Is it crazy that Ghana feels like Home?

We had a good Friday at Multiwall, accomplishing a lot. Rosa is still working on understanding all the details of the cash flow and balance sheet. Ananda did a great job discussing some organizational restructuring with the guy who is essentially the COO (though he doesn’t have that title yet). I am starting to write the final document that we’re going to give at the end of our consulting engagement, and I also spent some time looking at global supply for West West. Lunch was fufu with groundnut soup and chicken, which has become my favorite even though I am trying many other foods. Ghanaians continue to be pleasantly surprised at our desire to eat their local food, and I am grateful that I haven’t been the least bit sick.

Here is the girl making my fufu for Friday’s lunch (as usual, pic courtesy Rosa and her photographer’s eye):


Friday is the day when many people wear traditional Ghanaian clothes to work, and I was happy to participate (this pic is with Larry and Fredrica):


Ghanaians were glad to see me in their clothes. We met a banker (who had seen me the prior day in a full business suit), and he was very complementary even though he was actually in a business suit himself. The guys at Multiwall were happy that I was wearing African clothes, too. Here is the office that Ananda, Rosa, and I share:


We left the office at 5pm (the first time all week) and came back to the hotel to catch up with the rest of the group. The youngest son of the President and CEO of Multiwall is young (mid-20s) and he offered to take us out on Friday. We didn’t want him to feel obligated, but he seemed happy to do so. He hosted all 8 of us at his family’s hotel restaurant and then we went to the VIP section at Café de Paris wine bar. As I’ve said before, I am feeling VERY spoiled but I think I could get used to it ;-)

We came home by midnight on Friday because we had an early day yesterday. We left at 7am to go to a traditional Fanti baby naming ceremony. The ceremony was in Fanti and English, and essentially the grandfather gave the baby a blessing and then bestowed his name (the name of the baby’s great grandfather was chosen in this case). The grandfather stuck his finger in water, let the baby taste it, then in Schnapps, let the baby taste it, and did this 3 times while encouraging the baby to be honest and know the difference between right and wrong. Then, we all either sipped from the Schnapps glass or poured out a few drops on the ground while giving our own blessing to the baby. I was glad I learned how to say “God Bless You” in Fanti earlier this week, since it came in handy at the ceremony.


After the ceremony (in a nontraditional twist on this event) the husband presented a special gift to the wife. She bore him 2 daughters already, but this was the first son and it was a very big deal. So after the traditional part of the ceremony, some young men dressed in traditional Fanti clothes came in with drums, a live goat, a basket of goodies (like a cello-wrapped gift basket) and a throne for the wife (mother of the baby boy). They drummed and danced and it was very nice, and the wife was visibly touched by such a display of affection from her husband. He was obviously very grateful that she bore him a son, and she appreciated his gesture. I wondered how the little girls felt, knowing that it wasn’t as big of a deal when they were born. A native Ghanaian woman assured me that even though boys are prized more, girls are also very much loved and appreciated.


After the dancing and presentation of gifts (thankfully, the goat was led away rather than slaughtered there, which I had initially feared), we ate a bounty of food. I didn’t try the goat or some other items, but I did eat some delicious kenkey with okra stew, fried fish, and pepper sauce. I enjoy that even at formal events, it’s completely appropriate to eat with my hands. So I dipped my hand in the water bowl, and proceeded to eat with my right hand (as is the custom). I also tasted palm wine, which was quite refreshing and tasty.

After lunch, the mom and dad started the dancing. It was very hot, and even the Ghanaians were sweating a lot in the shade before the dancing started. The DJ was playing great music so we all danced a few songs, but everyone got so hot that the dancing was short-lived. While I was dancing, at one point, Ananda grabbed me just before I was about to step on a live scorpion in the grass (thanks, Ananda!). After that, we came back to the hotel.

The plan was to rest since we were all tired, but I ended up (as usual) in the hotel lobby hanging out with the staff. Helena just got off work, Frederica and James were working, and Kwesi and several friends joined us (including Kingsley, who fixed all the settings on my new camera so that I don’t have to spend time reading the manual). We had some dance lessons (I taught them merengue and then we practiced) and danced a bit, and even though I didn’t rest much I had energy again.

Kingsley after he fixed my camera:


In the afternoon, several of us went with Isaac (who I have decided is our guardian angel) and two taxi drivers to the market. It’s huge, and the most densely packed market that most of us have ever seen. We can’t take pictures there, but there are tiny kiosks that sell everything (food, fabric, produce, fish, grain, CDs, and anything you would normally find at a flea market or something similar). The kiosks are squeezed together so tightly that they are “alleys” between (no aisles) and the alleys are less than 2 feet wide. It’s challenging because you have to watch in front of you (to see if anyone is coming from the other direction), below you (to make sure you don’t step in a channel that moves water beneath the concrete), and to your sides (to ensure you don’t knock over anyone’s wares). If we hadn’t been with Isaac and Ernest, we surely would have gotten lost. It was a great experience, and even the driving there and back was exciting. Ernest is a great driver, as aggressive as necessary and still safe. While we were in the street on our way to the market, we saw Akosua driving (she’s the chief biochemist at West West), which was astonishing since there were thousands of people there.

Isaac went home to shower, we all showered at the hotel, and I called my mom and sis to chat for a few minutes. Shout out to Shalese for reading my blog every day, and a big congrats to her for getting into grad school! Then we re-grouped to head out for the evening. Isaac took us to one of his favorite places, which I quickly realized would be my stomping ground if I lived here. May’s Spot is an outdoor area with tables and chairs, adjacent to a small restaurant and bar. We had some dinner while listening to a very good live band. When the band starting playing hip-life (Ghana’s traditional hi-life music infused with R&B and hip hop), we got our boogie on :) We were approached by a guy who turned out to be the leader of the troupe we saw performing traditional dances earlier that morning at the baby naming ceremony. Here he is in traditional clothes:


He took the girls to dance and when we were drenched (outdoor dancing, no AC, no fans, no breeze) he grabbed the guys instead. I adore our team! Ananda and Volker made me very proud, as they showed the Ghanaians some new moves that work well with hiplife. We had sooooo much fun and I laughed a ton during the night. (Volker, a 6’8” or so white German guy danced so much he actually had to go home and change his shirt because he was literally drenched head to toe.) Rosa held her own with Kobina Ebenezer (the dancer).

After Volker returned in dry clothes, we headed over to Paragon. This is a local night club owned by Kwame’s brother. Kwame (an IBMer who now lives in Texas, but who lived in NY when I lived there) called his family in advance to let them know we were coming. So Kwame’s nephew Adu met us at the club, let us in, let us tour the building, and escorted us to the VIP area. (Are you seeing the consistent treatment here? I really do feel like a princess.) We danced a bit, but were all tired and had agreed to get home at midnight so the guys could golf and some of us could go to church this morning. We’re optimistic that Kwame’s brother will decide to open Paragon on Thursday night (since Friday is a national holiday) and we can go back to really spend time at the club. Either way, it was very nice of Kwame to ensure we got the royal treatment here in his home town – thanks a million, Kwame!!

Even though I was tired when we got home, I spent some time with Samson at the front desk, talking about life, relationships, and everything else. I am finding that my favorite times in Ghana are chatting with the hotel staff in the lobby, and last night was no exception. I finally crawled in bed, slept ~5 hours, and got up to go to breakfast (since Nana was gone, Samson did the honors of calling me this morning). Ernest was EARLY to pick us up for church (what happened to Ghanaian time?) and when we arrived at church the parking lot was empty. A nice guy there told us that ICGC was in Accra today for an anniversary event, so we called Isaac and got directions to his church, Assemblies of God. Carolyn, Kacie, and I rolled through nearly an hour late, but we didn’t miss the message so there must have been a lot of singing (sad to miss that) and announcements. After service, we were escorted to the head pastor’s office, where Rev Kojo Impraim welcomed us, offered any assistance we needed, and prayed for us. I remember in Kenya that I had never felt so welcome before in a country, and Ghana is definitely giving them a run for their money. I feel so welcome here, by the words and actions of the Ghanaians.

It’s only been a week, and I am already pretty sure that, except for missing family & friends, I won’t ever want to go back to the US after this. Life is slower here (but not too slow), people really value relationships, and I am thoroughly enjoying the change of pace. Even with the longer-than-average working hours we had last week (and being more productive than I thought possible in a short period of time), I feel more relaxed and peaceful than I do at home. I know some of it is that I don’t have the normal chores I have at home: someone else is doing all the cooking, cleaning, laundry, and other tasks for me, and I don’t have to worry about car or condo maintenance. I also recognize that some people (like Isaac and Theodora) are going out of their way to welcome us and make us feel comfortable because we’re only here for a month, so I know that some of that would be a little different if I lived here. But even if I was responsible for the chores and I didn’t have as much local support, I sense that the incredible graciousness of the Ghanaian people, their obvious heart for God, the faith that imbues this country, and their focus on relationships would still be a marked change from the way I feel in Orange County. All that to say that I am absolutely loving it here, and I am focused on squeezing every possible memory and experience out of my time here (even when it’s at the expense of sleep).

After church, Ernest picked us up (he’s my fav taxi driver since he’s the one who took me to church my very first day here) after buying soccer balls for us at the store. (Isaac tells us most kids make soccer balls with old socks because balls are difficult to find and are expensive, so we’re going to leave the balls that Ananda bought when we go back to our home counties.) While we were waiting for Ernest, we chatted with lots of kids from the church. It’s really nice that they speak so much English, because even when we’re on our own, we can communicate pretty well with everyone.

Back at the hotel, we had 2 hours before Kojo picked us up to take us to the beach (a different beach than last Sunday). Rather than resting, I opted to hang out with the girls at the front desk. Frederica, Helena, Vivian, and I discussed everything from men (of course) to the shape of women’s butts (Ghanaian versus American) to domestic abuse to music. I am so grateful that we’re staying in a 15-room hotel, because it’s been only a week and already I feel like we have a family here loving us. At one point, we were listening to Nigerian music and a woman came in looking for a room while we were all getting our groove on. We had a lot of good laughs this morning.

We spent the afternoon at Funko Beach, which might be the most beautiful untouched (i.e., no resort built on the water) I have ever seen.


There are beautiful palapas (here called Summer Huts) when you want to escape the heat.


The water is warm and a teal shade of blue. The sand on the beach and under the water is soft, and the waves are good for body surfing. The guys played soccer on the beach, Kacie and I helped Rich and Isaac improve their swimming skills, Rosa perfected her tan (and snapped pics of some little ones), and we all had a fantastic time.


Takoradi is a small city (~350K total people between Takoradi and Sekondi, and we’ve been almost entirely in Takoradi), and we don’t know that many people yet since we’ve just been here for a week. However, EVERYWHERE we go, we see someone we know. Just in the last 24 hours, we have seen 6 people:
* Last night at May’s Spot, we ran into Ebenezer
* This morning, the guys were golfing and ran into Derrick
* Yesterday, we ran into Akosua at the market
* This afternoon, we ran into Ato Van Ess and family at the beach
* We also ran into Hevi at the beach
* And we saw Kweku at the beach, too! (The beach is ~22 km from our hotel, so it’s not that reasonable to assume we’d run into all these people)

And speaking of divine connections, tonight I walked out my door to go order dinner and saw two women down below who looked like they were having a nice time. I called out to them to greet them, and we started chatting so I gave them directions to come up to my room (there are no stairs from where they were, so they had to walk around the hotel and come in through the lobby and down the hall to my room). Here is the view out the door of my room:


I chatted with Yvonne and Nash, and I learned that they work for Opportunity International, which is the parent company of www.OptInNow.org, which is a company that I really like and I was just telling Kacie about earlier this week. Yvonne will call me tomorrow so we can chat some more. God is making wonderful connections here in Ghana, and it’s starting to feel like home :)

P.S. Yvan and Sandy, I received #2.