Volta Weekend

Hey everyone,

I know you all spent your weekend eagerly awaiting my next update. Well here it is.

I went to the Volta Region on Friday with Immanuel. The drive up took about 4 hours. It probably could have taken much less but frequent stops to drink beer in towns along the way slowed us down. Drinking and driving sure doesn't seem to be on the rader here. Or wearing seatbelts for that matter. I always wear one because some of the cars I've been in could easily be classified as molded scrap metal and an engine. But not a single person here wears one. Immanuel said he doesn't buckle up because "my driving is no. 1 in Africa". I disagree and prefer the safe side.

The landscape on the drive was quite different than the bustling streets of Accra. Tropical jungles and mountains dotted the landscape. As the sun was setting, trees perched on the peaks of the mountains began to look like a line of animals walking a la Noah's ark or The Land Before Time (I guess those were dinosaurs but that movie was so damn good, I had to give it a shoutout). We arrived in Kpando and stayed with Aaron, an American volunteer who had been working with the water and sanitation services. Some of the statistics he told me were beyond ridiculous. In his municipality, only 50% of people had access to clean drinking water and 20% of people had contracted malaria...in the last year! With a population of 160,000 people, there were 25,000 reported cases of malaria. But the people were very friendly and welcoming.

We woke up very early on Saturday to make it to the Tofi Atome monkey sanctuary. As usual, Immanuel was late (African time) so we only got to see one group of monkeys. But they were cute enough to make me happy. They came right up to our guide and ripped at the bananas with their tiny, little hands and neatly grabbed as much as they could before running away. Sharing definitely appeared to be a foreign concept but survival is more important than another monkey's feelings I suppose.

After the monkeys, we drove to the Wli Waterfalls. This place was simply beautiful. Right near the Togo border, the waterfalls provided a cool and serene hideout from the heat of the sun. We stayed for several hours and ate mangos happily. Man, the mangos here are so damn good. They're not like the mangos in Canada. Smaller and sweeter. And you basically just take the peel of and suck at the pit. I also had cocoa from the pod. For anyone who hasn't had tried this, you don't know what you're missing. While I thought it would taste like chocolatey or something similar, the pod opens to these creamy white pearls of joy. Honestly, the sweetest, best-tasting fruit I've had here and a complete surprise.

I had my first church experience on Sunday at the Assemblies of God church in Kpando. Holy crap do they love the Jesus. People were dancing, singing and just loving life. Then the pastor came on and introduced me to the entire church as 'Brother Jonah from Canada'. The typical oohs and aahs followed. The whole experience was uplifiting and definitely a surprise. The boredom of organized religion in the West has been replaced by joyful spiritualism in a way that genuinely touches people. I've thought about it a lot and I realize that I used to take issue with people proselatyzing in Canada. I always was annoyed by their attempts to convert me to something I don't believe in. But here, people don't even try to convert you to join some structured religious institution. Mr. Aketie, Aaron's host father, took me to the AG church while his wife went to the Presbyterian church. And it was totally normal that they each had their own churches. Its just what makes them happier. He just wanted to let me experience the sights and sounds. When faith is such a constant in society, it transcends the religion niche and becomes a daily endeavour.

Two American girls, Heather and Rya, moved into the host family with me. Heather is from Niagara Falls and Rya is from Boston. They are both working at a local orphanage. Its nice to have some people to relate to and I'm sure we'll have a good time together. I predict some spicy situations in the future...more to follow as the days go on.

The Champions League final is tomorrow so I'm going to Champs, a local expat bar, to watch the game with all the drunken Brits. Figure it'll be a good time. Hearts (the Accra team) won some mini-tournament against Kotoko (the Kumasi team) on the weekend. People were freaking out in the streets. Literally. We got mobbed by at least three groups of guys chanting and singing with their flags.

Alright time's up. Gotta go. I haven't found a place to put pictures on but I'll keep trying.

Peace out team.

Jonah