Email Number 8
Email Number 8
Accra, Ghana
August 14, 2006
Hi Everyone,
We have just returned from a week in the north. While we had a great time and took lots of good photos as you will see, getting there and back was pretty arduous and full of mishaps.
Since it is a long journey to get to the north from Accra, we decided to splurge and fly on a local airline. Good idea – right? Wrong! We bought the tickets about 3 or 4 weeks ago and then our friends Eleanor and Isaac decided to come with us. So, they went to the airline and were told that the airline was not selling any more tickets – engine problems! (they only had 2 planes and both were broken – “had a fault”). Of course the airline never told us that they weren’t flying. We went to their office and were told that there were no refunds, but we could use the tickets during the next 3 months. We told them that we were going back to the US. Finally, they told us they would put us on the other local airline which was going to fly the day before. So, two days before the scheduled flight, we were told they were in fact going to fly and we got ready to go. Then our friends went to get the tickets and were told again, - not flying. The next day, one day before departure, we were told they were flying, and by that time the other airline had already left. At 2 pm on the day before departure, we called and were told that all is well. At 4 pm, they called to tell us, the planes were still broken. So, our friends went to the bus station to get tickets for all of us and were told no advance tickets and to come early in the morning and buy tix before boarding. Well we got there at 6:45 for the 9 am bus and we were told that the bus was full and all the tickets were purchased the day before! To make a long story short, we finally did get bus tickets for another bus that was supposed to come, but when the time came for it to depart it was no where in sight. We went to the full bus and found that there were four seats for us. What do you think we did? We got on it of course, and arrived 14 hours later at our destination.
If you think this is the end of the story, forget it. The next morning, we rode 3 ½ hours on a bumpy dirt road to Mole National Park only to find out our reservations in the lodge were not available, and we had no place to stay – and as you can imagine, there in the “bush” there was no place else any where. After some 6 hours or so of cajoling, paying small amounts of money here and there we were put up for the night in “the castle” – the place where the ministers stay when they visit the park. The next day we moved into our regular rooms which somehow became available. Our room turned out to be a chalet on the edge of a large waterhole, where elephants came to bathe. Really nice.
Things went reasonably well for the next couple of days and we enjoyed safari walks and drives where we saw elephants, various species of antelope, monkeys, baboons, etc.
Uh oh, here comes more trouble. About 1 ½ hours out of the park on the way to Kumasi, our car hit a rock and the fuel tank got punctured. Our driver fixed it temporarily with some plastic we found. About 20 or 30 minutes later, because the road was so bumpy, the fuel line fell off the car. What did we do? We hitched a ride with a couple of nice guys in a pickup truck to the junction where our friends went one way and we continued to Kumasi. This final leg was to have taken only 3 hours according to the driver but ended up taking 6.
In the north are where a lot of Muslims live, and in fact the city of Tamale is some 90% Muslim as compared to the mostly Christian south. There are many different languages in the north, and there has been a lot of tribal rivalry and violence, but none for a while. Thank goodness, car trouble was bad enough.
Just outside of Mole there is a village by the name of Larabanga which is where the largest mud and stick mosque in Ghana is located and it is also the oldest building still standing in Ghana – built in 1421 (they think). We had a very interesting visit. When we arrived, we met the chief imam – 95 years old who was sitting on the ground and handwriting the Koran using various color inks. (see the photo). Then we met his 4th wife – 22 years old! (see the photo).
So, Peter and Hinda had another adventure. By the way, while in Kumasi, the seat of the Asanti people, there was a gospel music video being made at the hotel, and Peter wandered into it and was invited to dance in it which he did. (Peter, 3 women, and another man all dancing and singing gospel!)
We learned alot about the Asanti culture, and especially about the King and Queen Mother who is by custom related to the King. She could be his aunt or mother for example, but they are not married. In the Asanti culture, while the King is very powerful, and people will heed him more than the President, the Queen Mother is even more powerful than the King. The Asanti are a matrilineal society composed of a number of clans, and also a part of the Akan culture.
We have been trying to convince all of the young people we work with who are planning to get married to do it while we are here so we can attend the wedding, but to no avail. So we did the next best thing. While in Kumasi, a friend of the women who was taking us around had to go to a funeral. As we told you before, most funerals are held on Saturdays so people can have the time to get to where it will be held. And so we went to an Ewe funeral. The Ewe’s are a tribe from the Volta region, but some live in Kumasi. One of the things about an Ewe funeral is that there is a lot of drumming, dancing and singing, similar to the Bobobo singing and dancing. We were honored to participate and were invited to dance a couple of times (see photos), and also drank some of the local home made gin made from palm wine. Very strong stuff! Peter drank, Hinda watched.
In Kumasi we ran into a couple from the USA who were volunteering with an NGO about to get a contract from USAID for a food security program. Here is the interesting thing about how our government is spending it’s (our) bucks. This couple was only going to be here for 5 days and in that time they needed to learn whatever they could in order to write the proposal to USAID for a grant for a food security program. Well, first of all, that is hardly enough time to learn anything of that scope. They asked us where we thought the greatest need was, and while we know a bit more than they do because we have been here now for over 3 months, we certainly don’t feel very comfortable guiding them. Never the less, they were willing to accept anything anyone told them including the fact that the young boys who were selling “grasscutter” (nutria) was monkey bush meat! Maybe we should all talk to our congresspersons about how the USA is doling out money. By the way, in today’s paper there was a story about foreign aid. While the US gives out the most money, it is the least per capita compared to other western countries. The Netherlands was numero uno and the UK was 12th. So, friends, we can and should do a lot more.
Finally, we you may know, there is a small Jewish community here in Ghana – some 20 families. The town they live in is called Sefi Wiaso. Sefi, by the way is another local language. The President and Secretary of the community came to Kumasi to meet with us, and we gave them some Judaica that some of you were generous to send to us for them. We agreed to help them market some of the things they make - Challah covers and talit made from Kente cloth. We hope to bring some samples back to show you.
We made it back to Accra after a couple of days in Kumasi with a relatively short 5 ½ hour bus ride.
So, that’s about it for now. We’ll probably write one more time before we depart here on September 4th.
Peace and love to all of you,
Peter and Hinda
Accra, Ghana
August 14, 2006
Hi Everyone,
We have just returned from a week in the north. While we had a great time and took lots of good photos as you will see, getting there and back was pretty arduous and full of mishaps.
Since it is a long journey to get to the north from Accra, we decided to splurge and fly on a local airline. Good idea – right? Wrong! We bought the tickets about 3 or 4 weeks ago and then our friends Eleanor and Isaac decided to come with us. So, they went to the airline and were told that the airline was not selling any more tickets – engine problems! (they only had 2 planes and both were broken – “had a fault”). Of course the airline never told us that they weren’t flying. We went to their office and were told that there were no refunds, but we could use the tickets during the next 3 months. We told them that we were going back to the US. Finally, they told us they would put us on the other local airline which was going to fly the day before. So, two days before the scheduled flight, we were told they were in fact going to fly and we got ready to go. Then our friends went to get the tickets and were told again, - not flying. The next day, one day before departure, we were told they were flying, and by that time the other airline had already left. At 2 pm on the day before departure, we called and were told that all is well. At 4 pm, they called to tell us, the planes were still broken. So, our friends went to the bus station to get tickets for all of us and were told no advance tickets and to come early in the morning and buy tix before boarding. Well we got there at 6:45 for the 9 am bus and we were told that the bus was full and all the tickets were purchased the day before! To make a long story short, we finally did get bus tickets for another bus that was supposed to come, but when the time came for it to depart it was no where in sight. We went to the full bus and found that there were four seats for us. What do you think we did? We got on it of course, and arrived 14 hours later at our destination.
If you think this is the end of the story, forget it. The next morning, we rode 3 ½ hours on a bumpy dirt road to Mole National Park only to find out our reservations in the lodge were not available, and we had no place to stay – and as you can imagine, there in the “bush” there was no place else any where. After some 6 hours or so of cajoling, paying small amounts of money here and there we were put up for the night in “the castle” – the place where the ministers stay when they visit the park. The next day we moved into our regular rooms which somehow became available. Our room turned out to be a chalet on the edge of a large waterhole, where elephants came to bathe. Really nice.
Things went reasonably well for the next couple of days and we enjoyed safari walks and drives where we saw elephants, various species of antelope, monkeys, baboons, etc.
Uh oh, here comes more trouble. About 1 ½ hours out of the park on the way to Kumasi, our car hit a rock and the fuel tank got punctured. Our driver fixed it temporarily with some plastic we found. About 20 or 30 minutes later, because the road was so bumpy, the fuel line fell off the car. What did we do? We hitched a ride with a couple of nice guys in a pickup truck to the junction where our friends went one way and we continued to Kumasi. This final leg was to have taken only 3 hours according to the driver but ended up taking 6.
In the north are where a lot of Muslims live, and in fact the city of Tamale is some 90% Muslim as compared to the mostly Christian south. There are many different languages in the north, and there has been a lot of tribal rivalry and violence, but none for a while. Thank goodness, car trouble was bad enough.
Just outside of Mole there is a village by the name of Larabanga which is where the largest mud and stick mosque in Ghana is located and it is also the oldest building still standing in Ghana – built in 1421 (they think). We had a very interesting visit. When we arrived, we met the chief imam – 95 years old who was sitting on the ground and handwriting the Koran using various color inks. (see the photo). Then we met his 4th wife – 22 years old! (see the photo).
So, Peter and Hinda had another adventure. By the way, while in Kumasi, the seat of the Asanti people, there was a gospel music video being made at the hotel, and Peter wandered into it and was invited to dance in it which he did. (Peter, 3 women, and another man all dancing and singing gospel!)
We learned alot about the Asanti culture, and especially about the King and Queen Mother who is by custom related to the King. She could be his aunt or mother for example, but they are not married. In the Asanti culture, while the King is very powerful, and people will heed him more than the President, the Queen Mother is even more powerful than the King. The Asanti are a matrilineal society composed of a number of clans, and also a part of the Akan culture.
We have been trying to convince all of the young people we work with who are planning to get married to do it while we are here so we can attend the wedding, but to no avail. So we did the next best thing. While in Kumasi, a friend of the women who was taking us around had to go to a funeral. As we told you before, most funerals are held on Saturdays so people can have the time to get to where it will be held. And so we went to an Ewe funeral. The Ewe’s are a tribe from the Volta region, but some live in Kumasi. One of the things about an Ewe funeral is that there is a lot of drumming, dancing and singing, similar to the Bobobo singing and dancing. We were honored to participate and were invited to dance a couple of times (see photos), and also drank some of the local home made gin made from palm wine. Very strong stuff! Peter drank, Hinda watched.
In Kumasi we ran into a couple from the USA who were volunteering with an NGO about to get a contract from USAID for a food security program. Here is the interesting thing about how our government is spending it’s (our) bucks. This couple was only going to be here for 5 days and in that time they needed to learn whatever they could in order to write the proposal to USAID for a grant for a food security program. Well, first of all, that is hardly enough time to learn anything of that scope. They asked us where we thought the greatest need was, and while we know a bit more than they do because we have been here now for over 3 months, we certainly don’t feel very comfortable guiding them. Never the less, they were willing to accept anything anyone told them including the fact that the young boys who were selling “grasscutter” (nutria) was monkey bush meat! Maybe we should all talk to our congresspersons about how the USA is doling out money. By the way, in today’s paper there was a story about foreign aid. While the US gives out the most money, it is the least per capita compared to other western countries. The Netherlands was numero uno and the UK was 12th. So, friends, we can and should do a lot more.
Finally, we you may know, there is a small Jewish community here in Ghana – some 20 families. The town they live in is called Sefi Wiaso. Sefi, by the way is another local language. The President and Secretary of the community came to Kumasi to meet with us, and we gave them some Judaica that some of you were generous to send to us for them. We agreed to help them market some of the things they make - Challah covers and talit made from Kente cloth. We hope to bring some samples back to show you.
We made it back to Accra after a couple of days in Kumasi with a relatively short 5 ½ hour bus ride.
So, that’s about it for now. We’ll probably write one more time before we depart here on September 4th.
Peace and love to all of you,
Peter and Hinda
posted by Peter and Hinda Schnurman at 6:43 AM
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