Accra
on VSO in Ghana (Ghana), 22/Sep/2009 06:35, 34 days ago
On Saturday, bruv& sis, Mac and Jane, took us to Heathrow Airport. This was really appreciated and made the departure that much easier. We left from terminal 5 for the first time. All went very smoothly. Any notion we had about driving back over the Sahara, as an adventure, has dissipated. We realise we are not that adventurous. We flew over it for hours and hours. It is a very big desert indeed, isn’t it!Arrival at Accra was a little hair-raising, as it was gone 8.30 p.m. by the time we had cleared immigration and customs. We had no local currency and all currency outlets were closed. A considerable number of people wanted to help us! We realised we didn’t even know the current exchange rate! That was a mistake on our part. We asked a number of people in the airport for advice and eventually used an ATM to take out 200 cedis, the local currency. We negotiated with an organiser, two porters and a taxi driver and were eventually whisked off for a crazy ride through night-time Accra to our hotel. We were safely delivered at the agreed price and with all cases intact. Phew!We had most of Sunday to ourselves. We were woken to the sound of Christian worship both inside the hotel and outside. Lovely gospel music seemed to be emanating from every corner of the city. We took a walk along the nearby local main road and were warmly greeted by everyone. Many people were dressed in traditional Ghanaian dress for church. Taxis were very keen to give us a lift to anywhere, but we were going nowhere in particular. We realise now how used to unleaded petrol and catalytic converters we have become. The traffic fumes were quite overpowering. Accra is a large sprawling city which we hope to get to know better over the next 6 months.The hotel is on the outskirts of Accra which means we are surrounded by local homes and small businesses, one of which is pictured. These two little huts are immediately outside our hotel, and two enterprising women have converted them into two immaculate hair and beauty salons.Our in-country training is now underway. We are with 20 others who will soon be working in the northern regions of Ghana. Today is a national day of celebration for Kwame Nkrumah's 100th birthday and the arrival of the "Unity Flag" in Accra. It is clear that Nkrumah is highly respected by people of all ages for his vision of a united free Africa.These birthday celebrations also coincided with the Muslim festival of Eid at the end of Ramadan, so everyone in Accra is celebrating. We spent the evening with all the other volunteers in Independence Square, joining in with the crowds, listening and dancing to the rythms of a wide range of modern and traditional Ghanaian music.