Trent in Ghana, 2011-2012: Part 1: “There is beauty in the world”-Macy Gray

So once again, I am behind my blog. I apologize but it’s hard to find time when you are having the time of your life. I know that this is only part 1 but it means that you have part 2 to look forward too! (which should be up in the next few days) These past few weeks have been amazing and hard. So I guess there is a lot to fill you in on so the best place to start would be Busua. Busua is a small fishing village of about 2000 people. It is also home to the only surf shop in Ghana. As such, a few of us decided to visit for a weekend. We left on Thursday afternoon after school and got a trotro bus to Cape Coast to spend the night and then make our way to Busua the next morning. It took us 5 hours to get to Cape Coast and we stayed the night at Oasis Hostel. We woke up the next morning and while we ate breakfast we watched the fisherman bring in their catch. It was really cool, very old school. They chant in order to keep everyone together and motivated.

The next morning we took a trotro to Takoradi and then to Busua. It took us about 3 hours to get to Busua from Cape Coast and only about 6 Cedis. It is really cheap to travel around in this country which is so good for all of us broke-ass students. After arriving in Busua we found a place to stay and hit the beach. We all went for a swim in the ocean and then had some dinner before heading to bed early, getting lots of sleep for surfing the next day. We got up the next morning and a few of us headed to the surf shop to catch some waves. Apparently my one lesson before this meant that I was qualified enough to teach some of my friends to surf. So we all got into the water with the boards and I attempted to teach them to surf. All in all, I feel that everyone had fun and did a great job. After a little bit of teaching others, it was time for me to surf myself. It took a few waves for me to remember how to surf but once I did, it went pretty well. I’m not saying I stood up every time, I still spent more time falling off the board into the water than standing up but it was a much more successful experience than my first time surfing earlier in the summer. It was so fun to spend the day in the water with some friends and I got a nice burn on my bum from lying on the board waiting for the waves. Let’s just say it was a painful week.

Surfers

Giving Andi a Push

That night we went to the surf shop and had one of the nicest meals I have had since I have been in Ghana and then went to bed early so we could get up and swim before we left the next morning. I got up the next morning and had a swim before breakfast and then packed and walked up the beach before getting a cab right to Takoradi. Once we got to Takoradi we took an STC bus (Greyhound Bus) for only 8 Cedis all the way from Takoradi to Accra! Seriously, so cheap! We were all really excited because it meant that we wouldn’t have to sit in a cramped trotro for at least 5 hours. It was a great bus ride home. Busua is an amazingly beautiful place. It looks like something out of a movie. It is a small beach, really quiet and when you look out at the ocean from the hammock on the beach there is a tiny island with some palm trees. If anyone goes to Ghana, that is a place you should visit before you leave. It really is a little piece of paradise. Even if you don’t’ know how to surf, there is a beautiful beach that is awesome to lie on and an ocean to swim in!

Panoramic View of Busua

After Busua, it was schoolwork, schoolwork and more schoolwork. The only problem with this program is that we have to do a full year’s worth of school work in 2 months. It results in a lot of stress. We had to do 6 papers in 2 weeks. Below is a picture of Lynsey with the readings that we had for the 2 months we were there and the combination of everyone’s readings in Sheena’s office (and not everyone had put their readings there!) Not a lot of them were actually read. After all the papers were done it was time to study for exams. 2 exams in 3 days. The time constraints on this program definitely result in a lot of unnecessary stress. Let’s just say that I am glad that part of the year is over!

After exams, it was time to leave Accra. This was a really sad and hard thing to do only because I felt like I was a real part of my host family. They had treated us with such kindness and care, always made sure that we had everything that we needed and made us feel really welcome. We were members of the family by the time we had left. Mama Hetty is an amazing woman who does so much for her family. She gets up at 4 am in order to make food to sell on the market to make money so that her children and grandson can go to school. She has such an amazing laugh that makes you laugh as well. She would always laugh at me because I would always eat so much dinner and then lie on the couch or the floor while watching a Spanish soap opera. She always thought that I was really lazy because I would sleep in until 9 or 10 on the weekends! Ghanaians do not know the definition of sleeping in. Sometimes at 5 am someone would start sweeping outside our window. Luckily for me though, I learnt to drown out the noises. The first week, my alarm clock consisted of roosters, sweeping, banging, rap music and people praying at a nearby church. Eventually you learn to drown them out. Thankfully! Also, the other members of my family were so amazing. Kwasi, my house brother would always take us out to see the neighbourhood, to the bar or just talk with us to see how our experience and day was. He also helped us study for our Twi exam and his help was needed! Lizzie, a lady who helped Mama Hette was also amazing, always trying to teach us Twi too. Every afternoon when we came home we would have a small conversation in Twi where she would try and teach us some new phrases/words, or repeat the phrases/words that she had taught us the day before. Nana Kwama was the cutest kid that I have ever seen. Although his crying would get a little on my nerves, he was such a cute 4 year old. He would always run and give us a hug whenever he saw us and would have the biggest smile on his face when he saw us walking home down the road from school. He would run up and hug us and then we would swing him home, something he really loved. I played football with him and some of his friends. On the nights that he didn’t have homework he would come up to me and ask me to write either letters, numbers or to draw animals for him to colour in. It was hard to say goodbye to him but he didn’t quite understand that we wouldn’t be seeing him for a long time so it made it a little easier. He thought that we were saying goodbye to him because he was going to school, not because we wouldn’t see him for a long time. I’m definitely extremely grateful that I had such an amazing family and experience with them. Other people in my program didn’t have very good experiences with their families or they felt like they were just a tenant in their house. I felt like a member of the family. It was really hard to say goodbye but I will make sure that I stop by a few more times before I leave Ghana. It was a great 2 months in Accra but I am really excited to see what Tamale has in store for me.