Soon the boarding ensues and we are on the plane in readiness for the flight to Amsterdam. The plane takes off and Ghana is behind us, next stop Amsterdam.

   Herb finally gets his window seat only to have to fly across Africa in the dark.  I fall out directly after the takeoff and sleep most of the way. I wake as the plane crosses into Europe proper and have a meal and watch a movie as we wend our way north to Amsterdam.  Once on the ground we unload and find ourselves in a major modern airport terminal to see sights not seen in near three weeks.  It is a hustle and bustle of major proportion with everything modern and shiny and people from all over the world moving in all directions.  Melissa and I take our leave from Herb and Tom as they have  flights to catch and we are staying on in Amsterdam for four days to see the sights.

    Our long awaited and planned for Ghana trip is now behind us and we are all full of sights and sounds and tastes and  smells and experiences , with  new friends,  and much to think about.  In retrospect we all have concluded that we were definitely the big beneficiaries on this trip. The bead work with Cedi and Kwadjo and Kudjo  was our goal going in, but the whole Ghana experience took on a life of its own. The people we met were all so friendly and patient with us. They all allowed us into their world with such grace and openness and warmth. I now find myself daily looking at my life and my world with different eyes. Nothing will ever be the same.  We’ve all learned so much about Ghana, yet we have learned so little. There are many ways to make a life on this planet and none of them are particularly greater or better than others. While most of the people we met in Ghana may have lacked many of the trappings of our “sophisticated” society, their full engagement with their lives and their  ever present joy in the moment speak volumes as to the quality of the lives they lead. In their quiet way, they have much to teach. I have much to learn. I’m looking forward to returning.

 

Our Ghana Trip,March 2008

last days

Day 15, Saturday,

We are up early and get our tea from the hotel and ready ourselves for the day.  Cedi comes for us and we make a few stops on the way to the compound. Today is the day we will be tearing down an old worn out  oven and building a new one.

pictures of the old oven and its disassembly

Mud from old termite mound which will become new bead firing oven

The greatest attention was given to leveling out the grate supports

The working openings were cut in on the following day

Finished oven

It’s a busy day all around. Three groups arrive throughout the day and Cedi gives them all tours, this along with his building the new oven. At times he seems like the energizer bunny. He just keeps going and going.  Stan from USAID comes by for a visit and we exchange addresses, and talk about the chevron project.  He was at the bead society meeting in Accra and is a lifetime Foreign Service officer, a nice fellow. He says he wants to write up an article about Cedi beads and our project for the paper back home.   After all the various groups leave and Cedi finishes up laying up the new oven the remaining oven is brought up to heat to fire the last load of beads we put together before our Mole trip. Cedi fires these into the early evening and gets them in to anneal in time to make a late supper.  Saturday is the second market day in Odumase and while we were working on the oven,  Mel and Tom and Herb went back to the market to shop for beads and cloth with Kujo. They said that there were more old trade beads at the market this trip, but I missed them as I was immersed in the oven project. In the course of the day I did finally manage to settle up with Cedi for the beadwork on my personal project, and we pack up the beads for transport back to the US. I plan to finish up the beads at home to a high satin finish. This will be a grand collaboration with the parts coming from canes from my studio that I spent a week cutting up on the diamond saw, then the Ghanaians fusing and piercing and shaping them and finally me finishing them back home.  The beads are showing great promise as we check them out wet after rubbing the clay off their outsides.  After supper we head off to the Starr for the evening.  We are kind of energized and stay up talking awhile before retiring. 

      Day 16, Sunday, our last full day in Ghana. 

Cedi comes for us and we hit the moneychanger again on the way to the compound. Melissa is down with a major fever and malaise.  We have much discussion over whether to take her to the doctors or not. After several hours we get her fever down with water and cool cloths and Tylenol and she decides she’s feeling marginally better and wants to just stay home.  Over the course of the day I spread out parting gifts to several family members and workers in gratitude of their care and concern for us during our stay.  Cedi finishes up the new oven, cutting  in the firebox hole and the working opening.  The oven is now complete and after a week of drying will be ready for service. I also grind the beads from our last firing the day before, now all the chevrons from our project are done and we set them up for a class photo of all the beads we made for the project. 

damaged old beads for raw material

New made beads ready for market

  In the late afternoon Melissa gets up and is feeling some better. We have a last tour of the showroom and all get our bead business settled with Cedi. We’ve been setting beads aside all along the stay so now settle up and get our beads off to our rooms for packing.  After a nice supper Cedi returns us to the Starr for our last night in Ghana.  This is the big packing night. We stay up until after midnight getting our bags loaded with all our stuff.  Sleep comes easily.

  Day 17, Monday

We are up and all prepared for Cedi before he arrives at nine thirty.  After loading up and checking out, we are off to the compound to have our last good-byes and get Melissa for the trip into Accra. Cedi gifts us each one of his special bodom beads and also gives us each a strip of Kente cloth he had made with Cedi Beads Industry woven into the cloth.  They are both very nice. Mariama prepares us a nice lunch/supper and we have a good meal before heading out.  We weigh all the bags and shuffle things to bring them into weight for the plane, and then load up into two cars for the trip into Accra and the airport.  We make the trip in just over two hours, a good time for the drive.  At the airport we go in and get all our tickets in order and check our bags then come outside into what turns out to be a fairly balmy late afternoon for a last visit with our friends, pictures, and last good byes.

Finally we leave them to drive home and enter the airport to go through all the personal check in process, immigration, security etc.  After an hour of lines and walking and talking we make the seating pre boarding area and wait for the flight.  It’s been an incredible journey, and we are all in a bit of a state of exhaustion.  When we get to the last seating area before we board we are treated to one last truly Ghana moment where we find three clocks showing various time zones, but each is out of sync with the others.  There is a 20 minute difference amongst them.  It is a humorous moment for us.

One last picture with our friends at the Accra airport

We are all confident after the four firings that Cedi and Kwadjo and Kujo will be well able to make the powder chevrons in our absence with the tools we leave behind.  We’ve tried several powders along the way with our various days at loading the molds, and have fine tuned the process at the oven with the guys and the molds. Cedi says he has plans to make a new set of molds which will work better than the first set, having now seen the needs of the bead and the process of firing.  I am looking forward to seeing the beads that they make after we leave.