Somewhere Over the Atlantic

(The following are our notes between leaving Los Angeles and our first arrivals in Accra, Ghana)

6/21/09
The packing of one’s life into an 8-foot by 10-foot by 8-foot cube is a bit humbling. As with most things in life, good friends with a quick wit and the promise of a Father’s Office burger and brew seem to make it a much better arrangement. We have to give a sincere thank you to the timely assistance from Joe, Amanda, Elizabeth, Brendan, Raoul, and Ryan all made our move out of 841 S. Serrano Ave. in Los Angeles possible. The closing of our storage locker in Culver City signaled the beginning of my realization that we were actually leaving Los Angeles for Accra, Ghana in four days – in between we need to have two deep teeth cleanings, one crown fitting, finish two jobs, collect one last paycheck, pack for three months, obtain one set of Malaria pills and find a home for any remaining material possessions. Ok, go.

6/26/09 1:00 AM
48 hours ago we broke down everything remaining to be done before our 3:45 AM pick-up this morning (two hours from writing this journal entry). The Volvo still needed to be fixed and was at the mechanic (Zen Volvo in Studio City – great place and great owner, Luis!). The main hurdle came from giving out our last "would you please borrow this from me" items to trusted friends. This actually just wrapped up about 5 minutes ago - we had a rolling band of well wishers coming through and taking things like our TV (Amanda), the keys to the Volvo (Oscar), clothes for the Salvation Army (Vikram), bicycle parts for the bike kitchen (Mike + Kim), and even a few bicycles (Gordon and Oscar again). Once I jot this down, it's literally off to the airport. And then...Ghana.

6/27/09 8:20 AM
So we've landed in Accra - a surprisingly easy 20 hours. The flight was hilarious - in my mind it was like an American version of coming to Ghana. We were perpetually looking for that first sign of a truly “authentic” African vibe, as though a blinking light would somehow go on over our heads somewhere off the coast of New York that said, “You are now really, really going to Africa.” Yet, when we boarded our fellow Delta passengers could pretty much be lumped into two categories: well-dressed Ghanaians or sweat-wearing college aged girls with missionary intentions.

Of the 20 hours in-flight, I managed to sleep for approximately 18.3. I somehow managed to avoid staying awake for either take-off or landing (Dad - those motorcycle rides in Jacksonville has paid huge dividends...I've also slept through two earthquakes in LA). I'm afraid to say that Meg's luck with sleeping hasn't gone quite as well.

Landing in Accra brought about a sense of awe, something kind of like your first day of school as a freshman. We made it with our completely over-sized carry-on bags to the main baggage pick-up before realizing the first of several misplaced items: Meghan’s glasses and a well-worn Detroit Tigers cap. I suppose it could have been worse but those are going to be two sorely missed items. The glasses especially!

After haggling with luggage and customs, we spilled outside to find a smiling and happy friend-of-a-friend named Percy with our names on his sign! Seeing him brought time back to normal speed, as though the past 24 hours since leaving Los Angeles were some time warp and we’d come out the other side with most things intact and a gregarious Ghanaian welcoming us.

Percy was telling us all about Ghana on our drive to the guest house at which he’d made arrangements to – the culture, the history, the humor – when suddenly a large pack of a few hundred men were running towards us. Meghan and I looked at each other and for that split second thought, “Dear God, is this how it ends? We’re young, lots of living yet to do, such a shame if…” And then again time caught up to us and Percy yelled out, “Look, it is the Vice President of Ghana jogging!” Literally, the Vice President of Ghana was running down the street in the opposite direction of our car for a public health campaign. Percy joked that he had arranged a welcoming party…I have a feeling he's not joking. He has that fun look in his eye.

OBAMA'S 1st NIGHT!!

We thought we'd start out our first blog entry with a bang. So we enlisted the help of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue to bring a little luster to our cause. We've been in Ghana for 14 days - although to be straight it feels like 14 months. Much has happened, and we'll catch everyone up in time. For now though, enjoy the following from last night's "Obama Night!" - a small window into our life here in Ghana, and the the people, culture and quirky-ness that lies within...

10/07/2009 (Told in the voice of the lovely and talented Meghan Corroon) -

Tonight was the much anticipated Obama arrival to Ghana! The build-up here has been intense with Obama music videos, Obama t-shirts, Obama African Fabric (which I will be making an outfit out of soon), even Obama cookies.

The afternoon started by getting out of work early as they were practically evacuating all the Ministry buildings. Mathew had taken the day off entirely because his office is on the outskits of town and traffic was awful. While at work, I started feeling ill for some reason (lots of possible reasons!) and grabbed a taxi home - and proceeded to vomit for the afternoon (ahhh... the digestive system in West Africa!). But I slept so I could rally for Obama night!

After some rest, we went to dinner with our good friend Patience at her brother's restaurant that had a wide variety of Ghanaian cuisine (I was still feeling a bit shaky but managed to eat a good amount). We were able to see all the lead up coverage on TV with the peanut gallery commentary of Patience's family...hilarious! In one scene, the interviewer asked former Ghana President Rawlings to comment on sitting near another former President Kukuofur - to which Rawlings snorted and chuckled, saying "I mean have you met the man? I cannot stand him." (This would be like Clinton and Bush I going at it...)

After dinner Patience was determined that we were going to find a way to score free Obama T-shirts - someone had been giving them out all over town. So we went with Patience to the NDC Headquarters (current party in power, with President Atta Mills). When we got there, a crowd of people clustered around this gate that was on the backside of the headquarters / house. They were about to riot for Obama T-shirts, and some had been there all day! We were by far the only whites (aka Obrunis) in the crown. Everyone was chanting OBAMA, OBAMA! and then singing the national anthem of Ghana. People will go far for a free T-shirt in Ghana!!!

Patience knew one of the party officials inside the gate and told them that we were Americans and had voted for Obama so should get t-shirts. Next thing we know we are getting squished inside the gate while they are pushing back the rest of the crowd and are taken into the inner sanctum of the political offices... The crowd outside begins yelling for t-shirts even louder and shaking the gate!

Once inside the NDC offices there were all these distinguished dudes just sitting around watching a field hockey game on TV! (Incidently, the match on TV was the first match at Ghana's new field hockey stadium, a very important indication of development and thus a very big deal.) We were introduced to the man in charge and asked lots of questions about where we're from and what we're doing in Ghana. This is the point where I remember the peace corps rule never to get involved in African political parties or events and to keep it neutral and low-profile - Oh well we are on a quest for Obama T-shirts!. So after a lot of serious questioning the big men start smiling and saying 'you are welcome/Akwaaba'! and they gave us t-shirts out of their own personal stash! At this point Patience is calling and saying we should come out since the crowd is getting rowdy - we wait a polite amount of time and then ask to exit, thanking everyone profusely and chanting OBAMA, OBAMA! They invite us back for the next day and say they will give us even more t-shirts. We are then escorted out of the gated offices, find Patience and run down the street with out new-found Booty!!!!!!! Wa HOO !Obama!!!

The night goes on in revelry as we traipse around the city in our new t-shirts with everyone on the street chanting Obama and wearing their t-shirts too. We end up watching his actual arrival standing on the street in a crowd of Ghanaians on a TV that a bar has put outside. No better way to experience the arrival of the progical son of Africa I would say than with the people in the streets under the African sky! What a night...