tema

We arrived in Tema, Ghana (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tema) the morning after we left Takoradi. John had again decided to stay on the ship in order to get caught up with some of his class work, and I went ashore on the first day with others from the ship. We took a bus into Accra (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accra). Some of these folks had been to this port before, and on their advice we made our way to the Global Mamas store (http://www.globalmamas.org). There we were able to do some shopping without the issues of pressure from the people making the sales and the bargaining that accompanies most purchase transactions in Ghana. Afterward we made our way to a nearby restaurant where we ate traditional Ghanaian dishes in an open air environment that was quite comfortable and relaxing. Although the weather was very hot and humid, the areas we saw in Accra were not as difficult to maneuver as those in Takoradi had been. There were still open sewers, but most of them were covered in a way that it was not likely anyone would fall in. There were still young men who tried to make sales in the streets (some of whom had followed us from Takoradi!), but not in the numbers we had seen before. The bus rides to and from the ship were long and hot, and traffic was heavy, but in all it was a better experience than we'd had in Takoradi. It is interesting that some of the things that bothered me about Ghana were things that the students overlooked. They were able to see past those things that were issues for me and some others, and focus on their interactions with the people in Ghana. We'd had an interport student from Ghana who had joined the ship in Morocco and students had spent lots of time talking with him about the country. They were perhaps better prepared for the experience than I was.

The second day in Tema I joined a SAS trip with a couple of friends. We took a bus ride northeast of Accra to bead making place called Cedi Beads (http://www.africancraft.com), named after the man who built this family business. Cedi has figured out how to use recycled bottles and other materials to make traditional African beads. We first had a lesson in the types of beads and how each is made, then were guided in making some of our own beads using the techniques we had been shown. While they were fired in a kiln, then cooled, we ate our lunch under the palm trees in a cool breeze, and got further lessons in glass bead making. Our guide for the trip, Stephen, provided information about palm trees and some of their uses in African culture. Once the beads had cooled, some of the workers polished them for us, using concrete blocks, sand and water. It was great to see the creative beads that came from our group. We boarded our bus and headed back to the ship, enjoying the views of the countryside, such a relief from the crowded cities we had seen. There were some areas with heavy trees and undergrowth, some small villages and lots of rocky hills. On the way back Stephen was answering questions and offering information about the country he clearly loves. When we got back to the ship, he reminded us that when you travel to far places, sometimes you have positive experiences and sometimes you have negative ones. He hoped that we would forget any negative experiences in Ghana, and concentrate on the positive ones. I came away feeling that it is very hard to make judgements about a country in four days, and that there is likely much more that Ghana has to offer than what I was able to take in in the limited time and area that I covered.