A Very Special Well, Pineapples and the School for the Deaf

April 4. Today after breakfast in the concierge lounge, we drive approximately 1 1/2 hours passing through lines of stores and markets. All of these would make great photos, but it’s impossible to take them from the car. I take some intentionally blurry shots to try to convey the sense of passing through, but the are not successful. We stop to photograph another casket shop, his one featuring a large snake and a bird.

We visit our first local village, Okyerekwaa. Before going to the village, Daniel and I meet with the mayor of the village. Actually, she is the mayor of hundreds of small villages. Arriving at the village, we first walk a good distance to the spring where the village got its water before the well.

A large crowd has gathered in the village. The mayor and several other elders speak, expressing great gratitude for the well (but mentioning, as an aside, that they could use some toilets, too. One elder says that he would like a large portrait of me that they’d hang prominently in the town, which he suggests that they rename for us. When the plaque is uncovered, Phoebe learns that the well has been donated (yes, by us) in her honor. She is surprised and a bit overwhelmed. This may rank as one of the high points in a trip that is going to be jam-packed with highlights.

The well was dug by FASUL, an organization headed by Alex Eduful, one of the sons of the late Peter Eduful, the Ghanaian man who spearheaded all of the Kipharts efforts in Ghana and who became our friend. FASUL’s vision is supporting families in deprived communities to increase opportunities for their children’s future. Alex could not accompany us, because he is in England finishing up his PhD, Oxford School of Geography and the Environment. His thesis, on urban geography, is looking at the urban transformation of (a neoliberal) Accra occasioned by the rise of increased foreign investments in shopping malls. But Alex has made sure that the details of our trip are in place, and four FASUL people will be with us on the trip.

We drive next to Mansokwa, a village in which the Kipharts built a school, which the village named for them, The Kiphart Community School. Our arrival creates a huge hubbub, with kids fighting for good positions in photos.

After Mansokwa, we go with Daniel to the Winneba pineapple farm that he runs. The farm was started some five years ago by Daniel’s father, Joe Kwarteng, and our friend, Dick Kiphart, and covers thousands of acres of land.  In addition to pineapples, mangoes are grown on a small part of the land.  We see some of the 100 workers that the farm employs, but because it is afternoon, and very hot, there is not a lot of activity. They are building a new factory on the farm, which is funded by a government grant that they won and which will allow them to produce juice from the pineapples, which will greatly enhance profitability. We drive through the Assin Farm, which is also a part of the pineapple empire that Daniel manages. Altogether, the farms comprise over. acres, producing pineapples that are exported to Europe.

We drive to the Cape Coast School for the Deaf, where we meet the leaders of the school, as protoclo dictates, and then are treated to a dance performance by children from the school.  We are amazed at how the children are able to perform together and in time to the music, despite being unable to hear the music. the drumming, which allows the children to dance together, by feeling the vibrations, is amazing.Susanna Eduful, Alex’s wife, comes to meet us at the Deaf school and brings her two adorable 3-year old twins, Emanuel and Ezekiel, who the leader of the dancers manages to involve in drumming.At the school, we also visit the farm, where the kids are taught skills they can employ after they graduate. Farming is an industry in which being Deaf is not a significant problem.

Phoebe loves the dancing, but says that the highlight for her was communicating with some of the children through the sign she knows.

We drive to our hotel, the Ridge Royal Hotel, and after a very full day, we have drinks with Susanna Eduful, who is a magistrate, and then dinner at the hotel with Daniel. Best spaghetti and meatballs I’ve ever had.