Sankofa.

I have so much to say about everything that has been going on but alas, when I finally sit down to formally write about it, I draw blanks. I think that's very telling, actually. How can I sit down to write about Ghana? I mean, of course, I can and I do. But you know, thinking more analytically it just seems so essentialist. But then again, if words cannot accurately portray my trip here, I need to build a larger repetoire. Okay and get a dictionary to learn how to spell repertoire. I am rambling...

Gwynne, Myself, Ralph, Andrew and Issa at the Gran Marche in Lome, Togo!

It's been about two months (eek!) since I have tried to write in this blog-thing. I took a trip out of the country to this small sliver of a land known as TOGO. I'll put it in caps so you can actually SEE it. It was oh, my fourth time there. It was pretty incredible to go back and visit the people I met back in 2009. I was so amazed at their memory, at my memory! I've said before (on facebook, hehe) that sometimes it is better to go back than to go somewhere new. In going back, we often find new ways of viewing, seeing, interpreting and making meaning of this world. Perhaps that is why we travel. No, that IS why we travel. 


I've noticed something interesting that has been occurring. Well, this is rather introspective but I have become more lenient with things that say, in 2009, I would pick a fight about. For example, arguing over 50 pesewas or even 1 Ghana Cedi seems like a waste of my time. Is this change (pun intended)? Or lethargy after a hard working day? I can't decide but I find it odd because I was definitely the obnoxious obruni (OO) who would fight with the mate over 5 pesewas--yes that really happened, and often. Can you imagine? 


About work. I know I have briefly mentioned this before. I take 3 trotros to get to my office. THREE. That's impressive. I catch a troski from Presec Junction down the road from my hostel that takes me to Madina Station, a grand total of 30p. It should be noted that Madina is about 20 minutes in the opposite direction of where I need to go. From there, I take a shared taxi or trotro to 37 station, whereby I board my third and final car to the grand center of Osu. When I tell my Ghanaian friends this story (I animate with the "o!" and "hei!" and plenty plenty hand gesticulations) they laugh and say "Hei! Charle you have to go back in order to go forward?" I appreciate their laughter, they somehow understand my pain! I reply nonchalantly with, "Charle this be Ghana o! I go back to go forward. You call that Sankofa here. Sometimes, it is necessary." It's true o! So, even on my way to work, or my trek to work, Sankofa is here. The past is forever colliding with the present, forcing us to remember histories we wish to brush aside in order to see a new future. Africa is pretty cyclic, isn't it?