Ghana, West Africa, Port of Takoradi

Before we get to Ghana...... after our tour of the bridge, the Captain told us the story of the MV Explorer in 2005, and if I had known about it, might not have come on the trip.  What happened is that on the way from Japan to Hawaii, the ship was caught in three converging storms with waves 40 feet high.  A monster wave crashed through a bridge window, flooding the control room and all the controls.  It tool 45 min. to start the engines manually, while the ship was tossed about at 45  degree angles in troughs of the swells. The only compass the Captain had was a small compass from a lifeboat.  Using this compass, they sailed 800 miles to Hawaii.  There was extensive structural damage and many injuries to the passengers.  But apparently it is fixed!!!

Saturday evening we had dinner with our onboard "children" on the 7th deck where we can get hamburgers, pizzas, smoothies, etc.  Of course, they all had pizza and they told us what they had done in the Olympics.

We arrived in Ghana Sunday February 6 at 8 am (another Sunday port!), an English speaking country, formerly a British colony.   We could smell land long before we got here: the smell of charcoal burning or the burning of the fields by farmers, I don't know which.  This is the dry season and the smog in the morning is dreadful until the sun burns it off.  We went on a bus tour (we got to ride in a small bus - big buses carry 50 passengers) of the cities, Sekondi and Takoradi which turned out to be a tour of a fishing village.  The village was built right on the beautiful white beach.  Children came running from everywhere to follow all 60 of us trooping through the shacks, ships, nets and garbage. The guides showed us the ships they build, quite impressive given the materials, how they throw out nets and how they dry the fish: salt and air.

     The houses were really shacks with no facilities and no sleeping areas that we could see.  However, they all looked pretty healthy although there has to be a lot of disease with open sewage and filth on the beach.  We then had lunch at a nice hotel and the food was good.  Then someone complained to the guide that we were supposed to have a tour of the city and a tour of a cocoa factory, cocoa being a major export.  So we drove back to Takoradi which is really a series of shacks for houses and businesses.  The dominance of Christianity is very evident:  boats are named My Father, Heavenly God, as are the businesses, Jesus is Alive Beauty Salon, God is Good Telephone Co., etc.  Seventh Day Adventists just built a huge new temple.  In fact, the largest and nicest buildings are banks and churches.  This is really a Third World country, with poverty everywhere, where garbage is thrown wherever one chooses, there are no garbage collectors, and buildings are built with whatever materials are available.  The city streets are paved but once you leave the city, there are pot holes everywhere  Of course the tour operators only show you the  best .                                                                                                                                                              

We drove past Monkey Mountain but didn't see any monkeys.  Then we came to the center of Takoradi where there is a huge circular market, selling everything on earth, literally:  used shoes, fabric, salted fish, charcoal, vegetables, clothing, etc. Very smelly.  Upon our return, hawkers were set up beside the dock which we investigated but then went to the Duty Free Store to see what they had.  Super Bowl game was televised on board ship, started at 1 am.  We didn't go to the Union to watch.  And then Montezuma's revenge struck me with fury and I spent the next day on board ship while Rick went on Habitat for Humanity trip, which he'll tell you about.  Joan

Habitat for Humanity project. Traveled North for 3 hour bus ride to a small village, then onto VERY primitive dirt road for 3-4 more miles. All this in a 48 passenger bus.  My first time 4 wheeling in a bus.  Then we walked a mile or more to a building site of six homes in various degrees of completion.


We split up into groups of six to work on the homes.  Our first job was finishing a 8 foot deep pit for the septic tank. the digging was 3 foot when we started. I got pulled off after about 2 foot more. 3 young ladies did most of the scooping out after two Ghanaians pick axed the dirt.  The guys seemed to find other stuff to do. Not sure what it was tho. At days end the pit was 8 foot deep and ready to be lined with concrete(?) blocks. They make their own blocks. The real work crew is lower right.

All the homes are of cinder block construction, corrugated metal roofing and windows with rebar instead of glass. I worked with one of the locals installing door frames. Most unusual, first removing the bracing used when 5 foot of block was laid. When we set the taller frames, any gaps were simply plugged with mortar. Looks ragged but everything gets an adobe sort of coating to smooth things out. No electric or indoor water. Primitive by our standards but way better than anything I saw outside the city.