Greetings from the open sea….again!
So we just crossed the center of the Earth, 0o Longitude, 0o Latitude, which is crossing the Prime Meridian AND the Equator at the same time. In a couple days we will celebrate the crossing (I do not know why we did not do it today, but who knows how these things work) which is called “Neptune Day.” It is when you cross the Equator for the first time, at sea. (Since I started this a week ago, Neptune Day is a tradition carried on from the earliest navigation days on the open sea. When you cross the equator for the first time there are events that take place. One, you shave your head. Two, you have fish guts poured on you. Three, you kiss a dead fish. I did ALL three, [you only cross the equator for the first time once], so yes I was COMPLETELY bald a week ago.)
On to Ghana.
My second day in Ghana I partook in a Habitat for Humanity project. The place we worked at was about three hours from Takoradi in a very small village. After about two and a half hours after leaving, we had to leave the main road and go on dirt paths, in a large bus that takes about 45 people. After 30 minutes on a rough and full of holes in the dirt we reached the site we were to work on. We were split into three groups, two of them worked on houses that still needed the foundation while the third group worked inside of a completed house to level the ground. I started at the third house leveling the ground. Now much I could do when there were only two shovels (not the best tool to level ground with. After standing around for a few minutes I decided to move into one of the other groups who were actually working. First off, my experience with the Habitat for Humanity through SAS was not the greatest. I helped out with the foundation of the house, but the workers who are there everyday give me a new definition of work. These guys, two workers for each house so the four of them, started working about two hours before we arrived, worked the entire two hours we were there (yea I know, not very long which was another hindrance) and worked for another four hours after we left. They worked the ENTIRE time, no potty breaks, no water breaks, no social breaks. Straight eight hours of work without stop. Amazing. Anyways, the point I was trying to make was that with the amount of people that were there, the amount of tools (which was enough for maybe four of the forty-five) and the lack of interest from those around us (some of the SAS-ers stood around, oblivious to calls to work from the workers, or not helping with what else was going on) seemed, to me and a few of the other guys who went, to hinder their progress. These four guys probably, for how efficient they were, could have completed one of the houses in that one day. The time it takes us to build a house like that, maybe two months, it takes them a few weeks to build. Yes it is a very basic house, but since the members who work are from the community, they tend to build faster and more efficiently. What I did while I was there was help to mix cement on the ground, help to lay bricks and provide cement for the two workers I worked with. After our grueling two hours of work, we ate lunch. After completion of lunch, I socialized with some the kids from the village we were at. They taught me and my friend Dennis how to carry buckets on our head. (Everyone in Ghana carries whatever they have on their heads, and it is a lot easier than you might think)
After returning from Habitat which was pretty late in the day, I was very hungry. Most of my friends on the ship had eaten on board (Most people ate on the ship because they were afraid to eat local food and get Traveler’s Diarrhea, which I got after Ghana, again.) so I found my roommate Jason, the one from Nepal, and he decided to come out with me to a local restaurant I was referred to from other locals I had met, called the Akroma. We started walking from the ship to the front of the port, and then a man in a car came along us and asked if we wanted a ride to the front (which was about a 20 minute walk from the gangway at the ship). Jason and I said yes and got in. We found out that the man who picked us up was an Immigration official working in the port, and was actually the one who stamped our passports when we came in. Herman is his name. He asked us where we were going and we said the Akroma and he decided to take us there. After arriving at the Akroma, I found out I had no Cedis so Herman took me to an ATM. We then returned to the Akroma and I asked Herman if he wanted to join us. Herman is yet another one of the kindest men I have met. He is from Accra, but works in Takoradi, and sees his family on the weekends, who still live in Accra for convenience. (Immigration officials switch from where they are stationed every two years so it was easier for him to keep his family in Accra and just him to move) He is a Manchester United fan as well. I asked him what I should order, and he recommeded fish with Banku. Yes, believe it or not, I ate fish. The interesting thing about this dish is that you eat with your hands. The Banku is a doughy substance that you tear with your hands and either dip in sauces they provide or you eat with the fish. The fish was fantastic, but bony. We sat for awhile with Herman, who gave us his contact information (which came in sue for our third day). After paying for Herman, since he had done so much for us, Jason and I decided to walk back to the ship, which was within walking distance. Walking in Takoradi at 11PM was interesting, for you get to see how a city, culture acts late at night. There were people sitting at their shops still, not selling anything but socializing with everyone else.
That was the second day in Ghana. Sorry it has taken so long, for I just finished it after leaving South Africa! I will start writing the rest of Ghana tonight, post it up tomorrow, as well as the South Africa entry. Good night all.
Until my next post,
“…Continue to be idealistic…Dream, dream, dream the craziest dreams.”
Archbishop Desmond Tutu
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