Okay, my iPad wouldn’t post so you missed my arrival, but I’ll see what I can remember. When I got off the plane, I could smell Ghana and it made me smile. Starting about 29 minutes out, I started getting butterflies I was so excited. The airport, Kodoka, was huge with people milling all over, and I could hear the cacophony of so many tribal languages. I got picked up and driven to The Triple Crown, and I love it here: the staff is just so friendly, and the van, when I hired it, came with Isaac and Ishmael, great companions. Today we went to the ocean, and I watched men repairing their nets and fifteen or so people unloading a crab boat, mending its nets and cleaning the bottom of the boat. The sun was relentless and I think I lost all my bodily water.

Monday night was the get together at Ryan’s pub. There were current volunteers and those of us who need walkers. I drank white Russians, never available in my day. It was happy hour and drinks were darn cheap. We talked about some of our experiences, but I had a laugh when one current volunteer asked me when I was here. I told him and all he said was, “WOW!”

Yesterday, Tuesday, was the Peace Corps ceremony, and it was wonderful. The trainees, many of whom were wearing traditional cloths, looked so excited and so very young. We RPCV’s were asked to join them for the processional to go inside. We, returned volunteers, were all wearing name tags which included our dates of service. Every decade of Peace Corps was represented by the returned volunteers, including one man from the very first Peace Corps group. There were all sorts of speakers. The PC director talked about the impact of Ghana and wanted to highlight three volunteers, and I was one of them. I was surprised to have my name  called. The Minister of Foreign Affairs was the main speaker. The ceremony was held on the grounds of the US ambassador’s house, and he was the one who gave the oath to the volunteers. It was the same one I had taken. The food was all Ghanaian and the newest volunteers were like locusts, but I did snag some plantain, hummos (which Ghanaians have adopted as their own) and spicy kabobs. Last night was a party just for us RPCV’s (returned volunteers), and I had goat for the first time in forever and plantain. We chatted among us about how Ghana had changed even from one group to another, what we had done for work and what our Peace Corps Ghana was like. It was a great evening. It seems Peace Corps Ghana was thrilled that so many former volunteers had returned.

As for Ghana, it seems all at once so familiar and so different. Chickens run across the road (and I have no idea why), I can smell the charcoal burning and watch women hand washing their clothes in buckets. I smell the sewers, and that smell is exactly as I remember it. Accra is one giant traffic jam, and there are so many cars it seems overwhelming. Huge buildings are everywhere, and places I knew well are gone and replaced by modern buildings. Many of the roads are horrific-that too I know!

Tomorrow I leave for the north with an overnight stop in Tamale on the way. I can’t wait to get to Bolga. If Accra feels this comfortable, I can’t imagine how being back to Bolga will feel. I’ll let you know!

This entry was posted on August 31, 2011 at 2:02 pm and is filed under Musings. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. Both comments and pings are currently closed.