Today was our first full day in Ghana. I’ll leave it to someone else to write about the entire trip—certainly, it was not without its moments.
The previous day ended at the Hotel Shangri-La, located in Accra. Anything with a bed would have been welcome after all of our travel, but the hotel was rather nice, and the rooms and food were both superb.
We met with Professors Andrew Storer and Emmanuel Oproni-Frimpong, both of whom will be essential to the completion of our projects. Indeed, had we had no contact on the ground when we landed, I imagine that we would have had no end of trouble.
As just a simple example, today we bought cell phones to make sure that we can always stay in touch no matter where we are. In the US, this would have probably been a simple task, and to a certain extent it was also fairly simple to accomplish in Ghana. But before we could buy anything, we needed money. And to get money, we needed an ATM.
Navigating Kumasi was, thankfully, a challenge not left to us, and after parking and eating lunch we had a fairly short walk ahead of us, Emmanuel leading the way. Using the ATM was exactly the same as using one in the US, although the machine had a $5 service charge on every transaction and spit out worn stacks of 10 and 5 Ghanaian Cedis bills instead of the crisp twenties that an American ATM dispenses.
Once we had our money, it was off to a nearby cell phone store, where Emmanuel was again essential, this time in getting us the cheapest, most reliable phones possible. We didn’t need iPhones of dubious legitimacy or any other such fancy phone; something capable of making and receiving calls and text messages was enough.
As we waited during the negotiations, a group of small children gathered around the shop, pointing at us and laughing “Oboroni! Oboroni!” The word means “white man” in Twi, and the children eagerly had their pictures taken by Evie and Anne.
The day ended at our hotel in Kumasi, where we will spend the night before moving to the KNUST campus dormitories. In many ways, this day was our first faltering baby step into what will have to become our new routine and way of thinking. Prices are not set in stone, everything imaginable is sold by street venders who fearlessly walk among traffic, the food is largely unfamiliar, and we are occasionally a spectacle.
But then, today was only the first day. We will adapt, hopefully more quickly than slowly, and we will continue towards accomplishing our goals. And we will, of course, continue to update this blog as often as we can.
