Home » Ghana » African Adventure to Ghana - Summer 2003 (part I)

My summer of 2003 was a very exciting one. I went to Jonquière, Quebec to learn French for 5 weeks, and with only a few days to prepare (including a party at my friend Paul's cottage in between) I was off to Accra, Ghana landing July 1 (Canada Day, and also Ghanaian Independance Day). After that, within 3 days I was back at Ottawa to complete my Economics degree, so it was a very action-packed summer.

African Adventure to Ghana - Summer 2003 (part I)

Andrew Wozniuk
2006-04-02 10:34:03

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he said I work with a black guy here in Africa (since almost everyone is black), but it is true that the first few days one of the guys from AIESEC Ghana was showing me around). He then told me his name was Adus and that if I ever needed a ride from Circle, to ask for him, and he would drive me home.

A few days later, I was coming back from Circle in mid-afternoon, and it was the craziest I've ever seen it (there must have been 100 people waiting for shared cars to Orgle Road and Swan Lake). Then I hear a hiss behind me (that's how people get your attention here). And this guy who I didn't really recognize said "Hey Andrew" and I looked over with a bit of a confused glare. Then he said "Don't you remember me? I drove you home the other day." and then it clicked (I didn't recognize him since it was dark when he drove me home and I didn't get a very good look at his face). So I said "Ya, you're Adus." Right then he asked me if I was going home, and turned out someone else was using his car, but when the next car came, he put me right in (skipping the huge line of people) and had the guy drive to Orgle Road. That was pretty sweet because if I had waited in line, it would have taken over an hour to get home, and if I got a taxi, it would have cost me 10,000 (much more than 1,300). Turned out that connection I had at the shared cars really helped me out. And then today, I was getting a car and a guy told me that he knows me and he's driven me to Orgle Road and that I am from Canada and will be here for 2 months. This was a different guy, but it must have been from one of my first few days because I haven't told many people since then how long I was going to be here. My car was leaving, so next time I will have to get his name so that I have another connection with the shared cars. :)

Another funny cultural bit is how you call people that you don't know (if you are on the street and want someone's attention for example). Basically, you just say a description of who they are (which sounds fine in theory, but in North America some people would take offence). For example: I am white, so whenever someone sees me and wants to tell me something, they will say "Hey Obronii!" which means "Hey White Man!". Conversely, if I was in a bar catered to westerners where there wasn't as many black people, and wanted one's attention I could say "Hey Bibini!" which means "Hey Black Person!". Other words used to call people are "Obolo" which means "Fat Person" or "Tallatalla" which means "Tall Person". And when you are talking to someone (i.e. taxi driver or a friend) you can just call them "Charlie" which means "guy". Apparently in Kumasi (next largest city in Ghana) instead of calling guys "Charlie", you call them "Jack".

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