A Ghanaian Love Affair

Ask any Ghanaian what they love and their list will likely contain the following:

1. God
2. Football (aka soccer)
3. ... um. Nope, just those two things!

So when the Black Stars, Ghana's national football team, had a game in Kumasi, I couldn't miss it, along with the other 50,000+ fans who had the same idea.

Be Aggressive, Be Be Aggressive

On Saturday night, Andrea, Mallory, and I needed to take a tro tro from the village to Kumasi, to stay with Andrea's Ghanaian friend, Joe.

Apparently everyone had the same idea, at the same time.

A few tro tros came by heading to Kumasi, and Ghanaians would literally push people out of the way so they could get into the tro tro. Before the tro tro had stopped, people swarmed the doors, fighting to get in. They weren't messing around, and there was no way they were going to let 3 obrunis get in before they did. There is absolutely no concept of a line or first come first serve. It's a prime example of survival of the fittest. Haha. I never realized how much I appreciate the orderliness of the American transportation systems.

So after a few tro tros had gone by and we hadn't even attempted to compete with the Ghanaians, we needed a new game plan.

New Game Plan: Be aggressive. And try not to get trampled.

We saw a tro tro come to a stop a little ways down from where we were standing. When we saw people running towards it, we followed suit. Mallory made her way through the crowd of people, and I held on to her backpack, not letting anyone separate us. We finally got in a tro tro! One girl literally jumped over the seat to get in! Whoa! It was only after the three of us all had a seat that we asked if that tro tro was even actually going to Kumasi! LOL Thankfully it was! So we were on our way.

Kumasi at Night
Joe met us at the drop off and took us back to his place. It was one room in a compound house. The other rooms were rented to other people.

Joe's rent per month: 7 cedi!
His electric and water bill: 5 cedi

He had a "kitchen" in the front section with a small set of burners for a stove. No sink or dishwasher though, because there wasn't any running water inside his room.

The next section he had blocked off was his living room, which did have a couch and a television, and two chairs.

A sheet hanging blocked off his "bedroom", which consisted of a bed and a place he put his clothes. Basically his "house" consisted of one room, separated into three sections.

When we got to his house we started watching a movie. This is the first movie I have watched in over two months. I was really enjoying it! It felt good to have the familiarity of watching a movie with friends on a Saturday night.

We were about half way through, and getting to the climax of the whole film... when... the... electricity... went... OUT!

Haha.

So we all went outside, because it was much cooler out there and talked with his neighbors. We used all the Twi we knew, and they loved us! It was about 11 o clock at this point, and Mallory and I decided we wanted some bread. So we took the "torch light" aka flashlight and headed off on an adventure. We didn't get very far until we had a companion on our journey.

One of Joe's neighbors insisted on coming with us, and I'm so glad she did! She held my hand the whole way and made sure we found it ok! Haha. So cute! It's the small, nice things like that that make me love Ghana! I really can't imagine a lady I'd never met before, holding my hand to walk down the road in the United States!

We enjoy our bread and about it isn't long before the power comes back on. Time to finish the movie.

About a half hour later. The power..., take a guess... Yep! Goes out again! LOL

Thankfully it's not very long until it comes back on, and we call it a night.

The next morning Joe wakes up early and cooks us breakfast! (The night before he hand washed Andrea's dress!) Aw! How sweet! I'm not sure an American guy would have jumped on the chance to do these things, but Joe didn't mind at all!

Black Stars VS Benin

On Sunday it was finally time for the soccer match. The stadium was packed with excited Ghanaian fans. The atmosphere was so much fun! There was a band playing and people were dancing in their chairs.

It was a World Cup qualifying match. Our tickets only cost 7 cedi. In the U.S. I'm pretty sure parking alone would have cost more than 7 dollars!

Before the game started a Ghanaian threw water on some Benin fans, and a small fight broke out. Haha. The guy next to me, summoned to police officer to "Go arrest that man!" LOL The guy then told me how the guy who threw the water wasn't representing Ghana in a good light. Aw! I think I met the best people in all of Ghana this weekend! The guy next to me cared about his country, and didn't want anyone to view Ghana in a negative way.

Within the first minute and nine seconds, the Black Stars scored a goal. The crowd went crazy! Wow! I thought it was going to be a great game, with lots of points scored. But in the end, that was the ONLY point scored! Haha.

Throughout the match there were people setting off fireworks in their seats. Seemed a little dangerous... Haha. But no one said anything. Maybe it's soccer protocol or something! LOL

It was great to be 1/50,000 to cheer on the Black Stars and be a little part of all the excitement!