An American nightmare

 It took an American entity to spoil what had been a great experience in Ghana and a wonderful two weeks with my daughter and granddaughter.

That entity is United airlines.

Their mis-steps were on the very last leg of this amazing journey 

After departing from Ghana 10 pm on the 27 th June and arriving at JFK airport on the afternoon of the 28 th, I had just one leg left on the long return journey.

 That was a flight from Newark airport to Fort Lauderdale.

That's when United Airlines screwed up everything. For after checking in and arriving at the departure gate, the announcement was made Flight Cancelled.

After waiting in a long line for United Airlines Customer service and learning from other irate passengers that their United flights to Florida had been disrupted from early morning, I became accepting on being told by the customer service representative that the disruptions were caused by weather conditions in Florida.

I later learned that this was a big lie though!

This was while I was traveling in the shuttle to a hotel and heard the news.

For the news on the radio was that United Airlines was having numerous cancellations during the busy holiday travel due to staff shortage and some internal problems.

You see, this is the American independence weekend and United has had cancellations on all their routes, not just Florida, due to internal problems.  

Nothing to do with weather.

These disruptions started yesterday.

So long story short, here I am suffering from jet lag at the Holiday Inn, in Newark Airport but without any luggage. Luckily I had hand luggage with essentials so hopefully will get out on the night of the 30th, which is the earliest flight I can get. (I was offered a flight via Missouri to Florida earlier that same day, and refused, so they put me in this night flight.)  I had even called Amtrak to see if I could even get a train home, but they are booked out for the holiday. 

I suppose I should be grateful for small mercies as  a lady going to Louisiana with her family was told she can't get out till Saturday and the news just said others are being told they can't get out till Monday 3rd July!

I am only happy that I have travel insurance through a reliable company which has come through for me in the past, so all the charges I a wracking up on my credit card will be repaid.

This is Allianz Insurance which paid my bill in full and without question when I collapsed some years ago in Colombia and had to be intravenously rehydrated. 

So now, I go nowhere without them! (Anyway, my experience is that the insurance sold by the airlines is nothing but a scam so have long stopped wasting money with them.)

Crooked United Airlines was not even offering anyone any form of compensation unless they asked.

 I insisted and  got 3 meal vouchers and a promise of 1 night maximum $100 refund for hotel stay, (they give you a list of the hotels they will 'contribute' to.) 

This is therefore where travel insurance will have to chip in, when my receipts are submitted.

Hopefully United will not cancel the flight on the 30th or lose my checked luggage😡.

Not holding my breath though.

Link: https://joan-myviews.blogspot.com/2023/06/time-for-fun.html 

Shai Hill Reserve

 I have never been interested in rock climbing but today got my first lesson and it was quite exhilarating.

This was at the Shai Hill Reserve which is located on Krobo land. ( I am now a proud member of the Krobo tribe.)

It's the top of this rising formed from ingenious rocks, that the girls were taken.

And I would do it again.

Getting a helping hand up

We should have visited the reserve last week but had to cancel due to rains. 

This is an historic site, as in the olden days, this was where Krobo girls underwent their puberty ritual. 

The puberty ritual lasted six months and involved training the young girls to become responsible women who understand their bodies, learn how to mill grain for the household, prepare nutritious meals for their children and treat simple illnesses using herbal medicine.

The board describes what illnesses this tree treats.

The circle in the rocks are made when rock is rubbed against rock to mill the grain.

During the six months that the girls are undergoing their puberty ritual, they are under the care of some mothers and Queen Mothers.

At nights, they slept in this cave.

Although this area has Serval Cats, they are nocturnal so we saw none. These are really tiny cats.

A stuffed Serval Cat

Because the grass was so high after the long rains, although antelopes abound, we barely saw some horns as they were laying in the high grass.

The grass is so high, all we could see of this antelope was it's horn!

Baboons abound.

They are everywhere, they rummage through garbage, steal from people in the area and even eat the poor little blue monkeys.

These tiny monkeys run away the minute they hear any noise because of the wicked baboons.

This means 'welcome in the Krobo language.

A few zebras are on the reserve. They were imported from South Africa.

The museum at the reserve

The guide had to chase away this baboon that turned over the garbage.

I had always heard that some of  our patois words came from the Twi language in Ghana but I have yet to hear a familiar word! However today I saw some small birds that we call Grass Quit and was told they are Chi Chi in Korbo.

 Maybe that has something to do with our mento song called "Chi Chi bud oh".

Who knows how these things evolve?

Darn we missed it!

 When, from our patio we saw the splendor of a small, all-white wedding being set up in the gardens at Labadia hotel, we figured it may be someone rich or famous.

However, despite hanging around and checking regularly as guests trickled in, the bride and groom did not show up.

Then this morning, we read in the news that it was indeed and important person who tied the knot. 

Yup, here it is. It's a former star attacker from Ghana.

https://ameyawdebrah.com/former-black-stars-attacker-samuel-tetteh-weds-in-accra/.

Hope he will be a five-star husband to his new wife!

A cultural powerhouse

 Ghana which has more than 100 tribes (which all live peacefully together), is considered the cultural powerhouse of the 54 nations that make up our motherland.

I became a member of the Krobo tribe when I got my new name KORLEKi. 

(https://joan-myviews.blogspot.com/2023/06/a-cultural-awakening.html?m=1).

The Krobo people are mainly farmers and below is the Chief; Nene Sasraku II.

He is also the President of the Council of Chiefs in Ghana.

As I learn about my roots, I also have to learn about their cultural norms. 

Below are videos of excerpts from a female puberty ceremony and a male one. 

I am being taught that the human body is God's great creation and we should never be ashamed of it.

Touring Accra

 Today we should have gone to Shai Hills to see animals, but it was raining hard in the morning and the weather report predicted all day rain.

As usual,  they were wrong😡.

 Unfortunately we never knew they were until later, so we played tourist around Accra.

First we went to the colorful craft market.

Xylophone maker demonstrates his craft 

In the colorful craft market 

Then on to Black Star Square, also known as Independence Square.

At Black Star Square. The round building behind is the stadium.

This is the Kwame Nkrumah memorial

The square was completed in 1961 and it's where the annual independence celebrations as well as other national events and military parades are held.

The black star, (otherwise called the "Lodestar of African Freedom",) became the symbol of Pan Africanism and anti-colonialism in 1957  and was used in the design of the Flag of Ghana.

Then we went to the W.E.B DuBois museum.

I had no idea this outstanding black American intellectual and civil rights activist had moved to Ghana when his passport was seized by the American authorities.

 He lived there from age 92 to his death at age 95.

He was given a home by the government and was highly honored, mainly for his intellectual works which is said to appear in 1800 publications.

His home above, is where the museum is housed.

The street outside also bears his name 

The outside of his museleum 

His robes. He was the first black man to get his PHd at Harvard. He was 28.

Pictures of black female freedom fighters displayed on one wall. Among them is our National  Hero Nanny.

Our knowledgeable tour guide

Then it was back to the hotel where as usual many parties are hosted, mainly on the weekend.

Dining room staff singing happy birthday to a guest.

The ladies below are the ushers for a special shindig.

It's raining!

I have been very happy for a week in Ghana as we had been told it was the rainy season, but we never had a drop.

Well all that changed as we undertook the 4 hour journey to Kakum National Park yesterday, as it rained all the way there, non-stop after we arrived and all the way back!

It was a pleasant outing though.

This park covers approximately 145 sq miles and was the initiative nitiative of the local people

It has a canopy walkway which is over a thousand feet long, rising atop some of the tallest trees I have ever seen.

As one who is unashamedly scared of heights I refused to do more than one of the 6 walkways.☺

The theory is that you can see some Ghanaian wildlife from above, but the animals are smarter than us though, for they stay home on the rainy days, so we saw none.

There is a tree house there for those who want to overnight and try their luck the next day.

 I did see a mad human though.

He had his passport and wallet with money , credit cards id etc in hand while trying to take a picture with his phone.

Then somehow everything fell overboard into the thick forest below. 

 A guide did say he would go down (he marked the spot) and try to find it, but I would be shocked if they found anything under that thick undergrowth.

My daughter, her friend and and my granddaughter loved the canopy walk and did the entire circuit.

Good for them.

They didn't have a sign which says I 'partially' survived the walk, so I was allowed to stand under it anyway.😷

I learned a few interesting things on this trip though. 

1) Most of the trees, foods and plants they have, we have them too. (In Jamaica)

I didn't see any breadfruit though and in describing it, I concluded that they have never seen or heard of ii.

2) They make wine from palm but although am an unapologetic wine drinker, didn't try it and was told I was wise as it was bitter and tasted weird. 

And it explodes if you don't drink it right away!😡

3) They tend to use plantains more like how we use bananas and only use the banana as a fruit. (ripened)

4) Although we Jamaicans imported Anancy from them, they haven't taken scamming to heart wholeheartedly as we have.  So for example, praedial larceny ( stealing farmers' crops) is non-existent.

5) Ghana has no natural disasters. No earthquakes, no hurricanes, no volcanic eruptions. 

All that happens is that sometimes they have a little landslide and some flooding during the rainy season.

We got a great experience in how disciplined they are as drivers. On our return trip there was a landslide that affected our side of the dual carriageway and all drivers simply  turned around and took the lane on the other side of the carriageway. 

No serious boring, no impatience, no honking of horns, no fights, no pulling of weapons, no cursing and swearing at others, no mishaps etc. 

It was an amazingly disciplined operation although there were no police there to maintain order or give directions.

I was  very impressed.