Last Tuesday was Ghana's 55th birthday, and so independence day was celebrated in true Ghanaian fashion - by making a lot of noise and doing an awful lot of marching.
Ever since I arrived at VAGIS the students have had to march for hours every day "for practice", and now I've seen what the practice was for. To be honest, the whole thing reminded me a bit of the Highland Games back home - thousands of people gathering in a scabby field and making a lot of noise to celebrate the fact that they aren't English (although in Achiase it wasn't 10 degrees and pouring with rain. Also, there was no bouncy castle). All the locals schools assembled in their best uniforms (apart from Sacred Heart and the boys, who were in Swedru), there were a few announcements, a quick sing through of the national anthem, and then the marching began.
And continued.
For two hours.
It was really quite a military display, not least because Achiase (a town whose only notable attribute is an army training base) has two cadet schools, so there were several groups of young people marching with rather large guns slung over their shoulders. I was asked if I wanted to march alongside my school, but I declined. Somehow the idea of marching on Ghanaian independence day as a representative of their former oppressors didn't really appeal to me. Having said that, even just sitting down I found myself becoming quite the tourist attraction as the only white skin there (I am currently Cerasani-less), and blending in isn't really an option for me here.
Once the marching was over, the whole thing finished off when some rather banged up looking cars drove across the field, at which point the driver of the first car stopped, got out, took out a flamethrower and proceeded to attempt to set his vehicle alight.
Got to admit, I didn't see that one coming.
That's a suggestion for the Highland Games - some of the local bams might be up for volunteering (and some of their cars could be improved with the application of a flamethrower). I'm not sure the local authority would approve though.
ReplyDeleteLove, Dad
No flame throwers here. However, we have seen two guys who have modified their push bikes to become motorbikes. We think that they carry their fuel in rucksacks which are strapped to their fronts...on a par with setting your car alight with a flame thrower?
ReplyDeleteLove Alison & Ewen x
P.S. Excellent improvement on the highland games, you should suggest it to EDC