First Impressions

It's been about a week and a half since I arrived in Ghana. I ended up meeting up with Aleia (another volunteer with Pro-Link, from Toronto) in Amsterdam before we both caught a flight to Accra. It's a good thing we were together, because the adventure began pretty much as soon as we touched down.

We landed at about 9:30pm on Friday night but the line up to get through immigration was basically a massive gong show, and because it's me, we were in the slowest possible line up. We finally get to the front of the queue, and the officer tells us to come up one at a time. I approach first, and after a brief glance at my immigration card, he asks for my address in Ghana. I don't know my address in Ghana....I don't even know the name of the family I'm staying with. Wrong answer. I explain that we're being picked up by our organization and taken to our host family and that we don't have any other information. (Really, we don't!) And he says that he can't let me through with out an address.

I've been traveling for about 24 hours at this point, and now having flashes of what being detained by Ghanaian immigration might entail running through my mind. Really, it wasn't as traumatic as it sounds, since everything was a bit fuzzy, but still overall not a happy situation.

After explaining that I didn't have a phone (or a phone number for that matter), I offered to retrieve the information from the people waiting to pick us up. He sent me to speak to another officer (with Aleia) who proceeded to write "Pro-Link Ghana" in the address box on our forms. I guess addresses weren't a universal requirement.

It gets better....

Remember how I told the immigration officer that people were waiting to pick us up and that I could get the info from them? Not so much - so it's a good thing he didn't take me up on that offer!

After looking over (and looking over again) the rows of signs being held up for various people being picked up, we perched ourselves and our luggage on a bench. We assumed that maybe our 'people' were stuck in traffic or delayed in some other way. After waiting a while (and rechecking the signs, AND requesting a P.A. announcement..) we looked at the time. It was almost midnight.

Oh dear.

We ended up making good friends with the security guards, managed to get out some cash (after a few stressful card rejections from various atms), sorted out a sim card (also, conveniently available), and placed a call to Crossroads' emergency line in Montreal. About 10 minutes later, we got a call from the director of Pro Link, and were sorted out with a cab, and eventually a ride to our host family. Phew!

And on to more settled times...

My host family is wonderful! Everyone is sooo friendly. (I'll post some pictures later, with formal introductions.) Aleia and I, along with an American exchange student, live in a separate dorm-like living space in a family compound, with a pool! We each have our own lovely rooms, and we're very comfortable here.

Despite the adventurous start, I've settled in quite well. We're getting to know the neighborhood better, and starting to brave the transport system too.

Things at work have been slow - but we're easing into it. The past two weeks have been mainly observation because everyone's been tied up in training sessions. The training is for Peer Educators - they are locals who live in various areas around the country who volunteer to educate people in their communities about HIV and STIs. The training is like sex-ed, but with a focus on HIV-Aids, and certain local stereotypes or misconceptions. It's been very interesting but I'm excited to start on my own projects too!

So overall, I'm settled and doing well, and looking forward to the many adventures to come!!

I'll leave you with that for now!


The picture above is of Aleia and I, drinking from fresh Coconuts! Normally you pay about $0.30 for one and the vendor chops off the top right there so you can drink the coconut water. AND once you're done, he'll chop it in half so you can eat the meat. Mmmm!

The picture below shows how to climb a coconut tree. CRAZINESS. He climbs like that all the way to the top then uses a machete-like device to chop and drop the coconuts. They're then loaded on to a cart and pushed through the streets to sell.