First day impressions:
Our first impression of the country is about the friendliness of Ghanaian people. From the Accra airport to the city of Koforidua, everyone greeted us nicely. People in Ghana are very nice and warm, just like the hot weather in Ghana. When we walked out of the airport, there were several shops and lots of individual merchants selling different products like shoes, souvenirs, etc. While waiting for the school driver from ANU, we set up our phone plans and exchanged some local currency with the rate of 5 Cedis: 1 USD.
Ghana is divided into 16 different regions (subnational government administration). Accra is the capital of the country, and lies in the Greater region. Koforidua, where ANU located, is the capital of Eastern Region. The drive from Accra to Koforidua is usually 2 hours. Our trip took about 3 hours as traffic is usually busy on Fridays. Thanks to this, we were able to take a closer look at the city and started to have a better understanding of the country.
Travel:
With the accompaniment of Professor Anane and the school driver, we travelled to Cape Coast to learn about the history of Ghana. Cape Coast is the capital of the central region of the country.
Located on the coast, there are two castles in Cape Coast which were built several hundred years ago for the Atlantic slave trade. The tour of the Cape Coast Castle was very detailed, and shed light on the hardships and emotional pains of slavery history.
During the same day, we also went to the Kakum national park. It was a lot of fun walking on the tree top canopy that went through the rainforest!
Challenges:
Leaving Canada’s cool weather and settling into Ghana’s extreme heat of 30 º+ with 32 without air conditioning has been very hard. Hot water for showering is not needed. During nights, even with the fan on max mode, it is likely to wake up several times during the night.
Pouring rains have come down the past two days. Our whole building went through a short power outage. This reminds us to be thankful about the stable living environment we have in Canada and be mindful about the potential resource shortages in other countries.