Hot, Humid, and Happy

I arrived safely in Accra. It was dark outside, but as soon as I stepped off the plane and onto the tarmac, I could feel the heat and humidity. Yesterday, I made it to LAX on time, despite some crazy traffic, right after a delicious lunch with Karen where our waiter Daniel (a worship leader at a church up the street from ours) shared some poems and prayers (and a much needed Tide Stick for me, ask me about that some time!). My flights were positively uneventful :) No delays, no issues, just very friendly people. Many folks wanted to talk to me about our new president and their home country. I sat next to an Iranian pilot who is moving his family to Ghana next month, and he said he has hope that President Obama will help his home country to get back on track, so to speak. A little Ghanaian girl (~2) sitting a dozen rows in front of me would run down the aisle every few minutes to have some water with me. She was adorable, and the guy next to me told me at one point when I woke up “Your daughter came looking for you, but you were sleeping.”

When I landed, I passed through immigration quickly (the “nationals of other countries” line was long so a security guy escorted me to ECOWAS and then finally to the Ghana nationals line). I zipped through immigration before my luggage was even on the belt. The Accra International airport is nice, modern, and clean with helpful people. After getting my suitcase (that weighed only 42 lbs) and passing through customs (the customs lady wouldn’t even allow me to stop, so I must not have looked menacing), I walked out into the airport area and 3 guys were sitting at the end of a long hallway, each holding a sign with a name on it. My name wasn’t on any of them and I chuckled to think only 3 people on our huge plane needed a ride.

Then, I turned the corner and passed the door to go outside, and there was literally a sea of people. Hundreds of dark faces and dark hands holding light paper with names written or typed on the paper. I laughed out loud and wondered how long it would take me to find my name. Within a minute, I saw a sign that said “Ellking Hotel: TESHA” and realized that I found my ride. His name is Joe, and he was a dear.

We hung out for a bit waiting for Volker (who arrived from Germany at the same time that I arrived from Amsterdam), which gave me opportunity to chat with Ghanaians about their hopes, their people, and their country. I even met a nice guy Daniel who is originally from Takoradi and provided me with the cell phone number of "the hottest DJ in Takoradi" whose name is GunShot. I'll probably look him up next weekend. On the way to the hotel, we stopped at a pharmacy so I could buy toothpaste, hair conditioner, and some wonderful hair oil (my hair is soaking it up right now after 20+ hours in dry airport and on airplanes). The hotel I am in tonight is very nice, but I have been warned not to get used to the comfortable bed or air-conditioning!

Here is the welcome gift from CSC that was sitting on my bed when I checked in (in the clear bag is yummy Ghanaian chocolate):


My initial assessment is that Ghanaians are warm, honest, friendly, and open. The weather is hot and humid. And I am happy to be here. I met Prasad, Ananda, Volder, and Carolyn so far, and will meet Kacie, Yaw, and Rosa at 7am. It’s midnight now and I am exhausted, so off to bed. Will write more when we get to Takoradi tomorrow.