Akwaaba Ghana

Gabriel at Kotoka Int. Airport

Arriving in Ghana
Akwaaba! Welcome! This is the greeting that you meet when you land at the Kotoka International Airport in Accra. Accra is the capital city of Ghana which means "Warrior Ling". The date is 27th May 2008 and the time is 14 00 hours. What brings me here and how have I gotten here? I'm here to attend the 3rd e-Learning Africa Conference at Accra International Conference Centre. My trip has taken almost 24 hours having left Lusaka on 26th May 2008 and spent a night in Addis Ababa at National Hotel. The trip from Addis to Accra has been almost five hours with a stop-over in Lome, Togo. Looking at the many goods being removed in Lome I think "wow the goods people buy in Africa!" All sorts of goods! Probably from Dubai, Hong Kong and China! At the Kotoka International Airport after the necessary immigration formalities I'm received by an e-Learning Africa host Afua who assists me to book a cab to my hotel.

Gabriel with Conference delegates in Accra

The drive to the hotel is smooth. On the road I see men and women moving up and down selling all sort of goods. These are determined vendors! Undeterred by the scorching heat of Accra! Soon I arrive at my hotel where I check in. I order my first meal in Ghana. Some yam with chicken and Ghanaian vegetables! It is delicious. I take a stroll in the neighbourhood. Along the way I discover some mangoes on sale. Mangoes in May! I buy a few to eat later. I visit a shopping centre and then get back to the hotel.

Start of Conference
On Wednesday, 28th May, the Conference officially starts. A bus organised by the hosts is on hand at 07 00 to take us to the Conference venue. Though the venue is not very far, it takes an hour due to the heavy traffic. On the way one can notice a lot of construction taking place. We arrive at Accra International Conference Centre at 08 00 hours. The Conference is officially opened by the Vice President on behalf of the President John Kufour. The total number of delegates is about 1,400. Delegates are from African countries with Ghana and Nigeria having the highest attendance. The Conference begins in earnest after the official opening. The first day is dedicated to various Seminars. I attend the African UNESCO Summit where best practices in ICT learning are show-cased. Later in the evening, I attend a cocktail organised for Speakers. It's good to interact with fellow speakers and the hosts of the Conference.

Day Two of Conference
The following day, Thursday, the Conference enters into high gear with presentations by various speakers from Africa and other continents. I'm one of the speakers who makes a presentation on Quality and Outreach in Technical and Vocational Education and Training from a Zambian perspective. Other speakers are from Malawi and Nigeria. Later in the day, I attend a presentation on IT training in Africa. After that we undertake a tour to the Kofi Annan Centre of Excellence, an ICT training centre with state of the art IT equipment making it one of the leading IT centres in Western Africa if not Africa! Later in the evening, we have a sponsored dinner at the Conference venue. Apart from the tasty Ghanian dishes (plantain chips being one of my favourites) we are also treated to colourful Ghanian traditional dances.

Ghanian traditional dancing

Closing of Conference
Friday, is the last day of the Conference. It has been a packed three days of paper presentations and discussions. One hopes that the many African nations in attendance can go an extra mile in implementing even 50% of the things learnt. Then Africa would soon be a force to reckon with in the world, as many of it's people gain IT skills and use e-learning to gain knowledge that will give it competitive advantage. For sure African nations need to see the knowledge economy as becoming increasingly important compared to natural resources! The 3rd eLearning Africa Conference is officially closed by the Ghanaian Minister of Education. Back at our hotel in the evening, I enjoy supper with colleagues from Kenya, Nigeria and Rwanda.

Shopping and Visiting in Accra
On Saturday, after breakfast, Gerard (from Rwanda) and I being the two remaining delegates remaining at the hotel where we have been staying decide to look for a new hotel where we will feel more at home. We find a nearby hotel at Kingdom International Hostel. After checking in we go into town around midday with a local lady as our host. We get into town only after we have seen the nearby University of Ghana campus. It's a very big University and one of Africa's oldest! To get into town we use a minibus. In town before any shopping is done, our stomaches must be appeased with some food. That matter quickly sorted out, it's now time to shop. And shop we do of some electronics and colourful Ghanaian fabrics and clothes. I also buy some Ghanaian gospel music by some of the leading artistes such as Florence Obinim, Mercy Ohenmaa, Cee and Pastor Lenny Akpadie and No Tribe. I later learn that these albums have songs which were among the top 20 songs in Ghana! Along the way we buy some coconut which we drink with much appreciation especially with the scorching sun.

Attending Church
Sunday finds me getting up in fairly good time after some struggle as malaria symptoms seem to be taking root on me. After breakfast, I leave for Dansoman by taxi to attend church at Truth Missionary Baptist Church. Despite my best efforts to trace the Church, it is soon clear that it won't be a successful mission. I then decide to attendDansoman Baptist Church, and Independent Baptist Church. The singing of some familiar English hymns makes me feel at home. The singing of some songs in Twi the local language makes me appreciate the diversity of God's people. The pastor preaches a sermon on Commitment. Later after the service, I'm warmly welcomed and meet two good friends Ebenezer and Steve. I chat about the gospel in Ghana with Steve. I also chat about Margaret Mwanakatwe, then Managing Director of Barclays Bank of Ghana, who is described as a good leader by Steve, a Barclays employee. Later Ebenezer escorts me as I look for a clinic, which I find closed. He advises me to buy some malaria drugs when I get back to town. Before getting back to town I get directions to Truth Missionary Baptist Church. I meet Pastor Ferguson Kcoffie and the wife at their home/church. Later they give me a lift into town as they go to visit their daughters at school.

More Shopping and Tourism
On Monday, 2nd June, the major activity is shopping and visiting of tourist attractions. We go into the heart of town to shop till we drop. Before we return to our hotel, we find it in order to visit the Atlantic ocean. This is the second ocean I'm seeing after the Indian ocean sighted in Maputo and Durban. I enjoy the view of the nice blue ocean with the great waves. For lunch I enjoy some "red red" dish i.e. red beans cooked in red palm oil with fried plantains. In as much as we would want to continue enjoying the wonder of God's creation, we have to return to our hotel and take a well deserved rest. This is after I have some supper at the Accra Shopping Mall. On Tuesday, I get into town to finalise on shopping and site-seeing. I feel my journey to Ghana will be incomplete without visiting the Kwame Nkurumah Memorial Centre. I see the imposing statute of Nkurumah at the entrance of the Centre. One of the statues has a hand missing. I learn this was done after the military coup in the 1960s when Nkurumah was overthrown. The museum is very impressive: well organised and with adequate information to enable one gain an insight into one of Africa's greatest Pan-African leaders. I learn that Nkurumah's wife, an Egyptian, died in 2007. Before going to do my final packing, I visit the Atlantic Ocean again! Thereafter, I go to pack, check out and head towards the airport. It's been a packed eight days where I've learnt much, seen much, met many, made new friends and been left with some impressions.

Kwame Nkurumah Memorial Centre

Impressions
As I leave Ghana, I leave with impressions. Impressions of a growing economy with a growing democracy. Impressions of a hardworking and enterprising nation. Impressions of a friendly and hospitable people. Impressions of a nation that is rich in colonial history of the slave trade. Impressions of a nation that has strong superstition which even permeates Christianity. Impressions of a highly populated city which is almost always busy with traffic and people trading and working. Impressions of a nation that takes education and training seriously. Impressions of a nation that has readers and writers. As I check in at the airport, I'm still feeling unwell, however, one of the airport officials makes me feel at home as we chat about many issues of live and living. As the plane takes of from Kotoka International airport, I can surely say that I had a welcome stay in Ghana. It was Akwaaba indeed! And because of that, you feel you want to return to Ghana soon, if not only to see other places of interest that one could not see in a short time