It's good to be home

I have just arrived back in Swedru after an awesome slash awful weekend of travels...

Early Friday morning (like 4:36 early) I left my home to catch a bus to Kumasi.  After 6 painful hours sitting next to a man and his two children (all of whom somehow got away with only purchasing one ticket) I arrived in Kumasi (should be more appropriately named the craziest city on earth).  I told the driver that I needed to catch a tro tro from Kumasi to Nsuta (a small town about an hour and a half away), and drivers are usually great about dropping you where you need to be.  But on this occasion, not so much.  A few minutes after I let him know where I needed to be, he stopped the bus, opened the doors, and threw me out (he could not have ushered me out any faster if he had drop kicked me to the street!).  So alone I stood on the side of the road in the craziest city on earth.  Luckily for me, it turns out to maybe be the friendliest as well.  I simply turned around, looked at a man and told him where I needed to be.  He proceeded to walk me the 20 minutes that it took to get me to the station.  He then asked another man to take me to my exact departure area in the station.  Whoever you guys are, medaase (thank you!).

Once at the station, I went to buy my ticket.  "I go to Nsuta", I said.  And everyone within earshot responded with "Why?", or "Are you sure?", or "Have you been there before?".  Sigh.  Nsuta is a very small town, with no running water, probably a twentieth the size of Swedru.  So it's no wonder people were wondering why an Obruni such as myself might want to venture there.  But this was the destination of our latest weekend excursion.  A weekend in rural Africa.  And it was an amazing weekend (slash awful, but I'll get to that part later).

When I arrived, I met up with Kelty (another volunteer who lives in Nsuta) at her apartment, and we caught up while waiting for the other volunteers.  When they arrived, we had a spaghetti dinner on the rooftop of Kelty's building and then headed to a nearby nightclub (place with plastic tables and chairs) to relax.  We stayed for a short while, but just like most other nights these days, I was back at the guesthouse and tucked into bed by 9:00 p.m.

The next day we were up early for a hike up Prayer Mountain.  Beautiful.  It is a holy place where people go to pray.  They will sleep in camps on the mountain for days at a time.  And while our team was huffing and puffing up the trail, we were repeatedly passed by small boys carrying parcels on their heads, running uphill in flip flops (note to self: need gym membership when I get home).  After the mountain, we went to visit a nearby shrine where they practice witchcraft...very interesting.  We finished the day learning how to make groundnut cake (peanut brittle) at someone's home in Nsuta.  And then we ate it, of course!

The next morning we got a lesson in carrying water on our heads from the river.  Because there is NO running water in Nsuta, to shower, cook, clean etc. you must fetch it from the stream.  It was a great lesson of gratitude (and an equally great workout!).  On our way back to Kumasi from Nsuta, we stopped at a cloth making factory and learned about African symbols and cloth prints.

Once in Kumasi, we had lunch and then headed to a soccer game (wow!).  This is the awful part.  I had just (earlier that day) raised about $200 for the school at which I'm volunteering.  It's a part of a project that I've initiated with them (details soon).  Unfortunately, on my way into the soccer game, all of the money I raised was stolen right out from under my nose.  In the split second it took for me to hand my ticket to the guy at the gate (which required me to take my hand off the front of my purse), someone's sticky fingers opened my zipper and pulled out all of the money.  Devastating.  A set back for the project, both emotionally and financially, but we are back on track and moving forward...

I stayed in Accra last night, and came back to Swedru this afternoon.  It really is good to be home.  I am going back to Accra tomorrow in advance of my presentation to the General Assembly (which is taking place on Wednesday morning), and I will be back to Swedru once more for Thursday (my last day).  I am trying to soak up my last moments here. It will be hard to leave this place...very hard.