SUNDAY
Today was the day we left Accra for Cape Coast. We woke up early and went down to Osu for some breakfast before the taxi van came to pick us up at 10am. Breakfast was good. I got a cheese and tomato sandwich with tea. When we were done with breakfast the van was waiting for us inside the gates of the Accra house. The guards that usually watch the gate weren’t there so the neighbors guard let them in. Sam and Mohammed usually look after Renae and Daves house. The drive to Cape Coast was fun and went by fast which im guessing is because there was so much to look at. When we were leaving Accra it seemed like the housing units went on forever! It was one small hut after the other and it went back from the road as far as I could see. Along side of the road, and almost the whole drive to Cape Coast, was lined with solicitors. You have what I can only describe as a mini shop which people sell all sorts of things and then you have the people that walk around on the streets carrying huge bowls on their head filled with whatever they are selling. The people here seem to sell mosty the food and fresh water, sometimes towels and cleaning products. Everyone stares at you because you’re an obruni. And they try extra hard to get you to buy their swag because you’re an obruni and because of that they think you have the money. I was surprised to see that everyone really does carry everything on their heads!!! There is a woman at our Elmina home and she has agreed to give us lessons on how to carry things on our heads. She will also be giving us Fante and drumming lessons. The best way to deal with the street vendors is shake your head and smile. Its hard to ignore them because you re in a van with windows open so any time the car slows down or stops the people that are walking in the streets come up to your car and touch your hands and ask (more like tell you) to buy what they’re selling. The eye contact here is really different too. People will stare right at you and make direct eye contact without smiling for the longest time, its really intimidating. What I have been doing is I will stare right back but with a big smile almost every time they smile back real big too( It just takes a sec which is what makes it comfortable since I’m not used to staring like that).
The small towns went on forever and it seemed like there was no end to all these poverty stricken places. After a while though the terrain changed and there was gradually more and more greenery until we ran into Cape Coast. The roads reminded me of England how the shops are so close together and so close to the road the road signs and roundabouts are really English aswell. The documentary I read about Ghana was right on about religion, Ghanainians are completely obsessed with Christianity. Any little shop or sign that isn’t Guinness has a Christian saying or word added into it like Jesus saves gifts and god is watching fast food shop. Its really bizarre and there no way of explaining how many little shops there are. That’s really all there is ,
The place we are staying at is in a town called Elmina. It is about a 5 to 10 min drive just west of Cape Coast. The town is really nice, you can tell there are neighbors have a bit more money since they have houses instead of huts. Across the street is a really nice hotel called the Elmina Beach Resort. We paid twenty cedis to beable to have internet access and a pool that we can go over and use for two months. . I have said though that I really don’t want to go over there that often. I’m in Africa and I should be experiencing the developing country lifestyle which is hard when you’re enjoying luxuries you don’t even have at home. Elmina has a castle which looks really pretty. We’re right on the coast line, but unfortunately the beach is used as a toilet so you don’t want to walk in the sand which means you have to admire it from the street. Each morning I have been taking walks with Nick along the coast line and into town. It’s a nice start to the day and I enjoy seeing all the people on the street.
At our house we have Apeir who is an older man who gaurds the house, Ellen who takes care of the house and gives lessons to the volunteers. Maria is here from Barcelona with her dog Pepo; she’s been working here since December. She is in charge of the Cape Coast office and is somewhat of the house manager her at home. Our house is really big; we have a large garden too with plantain trees. The house has an upstairs and a downstairs with about 8 rooms. There are three different porches, one is Marias private porch then we have a downstairs and an upstairs porch for everyone to use.
Just a few houses down from us lives a woman named Eli who is somewhat famous for her exceptional cooking. She has teamed up with Global Mamas so we can pick dinners that we want in advanced. We have eaten there almost every night and each dish she has made is something traditional and always delicious. I like it because I can experience the food without having to worry if it has meat in it. Eli knows that I don’t eat meat so she makes every dish vegetarian and then has hardboiled egg or chicken on the side. Our first meal on Sunday was a green vegetable curry with salad. Dinner costs 4.50 cedi’s and a large beer is 2 cedi's which you get across the street.