You are Welcome: A Day of Sports

Life in Volta was a jolt to the system. Accra, even though it was a city made up of communities and traditions very different from those found in American cities, was still city. I had cell phone coverage, wifi, bathrooms, and bottled water options on every corner. In Accra, goods and services walk right up to you upon the heads of sellers along every street and alleyway, so anything I needed was always within reach. Volta, however, was different. All along the route, in our fancy Land Cruiser typically used for Ghanaian officials and VIPs, we lost and regained service multiple times, but for the most part, it felt like we were going to be okay. Then, the road, the paved road, ended and the wild ride began. In a 4.5 hour ride, 2.5 of those hours were spent on incomplete or totally unpaved roads filled with potholes, sinkholes, dangerous ledges, and uneven dirt. When we got to Ve-Koloenu, the road was the roughest it had been so far... and the cell service was gone. Our first real experience in Volta was watching a man carry a dead cobra (peeled a bit like a banana) on the edge of his machete from around the back of our guest house. It was clear we were not in the city any more. But, it also became very clear quickly, that the moment we arrived, we became a part of the community.

On that Friday, the day after we arrived, I had the chance to travel with the students to their sports tournament a few towns over (although, thanks to the road, the drive took much longer than necessary). I got to meet Priscilla and Mary, the school's queen and 1st runner up. They taught me more Ewe phrases, although both are from the coast, so they speak Akan and are learning Ewe too. Mary also suffers was also suffering from malaria, so she struggled to enjoy the hot car ride (four of us crammed in the back seat) as well. They talked with me about what I should expect, and they kept telling me everyone was so happy to meet me, and that I was "welcome". I thought they were just being polite, but once I arrive at the sports, it was clear that this is just the vibe. "You are welcome" is actually what everyone said to me every time I met someone new. I heard that phrase hundreds of times over the 17 days I was in Ghana, but never more than in Volta.

Every person I met was genuinely welcoming, too. It's not just a cliche phrase! I learned quickly that responding in Ewe (Yo) was the best way to put them at ease. The best part of these interactions was everyone's desire to tell me all about what I was seeing, hearing, smelling, experiencing. They did not wait for me to ask questions, they just took it upon themselves to tell me everything. I met so many students and watched them play so many games. I saw handball, net ball, football (soccer), and volleyball. Our team almost won the handball, but wound up taking second after a hard-fought attempt in the championship game.

Mary and Priscilla stuck by my side, introducing me to teachers and students, whispering in my ear how I should respond to specific cues. They were very much the Gary to my Selina (shout out, Veep fans) as we navigated multiple fields filled with kids from 15 different schools. Because secondary school students in Ghana attend boarding schools, the students from the schools descended upon the two schools in this community, and bunked up on mattresses in classrooms. Just like my school in Ve-Koloenu, these schools do not have running water or sewer systems, so hundreds of students and faculty members were forced to use pit toilets or the bushes, which combined with the constant smell of burning trash, contributed to a pretty funky odor that took a while to get used to. Luckily, there was also little food to eat so I was not forced to literally stomach anything significant.

During a break in the festivities, my host, Obed, and a couple of other teachers decided to find a Chop Bar for lunch. At first, I was really confused about what this meant, wondering if it meant they "chopped" the animals right in front of us, but it turns out the term "chop" refers to the way in which Ghanaians eat with their right hand. They thoroughly wash their hands, and then eat some sort of soup by soaking it up with a starch served in the middle of the soup. For example, fufu in a groundnut soup, or banku or rice balls in the middle of chicken light soup. The act of "chopping" is bringing one's right hand up and down from the bowl to the mouth, consuming the food. The place looked pretty clean, but they were cooking with the local water, so I passed on lunch simply because I wanted to make sure I was in top form for my entire visit. I did not want lunch on day one to take me out. Before lunch, they kindly found a real bathroom for me (without me even asking), which was really nice of them since my experience the day before seeing a dead cobra on the end of a machete rounding the corner on the side of the guest house in which I was staying deterred me from venturing into any bushes...

After lunch, we had the chance to visit the technical school hosting the final football match, and Obed wanted me to check out the campus before the game. He went to teacher training school with the assistant headmaster, so we were treated like extra special guests (even MORE intense with the "You are welcome" vibes). We received a special tour, and then were provided chairs along the rope line for the game, and bottled water served on fancy trays. As the only white person at this event, it made me a little uncomfortable at first to be treated so well, but it became clear that this hospitality had nothing to do with me and everything to do with Obed and his friendship with so many people in this community. The man knows everyone, and we were constantly stopping to meet someone else he had not seen in weeks, months, years. We also got to try groundnuts, from which our peanuts originate. The concessions were really amazing at the game, and everything was real and fresh. Not a processed food in sight! A woman was even selling river lobsters from the Volta, cooked without their shells (they remind me of a shell-less crawfish, for reference).

At one point, a sheep joined the final football match for a while, but otherwise, the game was an exciting tournament, and the host school won (which was who I was cheering for since the assistant headmaster had been so insistent that we stay to see his team). By the time it ended, I returned to my truck to find mattresses piled high in the back, and Mary and Priscilla looking for me. I apologized for having vanished for so long on my tour of this community, but they were happy to hear about all the things I learned on my adventure. Luckily, we had a two hour car ride ahead of us, so we could all share our stories from the day together. I had been there for only 24 hours, but already, I felt like I was a part of this community, and this had just been another regular day. I already knew it was going to be a great week, and that I was lucky I was going to call this community home.