I’ve now been in Ghana a week. Though it feels like longer.
I’m slowly getting in to the swing of things from the more laid-back way of
life, to the food and the friendly nature of the people here. I have started my
volunteering this week which has made my day’s comparatively busy compared to
last week. My surfing is even improving. Here are some selected extracts from
my diary, which I write every night, in the book Choloe gave to me:
July 19th
I managed to wake earlier this morning (about 8:30am) after
a pitiful 11hours of sleep. Each day we all end up extremely physically tired
after the day’s surfing. Night life doesn’t go on late there despite there
being nothing else really to do. A late night would be past 10pm.
Last nights power cut continued throughout the night making
the fan intermittent. Busua at night is noisy. The sounds of music,
conversation and children playing fill the dark night air. When the power goes
it is like someone put the town on pause. All sound ceases making sleeping
easier, if only the fan still worked. Sleeping in Africa is like a weird
hallucinogenic experience. The sounds of the night and the heat combine to
create disorientation and confusion when you awake. No night feels truly
restful.
Breakfast was Banana pancakes served with black coffee (1
sugar), my own personal slice of African heaven.
The waves are meant to be bigger today so I grab my
shortboard from behind my bed. Pack a bag and head to the beach. When I arrived
the rumored big swell was nowhere to be seen. The tide evidently wasn’t big
enough. I met Bjorn (a German) at the beach who informed me we would have to
wait until 11:30 and the tide is high to surf. “If the tide is on time” he
added, disbelieving that even the tide can be on time in this country. I passed
a pleasant morning on the beach reading with Bryce (ridiculous name I know, but
he is American) before heading in to the waves. My shortboard feels less stable
than my fish (due to it having less volume) however, I manage to catch a few
waves (mostly close-outs but a couple of nice ones). The waves are definitely
bigger today 5 with the occational 6fter rolling through. Everyone else is
catching bombs. I wish I had my fish under me. I catch one of the 6fters and
get slammed shoulder first in to the bottom before being tossed around like a
rag in a washing machine. When I surface I check my shoulder. No lasting
damage. But I head in for lunch anyway (Chicken Sarni and Chips). I eat lunch
with Bryce and the Swiss Guys (Michael and Lucas) and head back in on my fish
for some more waves. We surfed another 2 sessions that afternoon before heading
to dinner (Ghanaian fish and yam chips – to make the English boy feel at home).
We were meant to head to the nightclub in Takoradi (as it
was a Friday night), however both Ebenezer and I are too tired so we head to
the beach for my first Ghanaian Friday night. Friday Night in Busua is much
like everywhere else. Party night. We headed to the Okerye Tree where a sound
system blared out a mixture of Ghanaian and Western music. A tall stack of
sticks were erected in to a torch
on the beach in front. We started drinking. Club is the beer of choice here –
It is far superior to the other main offering, Star. Ebenezer had bought some
lime gin in preperation which I began slugging, a little too liberally. The
fire was lit and the local kids put on an impressive display of backflips,
front flips and general acrobatics all conducted by a regimental Ebenezer “More
show! More show!” before turning to the audience and commanding “Show the love!
Show the love!” when we’d all applaud whoop and holler in appreciation. I
stayed out late talking and drinking with the 2 Bjorns, The Swiss guys and
Bryce. I stumbled back to my room at about 11:30 and collapsed in to bed. The
room span. And in a dance as old as time I jumped up and sprinted for the
toilet. Must have been something I ate…
July 21st
Today was one of those days. One of those days where nothing
goes right. It started with a rush to the toilet first thing for my first dose
of “African Belly”. I lay on the bed a while before packing a bag and heading
to the meet Bryce and the Swiss guys for our trip to Axim. The journey was just
over an hour and the scenery was beautiful. Lush forest gave way to fields of
rubber tree, which in turn gave way to forest again.
We arrived at Axim beach resort, an upmarket retreat for
westerners pearched on the side of the hill. The individual huts spilt down
towards the shore. We left the boards on the taxi and went down to check out
the waves. Closeouts. Rubbish. We walked down the empty beach, pausing to climb
a fallen down palm tree and then walked on to an outcrop of rocks a mile down
from the resort. We climbed to the top to admire the view. Standing there
taking in the scenery when a huge wave hit the rocks soaking me and the camera.
I quickly scrambled down and wiped it clean with my towel, but to no avail.
Hopefully drying it out in my room will salvage it.
We walked back along the beach. My stomach hurting and
completely gutted about the camera. We took the taxi in to town. Again no waves
to speak of the swell wasn’t good enough. The guys got some food and we waited
in the shade to eat it before heading back to Busua. I was glad to leave Axim.
The streets stank from the foul waters that lay, unmoving in the gutters. It
was busy and noisy. The sound of a funeral sermon (something more akin to a
carnival) filled the town for all to hear. The heat was intense (despite it
currently being winter here).
I forced down some chocolate pancakes when we returned to
Busua and sat watching the waves break. Finally temptation got the better of me
and I paddled out in to the line-up. I got some great waves, which lifted my
soul. There is nothing like a good surf to wash away a bad day.
When I got back in Ebenezer had left a sim card for me so I
could finally ring home. 2 hours and 65 ceedis later (including a new sim card)
I managed to call home. It was a relief to be able to speak to Zoe and Mum that
evening. Home felt a little closer.
(My Ghanain number is 0541065084 if you want to get in contact).
July 23rd
I awoke late (some things never change) and headed straight
for our daily 8:30am meeting. I was the first there but didn’t have long to
wait before Julia and Ebenezer showed up. They want me to write a presentation
to encourage the young kids here to use the recycling centre rather than throw
their rubbish on the floor. Ebenezer gave me his laptop to write it and I got
the basic information down quickly which I will show to them tomorrow. I went
back to Sabina’s and grabbed some breakfast (omllete and sweet bread) before
heading to the School with Ebenezer to talk to the headmaster about what we
would be doing, After a brief conversation he gave his approval and then headed
to the beach to have lunch with the Swiss guys before they headed off to Accra
and then home. It was sad to see them go. They have been great characters to
have around. I gave them my contact details and discussed future plans for a
Scottish surf trip. Bryce was ill today so wasn’t around so Bjorn and I sat
around reading and passing the time before my 2pm meet with Ebenezer to head
over to the school and take my first sports lesson.
We had 11 kids turn up between the ages of 12 and 16. I had
ambitiously decided to start with Rugby as Ebenezer said the kids loved learning
new games. I was nervous. We started off with a game of British Bulldog which
the kids got the hag of rather quickly and seemed to enjoy before I introduced
a rugby ball to the equation and things got a little more complicated. Its
really interesting seeing Ghanaian kids play with the rugby ball. They are a
little unsure of what to do with it. They try to bounce it like a basketball,
hit it like a volleyball and kick it like a football. The idea of rugby passing
is a little alien to them. The passing drill quickly descended in to a game
that resembled basketball and I decided to just try and play a game of touch
Rugby with them instead as that is what they were yearning to do. It took a
while before running forward and passing backwards became cemented in their
heads (offside was completely out the window) but we passed an hour playing
before everyone was tired and we decided to call it a day. A couple of kids
said they really enjoyed it and wanted to play again sometime. I said we could
next week. One had even seen a game of it on TV “
Why do they all push each other over all the time?” he
asked.
“That’s now you
tackle.” I replied.
He looked baffled but accepted my answer.
Hot and sweaty I went off for a well earned surf. The waves
were 3-4ft with very little wind. The waves got glassy. Butterflies and
hummingbirds fluttered over the water as Bob Marley blarred out from one of the
beach bars. It’s not a bad life really.
