I may have to try a different approach here. Narrative now, pictures later. It has been an exhaustively enjoyable 5 days here in Ghana. Today was a long one. We were at breakfast at 7(ish) for an 8:00 departure (actually about 8:30, but it was OK). We no longer had our 20 passenger bus, but were now nicely accommodated in a Ford van. Luggage packed in back, Valerie and I with space to put our feet up and comfort for all involved.
Barbara, our trip leader, provided us with a wonderful opportunity to visit the Fiankra development just outside Akosombo. Fiankra, means coming home. It's a settlement set aside by the government of Ghana for African American to return to. We came to a security gate and Mensah explained our purpose for being at that place to the guard. We were later told that such security was necessary because some of the residents are only there part time and there is a lot of construction taking place. As a result there would be possibilites for squatters to take over land and buildings and for building materials to disappear.
After the explanation, the guard recorded our tag number and we drove about a quarter of a mile down a red clay and stone road, turned left and pulled up in front of a neat yellow house with a red roof. Standing outside in a light-blue eyelet dress was The Queen Mother who welcomes our unannounced visit.
We are able to meet other members of the community including her sister whose home had been completed just 3 weeks before. These women have decided to make Ghana their home and are enthusiastic about their new, lower cost lives here.
We were able to meet two other families who allowed us to tour their homes and who shared their reasons for moving to Ghana. The homes have been designed to support Ghana's green Movement. Two of the homes are made with thatched roofs and wall made of adobe, a mixture of clay, sand and some material used from termite mounds that make the structures both cool, strong and impermeable.
Because of the stones along the pat to Barbara's friends house, we were unable to drive to that section, but instead some walked. Didi and I tried, but by the time we got to the top of the hill, Barbara and Barry were on their way back to the van.
More about the 5 hour trip to Kumasi and pictures from Fiankra the next time I have an opportunity to post. There was no Internet access at the hotel in Akosombo. We're 5 hours ahead of the eastern US. I am signing off at 11:04 because I need to get re-energized for another full day tomorrow. There is so much more to share!!
