The K Experience

Trotro

Past - Ghana

Tuesday, 08 July 2008

Trotro, the backbone of the Ghanaian transportation system. Never a trotro journey went by without something interesting happening...

Well probably wouldn't be the case for the majority of Ghanaians who took the trotro on their daily commute, and hence took everything in their stride. But for me, it was always an experience.

Get a normal minivan, left hand drive, second hand usually, take out all the seats (about 8 max on a standard Ghana bound pre-trotro minivan). Take out the seat-belts, take out the upholstery, take out other internal safety features leaving only the Holy Spirit. Fit your own seats, about 12 in total, and cut an extra door (if the minivan was right had drive to start with), and there you have a fully kitted out Ghana certified trotro.

All you need now is a driver (who hopefully knows where he's going), and a conductor, more commonly known as the drivers "mate", who collects the money. The two would be a team, picking up people from their starting points and dropping them off at their various destinations, where ever that would be. It would be the drivers mate who would shout out the various destinations which could either be "SIRK SIRK SIRK SIRK SIRK...." more commonly known as Circle, or "ACCRA KRA KRA KRA KRA KRA KRA" which would probably be Accra central.

A good few of the trotros would be in pretty bad shape. Some would break down, but there would always be another one not far behind. I remember one time a rather large lady broke the foot rest of one as she tried to enter, but it was her that was angry at the drivers for having a weak trotro.

I remember walking from my Aunties flat one day at the Sakumono estates, on my way to the trotro station (which I think is that pictured above, I don't quite remember), and seeing a little commotion by one of the buses. There was a lady holding a knife quite angrily shouting at another guy. The other guy, who didn't seem happy at all was also holding a knife and would have supposedly done some damage to the lady with it were it not for the two burly men holding him back. I guessed that the blood dripping from the ugly gash on the side of his face had something to do with his temperament. I stood around for a while, and decided it had nothing to do with me, and there were people taking care of the situation already, so it didn't need my input (not that I would have been able to do anything). As I entered my own trotro, I overheard some people explaining that the lady had been playing around with a knife and had accidentally cut the mans face. The man, lost his cool, and decided to do like wise to the lady. I understand that the man had cause to be angry, but I don't quite understand why the lady was upset. Maybe she was saying "you shouldn't have got in the way of the knife" or "it wasn't me, it was my hand"...

Another incident with a trotro involved me as more than a witness, and could have ended up with me in a very bad way. It was late at night, and I had just got off a trotro which had taken me from my place in Ashiye near Valley View University, to Adenta market. I was on my way to my favourite Internet cafe to do some surfing, as there was no access where I was staying. Being late at night, it was very, very dark, and being Adenta, there were no street lights (being Ghana, there were no street lights). I was walking along the pavement area on the left side of the road while oncoming traffic passed beside me. All of a sudden I notice a trotro, not on the road, but on the pavement, my pavement, coming towards me, and beeping its horn in haste. It had decided that the road was too blocked, so wanted to take up my sidewalk instead. Angrily, I decided to give way to it, as playing chicken with a trotro was not my idea of fun, especially at night. So I stepped aside. As it was dark, I didn't quite notice that I was standing over a little bridge, and that my sidestep to the left would lead me off the little bridge to a 5 foot drop. The whole drop must have taken seconds, but it seemed to happen in slow motion. I remember noticing that the ground was not where I had expected it to be, and remember slowly feeling the ground with my feet first, rolling over my backpack, my arm, and then ending up on my side, grazing the side of my face in the process. After I had come to a halt, I laid there for a few seconds. My instinct at this point was not to check that I was in one piece, or to check that there was no sharp mysterious object sticking out of my body, but was instead to check that no one saw the embarrassing fall, and to walk on like nothing at all had just happened. "I hadn't just fallen into a 5 foot deep ditch, which could have contained any manner of dangerous, life threatening implements." my brain said "I was on my way to the Internet cafe and I was just fine." As I walked on towards the Internet cafe, realizing that I could have just died, I overheard some of the trotro passengers, and other witnesses scolding the driver (who had stopped just ahead) for his stupid stunt and nearly killing me. I finally reached my Internet cafe, in one piece, happy to be alive, brushed myself off, and unpacked my laptop which had been in my backpack. As a result of the fall, it had been slightly bent, and couldn't close properly, but it still worked. It had probably saved my life. Turned out that the power connector, which had always been loose before the incident, was now fitting perfectly, so I guess it wasn't all bad. I must say however, that this was the closest I had ever been to death. I am aware that some people have been much closer, war veterans for example, but hey.

Strangely enough, I do miss the trotro. I wait for the next time that I shall ride in one, crammed up beside a crazy looking, live chicken wielding lady; the next time I shall wait by the trotro stop, notice a rather attractive girl standing there, only to look down at her feet and notice toe number 6 on each foot wiggling through her sandals; the next time I shall dive out of the way of a trotro to save my life. I still have dreams of riding in one. Oh trotro, how I miss you.