First day in Ghana

What a day! Many things happened and before i went to bed last night i felt i had to write everything down, because as my supervisor in Uppsala says "memory is your worst friend". First of all: i have a phone number (mobile) where you can reach me at all times (if i manage to keep the battery charged that is) it as follows 0233 541717139. Secondly i would like to express my gratitude towards Kajsa, my local supervisor, for without her i would be lost. She is from Sweden, but living in Ghana since almost two years with her Ghanaian husband Isaac. She´s a chameleon as she is speaking to me in one way only to change behaviour slightly when she is out and about in the society. I learn a lot from her.
I will keep this as short as possible, no sorry, i´ll keep it short. After Kajsa was mistaken for being my mum by a British man driving a gorgeous BMW convertible we took a drive along the Atlantic coast line. My newly found friend is from Gotland and understand the power of the ocean. We sat silently looking out over the water, listening and inhaling its smells. In the distance we saw ships lining up, waiting to unload their carriage in the harbour of Tema. Tema is an industrial city, and this is the place where the cocoa beans are being shipped from. I thought we would be driving back to the house after running some errands, but instead we went to the University of Ghana (in Accra) where Kajsa had to meet som people. The university is called Legon, which means "hill of knowledge". Why you may wonder? Well the main building at this large campus is situated on a hill where you have a beautiful, panoramic view over the landscape. That combined with it being a university, makes sense. We had lunch at the campus, a traditional and very tasty dish called jollof which is rice that has been boiled with, on this particular day, medium spicy sauce. This is served with grilled chicken, spaghetti look-a-like mixed with vegetables and some sallad. YUM! Ghanaians like spicy food, and so they had added a bit of a sauce named shito, that was spicy indeed! A colourful little lizard jumped out from the bushes while we were eating, but luckily it was satisfied running up and down the wall next to us...
They had beautiful trees at the campus, never seen anything like it, and once again i got annoyed for not bringing the camera. I thought we were heading back to the house after the errands... Lesson learned: ALWAYS bring the camera! I hope to see these trees again.
Alright, there´s a small grey lizard running around on the living room floor right now... Apparently a non-wanted pet, sweet.
After meetings and lunch we went to Accra, which didn´t give me the impression of being a capital, but more like a village with its low buildings and many small streets. Of course there are larger roads too, for example when passing by the newly built presidential palace that costed millions and more millions to construct and the roundabout where you have a great view over different national monuments with the Atlantic behind it. And it was on one of these larger roads that we were pulled over by a policeman. Yes. Kajsa was accused of not having stopped for red light. The policeman said her act would lead to a case in court and that we had to go to the police station right away. In Ghana this means that the police man takes your driver´s license and go with you in your car straight away, to the station. I sat quietly listening not knowing what to do or say. The thing was there was a long queue, so by the time it was our time to cross the light switched, but to yellow, not red. Kajsa is tough though. She stayed calm, for good reasons i found out later. She told the policeman she was busy showing me around, that i had arrived yesterday and did he really want me (the tourist) to see the police station on my first day here? He smiled. It´s apparently important to Ghanaians to provide tourists with a positive experience of their country, something a police station quite likely would have difficulties in providing. I promised to keep it short so i wont go more into detail. Let me just say that promises were made and we could leave with the same amount of money in our pockets as when we were pulled over.
After this experience we decided on having a drink, on our way there we passed through an area which clearly was poorer than what i had seen up until then. Picture yourself a road with houses, in some cases sheds, basically falling apart on both sides of it. On your right side, behind the houses, is the ocean. Mind we are in downtown Accra. This area could have been a goldmine, but it isn´t. This is due to land rights, a subject i came across when i wrote my Bachelor thesis on the informal cocoa economy in Ghana. The problem is: who has the right to the land? The people whose ancestors lived on the same land for centuries on end or the state which by law claims to have the right? At this point in time, it seems to be a dead end. If keeping the status quo- will the people now living there ever get out of poverty? Or is that only what I as an outsider see? Do they consider themselves to be poor? Kajsa told me many people here live all their lives in the same place, and to be surrounded by family and friends, is that not to be rich? At least in some sense.
If the state would go ahead with their plans, what would happen to the people living on this land? The value of money (and development, but for whom one may ask) versus the emotional attachment is in focus. Modern versus "traditional" way of life.
We needed to chnage the chip and drove to a beautiful hotel situated by the ocean. When we sat there with drinks in our hands looking out over the water i felt pretty good. What a contrast to what i had just seen. The majority of the people i had just passed by (in a new car) will never be able to do what i do.
We then went to a Fair Trade shop that sell clothing and accessories, very nice place with beautiful goods made by Ghanaian women.
To avoid the heavy traffic between Accra and Tema at rush hour Kajsa suggested we´d go for a pedicure and manicure. I have never tried this and thought it would be fun. Which it was! I may have had some prejudices about these kind of places, not very interesting people around so to speak, but i was wrong. It was a very nice place, and i was pampered big time! On the wall there was a giant flat screen tv. What was on? A soccer game!! Yep. Ghana-Senegal. I cannot in words explain the scenario when Ghana, after penalties, won the game. It was crazy and hilarious to see all these women, and few men, jumping, screaming and running around expressing their happiness! It was simply great to be there! If you ever go to Ghana i can recommend this place. While the nail polish was drying me and Kajsa had an interesting discussion with three Ghanaian men in the beauty salon about Ghana, (im)migration and the future of this country. I learn a lot here.
After dinner we drove home and had delicious fresh fruit; papaya, pineapple and mango... The mango is just ripe now. If it´s better than chocolate? Ehmmm...