Months ago I suggested to Koro that we go to Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire to visit her family and then I would go on to Accra, Ghana to meet Lani to travel around. This would have been the perfect way to go. Koro wanted to stay in Koutiala for the feast at the end of Ramadan so we left two days later which meant Koro came to Ghana with me and I couldn't meet Lani at the airport, this made me nervous.
As we approached the boarder of Burkina Faso I called another volunteer who was heading down to Ghana where we had made plans to meet at a hotel. She only agreed to meet Lani if things went
well when she arrived in Accra. At least she didn't say no right off.
well when she arrived in Accra. At least she didn't say no right off.
Koro and I spent the night in a bus station in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. In the morning we took off for Ghana. When the Ghanaian boarder was within an hour the thought crossed my mind that Koro had never been in a country with different currency. You see many West African countries including Benin, Burkina Faso, Cote d'Ivoire, Togo, Senegal, Niger, Guinea-Bissau use the West African CFA Franc. This startled Koro's new experiences.
In Ghana the national language is English, I am not sure how many local languages there are. Not many people speak good English so the language even challenged me. For Koro this meant that she didn't have people to talk to and my French is not that good. Even finding food in Ghana that Koro would eat became a challenge. Malians are not an adventurous people when it comes to breaking out of routine. Malian routines are like their rituals that haven't changed in decades, in centuries particularly at the village level.
My friend did meet Lani at the airport. Koro and I arrived in Accra about 4 am sleeping on the bus until taxis started their day on the streets. Arriving at the hotel Emily and Lani had got acquainted and a good nights sleep. Lani, Emily and I decided to go out to eat and Koro stayed at the hotel to get some sleep. This hotel was too expensive so Koro, Lani and I moved to the Salavation Army and Emily stayed with a friend.
The next morning Lani and I took Koro to a bus station to get her on a bus for Cote d'Ivoire but the bus only leaves Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 4:30 am this was Saturday. We ran with the flow and headed to Cape Coast. Koro didn't seem very happy about all this and even got a little cranky she wanted to stay in Accra.
Cape Coast lies on the Ghana shoreline with a rich history during the time of slave trading. Walking around we found some bogolan in one of the artisan stands. I introduced Koro as a bogolan artist from Mali and asked the guy if he was interested in buying some. He said come back later in the day. We also found a fair trade retail store where all three of us bought some kind of a bag made from plastic water bags. The store even had some shea soap that I pointed out to Koro.
Later that day Lani went for a walk and Koro and I went to try and sell some Bogolan. When got
there the guy said that he lent his money to a friend because the fish catch for the day was good so everyone in town bought fish. He said he would go and get his friend who might be interested in buying the bogolan. His friend showed with dreads and speaking both bambara and french, he is from Burkina Faso. Koro and I went over to his store. He makes musical instruments. We sat and visited in the usual Malian fashion.
there the guy said that he lent his money to a friend because the fish catch for the day was good so everyone in town bought fish. He said he would go and get his friend who might be interested in buying the bogolan. His friend showed with dreads and speaking both bambara and french, he is from Burkina Faso. Koro and I went over to his store. He makes musical instruments. We sat and visited in the usual Malian fashion. Koro negotiated price and talked about home. The guy has lived in Mali, Burkina Faso, Cote d'Ivoire, Senegal and now Ghana.
After Cape Coast Koro went to Cote d'Voir and Lani and I continued on to Kumasi, Hohao, and up to my friend Rhoda's village in the Volta region of Ghana. This region is situated on the Togo boarder and during rainy season which is when we were there is green lush cool with water falls and hilly terrain. We hiked, Lani cooked us great meals and we visited with Rhoda and her site
mate Leanne for a whole weekend.
What a great visit with Rhoda. It was hard to leave and head back to the big city of Accra where we had business to attend to and arrange the bus transportation to Cote d'Ivoir. We have figured out public transport in Accra so taking taxis is at a minimum. The bus for Abidjan leaves at 4 am, we report to the station at 3:30 am. As usual the bus left at 5 am. The ticket price was 1.000 cfa for the bus and 8.000 cfa for the boarder crossing bribes and as we found out there is a person at the boarder that does nothing but gets us trough the board. This frontier was the most guarded so far. The way we breezed through in three hours I would say the bribing worked.
In Abidjan we did nothing but visit with Koro's family. They are the greatest people. We were fed good, they took us around to artisan places, and when we left we got a ride in a truck and several of the women Lani's age took a taxi to the bus station to see us off. This was a great
brake from the heat and hardships of Mali.
The elders of the family. Lani and I estimated that about thirty family members lived in the household and there was a serious of three household where we were and more accross the street. Koro's family just goes on and on. We even went to Yamoussoukro to visit Koro's sister for a night.
After Cape Coast Koro went to Cote d'Voir and Lani and I continued on to Kumasi, Hohao, and up to my friend Rhoda's village in the Volta region of Ghana. This region is situated on the Togo boarder and during rainy season which is when we were there is green lush cool with water falls and hilly terrain. We hiked, Lani cooked us great meals and we visited with Rhoda and her site
mate Leanne for a whole weekend.What a great visit with Rhoda. It was hard to leave and head back to the big city of Accra where we had business to attend to and arrange the bus transportation to Cote d'Ivoir. We have figured out public transport in Accra so taking taxis is at a minimum. The bus for Abidjan leaves at 4 am, we report to the station at 3:30 am. As usual the bus left at 5 am. The ticket price was 1.000 cfa for the bus and 8.000 cfa for the boarder crossing bribes and as we found out there is a person at the boarder that does nothing but gets us trough the board. This frontier was the most guarded so far. The way we breezed through in three hours I would say the bribing worked.
In Abidjan we did nothing but visit with Koro's family. They are the greatest people. We were fed good, they took us around to artisan places, and when we left we got a ride in a truck and several of the women Lani's age took a taxi to the bus station to see us off. This was a great
brake from the heat and hardships of Mali.
The elders of the family. Lani and I estimated that about thirty family members lived in the household and there was a serious of three household where we were and more accross the street. Koro's family just goes on and on. We even went to Yamoussoukro to visit Koro's sister for a night.
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