Unexpected Discovery
The late return last night meant it was time for a well-deserved lie in today. Luckily there was no reason to rush anywhere, since the first item on our schedule was a meeting at 2pm with the Executive of Ghana’s new Youth Parliament.
We got a taxi to the offices of the National Youth Council, where the appointment was taking place. Everyone was a little late, but we still managed to thoroughly discuss the main topic: visiting the UKYP National Sitting in July. We had to go through all the fine details with budget and visa arrangements, so these can be worked on next week. Hopefully the government will provide funding for the five-person delegation, or three or four at the very least.
Ghana’s National Youth Council is located right next to one of Accra’s main sports complexes; I had seen people playing football from a window and wanted to check it out. I even got to play tennis for a while after the club coach generously said it was OK, despite the fact I wasn’t a registered member.
My partner was a young guy called Francis, who told me all about the tennis situation in Ghana. Apparently it’s quite popular – I could see this from the amount of people waiting to use the two club courts. I don’t know why, but I hadn’t really expected this to be the case. Ghana does have great conditions for tennis, but this was the first time I’d seen any courts. They were being very well-used though, so I suppose it must be the same wherever facilities are available.
Unfortunately it got dark around six o’clock so we had to stop the game. This was still a cool experience though, and hopefully there will be time to go back again. One unusual luxury the players enjoyed was having ball boys available to collect the balls. I’d never had this before, something Francis found quite surprising. He told me the children were always there; it was their only way to generate income. So, while it might be fun for the club members to have this service available, the dark side is that these kids don’t have any education or proper kind of job.
This evening I went with Kwame to a sports bar on the site of the Paloma Hotel, where I spent my first night in Ghana. As soon as I stepped inside I was hit by the westernisation of the place. For the first time since I’ve been here, Ghanaian people were in the minority; the only natives around were serving drinks. The clientele were all tourists of the kind I don’t really like. I think they were mostly British – British tourists always seem to have some kind of presence I can detect and don’t appreciate. It may seem silly for me to say that, but I don’t regard myself as a tourist, especially in the circumstances of why I am in Ghana. Also, whenever I visit anywhere, I deliberately try not to follow the beaten paths of tourism. Yes, seeing some famous sites is always worthwhile, but the rest of the time I like exploring the native culture and learning about how people live. A nice tan is not top of my priority list. Unlike most tourists, who don’t care if everyone can see they’re from abroad, I try to be inconspicuous (very hard in Africa though, obviously, but Europe is a different story). When I get home from a trip, I want to be able to say I’ve had a truly unique experience – not the same as all the other visitors who were there. That’s the way to travel.
Anyway, we didn’t stay at that place very long. After getting soundly beaten at foosball for the third game by the same opponents, it was time to go home. The sports bar was too much like places I see all the time in London and hanging out in similar environments to what you’re used to is not good activity when in other countries.
Today was a landmark date for me. It’s exactly a year since my last exam at school. Wow. I can still remember the cascades of relief when I finished the Politics paper, stepping out of the classroom into the afternoon sun and knowing I was free. That was June 30, 2005. Back then I could not possibly have anticipated all that has transpired in the intervening time. Who could have predicted I would be in Ghana, or that I would have been in more than 20 countries overall? After that exam all I could think about was hurrying back home to get ready for the end-of-school boat party.
One thing is for sure: I wouldn’t change the way anything happened in that year, or swap the experience for any other. I’ve learnt so much more than I could have imagined – about myself as much as anything else – and in terms of life experience I’ve learnt more than I ever did in all my time at school. My life has changed in lots of major ways, especially in terms of how I’m planning to spend the rest of it. Taking time away from study has really broadened my perspectives and there have been some truly unforgettable moments along the way. Not to say it’s over yet though, I still have three months left!
We got a taxi to the offices of the National Youth Council, where the appointment was taking place. Everyone was a little late, but we still managed to thoroughly discuss the main topic: visiting the UKYP National Sitting in July. We had to go through all the fine details with budget and visa arrangements, so these can be worked on next week. Hopefully the government will provide funding for the five-person delegation, or three or four at the very least.
Ghana’s National Youth Council is located right next to one of Accra’s main sports complexes; I had seen people playing football from a window and wanted to check it out. I even got to play tennis for a while after the club coach generously said it was OK, despite the fact I wasn’t a registered member.
My partner was a young guy called Francis, who told me all about the tennis situation in Ghana. Apparently it’s quite popular – I could see this from the amount of people waiting to use the two club courts. I don’t know why, but I hadn’t really expected this to be the case. Ghana does have great conditions for tennis, but this was the first time I’d seen any courts. They were being very well-used though, so I suppose it must be the same wherever facilities are available.
Unfortunately it got dark around six o’clock so we had to stop the game. This was still a cool experience though, and hopefully there will be time to go back again. One unusual luxury the players enjoyed was having ball boys available to collect the balls. I’d never had this before, something Francis found quite surprising. He told me the children were always there; it was their only way to generate income. So, while it might be fun for the club members to have this service available, the dark side is that these kids don’t have any education or proper kind of job.
This evening I went with Kwame to a sports bar on the site of the Paloma Hotel, where I spent my first night in Ghana. As soon as I stepped inside I was hit by the westernisation of the place. For the first time since I’ve been here, Ghanaian people were in the minority; the only natives around were serving drinks. The clientele were all tourists of the kind I don’t really like. I think they were mostly British – British tourists always seem to have some kind of presence I can detect and don’t appreciate. It may seem silly for me to say that, but I don’t regard myself as a tourist, especially in the circumstances of why I am in Ghana. Also, whenever I visit anywhere, I deliberately try not to follow the beaten paths of tourism. Yes, seeing some famous sites is always worthwhile, but the rest of the time I like exploring the native culture and learning about how people live. A nice tan is not top of my priority list. Unlike most tourists, who don’t care if everyone can see they’re from abroad, I try to be inconspicuous (very hard in Africa though, obviously, but Europe is a different story). When I get home from a trip, I want to be able to say I’ve had a truly unique experience – not the same as all the other visitors who were there. That’s the way to travel.
Anyway, we didn’t stay at that place very long. After getting soundly beaten at foosball for the third game by the same opponents, it was time to go home. The sports bar was too much like places I see all the time in London and hanging out in similar environments to what you’re used to is not good activity when in other countries.
Today was a landmark date for me. It’s exactly a year since my last exam at school. Wow. I can still remember the cascades of relief when I finished the Politics paper, stepping out of the classroom into the afternoon sun and knowing I was free. That was June 30, 2005. Back then I could not possibly have anticipated all that has transpired in the intervening time. Who could have predicted I would be in Ghana, or that I would have been in more than 20 countries overall? After that exam all I could think about was hurrying back home to get ready for the end-of-school boat party.
One thing is for sure: I wouldn’t change the way anything happened in that year, or swap the experience for any other. I’ve learnt so much more than I could have imagined – about myself as much as anything else – and in terms of life experience I’ve learnt more than I ever did in all my time at school. My life has changed in lots of major ways, especially in terms of how I’m planning to spend the rest of it. Taking time away from study has really broadened my perspectives and there have been some truly unforgettable moments along the way. Not to say it’s over yet though, I still have three months left!
posted by Frederick at 02:30
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