After a quick one day jaunt in London, I arrived in Accra bright and early, 30 minutes prior to anticipated arrival at a lively 5 AM. Customs went by quickly, and I didn't wait more than 20 minutes for my bags to arrive, all 5 of them. After befriending one of the porters, I was led straight through the bag check. Standard fare usually has it that your bags are all checked once you've collected them. Those found attempting to enter the country with mass amounts of materials, presumed to be sold, or other illegals, are in trouble-o.
Lucky for me Sharifah, what a doll, had come to the airport to meet me, or rather the many items I had so graciously brought for her from the states. Seeing her was a site for sore eyes, and not just because she still had on her makeup from the night before. As we say in Ghana, "you get me right?" The humidity was, and is, still a lot to get to used to but waking up to sunlight everyday is doing wonders for my S.A.D
The heat here is CRAY. you get used to constantly being bathed in a layer of your own sweat. I've never appreciated Air Conditioning so much. After meeting up with Sharifah I got on a 5.5 hour bus to Kumasi, where my family is from. I was on the bus by 7:30 and home by 1 pm. I'm pretty sure I slept from like 3-8, and again from 10-7. Jet-lag is a bitch but it was good to be back in Kwame Acheampong's palace and great to see the rents.
They're SO cute. They were so excited and gave me the biggest hugs when they saw me. I brought them colored pencils, markers, and stickers and they could not have been happier. Little things. It was fun seeing what shapes and colors they knew and hearing Ma Adwoa tell me she wants me to give her a relaxer because the kids at school make fun of her hairstyles and call her "bofruit" ( A round, fried pastry" ) I told her natural, nappy, hair is beautiful and over my dead body would she be getting a relaxer.
When we left my dad took me to his father's old house that they rent out for dirt cheap, the equivalent of 4 dollars a month, because we don't need the space. I LOVE it when my people look at me and assume I don't speak Twi. Even better, was the group of kids who gathered when I arrived. Maybe the fact that I greeted them with "hi" instead of the usual Twi greeting set them off. Or maybe it was my large striped hat. Regardless, I heard them making fun of my hat and talking about how they had never seen one so big. Boy were they surprised when they found out I understood everything they were saying!
Because of the extreme heat in Ghana even the smallest of outings can wear you out so I was pooped by the time I got back home. if you ever end up visiting me in Ghana, however, this is probably where you'll end up and this is where I'll be when I'm not in the capital, Accra, at the "KP," Kwame Palace.
It's not bad. And it's equipped with every picture of me from the last 24 years that is not on facebook. I'll be sure to upload some of these treasures soon.
To all those that I did not get a chance to tell that I was leaving, my apologies, it was all so last minute and those of you who know me know how I can get. Please excuse the lack of communication as well. Ghana is going through a bit of an energy crisis since an explosion on one of our main pipelines back in Nov. They're working on it. And things have gotten a lot better since I've gotten here. Starting to get used to the "light offs" as we call them here. At the end of the day, I gotta remember, THIS IS GHANA.
stay tuned for more,
peace and fufu,
jbaby
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