The Long Way Home

"Do you know the way to San Jose? I've been away so long, I may go wrong and lose my way..." - Burt Bacharach and Hal David

When we came from the market the other day we got kose which is a dumpling made from the dough of ground blackeyed peas. The markets are a cross-section of society and certainly I have not experienced the Ghana that would compare to the Mali I experienced. We heard a news program about the children who work in the market carrying belongings for people to their homes or cars. Many of them are sent down from villages by their parents to make money. They work everyday carrying ridiculously heavy loads on their heads that could surely cause issues with their insides and though they make money they have to pay for a place to sleep, water to bathe and a place to bathe and something to eat. By the time the day is over they have spent much if not all of their earnings so it is a never ending cycle. The place to sleep turns out to be right in the market. Shirley pointed it out as we passed and it wasn't inviting. Dirty and squalid came to mind.

The government is working on a program to get these children back home to their villages. They tried giving them money but it didn't work out. Now they are seeking out the parents and offering them training and seed funding so they can start a business and not require their children to work in such dangerous circumstances. The question is if this is actually solving anything or if more parents, eager for training and seed funding, will send their kids down to Accra to work.

There have been a few lovely meals planned for us recently. The first was at Auntie Naa's house the evening before I was originally scheduled to leave. Auntie Naa is Mummy Andoh's sister. Incidentally Mummy Andoh is also called Auntie Naa but I think they differ in the name that follows Naa for each. At any rate we sat out in the courtyard with music and enjoyed appetizer of chicken gizzards, which my grandmother has never been able to get me to eat but which I found to be quite tasty in Ghana, and buffet of salads, kenke, banku, grilled and fried fish, and chicken. When dusk closed in we doused ourselves with Off and talked while watching the night sky.

The next afternoon was a brunch that I was to have missed if I had caught my flight. However as we all know the flight did not happen. So I trooped with the rest to Auntie Vida's house. I'm still not clear how she fits into the picture so let's just say she's a family friend who loves to entertain. Her house is absolutely gorgeous and airy. We were served fresh pineapple juice and were anxiously awaiting what we were told would be a fabulous lunch.

It was there at Auntie Vida's that I was finally able to reach the travel agent who had purchased my ticket to Mali. I informed him of my situation and he said I would need to get in touch with the airline directly about my return flight from Bamako to NYC. Shirley and all the young adults would be leaving Tuesday morning and i dreaded to think of staying in Ghana indefinitely. Shirley's cousin found a seat on their return flight but it was expensive, though less expensive than previously thought. Since we only had a few hours before the close of the business day we thought it best to address the matter immediately. We excused ourselves, explained the issue and headed for the door and Auntie Vida provided a driver to take us to the airline office.

There I was told that I could either find a way back to Bamako (as if I hadn't tried that already) to try to fly standby on a flight from Bamako to Casablanca to NYC since they are booked through September or pay $1400 to fly from Accra to Casablanca where I could get the original second leg of my flight. We kept going around and around but these were the best two options they came up with. So I decided to take the seat on Shirley's flight since it was the same price but a direct flight. Thankfully they only required credit and thankfully Shirley had enough room on her card and was gracious enough to front it for me. (I am tempted to name my firstborn Shirley, even if it is a boy.) But honestly I didn't relax about the flight until I was actually on the plane...more about that later.

We returned an hour and a half later. Everyone had already eaten but we enjoyed our lunch nonetheless. We had two choices and I ate both simply because I want to try everything. I tried the eggplant stew first and it was very tasty and different from anything else I have had here. Then I tried the palm nut soup which I have had before but you never know if people make it differently. One of the best things about the palm nut soup is the slices of snail in it. Seriously...giant African snail and it is de-licious! I saw them live in the market and was happy I had tasted them before seeing them as they aren't the prettiest creatures. They have beautiful shells too. Funny thing is that I have always seen those big shells and never thought of the creatures who must have called them home. Dessert was delicate crepes.

And then we returned home to begin the job of packing. Friends and relatives came from everywhere ringing the doorbell bringing things they wanted sent to family in the New York region: dried fish, fabric, African herbal soap, black pepper paste, entire suitcases etc. Most of the stuff was not personal belongings but rather communal items and or things for others. I even dumped my stuff out of a smaller tote and into a bigger suitcase to accommodate some of Mummy Andoh's things. I have never seen anything like this packing production and it went on all night.

We watched the news and discovered that a lynching had taken place in a market in the city. Four men stole a woman's purse and jumped in a car. She pursued them with the help of a taxi driver and the pursuit ended in an accident. One thief jumped out with a gun and made off. The other three had no weapons and once publicly branded as thieves in the crowded market, the lynching began. I only know the end result, three men dead, their nude bodies next to pools of blood. One of the three did indeed have the woman's purse and another had a bag full of may different wallets and IDs, none of them his. I was shocked at the mob mentality and shocked that the news would show unclothed dead bodies.

Shirley said when she was young a group of men tried to break into a neighbor's house at night. Somemone woke up and fought them off and the sounds alerted their neighbors who poured out of their homes ready to fight. All it took was one person throwing a kerosene lamp at the would-be robbers and well...their aim was good so you know what happened after that.

Nana Yaw, Shirley's brother, is an architect and the other Nana Yaw (Eugene or Gino) is a mechanic. Both were called upon during their time in Ghana to put their concrete skills to work. Gino fixed Daddy Andoh's truck and Nana Yaw created plans for two houses (one just behind the one we stayed in) and the other for Eugene and Evelyn and a mausoleum for Uncle Prince's family. Since Shirley, Carol, and others just bought some land he should be busy into the future creating more plans. I asked him what aspects of a house were important in Ghana. He said enough space for entertaining and guests staying over, a shaded spot outside, more than one bathroom including a guest bathroom near the front door so all guests don't have to traipse through the house, and a large kitchen. I think the wrap-around porch would be an excellent feature to transport from the South of the US. Nana Yaw is working feverishly to finish the plans for the house in back before we leave so they can begin construction.