The Weekend

I found out the day after that the reason Adina hadn’t answered my phone call was that she was in an all-night “spiritual emphasis”, where her church prayed and sang til 4AM! Apparently she had a satellite connection to a bishop in Nigeria, where her Pentecostal church is based. If I were to try, all I would be able to sing at a 4AM prayer group would be “dayenu”, but to each their own.

That Saturday my ProWorld group went to a Ghanaian drum/dance lesson, which was pretty fantastic. Mike would have really enjoyed the drumming lessons – we actually got pretty good!

I went to Elmina, a large fishing town about a half hour from Cape Coast, and have finally met Kathy Weir. George Weir (an alumnus of Phi Psi at Case Western) and his wife Kathy started a foundation called Tomorrow’s Stars that directly built a school called Christ Cares and funds two others, Edinaman and Bantuma. We explored the last day of the Elmina festival, which celebrates the end of the seasonal fishing ban. I saw the royal families and chiefs, decked out in some of the most expensive bling I’ve ever seen – big gold necklaces, crowns, and bracelets, and they were carried in lavish recliners balanced on the heads of specially qualified subjects.

I met a few Tomorrow’s Stars students while hanging with Kathy. Rudolph is a very studious and naturally curious student of the sciences who will begin university next year to study herbal medicines. Richard is a very down to earth and fun person to be with, studying communication and business. Francis is a generous and compassionate guy who works as an accountant in the bank. They all went out of their way to make me feel at home, and were really friendly.

A quick side note – I saw a mind-numbing TV show called “Sound Splash”. It’s a live concert of several artists on the channel One Africa. The show started off with a hit gospel singer who is well-known by at least my host mother. It was immediately apparent that she was lip-syncing – she tried saying something into the microphone and it didn’t register, but she was singing just fine prior. She was followed by a police officer who sang reggae, a hip-hop dance crew, and a Ghanaian rapper (its REALLY funny to listen to Fanti rap - I swear it's all vowel sounds). The gospel singer was the clear crowd favorite, although the best part was the backup dancers for the rapper. He had two white women behind him, awkwardly moving somewhat rhythmically but clearly out of place dancing in front of an all-black audience who enjoy gospel and could probably outdance either of them blindfolded. Since the rap was in Fanti, they probably didn’t understand the lyrics either, but they still received a standing ovation after the show. Such is the power of the Obruni, and the inanity of Ghanaian television.

Yesterday the ProWorld group trekked to Kakum Park and took a huge nature hike, replete with a gravity-defying rope bridge canopy walk. While walking along the bridge I tried not to think back on the Indiana Jones, Pirates of the Caribbean, and million other movies where the ropes snap and the travelers are left with an unfortunate drop. Our tour guide seemed to know just about every fact about every tree in the rainforest, and gave us very cool details on how to prepare them to make herbal remedies for just about any ailment. We also visited a monkey reservation for rescued Ghanaian wildlife, owned and operated by a Dutch woman.

The highlight of the day was definitely the World Cup. Some of the group went out to a “Spot” or bar in a gas station. I was skeptical at first – a bar in a gas station? But it turned out to be one of the biggest parties in the city! There was a huge crowd of mostly Netherlands supporters (the Ghana team publicly supported the Netherlands, so they were the country’s favorite). I and most of the group rooted for Spain, mostly because the two Spaniard med students were really into the game. VIVA ESPANA!