Our last week in Ghana flew by much too quickly for our liking; soon it was the weekend and all the students in the work the world house departed for one of my new favourite places in the world, Axim Beach.
Located about an hour and a bit west of Takoradi, Axim is an absolutely gorgeous beach hidden on the coastline. You have to drive down a dirt road to get there and pass so many villages made up of mud huts; it's unbelievable. I am constantly blown away at how people around the world live. We'd pass village after village and all the kids would be chasing each other around and smiling ear to ear, despite the fact that they didn't have toys or electricity in their house. It made me feel like a hypocrite to be a little upset about spending $40 (it seemed really expensive compared to other weekend outings) of my money on a night at a private beach resort when you could see how others lived with next to nothing.
When we arrived, we literally just ran for the beach; Kiri and I are most definitely from a landlocked province because we see the ocean as such a novelty. We literally jumped into the ocean right then and there, despite the fact that it was getting dark out. After our quick dip, we got changed and had a big group dinner with everyone in a little tiki hut style restaurant right on the beach. After we finished eating, we couldn't resist the temptation of going to stick our feet in the warm water again. This was probably one of my favourite moments of my whole life, standing on the shore because the sky was clear and absolutely full of stars. It was immensely beautiful and the perfect way to finish our placement in Africa. To be surrounded by our new friends from all over the world, all laughing and playing in the ocean under that star soaked sky, was just the best possible way to end what had been the most incredible experience of our lives.
The next day, we continued playing in that ocean and spent the whole day at the beach. This ended with some incredibly unfortunate sunburns that will probably be the cause of skin cancer one day but everyone got burnt so we figure it's okay because we'll all be in it together :)
We all had one last dinner together before Kiri and I, along with two other nursing students (one from the UK and one from the USA) had to leave to go back to Takoradi to get ready to leave for our flights the next day. When the taxi arrived to take us back to the house, we had to begin our goodbyes and it was honestly some of the toughest I've ever encountered. It's so completely crazy to me that we were only there 3 weeks because we forged friendships with people that we hope will last a lifetime. When it came time to say goodbye to our 3 fellow Canadians, we all just kind of lost it. I am not the type of person who cries a ton; but when it came to saying goodbye to those three who'd arrived at the same time as us and been there every step of the way, it was tough.
After a tearful cab ride back to Takoradi, I called it quits for the night and fell asleep while Kiri and the other girls packed their bags in an attempt to get ready for a 4 hour bus ride to Accra (where the airport's located) the next day.
We left the house at around 10am the next morning and headed for the airport. We all had flights that were supposed to leave around the same time on different airlines. When Kiri and I tried to check in, we were told it was too soon. We should've seen this as a sign, as all our friends were able to check in and we couldn't. We assured our friends that they should go ahead and get through airport security and we'd meet them up there.
About two hours later, Kiri and I made our way up to our airport gate, only to discover that our flight had been cancelled. I panicked a little bit, knowing that we didn't have any accommodation or anything or even any Ghanian money left to pay for any place to stay. Luckily, the airline arranged for a shuttle and put us up in a hotel in Accra for the night. They assured us we'd have a flight out the next day but couldn't tell us when it would be leaving exactly or any details whatsoever.
At this point, it was late and all I wanted was to go to bed. Therefore Kiri and I followed the group to a tro tro (I almost cried! I thought we were done with tro tros) and were whisked off to a hotel in the heart of Accra. We were in a group of about 15 displaced passengers and we were the youngest by about 30 years, which made us the most popular people ever. We couldn't even eat dinner without the other passengers coming up to talk to us, make sure we were okay, and reminding us to make sure we weren't charged for anything during our stay.
Anyways, Kiri and I were each given separate hotel rooms but there was no splitting us up so we picked the bigger one and set up camp. We were discouraged to discover that the only wifi could be found in the hallway so we spent a solid half hour sitting on the stairs outside our door at midnight letting our families know what was happening. We tried to watch tv but it was full of Ghanian movies and we couldn't handle it (for anyone whose ever taken a coach in Ghana, you'll understand why). We went to sleep, slightly perturbed that we wouldn't be waking up in Paris.
The next day was spent doing nothing; we found one movie channel where we watched old movies like Nancy Drew and Poseidon and Air Marshall while we drank tea we'd stolen from the buffet downstairs. I stole a spoon for my brother (he has a collection going and I wanted to bring him back some foreign pieces) and tried to pass the time while we waited for a phone call from the airline to tell us when to leave.
Finally, at 3:45, we got the call saying that we were heading to the airport at 5:45 for a flight at 10:30. We were so relieved to hear that we wouldn't be stuck another day in Africa that we didn't care how long we'd be waiting. Once we got to the airport, one of our fellow displaced passengers (who was from Amsterdam and old enough to be our mothers) took us to a spot bar where we hung out until we could check in. It was nice; a great way to pass some time while we were waiting.
And wait we did. We didn't leave at 10:30; our flight crew didn't show up until 11. We finally boarded the plane at 11:45.
The whole experience of "getting out of Africa" was just exasperating; it's unfortunate that it ended the way it did because I can speak for both of us in saying that going to Ghana was the most incredible experience of our lives. We are so fortunate to have been able to go! We learned so much; about ourselves, about nursing, about Ghana. We have made friendships that will last a lifetime and will carry our adventures in Ghana with us forever. I can speak for both of us when I say that Ghana cannot be summed up in a matter of words. It is a country that must be experienced; from the smiling kids living in mud-huts to the doctors and nurses who work tirelessly to care for patients with limited resources, the spirit that everyone carries on with is so admirable. We will never forget our time spent there.
-Lindsay and Kiri