first week in Accra

Today is Monday and I have been in Accra for almost a week now. I can say that time flies, but still, the prospect of three months is quite a bit daunting…

I arrived last Wednesday morning in Accra, after a long flight without sleep. I had to stand in line before immigration for at least an hour in the African humid heath. After I passed immigration and retrieved my suitcases, I was welcomed by a young man named Sunday, who brought me first to my hostel, and later to the LifeLine project, where I will be doing my research. At the LifeLine project, my ‘grandma’ Nebo is also staying, and she was, and still is, glad that I am here.

Sunday is also the one who is picking me up in the morning from my hostel and bringing me back home. In the morning we go by tro tro, transferring once at Kaneshie Station, yet in the evening we go back with a taxi. After tomorrow, I will move to a place that is closer to the project so I can go by tro tro everyday, by myself.

Accra is an interesting city. I cannot say that I am overwhelmed while driving through Accra. It does feel a little bit familiar. Maybe because of my visit to Nigeria 8 years ago? I do not know. But still, it takes time to adjust here. There is so much chaos, at least to me it is chaos. There are people everywhere, the traffic is terrible, people are selling their stuff on the streets, children are crawling on the pavements. When you visit the markets, as I did with Issahaku, who introduces me to some of the migrant girls there, you will find even greater chaos. The ground is full with dirt and mud and young children and babies walk around barefoot through it. You will see many groupings of women on the markets, they will go out in the morning to carry goods for some of the wealthier Ghanaians, in the late afternoon they will come back, sit and chat and go to sleep, on the floor. Only on Sunday it is a resting day. On Sunday the market women and girls group around and rest, chat, dance. Yesterday I visited two market places and interviewed six women and young girls about their lives, their migration and their future prospects. I have some interesting findings already!

In the afternoon I come back to LifeLine and eat with grandma and Sunday. Accept for last Saturday, I went to an outdooring of a babygirl with Issahaku. We spend the afternoon there and I met two of his bosses who took me out to dinner.

Tomorrow I will hopefully get to start my research on the project here as well. I had to get official permission to do so, which I have now. I will talk more about the project in a later post. For now I will say goodbye!