HEADING TO CAPE COAST

Just to be clear about the day before, I never did get to a pharmacy. Before I could fill the prescription, I started feeling worse; instead of going to pick up the medication, I decided to go to another hospital at the request of the Ackersons.

That morning was a Tuesday and took the opportunity to sleep in. Eating was a task, but I pushed myself. The plan was go to see a doctor, so early in the afternoon, Kwaku, Emmanuel and his ‘friend’ Monica accompanied me to the hospital. I was really not feeling well, and had to go through the process (again) of filling out information for a hospital card, and sitting in the waiting room (where I was actually disappointed to pulled away from an episode of Oprah about the lives of women deemed as ‘video chicks’).

The doctor at Nyaho asked many of the same questions, but only recommended one test: which was a blood test. I got that, and waited for the results. After about two hours, I took the results back to the doctor. He also concurred that nothing was wrong, but suspected – quelle surpise – that it was malaria and he gave me the same explanation as the other doctor, however, the prescription was slightly different. So, we left, went and filled and I was happy to be back home to sleep (of course, that was after eating at Mama Ackersons insistence).

One thing that I have to say is that I appreciated the conditions of Nyaho. While it is very much an outdoor concept with very few areas completly sheltered, it was a lot cleaner than the SNITTS Hospital, which had a very congested atmosphere. Nyaho felt much more spacious and cleanly. One the flipside, the staff, for the most part, was very nonchalant, though here and there, I dealt with someone who took care with what they were doing. I don't know if it's just me, but a lot of the nurses (especially the older ones, seem like they don't want to be bothered).

The routine was similar on Wednesday and on Thursday, where I spent most of the days and nights sleeping and struggling to eat.

By Thursday night I was feeling a lot better and I had decided to go to Osu Re again to stay in the JHR house and to run some errands the next day. Sleeping was not easy, as my room was buzzing with mosquitos. Eventually I figured out a way to put up an old mosquito net, as I kept being woken up by the buzz of mosquitos in my ear. Though it had a moth smell to it, it was better than the mosquitos having their way with me.

As I mentioned before, seeing a doctor was my main reason for going to Accra. However, the other objectives that I had for my visit were to get my camera fixed and to interview a Hip Hop artist named Scientifik who is a Liberian refugee now residing in Ghana. Those were my reasons for being in Osu Re on Friday. It was a dissappoinment to find that, by the time I had to go to the bus station, the interview didn't happen and the camera was not fixed.

The people arranging the interview keep coming up with excuses. As for the camera, the guy it had been given to had not even began work on it. He was telling Komah who passed the message on to me that the gears on the lense were damaged and the spring on the power button was gone. That was good to know, except that is what I told them when I gave them the camera.

What could I do though? I thought about a back-up plan which was to have Wendy's husband Jason (who was dealing with a computer repair that had apparently been resolved) pick it up for me.

Exhausted again, I forced myself to wake up and head to the bus station. At the station I sat with two older men and discussed Ghana's independence and development for the extra two hours that the bus took to arrive.

My plan was to chill for a day in Cape Coast, then head to Kumasi by Sunday, and reach Tamale by Monday.

My reason for heading to Cape Coast was to meet with some other JHR people that were attending a festival in the city, and to meet up with Anita at the university. Mama Ackerson and Irene were also heading to Takraodi to see some family over the weekend, so I was thinking of meeting them too. The purpose of heading to Kumasi was to drop off a heavy package that Nuri-Haque's sister had sent with me for him. We tried to meet when I first passed through Kumasi, but that did not work out as there are two STC stations in Kumasi and he was waiting at the wrong one. Stopping in Kumasi would also break up what is a 10-14 hour bus ride.

So, that evening, I took the bus from Accra to Cape Coast (another trip I had not taken yet). Initially, the sights were interesting, but nightfall soon covered up the scenery. Most of the trip in the overly air-conditioned bus was spent intensely engaged in a coversation with an American IT student who was going to stay in Ghana for at least another year on top of her previous eight months. We spoke about history, development and global economics. It was a serious conversation that really allowed me to see what I actually thought, as her questions were good and plentiful.

When I arrived in Cape Coast, I awaited Anita who was meeting me in a taxi. I actually got into a taxi thinking it was her, after the driver had called me over. Within about 15 seconds, I realized that the lady in the front seat was not Anita. I stopped the cab, got out and continued to wait. When she did come, she came with her friend Dydy who was going to have me stay in his dorm room.

That night I chilled with Dydy and his room mates and talked a lot about Canada and the US. They asked me so many questions, and wanted to hear about all of the interviews that I had done with musicians. When I finally got to sleep it was late, but it was cool to get a chance to meet some university students and to see their lives.

The plan the next morning was still up in the air, but I was thinking about going to the harvest festival that was in town and to Takraodi to visit with the other Ackersons.