Touchdown in Ghana

It’s Thursday, December 4, 2009. Angelo Afgrafiotis and I arrived in Accra, Ghana at 7:30am this morning aborad a Delta Airlines flight out of NY’s JFK airport. A loaded plane with crying babies. Not the way you want to spend a 10-hour transcontinental flight, but oh well, we are here.

Walter met us and took us immediately to the newly acquired IN Network headquarters. A clean, well-maintained two story with adequate parking and nicely appointed offices for the operation. We went inside to greet the staff there interrupting them in the middle of their morning devotions.

One of the first impressions here was the heat. It was stifling hot—93 degrees plus. The air was hazy due to the enormous amount of dust in the air. The cold winds from the European continent blow southward across the Sahara Desert and deposit liberal amounts of dust and particle into the Cape Coat countries like Ghana. It’s not only hot, but dry. The rainy season is during the summer months of June, July and August. In addition Ghana is only 5 degrees north of the Equator and this means you can count on heat during this time of the year.

It’s been 12 years since I last visited Walter in Accra. I was anxious to travel to Adidome, our destination for the next five days. Adidome was selected as one of the major sites for the IN Network work because it is this region where the Trokosi slave practice predominates. It’s a area of the country tucked away, hidden from the public eye, off the beaten path making for an ideal setting for a diabolical slave practice that torments women and children to thrive. We drove three hours north of Accra into the remote area of flatlands that stretched as far as the eye could see on both sides of the road. Lots of vegetation and greenery, but little arable farmland. Futhermore, there was little evidence of any form of wildlife. Walter explained that years ago as kids they would frequently see antelope and deer dart across the ball fields where he and his friends would play. But no more! The African wildlife was conspicuous by its absence.

We arrived in Adidome by 1pm. Angelo and I were feeling not only the effects of the heat, but the jetlag too. We had a small bite to eat and conversed with some of the IN workers before retiring to our rooms for the afternoon to escape the unrelenting heat and take a shower. We will begin tonight the training we are here to conduct.

Gratefully,

S t r e t c h e d