Yayra

My farewells always include rain. It was Friday morning and I saw the sunrise. I opened my backpack and found the lighter Zoran had given me the night before –Stay you- It said. I smiled. My departure was imminent. It was drizzling and the streets were as empty as I had never seen them in Kumasi. Not even the waakye stands were ready to serve breakfast (Waakye is a traditional dish made with rice, beans and a spicy stew, simply delicious). I said proper good byes to my housemates and took my terribly large luggage once Ray arrived. The adventure was about to begin.

Raymond and Agyemang, two friends and coworkers came with me to the Volta region. I had been told not to leave Ghana without visiting it.

We took a long tro-tro ride into Peki. Ray and Agyemang had been telling me that they had never been in the Volta region or anywhere outside of Ghana. They were seeing mountains for the first time. Although only 1000m high, the mountains were embracing me again, just as they do when I am home.

Early the next day we went to Wli falls. On the tro-tro we met Yayra. She became very friendly with me because I was having waakye outside of the tro-tro and just talking about how much I love it! She heard my little Twi and told me the Ewe equivalents. She is a teacher and we talked with her all the way into Hohoe. The more I spoke with her, the more infatuated I became (you can tell by the picture below) She is so strong; I love her confidence. She told me that in her language her name, Yayra, means blessing. She really is. This post is dedicated to her and all the blessings that came from this trip.

Despite Agyemang’s fear of heights we hiked to the upper falls. It became evident why the falls were called Wli (in Ewe they mean struggle, struggle falls). It was a strenuous hike but well worth the dip.

It was finally settled. I had recently felt ambiguous about continuously saying how I belong to the mountains and finding the sacred in water. Waterfalls are my place.

Do you remember the last time you saw something completely different, completely new, something that didn’t remind you of anything else, a genuine new experience? I saw that mesmerizing light in Agyemang when we walked under the waterfall. My heart was smiling. I felt so grateful to presence that.

We met great people during this trip, Barbara and Michal, a couple from Italy and Poland respectively, joined us for lunch. They tried palm wine while I was trying Agple (Im probably misspelling this), the eastern region version of banku.

Getting back to Peki was difficult in the middle of the night but we made it! Ray and Agyemang taught me how to play owari and Agyemang gave me an owari set as a gift. It is beautiful.

Both Ray and Agyemang’s birthdays were coming up so we had some celebratory pineapple juices and went to sleep, we were exhausted. I was sad to say good-bye to them. They left to Ho at 4:30am to get to Kumasi.

I was again blessed to meet Evelyn and Fridolin who let me ride with them to Accra in a cab. They were leaving for Tanzania and onwards on their world trip. You can read about it in their awesome blog.

I was in a daze when I got to Accra. Talking about blessings, I got to spend my time with an angel, my new chale: Jeff.

Unlike what everyone had told me, Accra had its charm. The lighthouse in Jamestown and the fish market gave me a taste of what life is like there.

Writing some postcards by the beach in the Artist’s alliance was relaxing and quite nostalgic, that’s the effect the sea has.

Jazz at +233, meeting other fellow Latin-Americans at “El Paso”, having some local-made drinks at the Republic made my trip joyful. I went on a trance while drumming with my rasta friend, Kofi. He had a little stand in Oxford St. I figured he wanted to sell some drums; he didn’t even try to sell anything. He just wanted to play the drums together. I gave all of my being into hitting that drum, it was palpable he did too. I walked back to the restaurant to meet Jeff feeling very light.

I was able to ride around Agbogboshie, the electronic waste dumpsite. I was heartbroken. The situation is much worse than I had imagined. There is a fruit and vegetable market next door- even growing on top of it- too many pathways to analyze and do something about from the public health perspective... Lots to work on, specially on the perception of development so we can avoid these problems in other countries and actually do something in Accra... 

On a very happy note, Shashwat and I were able to meet in Ghana before I left!

Today is also a special day in Ghana. The court case is finally over and the judges recognized Mahama's election as legitimate -after 8 long months of litigation-. I listened to the broadcasts of the trial while in the lab and I know Ghanaians will take this ruling peacefully. 

Babayo Ghana! Meda wo ase paa paa paa.  See you soon.

Afia