Daytime in the City

It is becoming hot and I am ready to end my walking journey through the streets of Accra.  What to eat?  Humm.  As I study the vendor selection of fried yams being cooked in a coal pot, what appears to be salt fish, although I’m uncertain, rice and packaged candies and crackers, I am reminded that I did buy peanut butter and saltines.  Ah, Peanut Butter, the nutrition that sustained me in Saint Lucia for two years!

 

I stumble across a small permanent plywood building.  A walk up “restaurant” if you will.  The sign is clear.  It is fast food.  They offer three types of rice and I can also get a wedding cake here.  I have no plans to marry anytime soon.  Uh, no I think I’ll pass.

JAM PART ONE

Today was the first day I actually woke without a hangover.  No, I haven’t been drinking – except for the beer drunk at Jam Part One. 

Myself, Carolyn, another visiting faculty member, and her husband Dwight and Ken who is Webster’s recruiter all live in the Faculty House. Jam Part One is a stone throw, just down the dirt road.  We had a great conversation while sitting on plastic chairs in the dirt, drinking beer.  People who know me – stop laughing!  A dominant part of the conversation was around the establishment itself.  Is there a Jam Part Two? Is there a chain of these bars?  Anyway, that and conversation around who had been to the most countries kept the conversation lively and made for an extremely unproductive evening. 

Carolyn and Dwight live in Brussels, come from the United States and have lived abroad for 16 years.  Ken comes from Canada and now lives in Ghana.  I couldn’t win the countries competition.

Alright, this blog post has drifted, so let me get back to where we should be.  No, the reason for the hangover is not liquid spirits; it is the time difference.  I think I have finally acclimated.  I am not sure what time zone I identified with but it surely was somewhere between Los Angeles and Washington DC and Ghana.

THE STREETS OF ACCRA

It’s early in the morning and time to explore the streets of Accra.  There are many similarities between Accra and Saint Lucia.  English is spoken, but Twi as is Kewyol, is used more frequently.  TroTros as is the Bus are used for public transportation.

Cocoa Trees can be found most anywhere here or in Saint Lucia.  Lush greenery is more likely seen when passing an ex-pat housing development, the United Nations building or other places that might budget for expensive regular gardening.  Amongst the abundance, it is easy to see a small shanty development with women bending over to stir the contents of an occasional hot pot set up in the dirt containing their afternoon lunch.

There is an upscale Mall featuring familiar and expensive foods and Apple Computers. Just outside I find the ever-present vendors knocking on car windows and people sleeping on the streets.  

Men can be seen pushing handmade wooden carts with tools, ready for a hard day at work.

It would be difficult to miss the prevalence of people missing limbs, in wheelchairs if they are lucky; others who are not so lucky are sitting along the footpath.  It appears that Diabetes has taken a toll on the population as it has in Saint Lucia.  The diet is similar: fried food and an abundance of carbs.  However, Diabetes is difficult to quantify, as most people are undiagnosed because there is more focus on infectious disease such as AIDS and currently Ebola.

There is a focus on mobile phones.  Topping off in Saint Lucia was a priority.  It is no different here other than it is not “topping off” it is “topping up”.  Street vendors offering a topping up card are in abundance.

I walk through the streets in a familiar way – always looking down and sometimes stopping to look behind me for on-coming traffic.  If there are footpaths, they are likely uneven and there are enormous ditches that were built to funnel rainwater to prevent flooding, but many times end up as a resting place for paper, plastic, bottles and anything else discarded along the way.  This makes walking on the edges of the street more favorable to prevent tripping, but more adventuresome as vehicles have the right-of-way.  I have never taken our sidewalks in California for granted since my return from Saint Lucia in 2010. 

As I begin the trek home through the changing neighborhoods, I notice that the quality of the footpath also changes.  While passing a rather wealthy looking cluster of new homes, I find I no longer must look down, but can skip across the bricks in wonderment!  But, alas, just as the skipping begins – it abruptly is interrupted with more uneven bricks and large ditches.  Once again, I am relegated to the street.

 

Nearing the completion of the walk I find a sandwich shop.  A place where I can sit, if just for a moment, reflect on what I’d seen, eat somewhat familiar food and have my guilty pleasure – A “Light” Coke.  This is difficult, but so nice to be back.  Cheers!