Travelling to Denu
Sunday, July 29th, 2007
Before travelling to Denu, we must go to the centre of Accra to change travellers cheques into Cedi, the currency of Ghana. It was not possible to obtain Cedi cash notes before travelling to Ghana, as it you cannot buy them outside the country. Therefore, we went to the city centre by car. The streets were packed with traffic. Everyone sounded their horn - it's very noisy!
In the midst of the traffic there were people and children walking. They were selling all kinds of goods. I saw a boy selling boxes of tissues and a little girl selling sweets. Some sold bread, others sold ready meals. People buy these goods through their car windows as the traffic moves slowly through the city. These sellers are called ‘hawkers’. It seems a very dangerous job.
Our driver buys a loaf of bread and a plastic bag full of water for our journey. But we are not allowed to drink this water as it has not been filtered. Water of this kind can make us ill. Some inhabitants have been ill due to drinking water that has not been properly filtered.
We reach the bank and change our travellers cheques into cash. Before we arrived, the currency was changed so that :
1 Cedi (new) = 10,000 Cedi (old)
These changes meant that:
1 Cedi (new) = 1 American Dollar = 2 British Pounds
1 Cedi (new) = 100 Peswesa
After visiting the bank, we needed to go to the book shop. The Great Royal School want to buy new books for their school library. And as the teachers do not visit Accra often, we needed to call at the shop before travelling back to Denu.
The books in the shop were books that are to be used in the school. Every book was educational. Vincent told us that in this country they use the traditional style of reciting stories to teach people about problems in their society, for example Malaria, HIV, lack of electricity and clean water.
It was time for us to be on our way. The journey from Accra to Denu takes around three and a half hours. We travelled by car. I was getting more and more excited as we travelled on our way. Everything was so different. People were raising their hand and smiling at us as we passed them. Some people were wearing traditional patterened clothing, while others were wearing clothes similar to mine. On the way, I saw many people selling food stuffs.
The road to Accra at Tema was a highway covered with tarmac. After this, the road until the bridge crossing the River Volta, was a highway without tarmac, but it was straight and flat.
Here we are crossing the River Volta :
The surface of the road changed after we crossed the bridge. The road from now on was full of holes. So it was a very adventurous ride all the way down to Denu. The drivers would cross lanes as they drove in order to avoid the holes that would wreck their cars. We reach the Denu region, and head straight to the small village of Hatsukope (on the outskirts of Denu). We were staying with the owner of The Great Royal School, Mrs Judith Kwawu. We had to take a turn away from the village of Hatsukope in order to reach the place which was to be our new home for a whole week.
Here is the road leading to the house. Bump-dee-bump-dee-bump all along the way!!
I didn't like the rubbish that was left by the side of the road. But Vincent said that there was no house waste disposal system in this area nor in many other regions of Ghana either. Therefore the families were required to do something with their rubbish. Without recycling services, families would rid themselves of the household waste by throwing it in holes in the road before burning it. The smell of burning plastic filled my nostrils as we passed by.
As we got nearer the house, I saw a big white wall. Was the house behind the wall? Why was the wall there?
Here we are arriving at our new home. Behind the iron gates, Mrs Judith Kwawu and her family lived.
We open the gate - inside there are grand cars and The Great Royal School school bus.
What a lovely home. There is a large garden and palm trees around the house. The housekeeper at once greets and welcomes us.
I'm really looking forward to meeting my new friends.