Aburi Gardens and My Weekend

About an hour north of Accra is an old British hill station, which has since been turned into a botanical garden, of sorts. It has a run down charm, and pretty good restaurant. So it was worth a trip. It was actually recommended by a friend the other AJWS volunteers in Accra, Deb and Gerry Ehrenstein. Here is a picture of the Ehrensteins on the road leading to the Botanical Gardens:
They are great traveling companions with a keen sense of adventure. In fact, the Ehrensteins insisted we take a Tro Tro the whole way, although due to some confusion about where the Tro Tro leaves from (we went to three different Tro Tro stations, each time being assured that, indeed, this was the correct Tro Tro station) we actually took the Tro Tro about two thirds of the way. But we made up for that on the way back by taking two different Tro Tro- a Tro Tro transfer, if you will. The Ehrensteins are also avid bird watchers, although there were very few birds to watch in the Botanical Gardens.

Our second stop of the day was “Tetteh Quarshie’s Cocoa Farm.” Actually, its any old one acre cocoa farm, but it happens to be the first one in Ghana. Ghana is now the world’s second largest producer of cocoa. Cocoa, after some processing, becomes chocolate. The guys who found themselves lucky enough to be farming on what happened to be the first cocoa farm in Ghana were smart enough to make it into a tourist attraction. They give tours and explain how cocoa is gown and harvested. Giving tours is surely better than hacking cocoa nuts open all day, although these guys hack their share of cocoa nuts (and shoot the squirrels who threaten the crop) between tours. Here is a picture of our tour guide in action (giving a tour):

At the farm, there is a large building that is supposed to be a visitors center, with a museum of cocoa production, a cafeteria, and a gift shop. But as of last weekend, the only thing open is the small museum which houses, among other things, Tetteh Quarshie’s sandals (or sandals of the type he might have worn in 1890) but nothing about the science of growing cocoa. Alas, the gift shop is not yet up and running, so no cocoa products (chocolate) can be purchased, although visitors are welcome to eat as many of the dry fermented seeds of the cocoa nut (what gets mashed into chocolate) as they like, and the seeds really do taste like chocolate.

These guys were really smart to organize themselves into a tourist attraction. One acre can’t grow a lot of cocoa and, even it could, the government sets the price of cocoa and has an export monopoly. In Ghana, you have to sell your cocoa to the government and the government exports 60% and keeps 40% for domestic processing. This means, basically, that no small farmer is going to get rich off of growing cocoa (if the price of cocoa on the world market shoots up that money goes to the government), but it also means that big multi-nationals won’t come in and buy up all the cocoa plantations and pay the workers a pittance (or let them starve when the price of cocoa drops on the world market), which is typical of Africa.

Sunday, I did what any good New Yorker does in 90 degree + weather and I went to the beach. As I mentioned in an earlier post, Ghana has lots of beaches, but most of them, especially close to large cities, are dirty and dangerous. There is one developed beach in Accra which is safe and fairly clean known as Labadi Beach. Its lined with bars right at out on the beach, feet from the ocean. I was supposed to meet a Ghanaian lawyer who I had met a few times out and had some good conversations with, but he was no where to be found. Instead, I found one of the Ghanaian Lebanese guys that I met at the beach last weekend. Nice guy. Not a bad way to spend a lazy Sunday.

Thus weekend I’m taking another trip with the Ehrensteins, this time to some type of tribal festival. Saturday night, there is a concert in Accra’s Independence square to benefit the northern region of Ghana, which was flooded a few weeks ago. Here is a press release I saw about the concert:

“Leading events company, Creative Storm, and mobile telecommunications giants, Tigo, will, on Saturday, October 27 bring together five-time Grammy Award winner, John Legend, and international reggae icon, Luciano, on one stage to “sing away” the sorrows of flood victims and “jam out” the pain of sufferers of guinea worm infection in the country.”

Not the most tactful way to put it, but it looks like a good show none the less and tickets cost a whopping $2.

I think the whole thing is a bit odd. For the last few months, Ghana had been plagued with an energy crisis due to a drought. Power was rationed in Accra. Much of the city had only 12 hours of power each day. The rains that caused the floods in the north actually ended the energy crisis (the level of the lakes rose, which allowed for more hydroelectric power to be produced). Last weekend there was a huge prayer meeting in Independence Square to thank Jesus for ending the electric crisis by bringing rains. Not surprisingly, no one thought of holding a meeting to damn Jesus for leaving 300,000 people homeless in the process—the concert is the closest thing. I guess this shows that Jesus is a utilitarian. After all, whats 300,000 homeless people when 20 million have constant power and another 200,000 will get to enjoy a concert by five-time Grammy Award winner John Legend?