This morning we wake up to great weather and a great view. Our hotel is overlooking Lake Volta, the largest, (square footage) man-made lake in the world. We had broken into two groups the previous day, so our group was only eleven class members and Jake and Dr Wehner. After a continental breakfast we got on the road. Our first stop was a small market next to the lake, very similar looking to many of the markets we saw in Mali. Ghana is noticeably more affluent than Mali, but when one gets out in the county the gap is much
narrower. The market is primarily people selling veggies they have grown, like cassava, or fruits such as mangoes and coconuts they have gathered in the field.From there we made a few minute drive to the Lake Volta dam. We got a brief tour of the dam, and looked down into the large intakes for the hydroelectric generators. The dam was completed in 1961, and is still the primary source for electricity for the entire nation in addition to neighboring countries such as Burkina Fhaso. Electric power is in scarce supply here in Ghana, and they currently (no pun intended!) are rationing power. Every 5 days your power is shut down for 12 hours. Many businesses have generators to get them through the outages, but generally people just live with it. The energy crisis is serious, but they do have a plan: they have hired Gray Davis to look into options for them…….
It was at this point that our A/C died in our bus. This would not have been a huge problem if the windows were able to open. But luck was not with us. Our bus quickly turned into a rolling greenhouse without ventilation. The windows weren’t designed to open, and there were no ceiling vents. We drove with the front door open, but the back half was a total sauna, registering over 100 degree on Jon’s travel alarm. To add insult to injury the bus driver repeatedly got lost, and we drove in circles for about two hours looking for our next stop.
We did finally locate our next place, which was a small bead market. This was an interesting little facility because it was set up so differently from anything we have experienced yet on this trip. It was a small bead manufacturing facility. Everything is done by hand using recycled materials. They grind old glass bottles, and painstakingly mold and fire them into glass beads. They had a small gift shop, and our class bought a good number of their wares. But the unique thing was the entire place was neat and clean. The restroom was spotless by African standards, and even the dirt areas were swept clean. It was like a little oasis, and we were all reluctant to get back onto the rolling sauna.
The next place our little greenhouse on wheels rolled into was an elementary school. This proved to be the most memorable stop of the day. There were hundreds of children at this
school. It was a rather open facility, with all the class rooms facing a courtyard. We met the teachers there, and all the children crowded to the windows to look at us. Then an amazing thing happened. Carlo Bocardo walked to the bus, and got a soccer ball he had brought to give away. Much like bees coming out of a hive, within moments the entire school emptied out, and Carlo was early over ran by excited students. Michael Frantz and Rob Harris handed out tennis balls and other items and were met with similar enthusiasm. The teachers told us it had been several years since they had a new ball for the kids to play with.From the school we began the long trek to Kumasi to meet up with the other half of our class. This was a tough 5-6 hour trip with the extreme heat and humidity. Presiding Fellows Chris Sinclair and Jon Munger were unanimously voted the worst PF’s ever for not providing us with proper ventilation and cooling. All in all, they did a great job, keeping us in good spirits in spite of the adversity. Our class gets along remarkably well, and it is days like this one that make us stronger, and better friends.
We finally stopped at a road side grill for lunch. We were all very pleased with the air conditioning at the diner. We had several options to choose from. We had fried chicken, pizza, fried rice and cheese burgers. Almost like home!
By 7PM we rolled to a sweaty stop in Kumasi. Most of the group was in the pool in moments, and with that the day was complete. Another great day in Africa!!
Trip Writers: Michael Frantz, Aaron Heinrich, Kristen Bennett
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