Uncomfortable

They grabbed my arms, looked up at me with begging eyes, tried to get my attention, and all I could do was walk away, to shake their hands off of me, and to ask them to please go. It was the first moment I have found myself in this position. There was any number of things that I could have done, looked back at the girl and given her money, given her food, but I didn’t. It was more than one child. We tried to walk quickly, to keep moving even when they were attached to us, to avoid looking into their faces because really, what else could we do?

It was the ending to an adventurous day in Osu where we ate lunch at a KFC (the only American fast food place that exists), went to Global Mamas to look at the Batik prints, and then attempted to get to the Accra mall, which eventually we did. We found out that sometimes you have to wait in lines for trotros for more than half an hour; sometimes you can’t get on a trotro because people are shoving one another so forcefully; sometimes you might just be better off taking a taxi and paying a little more; sometimes one needs both a FanIce and a FanChoco in one day; and every time three white girls walk down the street, one must be prepared.

Tomorrow Nikki, Melissa, and I will embark on our first trip outside of Greater Accra without the larger group. We will be traveling to the Volta Region where we will stay at a hotel close to Wli Waterfalls and go hiking and see a monkey sanctuary. Hopefully all will go according to plan – oh wait, planning things in Ghana? Yea, right.