"The Recap" - August 29th

Morning came. I slept in until about 7am. I was hoping that I wouldn't run into the manager when I left my room to see what kind of day I had in front of me. When I entered the t.v. room there he was collapsed on the couch with two empty bottles of beer on the table in front of him. He was drunk. But he was freshly drunk. The man had been drinking already that morning. He addressed me and I told him that I was just going outside to do some writing.

Of course, he followed me. He didn't mind disturbing me at all, I guess writing isn't important to him since he cannot neither read nor write. He kept telling me that he was a poor man and made the most pathetic puppy dog face. I could understand about every third word that he said, but laughing, nodding, and saying YO! was enough to get past him. He didn't really want to listen to me at all, but rather talk and talk. It was one of the most uncomfortable conversations I have ever sat through.

I was very relieved when a man came out of the t.v. room to join us. Immediately the attention of the drunk manager was diverted to this man. I learned very soon that he was actually a paramount chief of the Tumu area in the Upper West Region, the highest position a chief can have among his area. In other words, he was a big man! He was very pleasant to speak with and was keen to speak with me. I enjoyed his company very much seeing as how he could speak English very well. I told him about myself and my purpose in Ghana and made sure to hide nothing. It was an honor to be in his presence.

I just kept wondering what he was doing at this terrible hotel. A question that became even more important when I learned there was another chief traveling with the paramount chief and was staying at the hotel also.

Before I knew it I was sitting with two chiefs and one drunk hotel and manager out on the veranda. A shabby looking poor man came into view and the manager told him to sit and wait until he is called. It turned out that there was some kind of argument the previous night between this shabby man, the manager and the paramount chief. The shabby man, in a belligerent state, had insulted the manager after disobeying the request of the paramount chief. HE WAS IN BIG TROUBLE!

I didn't realize that I was sitting amongst the judges that were deciding what should be down about this man. They talked and talked and talked about this incident and how they felt disrespected. Finally, it was time for these great men to pass judgement. The deliberation climaxed with the paramount chief asking the shabby man to apologize to the hotel manager. I couldn't believe it! I was expecting a slap in the face or something exreme, but instead it was just a simple apology, which the manager refused because he thought the man didn't actually mean it. It was very serious business of course.

After that whole ordeal we had a couple hard boiled eggs and some sodas and spoke of other things. Eventually, the chiefs had to leave for a meeting with the Inspector General of Police and I was going to explore Wa. I walked out of the hotel and down the street with the Chiefs who received many greetings from those who recognized them. We parted ways and I walked down a street that I didn't know.

I came to a large and fairly modern looking mosque and stood there for a while debating whether or not I should try and find the Imam. I decided against it and continued walking through the streets. My presence went unnoticed for the most part. People were just going about their business and not minding me at all. It was nice.

The sky was looking ominous and I could already here echoing thunder in the distance and I realized that my explorations had better speed up. I waved down a taxi and asked the driver if he could take me to Nakori and back. After reading about the ancient mud and stick mosque there I decided I would go and visit it.

We drove for a short while South and out of the city limits until we approached the village. The mosque stood at about two and a half stories high. It was easy to spot I can say that. To make a long story short. People were amazed to see me visiting there, apparently not many travelers stop there. I made my way up to the mosque right when it began to rain. I asked the Imam, who was sitting in front of the mosque moving his prayer beads slowly through his very dry and callused hands, if I could enter the Mosque and perhaps climb onto the roof. He was very welcoming and led the way up to the roof. The view was very nice except for the rain which was coming down steadily now. I made sure to thank him and I gave him a small bi of money for his troubles and jumped back into the taxi with my impatient driver.

Because of the rain I was stuck in my hotel for the rest of the day. Before I went to Nakori I was able to purchase my ticket back to Sunyani. The ticket was 120,000 cedis. Very expensive. Although I discovered that the bus was air conditioned and was unlike other buses that crammed everyone inside like a can of sardines. I had lunch with the manager again. We had fufu, but not the kind i was used to. I was made out of yams instead of casava. It was much tougher, but the taste was great especially with my favorite ground nut soup.

After lunch the manager decided he was going to try and get some sleep, so I also escaped back to the sanctuary of my room for a while and did not emerge until the evening. It was at that time that I met another man staying at the hotel who was actually from Cape Coast. He was a fireman. He had been transferred to the Upper West region to develop their fire department.

We actually began talking after we saw a bit on the news about the situation in Darfur. I made a comment and he responded. He said that his heart aches for those people. He said he knew what it was like. It turns out that he was originally from Sierra Leone and was there during the war. He told me that he saw some horrible things and was in one of the worst spots during the chaos.

He told me that because of his experiences he has learned of the great importance of maintaining peace and resolving conflicts. He said life is much to precious to live with anger and hate in your heart. I was amazed at this man. He told me that he weeps for the people around the world who live in war. I could see that he was on the verge of tears just thinking about all of these things so I decided to change the subject. We spent the rest of our conversation discussing what it is like to be a fire man in Ghana. What did I learn? Its dangerous and the people don't always give you the respect you deserve. Hmmm. Most of their work is putting out bush fires which can be quite difficult from the wildfires in the States.

Before I went to bed that night, I thought to myself that there was one good reason for me to be at that crummy hotel. I met one of the most interesting men that I have ever encountered here in Ghana. Full of awareness and genuine concern for the people all over the world that suffer he continues his work of teaching fire safety and prevention. He continually puts his life on the line for others. It was a blessing to meet him.

So much to think about that night. I had to be at the bus station the next morning at 6am for the second to last leg of the journey back to Sunyani.