Was in accra the other day. Western africa.Like most african places, this one has poverty staring back at you at every corner. Though wealth wasnt present much in this place, but people were warm and nice. There is a general aura of warm souls in this place. yea yea im blabbering nonsense again what aura? But i really did feel the general niceness and hospitality of the common folks.
Life is simple at this place, as the bus passes through the mud tracks to our hotels we pass shops, zinc houses, wooden huts. Women carrying things on top of their heads, piling goods high on top of each other peddling them as they walked. On another street corner, children were hurdled together in one corner at the shop front, naked, giggly and ticklish, as their mother pour water over them during their evening bath. As the bus made another turn, there was a family gathering for dinner, there were tin pots of all sizes on the table filled with different dishes and one woman stood over the table with an air of pride for that which is presented with gingerly distributed the food to all who gathered around. All this were clearly in view as these accranians have a general culture of living totally in harmony with the surroundings. It felt a little like village life, it seems.
Anyhooo, we visited the craft village in accra and we were bombarded by shop owners eager to sell their wares. Wooden carvings of all shapes and sizes can be seen everywhere in the craft shops. There were masks, drums, paintings. Bought a mask in one shop with a nice guy, after that i was immediately distracted by the drummings at the shop opposite. so i par-take in the action. It was most magical! The guy who i bought the mask from joined in so all of us drummed to the beat. well at this moment, i thought ' music and rhythm IS the universal language of communication! our souls were connected for that brief moment in the beats and that to me was really the highlight of my trip.


So, this is the first ghanian friend i had. Shame on me i dont even know his name! He calls me by 'sista' and to him i say 'my 'brutha'! hahah we were siblings, children of mother earth! united in our drumming glory and craft dealership!

As i walked a few steps further i ran into a guy who attempted to sell me a drum. Impressed by the really nice drumming session i just had, i decided to buy it from him. What followed was a bargain session. we finally settled at 200,000 cedis. quite a sum but i went along with it.
It came up to around 15 USD? pretty alrite in most trade markets!
My 'brutha' came back and this time he tells me ,'hey wait here for me i will be back' as i was almost walking off he caught up with me and handed me something in my hand. This was what i was given. It was a fertility doll.
'
"for good luck" he said, "..my friend." It was the nicest thing. It was even more precious than anything i bought that day. This simple symbol fo goodwill and friendship from a new made ghanian 'brutha'.
It warms my heart greatly.
I know what some of you are thinking, but i dont think a simple gesture of goodwill contains any evil. And as i held it in my hands i feel a good vibe from it.
I will look for a chain to wear it ard my neck =)




As i walked to the other aisle of shops feeling happy with the warmess in my heart, i was greeted with more smiles more friendly shop owners. A guy in a nike jersey greeted me warmly. ' hey sista, come in and have a look at my shop'. ' no sorry im outta money, spent it all on my drum' i showed him the thing i was holding, he told me it was a nice drum. and He asked me if i will play it. I did a lame ass beat and he laughed. He demonstrated his ghanina drumming skills and
off course i was defeated! He said my name is T.G just call me fridays. I laughed. He was funny. As i bid farewell he asked to have a picture taken with me. ' will you send it to me ?' he said and he gave me his name card. He said i must go back again to the craft village to visit if im in accra once more. One more ghanian friend made.