Village Life, A Tro-Tro Trip And A Dance Lesson
Trip Start
Mar 11, 2005
1
15
28
Trip End
Mar 27, 2005
Krobo Odumase,
Ghana
Thursday, March 17, 2005
A Centipede At The Pool
They just go ahead and cut down all the trees for firewood but no one thinks to plant any more. They cut down the trees in their own yards, not thinking that the shade it gives off makes the house cooler. It is so hot out today, the sun is actually shining and is really beating down on us. We've brought our water bottles but don't have near enough suntan lotion on. Daniel takes us to visit a woman he does respect. He calls her the Queen Mother. She goes to get her baby and is very proud to let Kailey hold him/her (not sure) and have her picture taken. I will send copies of these pictures back to Daniel so he can hand them out to the people in them. Daniel takes us by the village school. A few kids are milling around - we still haven't figured this out, there always seems to be kids outside and up and down the road of each school we pass. Why aren't they all in class or more of them out? I ask some of the kids if I may take their picture. A few of the brave ones pose for me and I take the picture. Suddenly we are swarmed by the kids. They are spilling out of the school and running towards us. The teacher is running behind them, yelling at them to come back. Oh-oh now I've done it! To my amazement, now they all want their picture taken. I take a step back to try to get as many as I can in the picture and they all take a step forward! This happens several times and I just give up and start taking pictures. I show them the pictures on the back of the digital camera and the squeal that comes out of them is unreal! Now they all crowd around and want to see themselves and of course want more pictures taken! Shawn said he wished he had a camera himself so he could take a picture of me in this sea of uniforms and smiling faces.
Beautiful School Children
He said the smile on my face was the biggest of all. It just made the whole trip for me.Kailey is getting burned and I want to take her inside. Daniel is ready to go pick up his bus and walks us to the tro-tro stop so we can go with him. We stop to meet a man that Daniel calls the Pensioner or The Big Man From The Hospital. We have a little chat with him, he's so cute. We decide that this will turn into a long trip, knowing how easily Daniel gets sidetracked and gets to visiting with everyone. We tell him we'll walk back to his house and wait for him there. Off we go, sure that we know the way. Somehow we missed a turn and ended up retracing our route back through the whole village again before we found his house again.
We made the right choice because it is hours before Daniel returns with his bus. It's a lovely shade of green! Daniel calls for Willie and we set off back to Akosombo so we can visit again. Willie is a young man that helps Daniel out. Along the way Willie knows of a new resort and we turn off the road and head down this dirt path in the "Magic Bus". This place is called Afrikiko River Front Resort and it is so nice. There are nice flowering plants in bloom. That is one thing about Ghana, at least at this time of year, it is not very lush or even very green. We are given a tour by the manager - there do not appear to be any guests here - and it looks very nice. If we go back to visit Daniel I think we will stay here.
We're finally on the road again and headed to Akosombo. One of the first stops is at the hospital.
Broom Marks Visible In The Dirt - Sweep, Sweep
This is scary! Daniel just wanders through the place like he owns it. Right into the emergency room - through a door that says no admittance - and we're right in there with a couple of doctors and a nurse who all look very surprised to see us. I can see several people on gurneys, one guy who is bleeding through his bandage on his head. All I can think of is AIDS - let's get out of here. We manage to drag Daniel out of there. Kailey had mentioned that her toe was sore and Daniel wanted a doctor to look at it but of course she was having NO part of that. She didn't need it looked at anyway. Back in the bus and we drive around to the street Shawn lived on and look for his house. He's pretty sure he found it but the rubber tree is no longer in the backyard and the whole little town is not as lush or well kept as when he lived there. Plus his perception of how far things were has changed in 40 years! The whole town had been built for the families of the white workers when the dam was built. They all had gardeners and house boys etc. The school and hospital and pool and church etc were all built for their use only. Now the homes have been sold off to Ghananians and things are no where as well kept as they used to be. It was still cool for Shawn to see his kids swim in the same pool he had as a child. When we were at the pool yesterday, there were several men playing some sort of card game. Kailey just joined in with them and it was amazing to watch them greet her when she returned to the pool today - high fives all around, another chair brought for her etc.
Daniel
She was a long lost buddy! They did not even acknowledge the rest of us!After a quick swim, we went on a trip to town to get some beer etc. We stopped at a restaurant and we bought Willie and Daniel some dinner. What do you think they ordered? Yep - chicken and rice! We had a pretty good meal here. After dinner we continued on our quest to find a ride to Kumasi tomorrow. We drove into this town to find a guy that Daniel knew. On the way we're stopped by the police yet again. They want to know what Daniel is doing with these white people. Daniel tells him we are staying at his house. The policeman doesn't look like he believes him. Kailey opens the bus window and puts her hand out to the policeman. He asks her what her name is. She tells him "Kailey". He repeats something that sounds like Kill. She nods (close enough). He makes a cutting motion with his hand across his throat. "You mean like kill?" She shakes her head no and repeats her name again - KAY-LEE and they both laugh. She asks him how long he has been a policeman and he tells her he's been a policeman for 30 years. She invites him to visit us at our house in Canada when he tells her he is the chief. Before we leave he kisses her hand and she is thrilled. What a girl!
When we got to the town, we pulled into a dirt courtyard and Daniel and Willie got out of the bus and left us there alone in this alley. There was a light on inside the van and now that it was dark outside, it illuminated us to everyone that passed by. We were trying to get the light to go out, nothing like a beacon to point out there were 5 white people alone and off the beaten track! We were a bit nervous and anxious for Daniel and Willie to come back.
Daniel's Magic Bus
Finally they returned but had no luck in getting us a ride. Daniel knew another place and we found ourselves this time outside a Methodist church during choir practice. It was nice to listen to their voices drifting out to the parking lot. This time Daniel met with success and hired a van to take us to Kumasi tomorrow. Daniel managed to find Shawn some Star to buy and we were heading home. We were passing through this small village when suddenly the bus quits. Great! It's rather spooky in the dark in the middle of nowhere. Willie tries to get us going again. Daniel asks if we want to "Get down" and Kailey hops out of the bus. Some people came to offer Shawn a chair, which he declined. There had been some children playing where we broke down, but when Kailey got out they screamed and ran and hit behind the huts - maybe they'd never seen a white girl before. All you could see where the whites of their eyes peeking out. Kailey waved and said Hi and they all disappeared again! She was standing on a bit of a wall and started doing some dance moves when she saw the kids again. Eventually a few of them got brave and came out to watch. More and more kids appeared and next thing you know they were copying her. By the time the bus was fixed, they were all smiles and they had a new obruni friend! One of the shyest even gave Kailey a seashell before she left. That became one of her most treasured souveniers!Turns out the bus had run out of gas. Willie was able to get some gas and used a big leaf as a funnel and soon we were on our way again. We made it back to Daniel's and another day had passed. It was time for bed.
