August 1, 2010

I spent this past weekend in Accra, the capital city of Ghana.  I went with 2 other volunteers and we stayed at the house of the girlfriend of one of the volunteers.   Our formal reason for going was to give presentations on our volunteer experience at the Canada High Commission, along with other Canadian volunteers in Ghana.  Another large reason though was that we just wanted to see Accra. 

The presentations at the High Commission went well.  A common theme described by most volunteers was that work moves very slowly in Ghana, which I had experienced as well.   Even at the hospital it sometimes seems the nurses are slow to act on the doctors instructions,  sometimes at risk to the patient’s health, unfortunately.

From the presentations, I was able to gather some information about the major hospital in Ghana, Korle Bu, which one medical student was volunteering at.  Apparently, Korle Bu is nearly on the same level as some hospitals in the West.  Korle Bu has a CT and MRI machine, which are fairly modern diagnostic machines.  The hospital was not completely up to current gold standards however, as some of the diagnostic machines used were very outdated (i.e.: a radiology machine from 1965) and reportedly the CT and MRI machines are not functional more often than not.  TIA.

Accra is famous for its night life, which I saw much of on this weekend trip.  On Thursday night, I went with the other volunteers to a laid-back, local, live music dance bar.  On Friday, we went to a somewhat fancy live-music, dance bar.  On Saturday, we did a pub crawl around the area we were staying (Osu), ending at a popular local low-scale dance club, Container, which takes place outside on the streets.  It was also notable that we saw some amazing street dancers perform outside Container (Figure 23).  At these bars it became apparent that almost every Ghanaian (male or female) is an extremely good dancer.  It also became apparent that Ghanaians generally have a much easier time cutting-loose and having fun then we do in the West.

Figure 23. Street performers outside local bar.

Overall, Accra seemed very modern compared to Cape Coast.  There were small sky-scrapers, fast food restaurants, and even a large shopping mall.   I was even to able to find some products from home which I had been missing and could not otherwise find elsewhere in Ghana (Nutella and maple syrup).   My previous first impression of Accra as a hectic city, proved to be accurate.  Walking the streets of Accra I was constantly hassled by street vendors.  Additionally, Accra drivers have even less regard for pedestrian safety than drivers in Cape Coast.  That being said, I never felt threatened from malicious attacks. 

I also visited the Arts Center in Accra, a well-known market  in which local people sell traditional African items.  The common traditional  items sold included: tribal masks, Djembe drums (Figure 24), hand woven traditional Ghanaian fabric called Kente (Figure 25), and original canvas paintings.  I really enjoyed the experience.  If you do attend the Arts Center, however, be prepared to be swarmed by sellers pulling you into their stalls and trying to sell you their items.  Also be prepared to do some hard bargaining, as it is expected from the sellers and they start with fairly astronomical prices.

Figure 24. Djembe (traditional African drum) being carved at Accra Arts center.

Figure 25. Kente (tradional Ghanaian fabric) being woven at Accra Arts Center.  Note the Kente banner that says "Usher".

After a month in Cape Coast, it was like stepping out of Africa for a weekend and re-entering the modern world.  The trip to Accra was very refreshing, but I am glad to be living in Cape Coast rather than Accra, as I do not think Accra would offer a true “African” experience, which is a large part of my reasons for coming here.