Winds of change

Trip Start Mar 27, 2008

Trip End Oct 01, 2008

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Flag of Ghana Accra, Ghana
Tuesday, May 13, 2008

So it only took one week, but it seems like everything has changed. First off Erin has quit. There is some bad blood between her and Sossah, and for better or worse she's thrown in the towel. She broke the news to me on Saturday during one of the Youth Alive! workshops, and while I wasn't surprised it still shook me a bit. I had spent the previous day in Accra with Marc running errands; I bought my ticket to South Africa, which by the way was handwritten and left me feeling a bit dubious, and we went up to Legon University in the north of the city to go to the university's bookstore. After spending a small fortune buying used paperback Michael Crichton novels, we went to Osu for a final café late and then began the journey home.

As I said I wasn't surprised when Erin told me she had quit, as I had mentioned my fear about this to Marc in Accra, but I was still disappointed. She is a vital part of the Abusua Foundation, and her leaving is really going to set them back. So Erin and her boyfriend Tai Tai will be leaving the house by the end of the month. On top of that, my fellow American roomie Haley is leaving for home tomorrow. She's a really sweet and funny girl and just good fun. We're due to get a new 'batch' of volunteers later in the month, so I imagine the whole dynamic in the house is going to change drastically.

So after the Youth Alive! workshop on Saturday we had a leaving party for Haley at the house. Too much alcohol was consumed and some silly dancing took place, and it was great fun all around. Even the tension between Sossah and Erin was put on hold and we all just partied.

The next day Marc and I decided we deserved a day at the beach, so we tro tro'd to Anomabu Beach and grabbed a couple sun lounges and just kicked back. Later that afternoon a mighty storm blew in and all the beach dwellers scuttled up to the main restaurant to shield themselves from the rain and wind. While huddled under cover Marc ran into a couple Canadian diplomats who were in Ghana on holiday from their posting in Nigeria. For about a half and hour there were a lot of inflated chests while Marc, Steven and John all tried to outdo each other in importance level, but after a round of beers things started to settle down. We spent the rest of the afternoon and late into the night with the boys swapping stories about taking the piss out of each other. Turns out neither of them know how to drive stick shift, as they get shuttled around in chauffeured armoured cars in Lagos, so they had driven all the way from Accra to Cape Coast without managing to get above third gear!

After a rather interesting day and a half with the diplomats, it was time to get home. I may catch up with them later in the week in Accra, as I have to go in to register Youth Alive! and get our ISSN number, but until then it's back to life and back to reality.