You Are Welcome

‘You are welcome’ is a greeting we have often heard so far in our time in Ghana, whether from someone we’re actually meeting, or from a passerby on the street. The more relaxed pace and fewer restrictions placed on us than in Egypt, along with the warmth of many people here, has made us feel very welcome indeed.

The Accra airport was a contrast to the shopping-mecca of the Dubai duty-free (named “world’s best airport retail”)-- in fact, there wasn’t any duty-free that we could see. John, the director of the non-profit organization Youth Creating Change (YCC) and friend of our Hartford friend Marla Ludwig, met us at the airport. (Marla has visited Ghana twice, and is currently working on a project to raise funds and help organize the construction of a kindergarten in the village of Dalive.)

On the road from Accra to Sogakope, our first stop was the ATM. With the rate of 9,200 Ghanaian cedis to the dollar, we remain confused in trying to figure out how much money we actually have. On the rest of our trip to Sogakope we were struck by the store names. While Ghana has significant Muslim and Traditionalist religious minorities, it seemed like almost all of the stores we drove past had Christian names: “Not in my power,” "Prince of Peace Hair Salon," and "He is Love Cold Store," among many others.

The airport in Accra is located almost exactly on the equator, and the pace of life here moves accordingly with the heat and humidity. The land around Sogakope is flat and green, with palm trees and massive red-dirt ant hills taller than a person. The Volta river (beyond the dam, which created Lake Volta, the world’s largest artificial lake) provides hydro-electric power, but not consistently: when we arrived in Sogakope the electricity was off, making our hotel room a sauna.

The first night in Sogakope we met with members of YCC at their office, the bottom floor of an apartment building with space for computer classes and a library/reading area. Several of the YCC members were in their 20s, while others were high school students. People spoke about being involved because they wanted to work towards a better future. They devote a lot of time, all as volunteers, to YCC: one woman Olivia keeps the library open daily from 9-5. We also shared some about us: when she learned that my dad has about 100 cows, one high school student asked if he was a millionaire-- here, owning cattle is a sign of great wealth.

The second day we had breakfast at the hotel: banku (a fermented mash made from cassava) with a tilapia fish and hot pepper-tomato soup. You’re supposed to use your right hand to make a ball of the banku, and dip it into the soup. It’s common to drink beer for breakfast, and although we stuck with tea we could see the appeal of beer with this type of food. After breakfast, John took us to meet with the District Chief Executive at the government building, where local representatives were preparing to elect the district legislative leader. We also met with Moses, the director of Social Welfare, before starting the drive to the village of Dalive. We went with a surveyor to start the process for the construction of the kindergarten. When we arrived at the village, we first met the residents in a classroom, and set out to help with measurements for the building site. After we measured the distance to the river (in addition to growing crops like corn and cassava, most of the men in the village are fishermen), we ate fresh coconuts that one man climbed up a palm tree and cut off with a machete. We met again with the residents, and discussed clearing part of the building site before the surveyor returns to finish his work. Finally, we presented a bag of school supplies that Marla had sent. Currently one teacher has 55 kids in a room containing only a chalkboard, so the supplies will be a welcome addition.

We returned to Sogakope and headed to a local bar, an open air cement structure between a gas station and the government building, to negotiate the price with the surveyor. At the table across from us were the district legislators, who we learned had just elected the chief from Dalive village as the legistative leader for the district: a good sign for helping the kindergarten project to move forward!

On our third day we saw the YCC Library Club in action: about 25 kids ages 8-16 meet twice a week and read one book per week, which they present to the other kids. The Library Club is led by a high school member of YCC. That afternoon we traveled to the village of Adrakpo, where John met with youth interested in starting a Library Club there. Our taxi driver was constantly swerving to avoid the pot holes which covered the road: while the road the other direction from Sogakope is very good, the repairs are happening in stages and this one hasn’t been repaired yet. John told us that most of the books YCC currently has are American or British, and that they want to acquire more African books. The impact of this difference in cultural context was clear when we observed a role-playing session by the Adrakpo youth, and they read from The Babysitters’ Club series—Rachel gave them some of the context, which otherwise seemed entirely foreign to them, and absurd to us. Before we left Adrakpo, we were served a meal of banku and fish, and also got to meet a member of the village who had just returned that day from a one-year term as commander of African Union peacekeeping forces in Sudan.

We talked with John about what his goals for YCC are. They really want to get internet for the office, but some reason getting online in this region of Ghana is ridiculously expensive: John said it would cost $3 to 6,000 up front, plus $100 per month, which is what the Sogakope luxury hotel paid for their absurdly slow connection (picture dial-up circa 1996) that we waited and waited for while checking email. This amount is completely beyond the realm of possibility of YCC, a reality that is unbelievably frustrating and feels almost criminal: internet access would multiply the resources available to them and the students they work with by incomprehensible amounts; it's something that we in the US take completely for granted; and yet, by these flukes of history and patterns of economics, it's out of their reach.

Our last day in Sogakope was Sunday. We joined YCC member Olivia in attending the Assumption Catholic Church. Sunday services are 3 hours, and Olivia says she also goes to services every other day, which are 1 or 2 hours. The music was amazing-- resonant harmonies and vibrant, constant drumming. We tried two more traditional dishes: red-red (fried plantains and black-eyed peas in a tomato sauce) at a small one-table restaurant across the street from our hotel, and fu-fu, a mash similar to banku. In between we took a boat trip (two people rowing the three of us on a small, heavy wooden boat) on the Volta to the point where the river meets the sea. We were guests of Moses the director of Social Welfare for our evening meal of fu-fu. When we arrived at his house, the electricity was off so we dined by candlelight.

When we left Sogakope for Kumasi on Monday morning, we were incredibly thankful for the chance to meet John and all the members of YCC, and for the warm welcome we had received! We hope that we were able to contribute something to YCC, since we received so much.