Visa Requirements, Frank & Funeral Heaven– Ghana (Pt 3) 5th Feb 2010 to 5th March 2010

Date: Friday 5th March, 2010 | Country: Ghana | 12 Comments »

Visa

We experienced a crazy situation in the Ghana embassy in Abidjan, Ivory Coast where we were told that we would have to obtain our visa for Ghana from our country of residence, i.e The UK.  The Ghana embassy had changed their requirements from the 1st Jan this year and Reka and I both protested with many people in the embassy that we had been travelling during this change in requirement and so should be treated as an exception.  Unfortunately the people we encountered in the embassy were not willing to be reasonable but I found a few individuals (the ones that we had to rely on) to be extremely rude and immature and not able to think outside their little boxes.  Eventually we met a guy who told us that the only we would get our visa’s would be by proving that we are residents, he said that the embassy was tied to the rules that they had been set by the powers that be and apart from getting our own embassies involved there would be no other way round this!  So, we had a way out and we decided to use the manager of the small hotel we were staying in to help us, with a small fee of £5 each and 5 hours later, both Reka and I were now residents of the Ivory Coast.

Residence certificate

What was hilarious was the fact that the very next day we approached the same people that knew we were not residents but producing this certificate they did not say a single word against this and a few hours later we then had our visa’s for Ghana.  I have waited sometime before mentioning this but will take this further with the Ghana embassy as unfortunate travellers may come against the same problem but may not want to go down the route we did to proceed.  I have seen many documentaries in the UK about people obtaining false documents and this was my first hand experience to see how easy it really is if you know the right people!

Frank

We heard about Frank via my Dad’s friend and work colleague Leticia.  We first met Frank on the first day we arrived in Accra, he had gone out of his way to meet up with us in central Accra.  Our first night together was hilarious, I was chatting to Frank and he explained that he had studied in Budapest many years ago.  He told me how he learnt Hungarian in his first year before his studies started (subjects were in Hungarian) and so he learnt how to speak fluently.  Reka was out of the room at this time, and I asked Frank to speak Hungarian to her when she walked in.  Her reaction was a classic ‘what the hell….’ kind of expression, and then they started having a good old gossip in Hungarian about all sorts of things.  Frank has held many positions whether it be a senior aid to the president or representing many Ghanaian company boards, he still manages to cram a hectic working schedule today and acts as a Management consultant amongst other things.  He has a poor taste in football supporting both Barcelona and Chelsea but we can forgive him for that!  As a an active member in his church, Frank is also undertaking building a new church in the centre of Ghana and the project should be completed at some point this year, photos of this impressive building can be seen below.

Top right: Franks Church currently under construction Below Right: Frank & Emma’s house

Franks wife Emma has also been amazing to us and we thank her for all that she has done and for trying to help us in our quest for our car insurance which is about to expire.  Nana, look me up when you get to London, maybe I can get you away from work, the church and of course your beloved facebook!

Above: Frank, Emma & Nana

Both Reka and I have been treated as if we were part of Frank & Emma’s family and it is overwhelming by how much generosity they have shown us in the 3+ weeks we have been here on and off.  I personally have to thank Frank for taking me to the 24hr private hospital where I was diagnosed and treated for Typhoid.  Frank himself is a wise cool calm and collected individual and I have learnt a lot from spending time with him whether it be driving through Accra with him or sipping vodka and downing a few beers in his home while watching football.  I will miss you.

Funeral Heaven

Everywhere you look in Ghana there is a funeral, there are hundreds and thousands and I have learnt since being here that a funeral here is so much more of a service than I have ever heard of in any other country I have been too in my life.  We were told the most funerals last for 3-4 days and they are normally all day all night affairs, so the planning behind a funeral could take months and months to ensure the whole set of friends and family are there for this. It’s a big business, there are funeral consultants that provide services befitting a grand wedding in other countries, personally celebrating the dead for me is a strange concept and putting life savings (for some) into making sure a funeral is up to peoples expectations is also a strange concept to me, its cultural I understand but not something I agree with.

Artistic coffins

For the Ga tribe in coastal Ghana, funerals are a time of mourning, but also of celebration. The Ga people believe that when their loved ones die, they move on into another life — and the Ga make sure they do so in style. They honour their dead with brightly coloured coffins that celebrate the way they lived. The coffins are designed to represent an aspect of the dead person’s life, such as a car if they were a driver, a fish if their livelihood was the sea — or a sewing machine for a seamstress. They might also symbolize a vice — such as a bottle of beer or a cigarette.

Above: Amazing Coffins

As amazing as these individual work of art are the idea that they are seen for the ceremony and then buried beneath the ground never to be seen again is something I struggle with, the carpenter at the shop above told us that each coffin takes 3-4 weeks for 1-2 people to make and on average costs 3000 cedi or £1500 which for many Ghanaians is an incredible amount of money.

Mechanical work…again

I finally found a good mechanic called the Land Rover Diagnostic centre near Korle Lagoon Bridge.  It was here that we finally got to the route cause of why Maggie was unnervingly swerving during speeds of 40 mph +.  The front axle was bent (see below, 1st photo) and to replace it cost us 220 ghana cedi’s (£100) so over the course of a full day, this was replaced as well as a few other worn out parts, the joints were all greased and Maggie was ready for action again..hooray!  Labour by the way for a whole 7-8 hours cost us 80 cedi’s or £40.

Maggie grabbing attention again!

Ghana conclusion

Spending over a month in Ghana was something that I wasn’t expecting, having Typhoid early on here was a massive setback but luckily I recovered fairly quickly from that, we were lucky to meet Frank and his family who looked after us so much and we have a lot to thank them for.  We got a chance to see the schooling system in a few regions thanks to the Junior Achievement guys.  And we experienced the rich and poor that manages to work side by side in the massive city of Accra.  It’s time to move on but I know there are many places that I would have loved to see in Ghana, such as Kumasi and see the Ashanti kingdom and pay a visit to Mole National park but these are things for the future if I come back again.  Both Reka and I have taken millions of photos while we have been here so here are a selection of some of them, enjoy!  Look forward to hearing from you.

Above: Miscellaneous photos from Ghana

Reka – HUN: Nem is tudom, hol kezdjem, mar olyan regota itt vagyunk Ganaban. Hataratlepes utan az elso par napot egy Green Turtle nevu kempingben toltottuk (fenykepek az elso ganai bejegyzes alatt), ahol osszefutottunk Dale-lel es Kirkkel, akikkel meg Mauritaniaban talalkoztuk. Nagy meglepetes volt, hogy ok is pont ott szalltak meg es ugyanazon a napon is erkeztek, mint mi. Jo volt megint bandazni es tabortuzon sult homart enni (asszem homar volt, de ha nem, mindegy, csak irigykedjetek!). Noel hosszas unszolas utan ugy dontott, hogy kolcson adja a hutot egy parnak, akik Dale-ekkel utaznak, mi meg cserebe megkaptuk a hutoladajukat; amint ugyancsak nem fogunk hasznalni, de Christinek legalabb orultek a hutonek…

Kovetkezo allomas: Accra, a fovaros. Elso utunk az autoszerelohoz vezetett, mert Maggie annyira nem tartotta az iranyt nagyobb sebessegnel, hogy a jobb elso kereket ki kellett dobnunk, mert szerencsere ugyan a kempingben, de a gumi teljesen leeresztett a kopastol. A szervizben (ami persze egy hatalmas porfeszek kellos kozepen allomasozo tobbszaz roncs kocsival korulvett szerelok hadabol allt, osszetalalkoztunk egy csavoval, aki szinten delkelet Londonban lakik (a nevet azert nem emiltem, mert szegyenletes modon nem sikerult tole tisztesseges elkoszonnunk). Szoval o felajanlotta, hogy a nagybatyja kertjeben felverhetjuk a satrainkat. Igy is tettunk egy par ejszakan at, amig a szerelohoz vissza kellett jarnunk tovabbi munkalatok vegett, de aztan elegge ugy festett a helyzet, hogy a vendegszeretetert cserebe folyamatosan meg kellett volna hivnunk az egesz pereputtyot enni meg inni, igy aztan ugy alakult, hogy egyik este csak nem mentunk vissza.

Ezen a delutanon a Barclay’s irodajaba mentunk, ahol talalkoztunk az itteni fejessel, aki a Junior Achievement program szponzoralasaert felelos. Ugyanitt talalkoztunk Frank bacsival is, akit azert nevezek igy, mert nem csak egy tunderi ember, de felig-meddig magyar is. Igen, csodak-csodajara, amikor felajanlotta, hogy toltsuk az estet, meg amennyi idot csak akarunk az o hazaban, es vegre leultunk beszelgetni, egyszer csak megszolal (magyarul), hogy Isten hozott Ganaban. Nem hittem a fulemnek, csak amikor elmagyarazta, hogy a 70-es evekben osztondijaskent a Muegyetemen tanult, es osszesen 10 evig elt Budapesten. Egyebkent megint csak Noel apukajanak koszonhetjuk a kontaktot, mert Frank unokatestvere Noel apukajanak a munkatarsa. Szoval Frankeknel laktunk azota is, (immaron 3. vagy 4. hete, nem is tudom mar kovetni) es hihetetlen vendeglatasban van reszunk. Frank es egesz csaladja ugy gondoskodik rolunk, mintha mi is csaladtagok lennenk. Ilyenkor mindig gondban vagyunk Noellel, mert egy ilyen szivesseget nem igazan lehet semmivel viszonozni. De Frank elarulta, hogy miota eljott Magyarorszagrol, nem igazan elvezte a teazast, mert hianyzott neki a Citrompotlo ize (vicces, nem tudom, mikor hasznaltam ezt a szot utoljara, nem hogy mikor ittam citrompotlos teat…), ugyhogy megkertem Anyat, hogy kuldjon egy par dobozzal (a csomag meg mindig nem ert ide, 3 hete varjuk… bizom benne, hogy nem bontottak ki a hataron es utottek ki magukat a tablettakkal). Szoval egy szo, mint szaz: Nagyon koszonunk mindent Frank bacsi, es ha vegre elhatarozod magad, es visszalatogatsz Magyarorszagra, tudod, hogy kit keress!

Idonk nagy reszet, amikor nem Frankeknel tespedtunk, Mickey-vel (Junior Achievement programszervezo) toltottuk, akivel ellatogattunk kb. 20 altalanos es kozepiskolaba az orszag keleti es nyugati reszen. A program celja, hogy mar fiatal kortol utat mutasson a gyerekeknek a vallalkozosag iranyaba (marmin hogy hogyan legyenek egyeni vallalkozok). A kozepiskolakban rendes cegeket alakitanak a tanulok, reszvenyeket bocsajtanak ki es persze legjobb tudasuknak megfeleloen megprobalnak nyereseggel kijonni a vegen. Tobbsegeben iskolai hasznalati cikkeket forgalmaznak, mint peldaul jegyzet fuzet vagy toll, az iskola lcimerevel ellatva. Latogataaink soran rengeteg kerdest tettunk fel a tanuloknak, es a valaszaik alapjan probaltunk utat mutatni, hogy hogyan tudnanak sikeresebbek lenni.

A dolog egyetlen szepseghibaja (mint minden non-prifit szervezetnel), a penz hiany. JA ugyan kap tamogatast innen-onnan, de a 3 fos szemelyzet kozel sem eleg, hogy ellassa a kozel 100 iskola tobbezer tanulojanak igenyeit. Ugyanakkor Mickey munkaja csodalando, hiszen allandoan uton van, es szinte megallithatatlanul arra torekszik, hogy minel tobb iskolas reszese lehessen a programnak. Nem tudom, hogy otthon letezik-e ez a kezdemenyezes, de egy biztos, hogy annak idejen en orultem volna, ha lett volna ilyen. (Utana neztem, es igen van JA Magyarorszagon www.ejam.hu, es a volt altananos iskolam – Remetekertvarosi Altalanos Iskola is tagja.)

Ido kozben meggyogyittattuk Maggiet, mert miutan az autopalya kellos kozepen athajtottam egy 30 cm mely es 2 sav szeles vajun, szegenykem megint ossze-vissza ficankolt. Most kicsereltek az elso tengelyt meg meg ket kutyut, amik allitolag a valtot tartjak helyben, de mostanara elhasznalodtak. Ha valaha ujra nekivagok egy hasonlo utnak, tuti, hogy elotte tobbet megtanulok az altalanos gepjarmu karbantartasrol, mert jelen pillanatban azt mond a szerelo, amit akar, mert gozom sincs rola, hogy igaza van-e…

Nem csak Maggie, de Noel is meggyogyult. Legalabbis a tifuszon tul van; most eppen B vitamin hiannyal labadozik; szo szerint, mert a legfobb tunet, hogy tuzel a laba (hallotal mar ilyenrol? fura, nem), de kapott vitamin potlo gyogyszert, es mar erzi is a homerseklet csokkenest (igen, a labfejen).

Tobb mint egy honap utan, mar nagyon ideje van, hogy ujra utra keljunk, es miutan beszereztuk mindharom vizumot (Togo, Benin, Nigeria), holnap (marc. 5) elbucsuzunk Ganatol. Remelem ti mindannyian jol vagytok, es mint mindig, elvezitek a beszamolokat. Ha igen, akkor legyszives irjatok hozzaszolast (mert az eddigi osszes comment Lucky Star-om kivetelevel mind az angolnyelvu csapattol jott). Puszi mindenkinek!

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