girls, but there wounds were exposed, open, and dirty, making cleaning and dressing them extremely painful.  They screamed and kicked and cried but I got the job done and know that their parents can rest easier knowing their little girls are clean and healing.  It was difficult to watch the kids suffer that day, but it was all worthwhile.  It was good and important work that we were doing.

Each day holds a new adventure, new ways to give back, new wonders to behold.  The next day we were at St. Monica’s all girl school.  There we presented to the classes about littering in groups of 2.  We had made posters the night before the highlighted the ramifications of littering and how long it takes for litter to decompose.  The kids were very shy and quiet but were engaged with our lecture.  They answered our questions and seemed interested in what we had to say.  I can’t tell you how many times I said “Litter is what?” and the kids would shout “BAD!!!!!!”.  After my partner and I presented to 2 classes, we went outside with the kids and picked up the litter around their campus.  Once it was all clean, we played games, took pictures, and just had a great time.  There was a girl named Alice who was fascinated with the US and many littler ones that were fascinated with my hair. 

The next day was all tourism.  We went to Kakum National Park where we completed the rickety canopy walk high above the trees.  The hike up to the bridges was gorgeous.  We saw tons of unique tropical plants I had never seen before.  We were too loud to see any fauna other than bugs, also most of the animals at the Park are nocturnal.  The canopy walk was mildly terrifying.  The bridge was suspended high above the trees by a ladder-like plank and some ropes.  It shook and rocked and seemed very precarious.  But we all made it across all 7 bridges, completing the loop they formed, headed to the exit.  I was the first one out of the forest and made my way to the gift shop.  There I met an 18 year old Ghanaian named Eric.  We talked for about half an hour about his aspirations of being in the military and going to school.  He told me about how it is more difficult in Ghana to join the military than in The States.    We also discussed voluntourism in Ghana and how vital it is the the nation.  It was really wonderful hearing his opinions on life in Africa and life in the western world.  Kakum was a great experience for me. 

Next we went to lunch at a place called Hans Cottage, which is home to hundreds of crocodiles.  Bet you weren’t expecting me to say that.  I ate some Spaghetti (so Africa, like wow) and saw only one crocodile.  Still it was another cool experience.  Then we went to the Children’s Home of Hope, which is an orphanage that accepts orphaned children with HIV.  Currently they have only a few kids with the virus as one of their kids was recently adopted by a lovely family from the USA.  WE were given a tour of the orphanage and an orientation on how the sick kids coexist with the other children; it’s not a problem.  After learning more about the home, we went to the soccer pitch for the neighborhood and goofed around with probably 100 kids for a couple hours.  There was soccer, volleyball, tag, photo snapping, and many cuddles.  The kids were all so joyful and were having a great time.  They sure love to have fun. 

The next day we were back to the old grind.  Our project for the day was to paint 4 rooms at a Leprosy camp.  The camp is a fully functional community that houses people who no longer have the illness but are not allowed back into their old homes, neighborhoods, lives.  Many were left with scarred skin and some had lost limbs due to improper care of their disease (because leprosy attacks the nerves in the limbs, those affected cannot feel their lesions and welts and whatnot getting infected, so they do not clean as well as they should, often resulting in crucial amputations).  We were split into 4 groups, each group assigned to a room.  The room we were assigned was small, and was made to look smaller and sadder than it actually was due to the dark blue color on the walls.  Two Christian posters were taped onto the walls; we were careful to keep them paint-free.  We repainted the room a light green.  Once we were done, the bedroom was brighter and seemed roomier. 

That night we went to GOIL.  I find it hard to describe this place.  It was quite the enigma.  I guess calling it an outdoor party at a bar with live music would do it justice.  There, we danced with drunk Ghanaians and listened to the upbeat music.  The band was incredible and wasn’t afraid to interact with those who were on the dance floor. It was a great time. 

Then, poof, it was our last day in Cape Coast.  That morning, most of the girls got their hair braided by some local women, but they ran out of time before they got a chance to do mine.  We rode our bus to Elmina castle, where we had a tour of the grounds.  The castle was erected by the Portuguese, revamped by the Dutch, and then eventually was the Brits’ territory.  Again, we saw the gruesome slave dungeons and were transported to another time, another life, by the tour guide’s vivid storytelling and the conditions of where we were standing.  It was very powerful. 

Cape Coast was a perfect first stop in this adventure.  From the people, to the places, to the food, nothing disappointed.  We were immersed in a new culture and felt completely welcomed.  The Projects Abroad staff made sure we were comfortable and happy, and the Ghanaians did so as well.  I’m looking forward to what is to come.

That was a lot of information.  I would have separated this into multiple posts but this is the first time we have had Internet for the whole trip.  I’ll post when I can. I also sincerely apologize for the lack of pictures.  I promise I have been taking them, but the internet café I am at has an iffy connection, so uploading pictures is not in the cards right now.  We have one more week in Ghana and then we go to Cape Town, South Africa, where the internet will be better.  Once I'm there, I'll dedicate a post solely to Ghana pictures.  Medasi (thanks in Twi) for reading!

See you all soon!