Into Africa

A couple of interesting twists and turns and I have ended up in Accra, Ghana. Can’t say the same for my luggage as my bag seems determined to find more twists and turns than one could imagine. I am on Day Three of The Great Luggage Crisis of 2006. I am beginning to attract a few flies, but the upside is I am able to get a table all to myself for dinner.

Accra is not what I expected. I guess my only thoughts about Africa are from shows featuring Safaris, movies about the French Foreign Legion crawling through the Sahara gasping for water, Zulu warriors with huge spears, or thinking in terms of a vast jungle.

Accra has about 6 million people and I am a bit surprised by the apparent wealth of many here. Huge houses are throughout the city as are Mercedes and Land Cruisers. There is also terrible poverty and shanty towns which, strangely enough, are along the beaches of the Atlantic. One suspects they have not realized the value of ocean front property here. The weather is a lot like San Diego, low 80s with a slightly more tropical breeze.

Everyone speaks English as this was a British Colony until 1957. It is a highly-educated country with many headed off to Oxford for university training. They just received $547 million from our taxpayers as part of the Millennium Challenge funds to help poverty and education throughout the world. I believe Ghana is the first country to receive this money.

Back to my luggage and itchy shorts. As a demonstration of the kindness (and wealth) of my clients, they have felt badly that I have been put out by the airline and sent a driver to take me shopping. The driver gave me an envelope with $500 in it – one would assume more than ample to cover the cost of a sports jacket, slacks, and a dress shirt and tie in Ghana. However, the driver took me to an Italian shop and I couldn’t find a jacket that was less than the money in my pocket. I was already felling guilty about someone giving me $500 for what should be a one-day solution.

So I called my benefactor and he said to pick out what I wanted and he would make up the difference. I pleaded (really I did) that it was not necessary and I would pay the difference, only I did not have the cash on me and the shop did not accept credit cards. I also suggested that maybe there was a different shop I could be taken to, something like a Men’s Warehouse of Accra. He insisted that this was the best shop and, $1,400 later, I have what I needed. It’s crazy.

The people I am traveling with will need to discuss this because my values don’t allow me to accept such a gift but it seems it would be an insult to pay the money back. I really don’t know what to do other than offer the airlines a few $100 bills every time I come here to ensure they lose my luggage. I could use a new Italian suit.

More later.

P.S. There really are men and women who walk along the street with huge baskets on their heads that carry fruit or other goods to sell. I did have this part in mind about Africa.