Wednesday: Oh, Wa!
On Wednesday I travelled to Wa, so that I would be able to catch my very early morning bus on Thursday to Kumasi. I almost missed the bus to Wa because, well, it was almost on-time, and I was operating on Ghanaian-time! Fortunately, I rounded the corner just as it was beeping its horn for last call. This was my first time taking the MetroMass to Wa (my schedule usually puts me on a tro), and it such a great experience (i.e. breathing space and slightly less dust).
Once I arrived in Wa, I made my way to Kunateh Lodge, where I was greeted enthusiastically by the owner. It’s nice to be a regular, and to be welcomed as a friend. Next on the agenda was to connect with Allison (the Canadian VSO in Lawra), who was in Wa already for meetings, and was kind enough to pick up my bus ticket for me (for most long-hauls you need to buy the ticket at least a day in advance). While I was waiting for her, I headed to Trends Internet to download the big files I don’t dare try on my modem. Shortly after I arrived, Allison and Melanie (an Australian VSO in Wa), walked through the door of the cafe. They hadn’t yet received my message indicating that I was there, but the good Ghanaian fate that seems to be in abundance here led them right to me. The network was down (of course), so we spent time chatting together, and with the girls who work at/hang out at Trends. Turns out we’re all friends through each other. Allison and Melanie had to run to a movie, but I stuck around in hopes that the network would come back up, chatting and laughing with Hamida (my best “Wa” friend) seemed like a better alternative than aimlessly wandering the city. And, in good time service came back up, and I was able to take care of some business, finishing just as it was “Lights Out!”. Hamida asked if I was ok to walk back to my lodging in the dark, I assured her I was.
I was wrong.
Most of Wa’s intersections are traffic circles or multi-point junctions, which, even in the daylight, get the best of me. With no street lights, no stars, no moon, and no flashlight I found myself going up and down every street but the right one. I would make my way back to the District Assembly each time, where I knew the street I needed branched off from, but for some reason I just couldn’t find the right one.
I called Hamida. She couldn’t stop laughing at me, but said she’d come and meet me. While waiting for her I figured out what road I really should be walking down, and called to tell her she could turn back.
Thursday: Gluttony and Love
I knew Wa was a Muslim city, but I didn’t fully realize how dominant Islam was until I was up at 430 am, and simultaneously heard about 10 different “Calls to Prayer” in the area right around my lodge. Hearing this, I was retrospectively amazed that I’ve always slept right on through during all my other stays in Wa.
I made my way to the bus station, catching a ride with someone headed that way. (Note to self: don’t take rides from strangers in Canada).
I checked out the buses that were boarding; they were both Tamale buses. The dark bus was mine, so I found myself a nice waiting spot. While I was waiting several people came up to me to check and make sure that I wasn’t supposed to be going to Accra or Tamale, that I was really sure that the empty bus was mine, that yes, I was going to Kumasi. While I was waiting I debated whether or not I should have breakfast. There was a lady making egg-bread, and I was kind of hungry, but decided against the food since I didn’t know when the first bus stop would be, and I didn’t want to impair my sleeping ability. At this point it was about 530am.
Once on the bus, I realize I was fortunate enough to be sitting next to a very nice lady and a cute little baby. She was incredibly well behaved, and spent most of the ride just staring at me, or playing with the handles of my purse.
The further south we headed, the more amazed I was at the differences in the landscape. Green! Lush! Palms! Ferns! Green! I am not exaggerating to say that I was filled with complete joy and happiness just by watching the countryside change. It was a form of beauty I have not seen since my arrival in August.
As we drove into Kumasi I was awed by what I was seeing. Home building centres (Ghanaian equivalents of Rona or Home Depot), engineering firms, tall buildings, houses and houses and houses, people, cars (and nice ones too!) …
Do I believe in love at first sight? I do now. I LOVE Kumasi. I was filled with a sense of excitement and happiness, that well, I can’t explain. I love, love, love, love, love Kumasi. I understand that part of this love comes simply from the fact that this is the first city that I’ve stepped foot in since August (I was only in Accra for 12 hours, most of which was spent sleeping, and Tamale doesn’t really do anything for me). But I am convinced that part of it was really just that I love Kumasi. Through my eyes, Kumasi is a hybrid of Maadi, Egypt and Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, that is situated in a rain forest type environment.
I got off the bus and realized I had no idea where I was supposed to go. No messages from Carissa. There were two members from the UWR MoFA Regional Office on the bus as well, and they were hesitant to leave with no plan. I decided to just make a plan: Chose a direction, start walking. Africa has definitely changed my concept of “planning”.
Carissa eventually called me and confirmed where we were staying (she had sent a text, but in Upper West style, I never got it). So, I jumped in a taxi, and headed to the Guestline Lodge. I was able to secure us two rooms, and headed upstairs for a shower and some post-bus relaxation.
My stomach eventually realized it had eaten very little, so I decided to venture out some food. I wound up at a supermarket, where I proceeded to purchase anything but a nutritious lunch. Chocolate cookies, KoolAid, shortbread …
I am NOT exaggerating when I say that the first bite of all-butter, Scottish shortbread almost brought tears to my eyes. I don’t think eating a cookie has ever been such a full-bodied experience for me. (Note: this same experience was had by both Nadia and Claire when they tried the shortbread a few hours later.)
It was at this point I discovered that the family living next door to the hotel had unsecured wireless internet, which, ironically enough, was faster than the broadband in Wa. Go Figure.
Claire and Nadia arrived. I was ecstatic to see them. We headed out for dinner, Carissa, who had come to Kumasi a day earlier to do some work at KNUST, joined us. We had an awesome dinner and an awesome catch-up.
Friday: Kuapa Kokoo - Fair Trade Cocoa
Friday’s agenda was the true purpose for our visit. Claire decided she wanted to put together a little documentary on fair trade, and arranged a visit for us with Kuapa Kokoo, Ghana’s only Fair Trade Cocoa company, based in Kumasi. In 1995, the Ghana Cocoa board underwent liberalization, opening up the market, allowing for the formation of additional cocoa companies, one of which was Kuapa Kokoo, which decided to target the market through fair trade channels.
On the way to Kumasi Claire called the man at Kuapa who she had been communicating with, only to learn that he was called out of town last minute. She was given the name of another individual, who we weren’t able to touch base with. Thus, Friday morning we headed to the office, fingers crossed.
When we arrived, the staff who were in that day knew of our visit, but not the purpose of it. At first it seemed like we weren’t going to be able to go visit the village, but the staff were amazingly cooperative and supportive. While they were figuring out what to do with us, one lady, Regina, gave us a detailed presentation on the structure of Kuapa and how they fit into the cocoa market. Meanwhile, the staff found us a truck, a driver, and a volunteer guide, so off we went.
On our way to the village we stopped at a loading station, where a flat-bed was being loaded with 600 bags of cocoa headed for Tema, Ghana’s port city. Each bag is inspected, weighed, and re-weighed, and then sealed with the official Ghana Cocoa seal. The drive out was amazing. So beautiful. So green. So pristine.
After our interviews, Juliet and Richard (sister and brother) took us through their farm. The main focus was on cocoa farming, but interspersed throughout were plantains, oranges, cassava and palm. The tallness of the plantain trees provided shade for cocoa seedlings, while the combination provided diversification: additional food and cash crops and improved soil fertility. As their smiles show, they were amazingly sweet, generous and kind people, who appreciated the fact that we were continually amazed by the fact we were standing in a cocoa plantation. It was pretty neat to be standing next to a cocoa tree, to taste the fruit (which tastes like a super fruity Jolly Rancher), to taste the dried seed (in which you can taste the beginnings of super dark chocolate), and then to fantasize about what chocolate would taste like.
We asked the farmers if they had ever tasted chocolate. They had. Once. The wanted us to send some to them. To them, cocoa is just a crop. They don’t know the multi-million-gazillion dollar market chocolate is. If they fully understood, maybe they would want more than just the little added bonus they get due to fair trade. I don’t know.
There’s a lot more to the co-op and to fair trade, but I’ll just let you wait for Claire to assemble her video. I was paying attention, but not enough to accurately capture it all here. I’ll let you wait for Claire’s video for that. However, I will comment that, to me, the existence of fair trade premiums, the need to essentially give a financial handout to farmers so that they can ‘survive’, indicates that there is something askew in the way global commodities markets operate. There seems to be a huge imbalance between the commodities and consumer markets, and while I’m not an economist, this is something I need to think about further.
Anyway …
After we passed back to the office, and said our thanks that paralleled an elephant in size, we returned tired and happy to our hotel. The day was closed with a healthy dose of internet and pizza. How perfect.
Saturday: Shopaholic in Ghana
Saturday morning we were lazy. We slept in. We did nothing. We enjoyed it.
A marching, brass band passed down the street. Whoa! Where am I? There was a real garbage truck out side. Really? Wow. Evidence of being in a city!
I know that I have openly confessed my dislike of markets, yet for some reason I was very excited to go shopping. I came to Kumasi with the intent of going shopping (well, and to see cocoa). I had one goal: pre-fabricated, very cute dress.
As we headed to the market I continued to be wowed and in love with Kumasi. Seriously, don’t know what it is about the city. It was almost the same way I felt when I was in Paris last year, and yet they are so different.
I came away with: a hefty supply of necklaces, two dresses and 11 yards of fabric. I could have, would have kept buying fabric, but I told Claire to cut me off. She did a good job of enforcing the policy. Little does she know I’m planning to buy more at Lawra Market this week and/or head to Wa on the weekend.
Overall, the market was insanely busy, crowded and just plain crazy. If I wasn’t there for a purpose, I would have probably assumed my usual market freak-out, but fashion and textiles soothed me. In 1995 a good portion of the market was destroyed by fire. I hope that this happened when it was closed, because if fire broke out during the day, I don’t even want to imagine what the stampede would have been like/how many people died/were trampled.
After market we went back to the hotel to continue being lazy. We eventually went out to dinner, followed by more laziness that night. Nice!
Sunday: Church and Christmas Music
I’ve attended church in Lawra a couple of times, but nothing is ever quite as sweet as attending your own church. I am a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which is in Ghana, but only in the south (for now). Consequently, I haven’t attended one of “my own” services since July. I was seriously excited for this opportunity to attend! Funny, because I don’t think I’ve ever experienced this much excited for church in my entire life.
Since the other girls had to head back to Tamale/Bolga Sunday morning, a friend kindly came up from Accra came up to keep me company/safe in the big city. So, we said goodbye to Nadia, Carissa and Claire, and headed to church. We didn’t want to be late, so instead we ended up really early. We sat outside the building for awhile listening to the prelude music (playing automatically from the keyboard), then went for a short walk around the area. Beautiful area!
The meetings were in a combination of Twi and English. So, I understood some parts, others I understood by intuition, and others, well, no clue. As it turns out, one member of the ward actually attended University of Toronto, while a good friend of the missionary from Las Vegas is currently serving a mission in Calgary. It is a small world indeed!
I needed to collect some materials from the missionaries, so it meant we had to stick around for the baptism after church too. Three people were getting baptized. I did feel kind of bad for adding another 45 minutes onto the church experience for my friend. But hey, he got to experience something new.
When I was taking the photo of the two missionaries below, the third missionary (there are a total of 6 based in this ward) I was walking with laughed. I explained to him the universal appeal / comfort of this picture to me. It is true. One of my American (non-Mormon) friends from Arizona has commented to me that even to him there is a sense of “home” in seeing the Elders walking around Ghana.
After church we headed back to our area of town, in a mad search for food. In Ghana, most things are closed on Sunday. Fortunately we found a fast food stall (don’t think North American fast food, think rice, pasta, sauces) and greedily ate our first meal of the day (still not quite sure why we didn’t take breakfast on the way to church). After a short rest we decided to wander the city. We didn’t have a plan, but it was kind of fun to just walk, randomly choose left or right at each junction. (Hmm, seems to be a common approach to my travels these days).
At one point a group of small boys ran up to us for a snap. These boys spied us from across a 4-lane divided road, and raced over, jumping the median barricade, just get a picture.
As the sun set we neared the Kejetia Market area. I wasn’t sure what to expect as it was a Sunday evening. I was thinking it would be empty. Nope. Just as busy as on Saturday afternoon! The streets were lined with sellers operating by candlelight. On more than one occasion we passed by a music seller playing reggae Christmas music; awesome!
Once we were safely out of the market area, my friend informed me that he thought there was a guy who had been tracing us, which is why he led us on a winding path and we crossed the street multiple times. The market, particularly at night, is known for thieves and pickpockets. We had made sure our small money, camera and phones were carefully stowed away in front pockets. (Don’t worry, if I was alone, I wouldn’t have ventured out at night, especially not to Kejetia). I’m glad he had noticed this, because I hadn’t.
Monday: Back to the North I Go
5 am alarm. Sigh.
Taxi to Metromass Station.
Wait for 2nd bus. First bus already left. Sigh.
650 am. Get on bus. Sigh.
Leave city. Sigh.
Watch the green fade into brown and bush fires. Sigh. Cough. Achoo.
Switch buses in Wa.
More bush fires. Achoo.
410 pm. Walk into my home. (Good) Sigh.
Missing Kumasi, but it’s always nice to be home again (and to take that post-travel shower).
Tuesday: No Place Like Home
800 am: Alarm goes off (a little sleep-in to recover from my travels)
815 am: Lights go out
900 am: Cell network goes down.
Yup, I’m back in the Upper West.
Note: For more photos from this weekend, please see the previous post “Photos from Kumasi”
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