After a great weekend in Accra (local market on Saturday, church at Messiah Baptist and World Cup Final on Sunday) we set off for Kumasi by bus on Monday. We're traveling with our friend Paul Nyama, a recent graduate of the Maranatha University College in Sowutum, Accra. A few highlights from our journey:
1) We had an ambitious Monday morning visiting Reverend Enoch Thompson and his family (the amazing folks who hosted us for our first week in Ghana two years ago) before heading off to the bus terminal. We arrived just in time to catch the 11am bus, which pulled out the station at 10:50am - trends are changing . . . Africa-time now means 10 minutes early!
2) Construction on the road from Accra to Kumasi (the two biggest cities in Ghana) made our progress on the road labored at times. Bumpy, bumpy, bumpy.
3) In Kumasi, we met with friends and friends of friends to go dinner at Abusua ("family" in Twi). To get there, the six of us piled into one sedan style taxi cab!
4) Tuesday we got a large dose of the Asante people's history. We visited the Prempeh II Jubilee museum, named after a 20th century Asante king. At the cultural center we witnessed artisans carving drums and making kente cloth. Finally, we toured the former palace, now turned museum, filled with relics including the first TV used in Ghana (circa 1965). The British offered the palace to the Asante royalty after the Asante king gave the British a fake golden stool. Instead of accepting the gift, the king chose to purchase the building in the event that the British discovered the stool was a fake and came to reclaim the gifted palace.
5) Wednesday morning we traveled to Tamale with Reverend Asare, who picked us up right on time at 10 am. We are staying at the Radach Memorial Center - a guest house and conference center founded and built by Asare. In route the Reverend bought a massive amount of plantains at the roadside just outside Kumasi - certain produce is much cheaper in the central city.
6) While here in Tamale, we've had lots of freedom to walk around the city, meet people at their homes, love them, share our faith and offer to pray for their needs. The hospitality of the people here is amazing. One Muslim gentleman welcomed us into his home and after learning we were Christians, proclaimed in broken English that he would convert us to Islam before we left. We talked for a while with other family members translating and parted ways in good faith - different faiths, that is!
7) Reverend Asare runs a non-profit called Markaz Al-Bishara, meaning "Center of Good News (or Blessing)" in Arabic. It is involved in the city and surrounding villages building schools, hiring teachers, providing micro-loans to women, donating goats to children to help pay school fees (a "living bank"), etc. We have been very impressed with the people and their committment to serving their neighbors.
8) We've been eating some delicious food. "Wache" is a local dish that combines brown rice and black-eyed peas. If you add tomato stew and gari, you have a delectable combination for lunch.
We spent last night in a village called Sukaya, without running water or electricity. Another full day and its nearly midnight - we'll sleep now and write again soon. Over the next two days we'll be traveling to the Volta Region, with another night in Kumasi to break up the trek.
