Lands in Ghana!

Akwaaba! We are in Africa! We left at about 4:30 p.m. on Thursday of last week and and arrived late on Friday night in Accra, Ghana. The kids did really well (the suckers were definitely better than gum or candies--thanks Joanne!) despite delays, customs paperwork, bag searches, (temporarily) lost luggage and a couple of six+ hour flights. Let the record show that those who were most helpful were family who cleared out our home, housed us, fed us, took care of the kids, and accompanied us to the airport (several vehicles, four children, two car seats, a stroller, seventeen MEC duffle bags, roughly ten carry-ons and personal items...an impressive entourage, to be sure!!). At the Winnipeg Airport, the people at Northwest were awful, beginning with the woman at the ticket counter who could have a bright and fulfilling future handing out parking tickets. She was, as misfortune would have it, the tip of the hostility, condescension and insincerity iceberg that is Northwest Airlines (To add insult to injury, they were over an hour delayed and we almost missed our connection in Minneapolis). U.S. Immigration and the Winnipeg Police Service restored some of our faith in humanity as they helped push our four baggage carts and handed out tissue to those of us still wet-eyed from saying goodbye. KLM restored our faith in airlines as the food was great, the service was exceptional, and they seemed to like children! They too were late (this is unusual) but they were so darn nice about it that I felt bad for caring! The fact that they are a partner airline with Northwest feels suspiciously like a bad marriage. KLM deserves so much better. (I'm trying not to think about how many of you just made a comparison between Northwest and me!)

And now for a few words about our new life...

Ghana is five hours ahead of Manitoba right now but I think that will soon be six hours after daylight savings time kicks in. There is no such thing here as it is basically light from six a.m. to six p.m. 365 days a year. No one is concerned (except us) with the forecast as it is also basically 32 degrees (give or take a few degrees) all year long. As you can see by the picture, we wasted no time in hitting Labadi Beach, the best known beach in Accra. We had to pay a small fee to access the beach (parking, basically) but it was definitely worth it. The sand is fine and clean, but the water is quite dangerous. They mark the safe areas and blow a whistle when tides get too strong. There are other family-friendly beaches that we've heard of so we will check those out too.

We have not yet been too adventurous with our food choices (a burger and fries here is not too much different from home) and we are eating bananas and pineapples like they are going out of season...but they aren't! There is a strong British influence left over from colonial times except the food is better-tasting (sorry Q. Elizabeth). We had cabbage, sausages, and Basmati rice for supper tonight and we were pretty pleased with ourselves. We're still working on our milk of choice as each of the children prefers a different variation on the theme of dairy.

Our house is quite nice (three huge bedrooms and three full baths) but I'm not sure we'll be here for long as we are very far from school and work. The school I am working at will not open officially until the 22nd of September as there have been construction delays. The level and speed of development in Ghana right now is impressive and scary. Big oil is here and the prices of everything are being driven up. While shopping at the supermarket, we wondered what the average Ghanaian eats as we found it expensive and we make more money than the average person here does!

I am not exaggerating when I say that the people of Ghana are certainly the most welcoming and sincere we have ever come across (Northwest Airlines eat your heart out!) and they are said to be well known for their compassion for others. I don't think it is an accident that this has been one of the most peaceful African countries for such a long time. I should say, in case there is any doubt, that there is much poverty here, despite the fact that it is one of the most prosperous African nations. The poverty, however, is not of spirit, but of things. That kind of poverty, dear friends is a matter of perception and of interpretation, and it is the very idea we are here to consider. As I mentioned when I began this blog, "akwaaba" means "welcome" and we have felt it at least as often as we have seen it above a doorway, read it on a billboard, glimpsed it on the back window of a tro-tro, or heard it spoken with conviction.

We have been a little bit shut-in thus far as our vehicle has been delayed but we intend to do some serious exploration in the next seven days or so, so pictures and stories will surely follow. Materia and Cuyler and I went for a lizard-hunting walk this morning and spotted three, so it was a fruitful expedition. Cohen and Brontë want one for a pet, and Carmilla wants to imagine a world where she will not have to meet such things. So far, she has (mostly) been lucky.

Thanks for reading,
Ryan