This will be my last post in Ghana! I flew from Tamale to Accra yesterday and will leave Accra tonight at around 9:35 pm. These last few days have been bittersweet as I've said goodbye to my Ghana friends. Nikki took the 12 hour bus ride from Tamale to Accra yesterday and we met at the Baptist Guest House. Nikki and I will say goodbye today and I'm really dreading this.
The Youngs, Nikki, and I drove to Tamale this past Wednesday. It is a two hour drive from Saboba and the roads are terrible. A car could fall into a pot hole and never be seen again! By the time we reached Tamale, I was desperate to get out of the truck. Bob and Dr. Jean may be used to the roads but I would have liked to have taken them a little slower. Once we reached Tamale everyone split up to run their errands. Nikki and I went to the cultural center to get a little shopping in. The center is a huge open area where a select few vendors are able to set up shop. It is really nice because no one was harrassing us to buy from their shops. I only wanted to buy a peice of artwork and I found the best studio! The artist was so proud of his work and he took Nikki and I through his studio. He painted abstract art (which I usually don't like) and you were able to feel his emotion when you looked at his paintings. I passed by one painting and just couldn't stop looking at it...so of course I bought it. The painting is called the weeping widow. It so reminded me of several women that I met in Saboba. The woman is staring straight at you with intensely sad eyes. Her head is covered with a mourning wrap. In Ghana, there is nothing worse than being a childless widow. The woman is considered cursed and it would be better if she had died. The painting reminded me of when Jesus spoke in the bible about caring for the widows and how precious even they are to Him. This painting will definitely hang on my wall at home.
While we were walking through the shops Nikki and I noticed several game boards. The shopkeepers offered to teach us how to play the game Owari. Of course this was an offer we couldn't refuse! At first the game seemed really simple but I found out that a person needed to always think 5 moves ahead in order to win...I lost every game that I played. There are two trays with little bowls to hold the rocks. There are six bowls and each bowl holds 4 rocks. In order to begin the game one player picks the rocks out of a bowl and moves their hand to the right placing one rock in each bowl. A person scores if they are able to place a rock on the opposing player's side and the total number in the bowl equals 2 or 3. The bowl must be the last one you place a rock in order to be able to score. So for the whole game you must keep track of how many rocks are in each bowl and also try to move your own rocks so the opposing player isn't able to score. I wasn't very good at this concept. Luckily the man took pity on me and he didn't beat me too bad. Every time the man would have to get up to serve a customer a couple of men would lean over and tell me what moves to make next. Even with their help I still couldn't beat this guy! We had a great afternoon visiting with the shopkeepers. It was the perfect way to end my time in the northern region.
Thursday morning I flew out of Tamale and landed in Accra. What a difference a few miles make! Accra is very westernized and I wasn't used to the number of people or the hustle and bustle. Another girl and I went to a grocery store. I couldn't believe my eyes when I walked into the store...there was a produce section! I'm ashamed to admit that I almost knocked over an elderly lady in my rush to reach the oranges. I bought two oranges at $2.50 each and they were the best oranges I have ever eaten. The cook at the guest house made vegetable soup, cornbread, and a salad last night....Nikki and I were shocked at the vegetables. We were not able to buy vegetables or fruit in Sababo, so we have been on an all carb diet. I never thought that I would be burned out on carbohydrates. As I'm typing this post I can smell the sweet rolls and sausage cooking for breakfast....so this mean I'm ending the post. Time to eat!
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