West Side!

All of my friends told me that I would love West Africa (except the East Africans. They were pretty adamant that I wouldn’t like West Africa). This is the place where they love thick women right? That’s my kind of place. So when I had the opportunity to travel to Ghana for training, I thought this would be a great opportunity to at least get a sneak peek at Africa’s West Side. I have to say that I was a bit underwhelmed. Granted, I was staying at a hotel near the airport and didn’t really have anyone to explore with , though I suppose I could have gone with some of the other participants. Ghana is really hot and humid, very much like DC in the summer. So it was already uncomfortable to leave the house. In addition, we had to take taxis everywhere and they were CONSTANTLY overcharging me to go places that, I was told, should cost 5-6 cedis (Ghanaian currency). The two people who took me out while I was there took me to the same place. I had some amazing Sushi there and it seemed like there were a variety of restaurants. Traffic is somewhat bad (still not worse than Nairobi); Addis still has them beat, though. I don’t feel like I got a chance to see a whole lot. I asked one of the attendees about places to shop and she gave me a list of places. Of course, once I cross checked this list with one of my African American friends, I was told that this one place, “Global Mamas”, is where foreigners like to point people. I found this out after I had already been there. They have nice stuff, definitely some things that you wouldn’t be able to find in a regular outdoor market. I was able to buy my friend’s mom an apron. What really put me off was the fact that I didn’t see any actual Ghanaians working in the store. Allegedly everything was made by Ghanaians but there were two white Americans working there. I prefer to directly support local economic development and that was not happening there.

Two other days, I went to the National Art Center, where one of the larger markets was located. This was a challenging experience because people are very, VERY aggressive as you are just trying to walk through and see what they’re selling. I like to have a few days in a market so that I can get a feel for what type of stuff there is, and if there are any things specific to a country that I can’t get anywhere else. For example, you can get an African mask in most African countries; the same applies to carved animals. In Ethiopia, they largely sell Ethiopian things but if you start seeing carved animals and masks, you HAVE to ask if it’s from Kenya (one of the largest producers and exporters of African souvenirs). Most of the time people will be honest. Most of the time, you can tell anyway. So, the first day, I stopped at one of the first stalls and this man was trying to charge me something like $50 cedis (about $30/33 USD) for two necklaces that probably cost $5 (if that) in real life. I went to the next stall where they had some beautiful dresses. The problem I face is that, when things are mass produced, they are made for smaller women. I know, I know, I’m not the biggest thing walking. But I’m not small and I’m quite honest about that. So I try to tell people that I need something BIG. Not a mu-mu, but just a larger dress. So they handed me several dresses that were quite unattractive, or too small. Meanwhile, as I’m bantering with the two guys who work there, several other men come over. At one point, there were a solid seven men at this stall, watching me try on these dresses over my work clothes, telling me that they looked good on me. Lies.

I was able to find one that I liked and got him down to a price that I could deal with. I also bought a few pairs of earrings, which are allegedly Ghanaian beads. (I say allegedly because I heard later that they also import Chinese beads that look very similar). One guy found me later and said he wanted to take me out (after I affirmed that, no I had not been there before, and that I was leaving on Saturday). I take his number and continue walking around. People were coming out of NO WHERE asking if I wanted to buy T-shirts, mudcloths, keychains, masks, etc. And I mean, almost screaming like “Sista! Madam! I have T-shirts. Come to my shop!” I went back the next day to buy more stuff (even though I ran out of money…again) and it was a relatively pleasant, yet stressful, experience. The Ghanaians are nice but they’re aggressive. It was nice to be able to joke and have people understand (you can tell how much that means to me). But by the time it was time to go, it was STRESSFUL to try to get into the taxi as people were trying to sell me things literally up until the moment the car pulled off. The people selling things outside of the market are the most desperate. They’ll start at some ridiculous price (four-five times what it probably costs, or what you negotiate it down to) and you have to play this game of “I’ll give you this”, then they reject it and you walk away, then they are literally forcing it into your hands, saying that they’ll give it to you for $3 or something ridiculous. I was able to get a painting like that.

One thing that was good/ bad about the market is seeing how the vendors work together. You can literally just go to one store and tell them you’re looking for elephants, bracelets, dresses and shea butter and they will go all around the market and bring these things to you from their vendor friends. I got caught up with this, though, when I went back to the same dress guy and mentioned that I wanted to get some mudcloth and someone brought me some. I had promised someone that I would buy from them the day before and I THOUGHT it was the same guy, but I was fooled. Later, I felt bad and wanted to buy something from the guy I had promised the day before, but I was almost out of money.

So the lesson for you is to think about what you want to buy (and if you have somewhere to put it…I have fans and a mud cloth that are sitting in my bedroom because I have no idea where to put them). Also, always act like you’re not that interested and be prepared to walk away. If you act too excited, they’ll definitely overcharge you. AND they will try to overcharge you anyway, even as they’re saying “Sista, we come from the same place”. Lies. So whatever they say, start at about…1/3 of that price. They think that all foreigners are ballers and will try to charge you as such. (I know all of this already, cause I'm a seasoned pro, ya understand).

I don’t really have much else to report about Ghana. I wasn’t feeling particularly adventurous and the heat (and mosquitos) were a deterrent for moving around. I wish that I would have had some time to just get dropped off somewhere and walk around, get a feel for the city, see the beach, etc. Not this trip. So I’m not opposed to hot weather and west Africa but let’s just say, I’m not sold on it.