Another weekend, another adventure! This is Amber and Sosane’s last weekend, and they decided we should go to Kokrobite, a beach town about 30 minutes west of Accra. I’m just happy to be somewhere away from Frankadua to have a chance to finish my mental reset. I feel a lot better than I did at the beginning of the week, but I think that it will be good to have a couple days of a change of scenery. The group for the weekend is Amber, Nico, James, Sosane, three soccer guys, and me.
The beach!
The trip here was NOT simple, and I honestly don’t think that I could do it again on my own. We had a few guys from the soccer team with us who knew the way, and thank goodness because there was a lot of walking between tros and weaving through crowded streets. We took one tro from Frankadua to somewhere around Accra, another one from there to another somewhere around Accra, and the last one from there to Kokrobite. I know, that was so amazingly detailed that you’re thinking you could probably do it with your eyes closed.
Kokrobite is located just outside of Accra.
We didn’t leave home until probably 11AM, so we got to the hotel around 3PM, took a little time to get organized, and went to dinner around 5. James has been to Kokrobite before, and he led us to this food stand about 10 minutes away where we got some awesome fried chicken and rice. Afterwards, we played cards until it got dark. Sosane and James aren’t all about President like we are, so we played a game that they called Blackjack (as far as I can tell, it’s basically Uno with regular cards). What do people do for fun without cards? I love that that’s our go-to activity. This really does feel like summer camp sometimes.
My favorite part of the day was walking on the beach at night. I think it was something about the moon and the clouds and how they looked from the ground, but as soon as I walked out onto the sand, it took my breath away. The moon was bright and directly overhead, and the clouds were kind of splotchy and made the sky really seem like it was a dome. I felt like a tiny molecule inside a water droplet. Sometimes it’s nice to feel small because it puts life into perspective. I’m just a little bitty part of a much bigger picture.
Anyway, I’m excited for some chill time tomorrow. I’m going to pass out any second, so I should just do myself a favor to go to bed.
Fernanda leaves us at the end of the week, so she got to pick the location for our weekend travels. Her demands were simple; she wanted to go someplace pretty and relaxing. And so, that’s how we ended up going to Ada Foah. It’s a town in southeast Ghana, next to where the Volta River flows into the Gulf of Guinea/Atlantic Ocean (that’s the same river as the one near where we live in Frankadua). It used to be a big town for trade. At first, it was product trade, but when the African slave trade started, the fort originally meant to defend the trading post was turned into a slave fort. This is where captured people were packed together in dehumanizing conditions meant to either kill them or break their spirits before they were sent to the Americas. After the slave trade was abolished, it became a trading post for goods again.
Now, it’s mostly a weekend getaway for people from Accra. After the Akosombo Dam was built on the Volta River, it became too shallow for large ships and basically crushed any of the trade industry that remained. There are also big issues with the strong tides eroding the coastline to the point where many of the buildings in the town have washed away.
Vacation homes along the river
The trek to Ada Foah from our village, like the trek to basically anywhere from our village, is a bit of an adventure, and ours ended up being even more interesting than anticipated. At best, a trip to there from Frankadua would involve two tro tros and one boat ride, but we had to make an extra stop in Accra for Nico to extend his visa. We planned to hang out at the Accra Mall while he took care of that and then go from there.
Our journey… From Frankadua (blue) to Accra (green) to Tema (yellow) to Ada Foah (red). As you can see, we took the direct route (haha)
The place where we stayed is in the red circle… literally right at the point where the river meets the gulf
While we were standing by the road waiting for a tro from Frankadua to the mall/immigration office, the mayor drove by and offered to take us in his car! He said that he was headed to Accra anyway, but I’m not sure that was true. I think he might have gone just because of us which was really nice. We all squished in (four of us in the backseat), and off we went! Two uncomfortable hours (and a few traffic stops where he had to “encourage” the cops to let us go even though there were too many people in the car) later, we made it to the mall, and Avy, Fernanda, and I went snack shopping (my favorite thing) until Nico and Amber finished at immigration and met us for lunch.
Party car!
The next part of our journey didn’t go quite as planned either… We thought that we would be able to get a tro from the mall to a big transfer point, Tema Roundabout, but everyone we asked said no such thing existed. Hm… so what now? We had no backup plan and were wandering despondently through the parking lot when someone yelled Nico’s name. We’re used to random people calling out to us, but they usually don’t know our names! It turned out to be a guy that Nico and Amber met a couple of weeks ago in Frankadua, Rudolph, and when they explained our situation, he said he was headed in that direction anyway (was he, though?) and could give us a ride. So, the five of us squeezed into Rudolph’s car, and we were off again! The ride was cramped but seriously luxurious because he had air conditioning!!! I don’t think I’ve experienced functional AC since I’ve been here. It was amazing.
At the transfer point, Rudolph walked with us to find the right tro to take to Ada. Finally, from Ada, we took a boat to Ada Foah. You’re probably thinking that this MUST be the end of the story… but alas, it is not. We got probably 95% of the way there, anddd the boat stalled. The captain, Fred, started using some questionable methods to try to start it up again, and we were so close to land that someone from the hotel started walking through the water to us with the intention of pulling the boat in. He was probably 20 meters away (sorry… I’m starting to think in metric now. 65 feet or so) when the boat finally started up again, and we cruised into shore.
Us with our new best friend, Fred the boat driver. Not sure why Fernanda and Amber are making those faces…
Yay!! We finally made it! By the time we landed, it was past dinnertime and no one was hungry anyway, so we just dropped our stuff in our rooms and hung out/played cards until it was time for bed.
We were welcomed into shore by this hideous sunsetLike… what is this place?!?
The next day was glorious. Sometimes you don’t realize how in need of a break you are until you get one and are reminded of what it feels like to be relaxed. That’s exactly where I was, and I had the most perfect, relaxing day.
We took our time getting up in the morning (YAY for sleeping in!), ate a leisurely breakfast, and got changed into our bathing suits to go to the beach – 10 feet from our huts.
Oh yeah, I have to tell you about our “hotel”. It’s just a collection of little huts, so we had a three-person hut with a sand floor (aka no floor… just a hut on the sand) and a two-person hut with a floor (luxurious concrete). I think they’re hilarious. Also, sorry, nerd alert but I MUST comment on the electrical situation… There are lights in both huts, but only one has a switch. In the other, we’re supposed to screw the light bulb in and out to turn it on and off. The “fixture” is literally just a bulb hanging from the ceiling by its wires. Where two wires connect, the ends are just twisted together and left exposed. Between huts, the wires are buried under maybe 6” of sand (maybe), and they’re not in tubing or anything to protect them from damage. I could keep ranting about the lights in pretty much the whole country, but I’ll spare you. Maybe another time.
Fernanda with our hut
The light in our room
Admire those wires running straight into the sand
Exterior light fixture (this is the weatherproof-edition)
Huts everywhere!
ANYWAY, we decided to go for a walk to explore, starting on the river side of the peninsula and walking around to the gulf side. I understand why people call it a paradise town because man, it really is beautiful. The only downside is that there’s a lot of garbage that washes up on the beaches, particularly plastic garbage. Not surprising considering the general garbage/litter issues around the country… but I digress. Like I was saying, beautiful! At the end of the peninsula, we could see the place where the river water runs into the gulf which was pretty cool.
The river sideExploringAnother river view, looking back in the direction of our hutsI bet these rocks were placed here to help with the erosion problemObligatory photoshootBecause why not?
The rest of the day was equally uneventful. We played some volleyball, swam in the river and played monkey in the middle, and lay on the beach. I made a sand sculpture and took a nap in a hammock and lost to Nico in chess. We watched the sunset and ate dinner, and after everyone else went to bed, Fernanda and I hung out on the beach and looked at the stars. On a clear night, there’s nothing better. Since there are barely any lights around, the sky is super dark and the stars are incredible.
I’m really bummed that Fernanda is leaving next week… I think I’m still in denial a little bit. We get along so well and have a lot in common. But Mexico City isn’t TOO far from Philly, and she’s promised me a piñata if I come to visit, so it looks like it’s time for me to start planning a trip to Mexico!
Just hanging outThe river side was really nice for swimming because the tide wasn’t very strong. This is where we played our monkey in the middleSand sculpting
Best friends
Sunset on the ocean side
The next morning, we ate breakfast and started the long trip home to Frankadua. I didn’t even mind, though. I felt so refreshed after our day of relaxation that I actually really enjoyed the (very long) ride.
Step 1: Another boat ride with our friend Fred! This one went without a hitch, and he promised to come visit us in Frankadua. This happens pretty much everywhere we go… it’s kind of funny. Thank goodness for Ghana SIM cards because then it’s not a big deal to give out our phone numbers. When we leave the country, they’ll disappear.
Fernanda soaking up some last-minute sun on the boat ride
I was sad to leave this luxurious concrete floor and princess-style mosquito net behind
Step 2: Tro ride. We walked from the dock to the station in town, and when we found it (after asking a bunch of people for directions), there was no one there. Great. Time to ask more people for help! We walked out to the street and started asking around until someone finally directed us down the road because apparently tros don’t run all the way to the station on Sundays. Of course. Because why would they? *internet sarcasm*
We found a tro, and I got a prime seat – back row by the window. That meant that I didn’t have to move for anyone to get on or off, and I got a great breeze. I’m telling you, it gets HOT in those vans, and it was very sunny which doesn’t help. Everyone else slept, but I was happy to look out the window and enjoy the ride.
Tro #1. This was a pretty big one.. There isn’t always this much space
Step 3: Tro transfer at Tema Roundabout. Maybe? We assumed that we could get a tro direct to Frankadua from there, but everyone we asked said that there was no such thing and that we had to take a cab to some other station and get one from there. It’s so hard to tell when people are being helpful vs. trying to take advantage of our ignorance (since we’re so obviously not from here). Who knows what the truth was in this case, but we decided to assume “being helpful” and took a cab to the random station.
Step 4: Tro from random station to Frankadua (FINALLY!). I lucked out again on my seat and was in the front next to the driver which means 1. more legroom and 2. a window AND the windshield. A breeze and a view. What more could you want? Well, a seatbelt would be nice, but I’ll take what I can get! Sometimes you luck out on that, too, but more often not. I’ve been working on not having an anxiety attack every time I get in a vehicle without one.
On the ride home from my prime front-row seatDrive scenery
Two hours later (as in, two hours after the beginning of step 4), we were home! We survived! The Cape Coast crew got back maybe 20 minutes after us, and the rest of the night was spent exchanging stories and getting ready for school the next day. Last week of summer school… eek!
*Note: This blog has been updated since its original posting to combine three posts into one.
RELATED POSTS
Akosombo Dam – tour the dam that shrank the Volta River and became Ghana’s main power source
Cape Coast Castle – learn more about the West African slave trade with a visit to one of the most well-known and well-maintained slave forts
Batumi – compare the sand beaches of Ghana to the pebble beaches of Batumi, Georgia. The perfect solution for the beach-loving sand-haters among us!
The trek back to Frankadua was a long one. We left Cape Coast around 10AM and drove back to Accra. Before getting a tro tro back from there, we stopped in the biggest mall in Ghana to check it out and grab lunch. It was very strange being somewhere that felt so normal and familiar after a week of only experiencing new and different things.
The most exciting thing about the mall was the grocery store because we found marshmallows!! We’ve been looking for some and I was starting to think that they didn’t exist in Ghana. Obviously the next step after finding marshmallows was to piece together some s’mores ingredients, and that ended up being a much bigger challenge. First, we couldn’t find plain milk chocolate, so we got Oreo milk chocolate. Second, I think graham crackers actually don’t exist here, so we attempted to identify crackers that could be acceptable replacements. I think we did pretty well, but we’ll see at the bonfire on Thursday!
The rest of the day wasn’t very exciting. We took the world’s hottest tro ride from Accra to Frankadua and then all felt horrible when we got back. Every single one of the six of us is having some sort of health issue at the moment. Infections, colds, stomachaches… Ghana is kicking our butts right now. Hopefully the antibiotics kick in soon because this is horrible.
Maria, Fernanda, Avy, Nico, me, and Amber
We also got to experience our first power outage. Apparently they’re common, but we’ve been lucky I guess. Aside from the fact that the fans stopped working, it was kind of fun. We ate dinner by candlelight, and being together back in the house felt like home.
I still feel pretty awful, so it’s off to bed for me. Fingers crossed for a less miserable tomorrow!
Our final group activity of Saturday was a visit to Cape Coast Castle. Now, before you start picturing the awesome stone castles in Europe and imagining kings and queens walking through tapestry-draped hallways, I have to stop you. This was not that kind of castle. Cape Coast Castle is one of about 40 “castles” (forts) that were built in what is now Ghana by foreign powers to support trade. Originally, people were drawn to Ghana because of gold, but as the slave trade picked up, the castle was modified to imprison slaves rather than to store goods.
Follow the trough from the bottom of the photo up. Where it disappears is the end of the excavation. It should extend through the doorway into the next room.
I want to talk about what I learned during our visit. It’s kind of long and all of it is horrible, but it’s also important. I always remind myself that I can’t ignore things just because they make me feel upset or uncomfortable, and I can’t allow myself to separate my emotions from what I learn. How am I supposed to try to understand people who are different from me if I only want to hear about the happy things and not the ones that have scarred and changed them forever? How can I understand where they’re coming from if I haven’t tried my best to imagine what it would feel like to be in their shoes?
During the slave trade, people were taken from all over Ghana and from as far north as Burkina Faso (the country that borders Ghana to the north). Some of them were prisoners of war that were sold off, some were people whose entire villages had been raided and captured. They were brought to the castle, shackled, and crammed into disgusting chambers in the basement where they could remain for days, weeks, or in some cases, up to three months. They were brought out once each day to eat, unless they were labeled as dangerous, in which case they remained in the dungeons constantly.
The inside of the excavated men’s chamber
The men’s chamber has three rooms in which up to about 1,000 men were kept at once. There wasn’t room to sit or lay down. There were some trenches cut into the floors that were supposed to be used to carry human waste out, but they didn’t function very well and everything eventually just piled up. Our tour guide talked about how only one of the chambers was “excavated”, and it took me a second to understand what he meant. Oh. So in the other two men’s chambers, the floors are covered with fossilized human waste. Without the excavated room, I wouldn’t have even noticed that there was a trench in the floor.
The women’s chamber has two rooms and was used to hold up to 500 women at once. The conditions were similar to the men’s chamber, but the women also had to worry about getting raped by their captors. Rebellious women were placed in a small confinement cell to more quickly break their spirits.
The inside of the suffocation chamber
There’s no way that I can adequately describe how it felt in those rooms. The air was completely stagnant. The only light came from tiny windows maybe 15 feet up, but it wasn’t enough to see anything. I felt like the walls were closing in on me, and I’m not even claustrophobic. All of that was enough to make me a bit nauseous, and I didn’t even have people standing that close to me.
The worst room we visited was the suffocation chamber. It’s exactly what it sounds like – the punishment for the most rebellious. There used to be three doors sealing the room, but only one remains, and it has a grate that lets air in. When our whole group was inside, our guide turned off the light and closed the door to give us a sense of what it would feel like to be trapped in there. Even with just one door, I could feel myself starting to panic. The air was heavy and it smelled like moisture and mold. You literally could not see anything. He opened the door after maybe 20 seconds, but that was more than enough time to get the point across. When someone was placed in the room to be killed, it could take up to 5 days for them to lose consciousness.
The view from the governor’s room
As you might imagine, under these conditions, about 25% of people died before even leaving the castle. The ones that were “lucky” enough to survive were then sorted when a ship came into port. The strong were loaded onto the ship, and the weak were left in the dungeons to die. About 50% of the “strong” remaining people did not survive the trip across the Atlantic.
One of the questions our group asked was – wouldn’t it have been in the best interests of the businesses to take better care of people so that more survived? Between insurance money and the profit made from selling people who did survive the trip, they still came out in the positives. The money made from the sale of one slave would cover the deaths of 20 others. Then, knowing all of that, the captors didn’t want to make conditions any better because part of the purpose of the dungeons was to break people psychologically.
The last part of the tour was walking through the upstairs part of the castle. The governor’s quarters. For one man, there was close to the same amount of square footage that was used to house 1,500 people below. From upstairs, the views of the gulf were beautiful, but it’s hard to enjoy the view when you compare that with the very different scene that is just below your feet.
At the end, I was feeling pretty empty inside. The entire time, I just kept thinking “how??” How could anyone think it’s okay to treat people that way? How did they get others to go along with them? I guess once you manage to convince yourself that some people deserve less or are worth less or are less human than you are, it’s easy to treat them that way.
It’s not exactly pleasant to have all of these thoughts swirling around, but I know that it’s good for me. These things happened, and it doesn’t help anyone if I ignore them or pretend that they didn’t. I still definitely have a lot to think about and reflect on before I can sort things out in my head again.
Me with Amber, Maria, and Nico on one of the canopy platforms
Our day started with breakfast at 8 this morning. Hooray for sleeping in! We still didn’t get a ton of sleep because we were all hanging out last night, but it was nice to be able to turn off my 5AM alarm for the weekend.
Canopy walkway!
We headed out right after breakfast to go to Kakum National Park. The area is a tropical rainforest and contains thousands of species of plants, birds, animals, etc. It also has the most concentrated population of forest elephants in all of Ghana. If you really want to see animals while you’re there, they recommend staying overnight and
doing a night hike. We were there during the day, so we didn’t see many animals, but the views were still amazing.
The park has a canopy walkway that consists of seven platforms and rope bridges that stretch from tree to tree. We hiked up through the forest to get to the starting point of the walkway, and it was cool to get to see the everything from both vantage points. I love the feeling of being deep in the forest, with tall trees all around and just little glimpses of the sun through the thick foliage, but getting to also see it from above definitely gives a better sense of the scale of the trees and the expansiveness of the park. Plus the walkways were just fun to walk on! I felt like a kid on a jungle gym… except that we were actually in the jungle and probably hundreds of feet off of the ground. Basically the same.
The group
After the park, we headed back towards Cape Coast and made a quick pit stop at this place where you can see alligators (maybe crocodiles? I can never remember the difference) up close and even touch one if you’re interested. I was not interested. I know that I said I would do things that scare me, but yeah… there isn’t even the tiniest part of me that wants to touch an alligator. I think it was crazy enough that we walked anywhere near them without a fence between us! (I spent a few seconds identifying people in our group that I could probably outrun, if it came to that.) In the end, everyone survived, but even so, I would be more than okay with never doing it again.
Gator… eek!
I was pretty ready to get back to our hotel after that, and as soon as we got back, I passed out for a couple hours. I guess all those late nights finally caught up with me! We had one more group outing today, but I need to take a little time to emotionally recover before I can write about that. Maybe tomorrow.
The weekend was a nice change of pace from our usual schedule. We left our house this morning at about 6:30AM to make the trek out to Cape Coast. Our group took a tro tro from the house to Accra (around two hours), and there we met up with the volunteers serving at the other sites in the program (our site is referred to as the Purple program, and we met up with Pink and Gold). From there, it was a 3 hour drive to Cape Coast. I slept on and off for the entire trip, but as you might imagine, it wasn’t the most restful sleep I’ve ever had. There’s really no denying that I need to get to bed earlier at night.
It’s a looooong way to Cape Coast. We live up between Kpong and Ho.
We made it to Cape Coast around 2PM, and a few of us walked around the town for a bit. That was my first experience walking through a more tourist-y area, and I definitely experienced a bit of culture shock. In our town, everyone is very friendly and happy to just let us be. Here, the shopkeepers are more aggressive, and there is far more begging. I wasn’t completely prepared for it.
I was also thrown off by seeing other foreigners. The hotel where we’re staying is almost entirely occupied by foreign tourists. Being in this context and seeing how different my perspective would be if I was just a tourist makes me really happy that I decided to volunteer. I feel like having the combination of experiences, seeing both the tourist side and the normal life side, will give me a more complete picture of the country, culture, and people, which is exactly what I was hoping for.
The rest of the day was spent relaxing and spending time with the other volunteers. We know most of them from orientation, and it was fun to catch up and hear about each other’s experiences. The people in Gold have to fetch water from the well for their showers, which they said is about a 30 minute ordeal. Compared to them, we have it easy! There are a couple of Ghanaians who bring water from the well each day and put it in these big tubs we have in the house. They balance the water on their heads in these massive metal bowls and then dump the water into the tubs with the bowls still on their heads. If I tried to do that, assuming I even managed to keep any water in my bowl on the way back from the well, I would dump it all over the floor for sure.
Needless to say, we are all thoroughly enjoying the flush toilets and showers with running water. Talk about a life of luxury! Don’t get carried away though… the water is still not heated, but it comes out of a showerhead instead of a bucket, so that’s enough for me.
Tomorrow we actually have things to do (besides relaxing on the beach), so I should get some rest. Good night!
