After a veeery long drive, we arrived in front of a huge castle. Unbeknownst to us, the castle had a rich history of slavery. While we toured the castle grounds, walking into the slave dungeons, we both were distraught at the thought that human beings were treated with such unimaginable cruelty. The castle sits on a beautiful coast line. So, one would not guess looking at the beautiful backdrop, that such horrific acts would have been committed against men and women in the name of gold. While we learned about the dark time of salvery and eventually the liberation of Ghana from British rule in 1957, we both felt it was too much to fathom. Plus, being white in an all black community made us both wonder how the community felt when they saw us. When Melanie asked if people in the community were bitter, our host said things were better now.
We pilled back into the car for a quick tour of Ghana's second largest University. The grounds framed each building with lush plants and tall been trees. Listening to Etta James, Frank Sinatra, and Bilie Holiday lulled Melanie to sleep as Eben flew through each town one by one. Who would have thought that we'd be listening to these artists in Ghana on our colleague's iPod?
Eben announced lunch was our next stop. Yay! We were hungry. We landed at a mall in Accra for Chinese food (not the number one choice for Giulietta having just returned from China where she ate Chinese for breakfast, lunch and dinner every single day). The funny thing was, we could say we'd been to the mall before! One phase we have not been able to say in Africa. We has been there on our very first day to stock up on bottled water.
Sitting at the airport, six hours before our flight, we reflected on the last six days. One week ago from today, we were on a plane heading to Ghana, wide-eyed and unaware of what we would experience, especially with the teachers when teaching Speak To Children's program. We learned that it's important to remember why we came. We were here to make a difference in teacher and children's lives. Regardless of the sleeping conditions, uncertainties with the food, sensory overload when out and about, or exhaustion from the heat, we learned to adapt and be patience with the conditions around us. We leave Ghana today with the memories of the smiles on the teachers faces that we trained, and the smiles/awe that the children had toward us. We walk away knowing that despite the severe poverty that is present within this society, the peaceful and hospitable people of Ghana made this journey beautiful. Thank you, Ghana. We hope to return soon.
Oh but wait...Ghana was not ready to let us go just yet. As we waited for our flight, and continued to wait, we got the message over the loudspeaker about our flight being cancelled with no other flights available until 2pm the next day. Well, thank you Ghana for showing us how much you want us to stay and for testing our patience yet again. 8 hours in an airport with chaos all around, confusion, people angry about the cancellation...what an interesting way to end the day. We have been put up in a hotel for the night and we shall see what the day brings tomorrow. We have no clue when we will arrive in Harare. We will need to figure that out at the airport tomorrow...so who knows what other tests of patience might present themselves.
After a long day, we wish you all a pleasant rest of the day as we go to bed.
Cheers to another adventure!
Giulietta and Melanie
Picture of Cape Coast
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