What Week Is It?!?!
Seriously - What Week Is It?!?
It’s been a couple of weeks… or should I say months!? We’ve been busy. Still jet-setting, but more for the purpose of work (volunteering) and celebrating friends and family.
We left off at the end of Peru. We had a flight to LAX and vowed to never fly into LA again. We were bad influences on my friend Beth, leading us to get locked out of our Airbnb, because “It’s liberating to go to dinner with no phones; if you need something, everyone has one”. Famous last words.
After a Chipotle burrito, sushi, and In&Out, we were acclimated back to the States quite nicely and were ready to eat camp food for a week straight. As most of you likely remember from last year's fundraiser that ended with Nick in a Santa costume, Nick has become passionate about volunteering for an organization called Experience Camps. Experience Camp is a grief camp for children who have lost parents or siblings. This was his second year volunteering, although it was really year 1.5 since it was cut short last year due to California fires. With his permission, I joined along as the camp nurse this year. It was quite the experience. Our first time working together in a professional setting. Each of us got to see another side of each other we’d never seen before, which was really cool. The kids were the most rewarding part of this experience.
Some camp-approved photos to share from the week:
After camp we made our way back to RVA to rest, recover, and visit with some family. This week at home went by quickly as Nick had returned to work and I was preparing for our trip to Ghana.
We were back & forth with what we wanted to write in the travel blog about Ghana. During another “farewell” dinner with Nick and I’s family ahead of leaving for Ghana, we realized we couldn’t answer a lot of basic facts about Ghana.
“What animals do they have in Ghana?” …. Ummm definitely goats and chickens and some small fish?
“Do they have birds?” Mmmm not sure, we didn’t really notice or remember birds
“Do they have alcoholic drinks in Ghana? What Kind?” …. Definitely probably beer and other normal alcohol stuff?
“What is their government like?” Some type of ‘democratic’ system?
The lack of responses to these basic questions is, why we decided we wanted to write a travel blog post about our most recent trip to Ghana. In our defense, our previous trip to Ghana involved working 12-hour days, and we’ve visited 10 countries since then.
This blog will mostly focus on similar topics as other travel blog posts, and of course a food review from the one and only international chef.
We’ll be sure to link our impact report at the end that shares more about the actual work that we were doing in Ghana. But for now, here is our Ghana travel blog, hopefully answering some of the basic questions asked by my mother-in-law. We were also excited to have the one and only Patrick Gibbons join us for this stretch of our travels.
Before I get to Ghana, I need to share our flight path journey… gotta give some context to why some of you might hear Nick say, “I don’t want to fly again for at least 5 years.”
Call it signs, tests, karma, or just bad luck, but our flight path to Ghana was one of the most brutal travel dayS yet. Our flight path went from Richmond -> JFK -> Accra, Ghana to:
Richmond airport: 2.5 hours waiting on tarmac, ground stop north due to weather in NYC; deplane, wait another 4.5 hours to finally have our flight canceled. Next available flight would have us arrive to Ghana in 2 days is what they said. Not able to face his wife in despair, Nick found us another flight to get moved to. We had to act quick.
Richmond -> Washington Dulles: Rental car obtained. Leaving Richmond, VA at 6:35pm, plane taking off at 9:45pm with bag check closing an hour before. Thunderstorm watch in effect for northern Virginia.
IAD airport: Some strategic plays of getting Nick signed up for clear and dropping me off at the checked luggage prior to the rental car drop was key. Sweet talking the desk to buy us a few more minutes to secure our checked bags. Bags checked, made it through security. Nerves setting in about our tight layovers for our new flight path (Plan C). Flights Delayed, but eventually took off.
Paris airport: Bad weather stretched across the Atlantic so our flight delay in D.C. didn’t impact our flight out of Paris since there was another delay for the second leg of our trip. Paris -> Amsterdam delayed. Only problem was there was no delay from Amsterdam to Accra. All we could do was hope & pray that our Amsterdam -> Accra flight got delayed.
Amsterdam: It didn’t. So every single flight had been delayed except for the last one that we needed. No we were on Plan D. // Side note - There are very few direct flights into Accra, Ghana. Instead of waiting 24 hours for the next flight to Accra, we caught a flight to a different African country.
Morocco: Casablanca airport with a 4 hour layover from Amsterdam. Naturally, the flight out of Amsterdam was delayed but we still had a 3 hour buffer layover. Finally in Africa! I could see my brothers location in the Map on FindMyFriends. We’re boarding our flight to Accra annnndddddddd delay due to technical issues, “everyone needs to deplane and wait for a new plane.” Thankfully, it was just a one hour flight delay and we finally made our way to Accra.
35 hours, 5 countries, and 4 airlines later, we made it to Ghana! To no surprise, our luggage did not.
I have to give the biggest shout-out to my husband for dealing with the painful process of retrieving our luggage. Persistent hours of communicating with AirFrance, KLM, and RoyalAirMaroc to identify our luggage location, have it processed through the Accra, and then driven 4 hours to Cape Coast. We departed the U.S. on Thursday, had one luggage delivered on Monday, and another one on Thursday. All of our donations safely arrived, Enchalla.,
We also dropped my brother into the deep end. I had told him I’d have the cash, paperwork, and all the details for our trip to Ghana when we met up in NYC. Since our RIC->NYC flight was cancelled, brother Patrick had an entire row to himself for his red-eye to Ghana.
As the worried older sister, I called in some of my connections. Nurse Bernard has recently relocated to Accra. I asked if he could meet up with my brother since he’d be in Ghana for his first 24 hours by himself. Bernard was working, but instead had his sister pick Patrick up from the airport. Less than 8 hour notice and they were so willing to jump in and help a stranger they had never met. That was Patrick’s first introduction to the kindness of the Ghanaians and a reminder for me as to why I love this country so much.
After a long intro, long travel journey, we are now here to talk about Ghana. This is my third time to Ghana, Nick’s second, and my brother Patrick’s first time. Because of this, we’ll have some guest writers sprinkled in.
Ghana is filled with incredibly kind and generous people. They are very community oriented and call everyone their “brother” or “sista”. I think this shows how they see everyone as family and treat people accordingly.
In addition to their friendliness, they are also extremely expressive people. When we first arrived, my brother Eric, was explaining to Patrick the different Ghanaian mannerisms like “tssss” to get someone’s attention, “ehhhh-heeehhhhh” for when someone finally understands and the first sound of a “t” to show disagreement. We often had to wait for a translation from our friends and family to understand if an animated conversation was a positive one or out of anger. 99.9% of the time, it was just an enthusiastic conversation that was harder to interpret due to the language barrier.
The friendliness threw Nick off when he first arrived in Ghana on ur previus trip. People approached him to literally just have a conversation and inquire thabout e reason for us visiting and if we’ve enjoyed our experience without asking for anything in return. While Nick was coming around to this concept, our Ghanaian friends were also learning Nick’s mannerisms. The first couple of days during our January trip, our host mother and friend Eric kept asking Nick if he was enjoying himself and if they could do anything for him. Eventually everyone involved got a better understanding of each other’s mannerisms.
This time around, it was more like a family reunion when we were reunited with our host family, Eric & Charity’s family, and my sister, Emelia.
As far as languages go, the official language is English. There are over 40 dialects spoken in Ghana. In the capitol, Accra, they speak Twi. In Cape Coast, where we stay, they speak Fante.
When we arrived to Cape Coast, we received a nice big “Akwabaaa” from our family and friends.
Despite only reading about 52% of the travel blog posts, we granted brother Patrick access to guest write for this week's Ghana post. As a first-timer, we thought he could share some good insight on the blog.
"For the travel blog I'd mention Nick and I being scouts at the local soccer game, and then our amazing race with NanaKweKu."
"And maybe the breakdown of how Ghanaians go by a specific name the day you were born and call out the kobina mix-up"
Patrick decided to deny the Gibbons' long-winded stereotype. If you want more specifics, you'll have to ask him.. While he may have escaped having to say that much in this blog, he didn't get so lucky when we visited Mamma Joyce's church. "If this is your first time, please stand." Patrick was confused about why Nick and I wouldn't stand, but it was Nick's second time visiting the church and my third. Next thing you know, Patrick is in the front of the church with a microphone.
We couldn’t limit the blog post to one guest writer, especially since this is the country where International Chef received his infamous name. Here goes the food review from the one and only….
Ghana Food Review
General Score: 7.4
Mama Joyce Score: 8.1
Fish Rating: 0.1
Ghanaian food is fine. We don’t come here for the food. But, the best food we have is always the home-cooked meals with our host family. Our host family makes sure we are fed, and they do a great job. It is fun, we never know what it is going to be. Could be sausage and yam chips. Could be fish spaghetti. But, the general favorite is fufu.
Fufu: Fufu is a labor of love. It involves a big stick, and repeatedly pounding that stick into a pestle. In the bowl, you combine cassava & plantains. As you repeatedly pound the cassava & plantains, it turns into a dough. In between each pound, you must flip the dough on itself. Careful, if you aren’t quick enough, your finger ends up like Mama Joyce's. She is missing 30% of her pointer finger after a fufu making injury. After roughly 20 minutes of pounding and flipping, which, if you are skilled like Sammy, is a one person job. But, for us novices, it is a two person job. So, once you are done, you combine the dough with groundnut soup. You pour the soup, made with chicken, over the dough, and then you eat it with your hands. You use your fingers to clip a piece of the dough, scoop up some of the soup, and then swallow. You don’t chew it, you have to just swallow. It is an experience for sure!
Jollof Rice: my personal favorite. Rice, cooked with with tomatoes, onion, garlic, and spices, finished off by frying the rice. The rice is red, and is served with chicken and vegetables. I will be making it at home.
Meat Pie: every country has a meat pie. Empanadas, perogies, and the Ghanaian meat pie. It is a staple for breakfast.
Bananas: a solid lunch snack. For 50 cents, we could get a bag of 6 small bananas. A whole bag is a great snack for one person.
Groundnuts: peanuts. Smaller than the peanuts in the US, but nuttier.
Sausage & Yam Chips: A hotdog-like sausage, with yam fries. A staple meal. Shoutout to our host family for buying us ketchup to have with this.
Banku & Ocra Stew: oof. We did not get to have okra stew this time around. Sad. Would have loved for Patrick to try this. As many of you know, I can eat anything. I always finish my plate. This was one of the toughest ones. Banku is corn dough. It is solid, but it merely acts as a vessel for okra stew. I like okra. But, okra stew is filled with various fishes and seafood. The fish in ghana is…fishy. So, combine the okra, which, when you turn it into a stew turns into slime, with fish and more fish and more fish, you have fish slime. Rough. But, it is a local staple & favorite.
Fish: always a tough one when it shows up on your plate.
I almost forgot to mention one of the most significant events we attended while in Cape Coast, Orange Friday, the largest festival in all of West Africa.
We didn’t intentionally plan to be in Cape Coast for the event but it was pretty insane to see how this town transformed. Visitors from all over the country arrived to Cape Coast. Our host family doubled in size at the house with a “proper family reunion”.
Orange-O Friday-O- is basically a 12-hour parade where the crowd is able to join in at any point. The parade started off with historical and cultural performances related to slave trade and the indigenous worshipers of “the lesser gods”.
After that is where the dancing, music, and partying began.Mamma Joyce had told us it was for the youth, but at 73 she was front row dancing and not shying away from throwing some bows if the youthful crowd was getting too pushy.
The tractor trailers filled with speakers and more dancing humans had crowds of dancing Ghanaians behind them. At some points, the streets became extra crowded and the family swarmed together. Nine host family members plus me, Nick, and Patrick would circle in a group. Nick & Patrick would put the children on their shoulders to avoid them getting smushed. The rest of the family would swarm around the remaining women and children to form a wallmy . Although, Mamma Joyce was totally fine on her own and appeared to thoroughly enjoy it when the crowds grew thick. At one point I felt a firm grip on my arm and it was host brother Kofi grabbing me and saying “I got you” as the crowd started to sway.
For those of you who know, crowds are not my favorite. That being said, the way our family all came together in the crowd made it an enjoyable experience. One for the books, honestly. It was a highlight of the cultural experiences we’ve had during our travels this year.
The Saturday after Orange Friday, there is the original festival that is more designed for the family unit. It is a celebration of the kings and good harvest. We were supposed to attend this part of the festival, but our Back2School program ran longer than expected, and we missed it. An excuse to return to Ghana for the next Orange Friday festivities.
After how much cooler it was in Ghana this time of year, I don’t think Nicky will need much convincing.
To wrap with some answers to Tanya’s previous questions: Goats, Chickens and small fish are definitely prevalent. We saw more stray dogs than stray cats. A few groups of cattle but never on a food menu.
There were tons of birds, including a heron. We stay along the coast where tall palm trees and coconuts are prevalent. There are many different landscapes across Ghana with tropical forests taking up a good portion of the country.
The most prevalent drink consumed in Ghana is fresh coconut and bagged water. They also have Guinness malt soda, which was a popular drink for Nick. As far as alcohol goes, they’ve got the classic beers, wines, and spirits found in most countries. The government is still just as much of a mystery to us now, as it was at the start of the trip.
There is a democratic system. Cape Coast has a mayor (Naturally one of Eric’s friends). There are also Kings who were celebrated in chairs as a part of the harvest celebration. Individual villages still have chiefs. (We’ve met with a few chiefs during our time; can’t forget the bottle of whiskey and envelope of cash as a gift to the chief when you meet with them).
GHANA HLUL
Nick - AKA The International Chef
High: Playing soccer, ping pong, and spa
Low: Travel experience - Luggage issues with Air Morocco
Unexpected: How big of a an event Orange Friday is.
Learned: How to build a building with cinder blocks.
MK:
High: Quality time with the host family playing soccer, cards, ping pong and enjoying meals together.
Low: Travel experience to get to Ghana
Unexpected: How well the initiation of the Back2School program went.
Learned: Orange Friday is the biggest festival in all of west Africa. Ghanaians travel from all across the country to come to Cape Coast and visitors come from out of the country as well.
Patrick:
High: Hanging out with host family, making fufu, playing and attending soccer matches.
Low: Blood blisters on the bottom of both feet & fear of contracting a tropical disease
Unexpected: Being thought to be a scout since "obronis don't go to smaller futbol matches"
Learned: A Lot - Salted fish being sent inland, Fante, Spa, KweKu Smoke & more
For more information about the volunteer work we did during our most recent trip to Ghana, check out our impact report #2.
You can also learn more about what we've done & why it's so important to us on our website.
Thank you all for reading. We've just wrapped up some fun weeks celebrating family and friends in Pennsylvania, New York, Virginia, and North Carolina. S/o Mr. & Mrs. Watkins for throwing a dang good party!!
Nick had some work pit stops in between, going to Jackson Hole and Newport. Now we're heading to France to celebrate the marriage of another amazing couple. Not sure when we'll pop into everyone's email inbox next.
Oh, and a fun little bonus for those who read to the end - we bought a house!
Cheers,
MK & Nick
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