Monday, May 2, 2011

3 days in Ghana and oh what a journey thus far...

Greetings HPISD,

It is Monday at 7:15pm and I am just now being able to access the internet, which is why you have not heard from me sooner. You have been greatly missed; we have all missed the internet and our phones so much so it is nice to finally plug back into life, even if for a brief moment.

We arrived in Accra, the capital of Ghana, on Saturday at 1:30pm Ghana time, which is five hours ahead of Dallas. With so much excitement, we met our host from the Ahafo-Ano South District in Mankranso, Ghana. They greeted us with huge hugs in great anticipation of meeting their education partners for the first time. They took us to get a drink before we were to take a 6 hour bus trip to Kumasi, which is the main urban area near their rural area of Mankranso. I will spare you the long, drawn-out story of why we did not actually board the bus until 6:15pm (now 5 hours after our landing); I will tell you that the bus trip was horrifying, even with very comfortable seats. The roads are great in spots and horrible in others; but, the main concern was the driving habits of taxis, buses, “tro-tro’s” (small buses packed like sardines) and individuals. Unlike the US, there are few road rules. At times, I felt like we were all in go-carts scrambling for the lead. Although a very rough and exhausting trip, we did make it safely to Kumasi at 12:30. After taking a taxi to our hotel, we ate; then, we were finally in our rooms and asleep by 2:30 am. Exhausted!

Still so tired, we prepared to attend a local church service at 10am-12 noon. The service was full of dancing and singing; the people seemed so happy. We even got to witness a wedding that was being performed along with the service, which was a new concept considering the fact that it was a general congregation of people. It is important to note that is was very hot, similar to the Dallas summer heat during August. The remainder of that day was full of visiting local sites and experiencing the culture first hand, including trying a noodle/fish dish which is named for the sound the spoon makes when it this the plate-qoin qaink (spelling?). I will upload pictures and videos soon. I wanted to post something quickly about our journey thus far.

We slept in today and went to the grocery store for a few items, and back to the hotel to get work done. Even though we are not at school, there is still much work to be done. We go to the schools tomorrow, which will be a different environment then we are used to; I am sure I will have lots to tell you tomorrow.

Until then...here is a brief video view of the streets in Accra...

No comments:

Post a Comment