Accra Quest was an excursion that we went on in small groups. The basic idea was to allow us to get out on our own under somewhat controlled circumstances.
Each group was given a series of tasks to complete and questions to answer. My group had the following we were to "Go to Black Star Square/Independance Square and Find out what the square represents. Why is Ghana called the Black Star of Africa?" We were then to "Go to the Cultural Center and find out what an 'ntoma' is? How much does a strip of 'Kente cloth' cost? and finally, ask three vendors who created Kente."
My group consisted of Emily, Andrea ond myself. Here's my story:
We left Valley View via trotro heading to Medina a station on the outskirts of Accra. We met a couple of nice Ghanians Jones and Priscilla on the trotro. They were going to 37 street station where we also needed to go first. As the trotro rolled into Medina station the sky darkened as the clouds tickled the treetops. Shortly after we left the trotro we were introduced to the rainy season of Ghana. As the sky opened up (I estimate that it rained 4 inches 15 minutes) we stood under a tree getting soaking wet enjoying the Ghana rain.
After a few minutes in the pouring rain Jones caught us a taxi to 37 street station. While the rain continued we piled into the taxi and headed into the flooded streets. While riding in the taxi we talked with our new friends. We found out that Ghana is the black star of Africa because it is considered the gateway to West Africa and it was the first country to gain independence from colonial rule. Jones was a University student and Priscilla was his girlfriend. The were both very nice and we enjoyed talking with them.
On account of the rain the streets of Accra were completely gridlocked. Our taxi driver, being a proud Ghanaian decided to take things into his own hands taking all sorts of back roads driving through what appeared to be flooded ditches. When we finally arrived we paid 40,000 cedis to the driver and were on our way to the Accra Peace Corps office. The rain had finally subsided but it was getting late because the drive in took so long. We arrived at the office and hung out for a while to eat lunch that was provided for us.
After lunch we headed back out to the street and caught a taxi to Independence Square for 20,000 cedis. When we arrived at Black Star Square/Independence Square we walked around and were able to snap some pretty good pictures. The Black Star Square was a monument to commemorate Ghana's Independence. The Independence Square was across the street and was a huge concrete square with sort of pavilion supported by an arch shaped support in the front center of the square. The outer boundaries of the square were surrounded by bleacher seats. It seemed ideal for huge political rallies and such. After we got all our photos we headed to the Cultural Center which we found was down street to the left on the left hand side.
When we arrived at the Cultural Center it was kind of a muddy mess. We carefully walked into the market area where they were selling many arts and crafts. We enquired about what "ntoma" was and found it was the Twi word for cloth. We also found that a strip of Kente Cloth would cost about 50,000 to 70,000 cedis (I later found that it should actually be about 15,000 cedis, bargaining is essential here). As we were leaving we met this Rastafarian dude that coaxed us into coming into his drum shop. There we were introduced to the wonderful drums and drumming here in Ghana. We stayed for while playing the drums and then we headed back to the office then to Valley View where we would spend our final night in Accra.
