it is probably a good thing that the drive from chinderi back to accra takes quite some time. first the ferry crossing at dambai, then south along the eastern corridor through kpando, following one of the many arms of lake volta, across the impressive adomi bridge and eventually into the dusty outskirts of accra. through traffic jams, past seemingly endless construction sites for major road works, roadside stalls, small workshops, people selling just about anything you can imagine, and finally past informal settlements (slums) with shiny new high-rise buildings towering in the background. two very different worlds, sometimes separated by little more than a road.
quite some time, in this case, means around 10 hours. considerably longer than it will take you to scroll through all these photos here!
maybe that's just what is needed after a few weeks of travelling through ghana. time to look out of the window, watch the landscape and the people go by, and think about everything we've seen, the people we've met and the conversations we've had. some funny, some inspiring, some maybe more thoughtful or even painful and disturbing.
there is so much happening in this country. so much energy, creativity, entrepreneurship and determination to make things work, often against considerable odds. and then there are the contradictions. enormous wealth and extreme poverty, ambitious infrastructure projects and basic services that don't function, modern technology alongside equipment that should have been replaced decades ago.
people who have very little and are incredibly generous with what they have. and people who have rather more and still seem to need more. of course, many of these contradictions aren't unique to ghana. perhaps they are just more visible here, less neatly hidden behind the facades we have built in europe.
the long drive also gives us time to prepare for the next transition. from ghana back to europe. from hot, humid and dusty, colourful, vibrant, musical and loud, to cold, grey and considerably quieter. although still musical - i finally get to reunite with my guitar, yeah!
and not entirely grey either. we've brought some colourful fabrics and bolga baskets with us, so at least a few corners of our home will look a little more ghanaian. until we pass the baskets to others - we cannot keep them all!
and then there are the memories, the friendships, the stories, the many photos, and some ideas that will probably keep occupying my mind for quite a while.
travelling between these two worlds always takes a bit of adjustment. not so much because of the temperature difference, although that can be rather brutal, but because things that seem perfectly normal in one place suddenly look quite strange when seen from the other.
that's one of the things i enjoy most about coming to ghana. it makes me question some of the things i've stopped questioning at home. and confront them, eventually. small, small - in ghana time.
until next time, ghana. there's still plenty to see, plenty to learn, and quite a few people to visit again!
