The K Experience

Living In Ghana

Past - Ghana

Wednesday, 05 March 2008

This is a picture of the beautiful house that I lived in most of the time I was in Ghana. It was at the end of a little village called Ashiye, in between Adenta and Oyibi...

The apartment belonged to Valley View University, which was the private institution that I worked for at the time. The finance manager lived there, and looked after the place, and often hosted many of the international exchange students, who mostly came from Germany to study the ecological surroundings of the area. It was very quiet most of the time, and life seemed pretty slow paced too. Meaning I had a lot of time to think about things.

The road to the left would lead to the little village which had a few shops and bars I would spend some time at. Going past the little village would eventually take you to Adenta, which was one of the bigger towns in the area, via Fafraha, where the orphanage I volunteered at was situated. The road to the right led to the University in Oyibi.

The little village to the left was a great area. I would do my mini shopping there, buying my sweet bread, fruit, (once founding a maggot in my orange. Was not impressed!) sardines, water and kenkay. One thing I liked about the little shops were the names they had. Ghana (the South of Ghana especifically) is mostly Christian, and you would often see Bible verses such as "Remember the Sabbath and keep it Holy!" as the front shop sign (picture on the top right). A bit of a mouthful, but it got the point across.

I would often spend time at the bar, and chill out with a bottle of Malta Guinnes (non-alcoholic), and watch life go by, as the sun sank into the horizon. I would watch the cats chase the chickens, and the little children chase them both. I would listen as the mothers served and gossiped, and I would just sit there and soak it all in.

Even though it was peaceful, I wasn't really at peace, well not as much as I would have liked anyway. One of the many thoughts I had while I was there was of being a stranger in my homeland. I had been brought up to be a Ghanaian in a foreign land, and in that I was pretty comfortable, or as comfortable as I could be. Being a Ghanaian in Ghana was...a new experience for me. I would have to try to feel at home in my own home, which just didn't feel right.

This was just one of the thoughts I had while in Ghana. Like I already said, I had a lot of time to think when I was there, to reflect on what I had just done (spent a year in Japan), and what I was about to do (start teacher training in London). I had a lot of time to figure out what I wanted in life, and how I would get it. Those were the important thoughts, but I had others too. Some of which were interesting, some of which never came to fruition, and some of which were just plane stupid. Most of which I don't remember, so I guess those weren't that important after all. Well, it was all part of the experience, and that was the main reason I went to Ghana. I'm looking forward to going back.

For more pictures of the house and the village near Oyibi, go to the Living in Ghana Pictures in the gallery.

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Xuehong

|03-07-2008 07:41:59

Thinking IS one of the most important things in our life. In a world busy like
this, it's such a blessing to have the time and reflect on what we did, what we
are doing, and what we want to do. Your staying place there is really nice
looking!

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