Ada Girl
Trip Start
Oct 01, 2010
1
21
27
Trip End
Ongoing
Ada, Ghana
Sunday, August 7, 2011
What started out as a girls weekend soon turned into a Spanish party and in the end it was more like a United Nations party. I love parties in Ghana, it's so fun meeting people from all over the World. Canada, USA, France, Germany, Sweden, Cuba, Australia, Ghana, Brazil, Spain and England were all represented. We ate imported meat and drank mojitos and sangria and were treated to some Spanish music and Maria's interpretive dances moves all night long!
On Saturday two car loads of us headed to Ada to take in the Festival. The festival serves as the platform for the people to unite with their family members and also a time to plan developmental projects for the area. This year’s celebration was special because the traditional authorities made special transportation arrangements for the natives of the area. To us that meant that there were what seemed like millions of people everywhere we turned. The music was blaring and the sights and scents were......well typical of any large Ghanaian gathering. Some of the people we were with bumped into friends and they ended up taking us in. We were fed, entertained and had prime seats for people watching.
There was a huge ceremony, Durbar style, and although we didn't understand a word, we knew it was important because Ghana's Vice President and former President were among the distinguished guests. I did some research and found out that the Vice President 'His Excellency' John Dramani Mahama praised the people of Ada especially the chiefs for maintaining and sustaining peace among themselves in Ada. He said at the time when most of the states in Ghana were engulfed with chieftaincy disputes, Ada has maintained high sense of tolerance especially among the chiefs and has called for all the chiefs to unite to enable them achieve a common goal. He disclosed that Government has secured 68 Million Euros to undertake 30 kilometers of out the 44 kilometer Ada Sea defense project to help protect the shoreline of Ada - shoreline waste is a huge issue in Ghana so this is very exciting! He also revealed that the Government recognizes the importance to salt production in Ada and other salt production states in Ghana as it is one of the largest export commodities in Ghana (over 250,000 tons of salt is produced annually). He said revamping the salt industry will also help Ghana’s petrochemical as well as the textile industry and plans are ahead to capture the West African market
It was an interesting experience for me because the people I was with spoke Spanish and French to each other so I hardly understood anything they said and basically followed them around all day. At one point we sat by the road for an hour and I had no clue why we didn't move. I wasn't complaining, if anything it was another motivation to learn another language!
Now my sights are set on my visit home. I'm counting down the days and can't wait to see my family after almost one year!
Comments
Very educational. Which countries do they export salt to? You do have a few different languages now Mel....English, Fanti and Melenglish! Keep the blogs coming Bebes!
Great to see you in Edmonton again Mel...and very nice to read another blog from you. Swam beside D & D at Terwillegar last week. Nice to see Dani proudly wearing an ironman swim cap!