Day 27 (09-22-10)

We’re in Ghana! Originally, the ship was scheduled to dock in Tema, Ghana, which is just outside the capital city of Accra. But the Spring voyage this year docked in Tema, and it took many hours for any of the SAS sponsored trips to get anywhere from the ship. Traffic in Ghana moves at a snail’s pace, and traveling through Accra to get anywhere else takes a substantial amount of time. With that in mind, SAS moved our arrival to Ghana’s other main port: Takoradi. Whereas Tema is the leading port for imports and a secondary port for exports (70%/30%), Takoradi is the main port for exports and a secondary one for imports (70%/30%). As such, we are approximately 4 hours away from Accra on the western portion of the Ghanaian coast.

Customs officials took a few hours to go through passports this morning when we docked in Takoradi, but it didn’t affect me because I was on an FDP (Faculty Directed Practica) for my World Religions class. Around 10am, we debarked the ship and made our way to the bus. The Takoradi port is similar to the port in Casablanca in that it is very industrialized and doesn’t seem to see much tourist traffic, but it is much smaller. There were a few merchants selling their goods on the pier because they knew we were coming, and there was one duty-free shop in the building adjacent to our berth. 

For our trip today, we journeyed to Cape Coast, a city in the central region of Ghana that was originally renowned for its position in the slave trade. There are 3 prominent castles in Ghana (we saw 2) that factored into the African slave trade. African people were brought by other Africans from Central and West Africa and sold into slavery to the European traders.

Once in Cape Coast, we made our way to St. Nicholas Seminary. We were received by the dean of the school and attended a lecture about the importance of Christian religion in Ghanaian society. The sermon included a history and description of common African tribal beliefs, and it gave a glimpse into the way that African culture blends with Christian worship. Afterwards, we had a question-and-answer session with the seminary students and their teachers, and we learned a great deal from each other. For instance, Ghanaians do not find polygamy to be a taboo subject. It’s not specifically encouraged, but our hosts were not opposed to a man taking multiple wives. On the other hand, the concept of gay marriage was completely foreign to them, as homosexuality is illegal in Ghana, and they could not understand how such an act could be allowed in American culture. It is still unrecognized in many places in America, but our particular group of students was rather liberal, and we all agreed that we were comfortable with the idea. They were also perplexed at America’s separation of church at state. The idea of civil union versus religious marriage was fascinating to them, as there is no such system in place for them. Overall, it was a great experience and we enjoyed the time we had to learn from one another.

Afterwards, we drove into town and got a better look at Cape Coast Castle. A group of us wanted to stop at an ATM, so our tour guide found a Barclays bank for us to use. At that point, I realized that I had to use the facilities, as they say. I walked into the bank looking for a washroom, but there wasn’t a public one for customers. A partially-out-of-uniform bank guard (who didn’t actually work at this bank) approached me with his automatic weapon in hand and waved for me to follow. And when a stern-faced guard in a uniform waves an automatic weapon in your face and tells you to follow him… you do. He walked me up the street to another bank (presumably the place where he was employed) and took me behind the counter. Other guards stood and tried to stop me from coming into a restricted area, but my leader waved and them and said something in the local language (Twi), and they allowed me to pass. He led me down a flight of stairs to a storage basement and pointed under the stairs at a dark doorway. He said, “There you go, hurry up,” and continued nonchalantly pointing the gun towards the doorway. I walked inside and realized there was no light switch, and the room was almost pitch black. I had to let my eyes adjust to the light long enough for me to even find the toilet, then I quickly played a guessing game called “aim in the dark” and I made it out as soon as I could. The guard led me back up the stairs, I thanked him, and he smiled and said, “You’re welcome… Enjoy Ghana.” And that’s why I love traveling to some of these places. This situation would be completely unimaginable in the USA, but it’s probably rather commonplace in an area like Ghana. Plus, after all of the traveling I’ve done in the past, I knew that this guy was only trying to help me out. Adding some tension into the story just makes it more interesting.

We made our way back to the ship in the early evening and I grabbed dinner on the ship. I’m trying to get onto a service visit in the morning, so I’m staying in and getting some sleep tonight. Hopefully there will be a spot available for me so I can build a house tomorrow!