Trip to Accra and Cape Coast

October 6, 2008

I traveled to Accra and Cape Coast over the weekend – from Thursday afternoon until Sunday evening – and had one of the most odd and fascinating experiences I recall having. I learned so much about Ghanaian cultures during these few days and with so much intensity. I will try to share the entire story with you but here are just a few questions to arise your curiosity: Why did I sleep at the house of the Deputy Commander of the Ghana Navy? How did I end up shaking the hands of over 40 Ghanaians in the course of 3 minutes? And why did I watch a drug-king show of women dressed like men on the campus of Cape Coast University? All and more in the following paragraphs…

I went traveling with Richmond, a volunteer who is a Ghanaian and a native of Accra who spent his high school years in a boarding school in Cape Coast. We left on Thursday afternoon, obviously not without an African introduction: While we made it clear that we should leave at 16:00, and head toward Junction together, it was only at about 16:30, after waiting anxiously, that I discovered where Richmond was: he was just getting a haircut in Junction, and insisted on coming back to Sega to take a shower, only so we could leave again to Junction – which is, to remind you, about an hour away by foot. When I asked him if it wouldn’t have been a better use of time to have me wait for him a few minutes in Junction while he gets his haircut instead of going back and forth he seemed to disagree and I took it for what it is, regarding it as a simple, and perhaps harmless, cultural difference.

Only later was I to discover that this was part of a ferocious campaign waged against me by the entire Ghanaian people over the weekend: A campaign that consisted of providing me constant disinformation and having me, a person who is fond of the Yeke culture, learn every possible technique of wasting time. This of course is said jokingly, but I assume I am able to view it humorously only because I had to endure it for no more than 3 days.

As we arrived in Accra we went to what Richmond referred to as his “mom and dad’s house” (disinformation #1), there I was truly welcomed by his sister, cousin and the house staff: a cook, house keeper and driver. I was served delicious dinner and chatted with the people around me. His cousin is a lawyer who studied both in Canada and Ghana. She is extremely sharp and bright and we talked a little bit about legal issues concerning the school in Sega – the implications for instance of the fact that the school is not registered as a charity.

The house is located in what I believe is a wealthy neighborhood in Accra. They have a gate, an electric wired fence, 3 cars (a new Mercedes, Volkswagen and an SUV) and a huge house. Although from the outside the place looks extremely nice, the house from within is poorly maintained and decorated: all the electric plugs are hanging off the wall, the tap water isn’t running in the shower, the walls are peeling off and there are no pictures on the wall other than a few plastic clocks and a big promotion-calendar with pictures of “Frytol” – the leading frying oil in the country. For me, it was truly odd to see a house that genuinely looks like a warehouse from the inside while so much is invested to make the “outside” look appealing.

At night, when we went to sleep, Richmond’s sister, Joan – joined us in the room for a little late night talk. She is in her mid 20’s and I mentioned her before in one of my posts after she visited Sega for a few hours. She finished studying arts in the university (what we call ‘humanities) and now does occasional clothes designing. She is married to Jay a Ghanaian who won the Green Card Lottery, studied in the US and currently lives in Long Beach and works as an accountant. It is very difficult for people in Ghana to procure a visa to the US – most are denied and the others need to wait some time up to half a year so she is now waiting for a visa to join him in the US.

Both Joan and her brother constantly referred to the house as their house and to the adults who lived in it as “mommy” and “daddy”. That is why it was so surprising for me to discover that they are not their biological parents but rather their uncle and auntie – their biological parents live in a different city in Ghana, and they speak with them every day. But for the past 5 years they have been living with the uncle and auntie – Ghana, I was explained, still works by the “extended family system” – which means that people live with whoever they want from the extended family. In most families it means that whoever is wealthy attracts other family members who wish to live on their expense – and this is totally acceptable. So both of them sleep there, eat there, get to use the cars and receive a monthly allowance from the uncle and auntie (the uncle is a lawyer that deals with corporate law) – and this lasts for years. It is a part of the culture. So both Joan and Richmond simply do not have jobs right now – and why should they? Their expenses are covered. Later, on Sunday, during church service I attended, I discovered that this was true to a large segment of the society in Ghana – and this behavior was heavily criticized by the Pastor.

On the morning we planned to leave at about 6am – to head to Cape Coast which was said to be 4 hours away (disinformation number #2 – it is actually only 2.5 hours away) and meet with Richmond’s cousin who was constantly referred to by everybody in the house as an “I.T specialist” (disinformation number #3 – he is actually a student who major’s in agriculture. However, he did work once for a computer company). This was delayed by almost 4 hours – first by breakfast, an egg sandwich, the was kindly served to us (but took about 40 min to prepare), then since we had to wait for everybody in the house and greet him personally before we leave – so we had to wait for everyone to shower and get ready. I spent the few extra hours in the house chatting with the auntie, which was a truly kind and generous hostess – about various issues. Apparently, the uncle is a quarter Jewish and the family is very pro Jewish and pro Israel – she is the only African I know who supports John McCain because she thinks he will protect Israel better (amazing that this is a concern in Ghana!) and she asked me if Israel will attack Iran or not (this is a fair question, what was odd though, is that I seemed to detect a glimpse of surprise on her face when I admitted to her that I really have no clue). When everybody was ready we were driven to the bus station by Richmond’s cousin. A few minutes before we got to the bus station Richmond’s cousin called us and asked us to bring him something from his grandfather’s house in Accra. Now, this house is located almost half an hour away from where we were – but I was told that in Ghana you never say no to a family request, even if it is a complete waste of time and out of your way so we had to go get that for him – and of course sit down with the grandfather for a while. All in all, we ended up leaving at almost 12:00 o’clock, when I was ready and packed to go by 6 am in the morning.

One amazing thing about Accra is how commerce is done in the city. As I was sitting on the “Ford” (a name of one of the methods they use to travel from place to place – in this case service-taxi minibuses that are notoriously famous for speeding on the highways) – next to my window passed tens of merchants, carrying on their heads every possible good and offering it for sale through the window cell, passing through a row of maybe 20 such minibuses. I was offered everything – and a short list includes juice, ice cream, handkerchiefs, batteries, dictionaries, notebooks, packed lunch, sweets, shoes, water bags, fruit, fried meat and the list goes on. Since Accra is a city that is known around Ghana for its endless traffic jams, so much of the commerce in the city takes place on the roads with people carrying their stores on their heads – literally so – and offering everything for sale.

We arrived in Cape Coast and headed to the University of Cape Coast campus where we were planning to meet Richmond’s cousin and where we were planning to spend the night. Cape Coast is the former capital of Ghana, one of the main tourist destinations in the country – a city that lies on the beach. The university campus is fairly decent, maybe because my expectations were very low. We put our stuff in the dorms that are basic apartments at ground level with 2 students sharing a room. Then we went to Cape Coast Castle, one of the main fortresses that were used during the North Atlantic Slave Trade – where slaves were held for months in horrible conditions and we then shipped overseas. It is estimated that some 1 million slaves passed through Cape Coast Castle. What was interesting to learn, however, is what a major role Africans played in the slave trade – chiefs and kings used to bring in the slaves and sell them to the British in return to other goods. Without the willingness and the cooperation of those it would have been hard to maintain the slave trade at such a large scale.

After seeing the castle we walked around Cape Coast – there is really not much to see there. It is basically a city with a lot of commerce going on, and the most of it simply looking like “shuk-hatikva”. In the evening we went back to the campus and showered – I was so proud of myself for being able to shower and deal with the sanitary condition of a common shower in a university in Ghana. Later on, we went to a student festival that took place on campus – it was a big event with about 2000 students around. There was a main stage and a lot of small venues selling goods around – mainly hotdogs and ice cream. The main event of the evening was a drug king show – with female students from the university dressing up like men and trying to be most convincing. This was really funny, and I found myself laughing and screaming in a crowd of 2000 Ghanaians being the only white man there. People around were so kind to me and very nice and nobody seemed to be bothered.

The next morning we got up and headed to Kakum National Park. This is considered one of Ghana’s main tourist attractions which prove what a poor country Ghana is for tourism. This is rainforest which should be fascinating to anyone who is interested in different kinds of tress or butterflies but quite unimpressive for the lay person. The only exciting feature is a rope walk built in the forest and that is set up very high (the highest point being 40 meters) – so you can walk next to the tree tops and if you are lucky you might even meet some monkeys.

After we were done at Kakum we went to Richmond’s former high school to meet his girlfriend. This was very odd. We got there and informed his girlfriend that we were there but she never came out. She was in the girls dorms so he couldn’t walk in there. Eventually, he met her in a classroom, gave her a few presents and spent with her 7 minutes after which we left. He said that they didn’t have really much to talk about.

After we were done over there we headed back to Accra. Joan decided that we should sleep at her husband’s parent’s house so we headed out to there. Her father in law (which she also calls ‘daddy’) is the deputy commander of the Ghana Navy and lives in “Burma Camp” – a neighborhood in Accra that is designated for members of the military. His has is very nice and he too seems very wealthy. There is air condition almost in every room and 3 workers – a cook, house keeper and driver. They were truly kind and generous hosts. For the first time in Ghana I was served dinner like at home – that is, instead of being served a personal portion – sitting on a table where a variety of foods are present and serving yourself. So there was chicken, rice, local fish stew, fried yam, raw salad and a local dish called Bangku – a real variety of foods.

Before dinner I spent some time talking with Joan’s father in law and was truly amazed by how humble he was. He was telling me a little bit about the Ghanaian army and that since they have no wars they serve as the main peacekeeping force in Africa – with their forces working as peace keepers in almost every major conflict in Africa (from Sudan to Eritrea). He was also telling me about the time he spent in Iran in 1989 (during the Iran-Iraq war) and how he was threatened after expressing his opinion against the fatwa issued by the ayatollah against the author Rushdie – who published a book criticizing Islam. He also spent time in Lebanon, Egypt and the US and shared some stories from those times. I really enjoyed talking to him, and again was impressed by his humbleness. Over dinner, Joan said that we should join them for church the next morning and so we did.

Going to church in Ghana was one of the highlights of my trip. The guide book refers to Ghana as the most “flagrantly Christian country in the world” and this might be right – everything in Ghana bears a Christian name – from the minibuses that are named after verses in psalms, the kids names, and the stores that have such names as well – “salvation haircuts”, “By god we stand cement factory” and so on – these are true examples.

We went to “Royal House Church” – which is one of the most famous churches in Ghana. The church pastor is a very famous pastor who appears on TV and has his own TV station if I am not mistaken. This church also attracts the wealthiest in Accra – all the cars that were parked were brand new cars of brands such as Audi, Land Rover, Mercedes, BMW and so on. The church also makes a lot of money – twice the congregation was asked to give offerings during the service, and the staff passed huge bags into which the crowed through bills. At least two hundred people gave special offerings in envelopes – and probably contributed at least 100 Ghana Cede each (=100$). There were about 1000 people in the church, and at least two thousand more outside watching the sermon on huge plasma screens. The sermon begun with loud singing by all the congregation of songs in praise of God and continued with a woman who brought her baby that she gave birth to at ten months – which was born, of course, due to the prayer bestowed upon him by the pastor. Then came Ghana’s ambassador to Ireland to speak and different important people were noted in the audience, such as the finance minister. The message that resonated during the sermon was that of peace and this is especially accentuated now ahead of the general elections in the country.

The highlight of the service however was none of this but a teaching delivered by a visiting pastor. He truly gave an incredible teaching that had very little to do with God and that was directed at the audience and the society of Ghana in general. The past who delivered the speech criticized various aspects of the society in Ghana and talked about how time is being wasted by people, about how much people care about how they are perceived by others, about the general lawlessness in the roads, about the culture of living on the expense of family members and most surprisingly – about how the countries who have the most churches in Africa are also the most poor, and that religion won’t solve anything until people take responsibility over their own life instead of just hoping for good things to happen to them. This was an enlightened speech that was well received by the audience – and he seemed to point out all the problems that I saw in the culture in Ghana during my stay here. So instead of going to church to be assured of their goodness people got a knock in the head, a call to wake up, and that is something I liked. Also during the service people were asked to shake hands so I ended up shaking so many different hands.

After church we went home for lunch and then headed to the mall. Then I got on the bus home and got back to Sega. I missed Sega so much while I was away and was so happy to come back here.