My Arrival and Accra Airport

The following events occurred on the evening of December 31st 2009.

By now the sun had fully set over the horizon and night had taken hold. I looked out the window in an attempt to see anything on the ground. Initially there was nothing, the suddenly one light, two lights, a cluster of lights, and then an entire city. It was an amazing sight. I could see cars backed up in a traffic jam that extended far into the distance of the night. There were buildings and lots of things going on. I looked in every direction trying to see if I could make anything out. I only knew this was Ghana and I had no idea what to expect next.

We landed safely and after the crew welcomed us to Ghana we came to a stop on the tarmac. The captain informed us we would exit the plane onto stairs and then board buses. Business class would go first followed by the rest of the passengers. Once the plane came to a stop I jumped up and began collecting my things. Another American on board near me who had actually been on my flight from DC to Amsterdam as well, looked at me and said “You ready for the heat?” to which I responded “Sure”.

Just to give you some context, I left Virginia/DC wearing a long sleeve button up shirt and a zip up mock turtleneck jacket thing. I still had them both on as the door of the plane opened in Ghana. I took two steps off the plane and beads of sweat began running down my face. I immediately took off my jacket.

As I walked down the stairs I smiled and took a deep breath. I wanted to smell it all. I don’t know what I expected to smell. I just wanted to smell the air and to feel it run through me. It was my first breath on the continent of Africa. It was amazing. I had made it to Ghana.

We boarded the buses and they took us a short distance to the main terminal. Exited the buses and walked into a building then down a long hallway decorated with Christmas lights as we headed to passport control.

At passport control I was checked by a Ghanaian woman who pointed out that we had the same last name of Anderson. I remember thinking that even if my ancestors came from Ghana I knew their names were not Anderson. But in that moment I felt a connection here.

After passport control I went to the baggage claim to get my luggage. It was here that a young man helped me put one of my bags on a cart and then looked at me and said “Do you have a New Year’s offering for me?” I assumed that meant I had to pay him. I told him I only had American money and he said “That’s fine” so I gave him a $10. I only had a ten and some twenties. That $10 is equal to 14 Ghanaian cedis and 50 pesewes. GH¢14.50. Just to give you some perspective there are times when I can buy a meal of fried chicken and French fries and a 20 oz beer for about 5-6 cedis total. If it is five that means he got at least two meals out of that. I wasn’t worried about it at the time because I had no idea. All I could think about was I AM IN GHANA. As Ephious told me later “He partied well that night”

Next I had to go to customs where a woman went through two of my three bags. Her first question to me was “What do you have?” I must admit I was confused. I was confused primarily because the only things I had were my clothes and personal things. So I answered “My clothes and things.”

Like I said she went through two of my bags. In my opinion the only reason she didn’t go through the third one was because it was big and it was on the cart at a weird angle. It would’ve taken more work and more time for her to go through it, so she released me.

From there I walked down a long corridor that began to open up into an area full of people. Before I could get to an open area a man in a uniform stopped me. He asked for my passport so I gave it to him. He checked it out and then said “Happy New Year. I need a New Year’s offering to let you pass”. All I had at this point were $20’s so I gave him one. Now in my defense this was my first time travelling outside of North America so if all they got me for was $30 bucks total I think I did well. I was also the only person from my flight out there at this point. Business class exited the plan first and went through customs and everything first. I was at the head of the line and the first from my flight to get this far. So I couldn’t look around and see if everyone else was getting the same treatment.

After I paid the man in the uniform I walked into a room full of people waiting for flight arrivals. I didn’t see Ephious so I decided to check outside. I wheeled my bags outside to discover a sea of even more people. There wasn’t much light outside and it was hot so I wheeled my baggage cart back into the airport and found a place off the side to wait for him.

As I watched other passengers come through I was starting to realize I had been taken. I noticed no other passengers were being stopped by the guy in the uniform, but as I said before oh well. I think I did great navigating all of that by myself. Many people were around me as I waited for E. I watched people and I was on alert for anybody else asking for a “New Year’s Offering!” I was going to have an offering for them alright if they did! ;)

After about ten minutes Ephious came through the doors. I waved him down and we hugged. He looked at me surprised and said “How’d you get done so fast?” I told him I was in business class. And then told him about the money I lost. He said he forgot to warn me about that. I didn’t really care though as I’ve already said. At that point it was already gone what was I going to do.

We started to walk out the door with my bags and he told me to wait so he could video tape me coming out of the airport with my bags. I waited until he was ready and then I walked out into the night of Accra. My journey had really started.