My experience in Ghana

It's been a while since I last wrote anything after I returned from Ghana; life has been busy as I've been getting back to research (somewhat successfully) and attempting to get back into shape for some key races in the late summer and fall without injuring myself or burning out (mostly successfully).  This post will have little to do with either of those things, though, as I'll try to write about my experiences in Ghana before I completely forget everything that happened.

The trip to Ghana includes a short flight to New York City, followed by an 11-hour flight across the ocean.  My previous experience with flying was next to nothing; I had my first real flight back in February, an hour flight to Washington, D.C.   I figured this flight would cause problems for me, as I have an inherent fear of sleeping in moving objects, let alone moving objects flying at 30,000 feet across a large body of water.  Bracing myself for a long night/day, I was fortunate to at least have an aisle seat so I could get up and move around every so often.  Unfortunately, I did not fill up enough water bottles before heading over, so I landed in the capital city of Accra tired, cranky, and dehydrated.  It did not help that we landed in the mid-afternoon, when temperatures were in the mid-80s and humidity was high. After we made it through the airport, we found cabs to get us to our accommodations.  Over the 10 mile (40 minutes in traffic) drive, the differences from cities that I'm used to jumped out at me.   There are not a lot of very tall buildings. Many buildings are less than two or three stories, and many homes are single-storied, packed closely together, and covering a small area.  

One of the villages.

Traffic protocol is somewhat different.  Traffic lights are somewhat rare, and drivers seem to take more risks (speeding, passing) without fear of causing a problem.  (Surprisingly, I only saw one accident during the entire trip, which made a 12 mile drive close to three hours).  Once we finished traveling for the day and had dinner, I considered doing a short run but did not out of fatigue.  So ended the run streak that began in late September.  (I did run every remaining day that I was there, but some places were better for running than others.  While in Accra, all of my miles were run on a 150-meter balcony.  In general, the persistent humidity and heat made running difficult for the most part, but I managed.)

We planned our trip to make stops in several areas around Ghana.  As for a size comparison, Ghana is roughly the area of Pennsylvania and New York combined.  Many of the distances that we traveled were not very far, but the time to travel between these places was longer than what I have been used to in the United States, as there are no highways in Ghana like the highways in America.

Rough map of our travels while in Ghana.

We also happened to travel to Ghana during the start of the rainy season.  Some days it rained a lot.

Our trip, especially the later parts, had many sudden heavy downpours.  We were lucky to be near shelter most of the time!

While in Accra, our main goals were to prepare for the solar panel workshops that we would be conducting in Kumasi and Takoradi.  At each of these workshops, we planned to teach the kids how to assemble both large solar panels that could power small appliances, such as a light bulb, and small panels that could be able to charge a cell phone.  We brought the silicon cells with us, but we had to buy the remainder of the materials, like wood, paint, and glass, in Accra.  In America, this could be as simple as going to one's favorite home improvement store, buying the materials, and calling it a day.  This was not the case in Accra.  The market is open, haggling over a price is common, and one would have to go to several places to buy everything that we would need.  Fortunately, we found some taxi drivers who knew their way around the area well, so looking for all of the supplies that we needed was not nearly as much of a struggle as it could have been.

One of the markets in Accra.  Vendors line the streets and even crowd the sidewalks. 

We took a brief trip from Accra to Akosombo, where we visited the dam of the Volta River.  This is a major source of hydroelectric power for a large part of Ghana as well as nearby Togo. 

A distant view of Lake Volta and the dam.  Lake Volta is HUGE.  It's one of the largest reservoirs in the world; look at the map above.

We next went to Kumasi to start our first workshop.  The plan was to spend four days at Kumasi Technical Institute teaching kids how to assemble solar panels, as well as teaching them some of the physics of the solar cells and the business of the solar power industry.  Then, on the fifth day, we would go to an off-grid village to install a solar panel.  Unbeknownst to us, however, was that the first planned day was African Union Day, a holiday in Ghana; this shortened our workshop by a day. Fortunately, the kids were very hard-working, and we finished all of the panels on a shortened schedule.  We went to a village that wanted a source of power for a light bulb so that travelers could see the houses on the side of the road.

Soldering some cells together.

Applying a protective layer to one of the solar panels.

Putting the panel on a roof.  I did not climb up there.

The final result.

After a brief trip to Sunyani to visit the University of Energy and Natural Resources, we made our way to Takoradi for another workshop.  Having one workshop under our belts already, this one went even more smoothly.  However, the trip to a different off-grid village was a lot more interesting.  The road to the village came to a small stream that our bus could not cross about a half of a mile from the village, which meant we had to walk, supplies and all, the rest of the way.  Then, less than a quarter of a mile from the village, a pond blocked the road.  Some waded, but I decided to take up the offer of a piggyback ride.

The bus is starting to struggle on the roads...

Time to go on foot.

The final obstacle to the village.

Another successful installation.

During our last week in Ghana, we visited Kakum National Park, where we embarked on a canopy walk. We also visited the slave castles in Elmina and Cape Coast.  These were were slaves were held until they were taken elsewhere.

An unfortunate flat tire on our way to Kakum.  We were still on one of the main roads, and fortunately, some local residents came to help us. We were good to go in no time!

One of the bridges on the canopy walk.

The slave castle in Cape Coast.  Very heartbreaking to see the cramped, hot conditions of the chambers in which people were held for months at a time.

The castle was right on the coast and had cannons (which were supposedly never used) to fight invaders.

I was not as fortunate for the return flight, as I had a window seat and did not have the luxury of moving around freely.  However, the flight seemed to go by quickly, and soon enough, I was back home.  Overall, the trip was a very rewarding experience.  I was extremely nervous to go, and I was almost tempted to miss my flight in the first place.  However, I'm glad I got on that plane and saw what life was like in a much different country from my own.

Thanks to Francis Smith for most of these pictures.