Travel tales

I have been traveling the Accra-Kumasi route on an almost monthly basis for the past year. ? Its that time of life, when children dictate the cities we spend time in.? Its the way life goes.? It’s been a blessing to watch them grow, and a privilege to back them as they push along the path that life gives them.

Going to Kumasi from Accra by road repeatedly recently has revealed nuggets I did not expect. ? I was born in Kumasi, but have lived in Accra all my life.? Family events have always taken me in that direction, so the Asante and Central regions have never been foreign to me.? But maybe its the repeated travel, along this route, and the fact that it takes 3 times longer than it should take, maybe what has inspired new perspectives.

Its 270 km from Accra to Kumasi.? It takes an average of 6 hours to do that distance. For me.? I have driven in countries where it takes less than 3 hours to do this same distance.? Some are richer than Ghana, others are actually poorer.? Every time I have traveled the distance, I have expected it to be slower, but things are getting worse.? I really hope that they are getting worse so that they can get better.? In the last 3 months however, it has been much worse than ever.

The trip starts with a ‘disaster’ zone.? Its artificial harmattan over a one hour stretch of heart-in-the mouth driving with visibility of 10m at best.? This is where the road is being built, just before what was touted as the most advanced interchange in West Africa. That this beautiful interchange is now left as a half-lit island of labyrinthine concrete channels in a sea of red gullies and dust clouds makes one wonder about the planning.? Did we really spend all that money on this serpentine concrete behemoth, when we knew that we would disconnect it from the access before and after it?? Its lighted beauty, previously touted on brochures and TV, lies huddled under a dense blanket of dust.? Those who live, work and visit this area, are back to using masks. Driving through the haze, I was reminded of days past, when masks were indispensable wear.? They are survival gear here.

Suddenly after about an hour of this hazy beginning, the sky suddenly clears, and the beautiful green rolling hills of weatherbeaten rainforest,? straddle the intermittently potholed black road.? The next 45 minutes go quickly,? because it is a dual carriage with what is usually open road.? The big trucks trundle in the outer lane safely out of the way.? The buses and cars have enough road to make up for all the wasted years in the 1st section of the journey.? Then as abruptly as it starts, it ends.? It is no longer dual carriage.? Now every one shares the same strip of black for the next few hours. When one is not overtaking the cross-continental trucks carrying everything from wood to bicycles, one is meandering through potholes.? These are deep, well established road scars which have had nothing done to heal them.? In some sections of road, there are cosmetic attempts… just skin-deep attempts to ‘black-wash’ road sins with bitumen which will only last a few weeks.

I have always had hope in the Ghanaian humanity, but on the Kumasi road, sometimes this hope is wrested violently away.? It is on this road where I have seen people use cars in the most selfish way.? If the driving habits on the? Kumasi road were a? true reflection of Ghanaian personality there would be very few great people to meet on a daily basis.? However I continue to meet fantastic people, so maybe, its just that the road brings out the worst in us.? People overtake with no consideration for oncoming traffic.? People obstruct slow traffic to buy plantain chips.? Trucks park in open road with no safety triangles, for repairs. Minibuses travel 100s of kilometres with just a rope holding the doors behind.

Inspiring for me, are the people who travel this road on almost daily basis.? Drivers who wake up early in the morning and come back late at night.? Market women following the call to duty of feeding the nation.? Truckers making sure that the goods get delivered.? Somehow, making things work, in spite of all the trials of the Accra Kumasi Road.

This persistence is the real humanity.