Easter in Kwahu

"Like branches of a tree we grow in different directions, yet our roots remain as one. Each of our lives will always be a special part of the other's." 
---Unknown

I spent Easter weekend at Abetifi training college, in the Kwahu region, where another volunteer, Mabel lives. This is the place to be in Ghana for Easter.

Though it’s called a “festival”, it was essentially just a whole lot of Ghanaians partying for three straight days. Starting bright and early with the sunrise and lasting long in to the night. At about 9am, the other Amy and I wandered into town and witnessed many drunken fools just having a good ole’ time all in the name of Jesus. A student mentioned “open sex” in Kwahu during the Easter weekend. It seems that when Ghanaians party, they go all out!

The highlight of the Easter festival in Kwahu was the hang-gliding action that takes place in the Kwahu mountains. I passed on participating in this activity, but from what I hear, it was great fun! I chilled on the sidelines with the other Amy and enjoyed some popcorn.

To culminate the weekend, us ladies went to a concert to see Kojo Antwi. Mabel loves this artist, so we forked out the 30ghc for entry, enjoyed a Savannah cider and grooved to the tunes. Around midnight, the main act finally appeared on stage. Clearly my age is showing on this one, because generally at that time of day I’m fast asleep. However, I fought through the fatigue and enjoyed some live music and spectacular people watching. All over the world, I am amazed by what people choose to wear in public. Very interesting indeed.

Kojo Antwi

We crashed at Mabel’s house on her college campus, where she lives with a Peace Corps volunteer. On a side note, turns out I’m pretty lucky with my accommodation. Mabel doesn’t have running water, so though my location is remote and rather lame, at least I’ve got a toilet that flushes on its own and a shower that rains down on me. Throughout the course of a few days at Abetifi, a few dozen PCVs (Peace Corps Volunteers) strolled in and out. Fyi, these people love acronyms. In fact, so much so, that there were a few conversations where I felt completely lost because I couldn't keep up with the decoding. For the most part, everyone was pretty cool, but there was a clear division between us and them. Us being the IFESH volunteers, and them, being the Peace Corps Volunteers. Several times, our length of stay in Ghana was compared to theirs and referred to as “interesting” by some. Code for, “not as cool as me”. One PCV said that 6 months isn’t that long of a time really, and I quickly responded by saying that even though we’re not here for two years, we are still living it and doing this. I mean, I’m pretty sure I offered myself up and uprooted my entire life just so I could come to Africa to try to help someone. Don’t think anyone I know thinks I’m a failure of a volunteer because I’m only doing 9 months versus 2 years. How about, we are just all awesome! I say we go with that option PCVs!

Amy S. and Mabel