The Return to the Homeland: My first trip to Ghana

The year was 1996, in the middle of July to be exact, I was 7 years old when my parents

came to the decision that us, as a family, needed to take a trip to where they were from, Ghana.

Kumasi, Ghana to be exact, so off we went to visit for 2 weeks. My family consisting of my

mom, dad, younger sister, Jennifer, who was 6 years old at the time and younger brother, Chris,

who was 1 years old, hopped on a plane, and headed to Ghana as a vacation and as a reunion

with family for my parents and an introduction to family for my siblings and I. For myself, as

well as my sister and brother, we were getting on an airplane for the first time and going to

another country for the first time. I remember being both excited and nervous. My Dad and Mom

found our seats on the plane and after a few minutes of waiting for all the passengers to board,

we took flight.

This is how the inside of the plane looked as we boarded. It was full of people, which didn’t help

my nervousness about flying at all.

Above is a map showing the distance between O’Hare Airport and where I eventually landed at,

Kumasi International Airport. I felt was every bit of the 16 hours 30 minutes it takes to get to

Ghana as I experienced my ears popping from the altitude of flying for the first time, to not being

used to sitting in one spot for a long period of time, to the food service not being up to par with a

seven-year old’s picky standards, I was relieved when we finally landed.

When we landed at the airport it was evening time, pitch-black outside and everyone was

tired from the long flight. Luckily our ride to my aunt’s house was already at the airport when we

got there, so we greeted her, got in her car, and began the hour-drive to her house. Being as

though I was so young, as soon as I got in her car, I fell asleep only to wake up when we arrived

at her house, then immediately fall back to sleep once inside. By the time I woke up, it was early

afternoon in Ghana, and I, along with my siblings, Jennifer, and Chris, were hungry so we went

downstairs to eat breakfast, but to my dismay, it was not our usual cereal or oatmeal or eggs but

traditional Ghanaian dishes that I rarely ate in America. I didn’t like Ghanaian food but I was

really hungry, so I begrudgingly ate along with my family and got introduced to cousins, and my
aunt on my mom’s side, who I had just met for the first time when she picked us up from the

airport.

On the left is fufu, which is made from cassava flour and plantains that is pounded into a paste

and rolled into a ball shape. It’s eaten with and soup and meat. On the right is plantains and dried

fish in palm oil.

We finished eating and my mom took Jennifer, Chris, and I out to see Accra, Ghana, which is the

capitol of Ghana, for the first time.

When my mom told to us we were going to Accra, she described it as the downtown of

Ghana and I was excited to see it for the first time, as my mind imagined all the different ways it

would be. She told us we would take a bus, called a Tro -tro, to get there. What she failed to

mention is how far Kumasi is from Accra, about 5 hours, and in Africa, in the middle of July,

words couldn’t capture how hot and humid it was outside, with the sun shining brighter than I

had ever seen it shine in America. We walked about a mile to the bus stop and waited there for

about 20 minutes before it came. I was used to getting on buses back home in Chicago on the

CTA, but this was more like an extended minivan.

It was full of passengers near capacity, no a/c, with all the windows open and my mom had to sit

Chris on her lap in a seat, while Jennifer and I sat behind them. At this time, I had a cassette tape

player that I would listen to music on, and my favorite artists at the time was Tupac Shakur,

Notorious B.I.G., and Coolio. I listened to all three of the tapes I had with me the whole way to

Accra, bopping my head, my sister played with her sunglasses and read a book. When we finally

got to Accra, it was still daylight, and the town was full of people. It seemed like everyone was

either selling something or buying something, as there were mini-stores and markets everywhere

I turned. Anything from food, clothes, jewelry, music, and the list goes on was being bought and

sold. The smell of the food and the street was something I will never forget. It was an array of

scents that was both pleasant and foreign to me and had a natural aura to it that was distinct. I

was in a flea market on steroids, which was new to me, as I had never seen anything like that

before.
As we made our way through the crowd of people, I looked in amazement, trying to take in

everything that was going on around me while trying not to get separated from the rest of my

family in the process. My mom pointed out the different shops we saw and bought clothes,

Ghanaian snacks, and souvenirs as we went. We stayed for a couple hours then took a tro-tro

back to Kumasi. By the time we got back, it was pitch-black, and we went inside the house, ate,

and went to sleep anticipating another day of adventure tomorrow.

The next day was Sunday, and that meant we were going to church and so off we went.

Dressed in my favorite shirt, jean shorts, and some sunglasses, I arrived at church with family,

and we stayed for about an hour. The whole time we were there, all the kids in the church stared

at me and my siblings and I wondered why. I asked my mom why they were staring, and she told

me it was because they thought we were American and were confused as to why we were there.

As we were leaving, a large group of kids surrounded us like we were celebrities and came up to

us admiring our clothes and sunglasses. Although there was a language barrier because my
siblings and I didn’t speak the native language, Twi, we communicated non-verbally and laughed

and played with the other kids for 20-30 minutes while my parents socialized with the other

church patrons.

As the days passed, I got to know my cousins and aunt more, I met some childhood

friends of both my parents, and they began to teach me how to speak Twi and show me pictures

from their childhood. They spoke to me about both my parents’ dads who passed before I was

born. My mother’s dad about how he was a savvy businessman in Ghana, who owned several

properties in Kumasi, and they showed me photos of him and talked about how much my little

brother looked like him. My dad’s father was of royal descent from a tribe called the Ashanti

tribe. They also spoke about my grandmas, who also both passed before I was born. My mom’s
mother, who they described as caring and funny and my father’s mother who was stern but also

gentle. They told me about all the traditions and customs that Ghanaians followed such as never

shaking someone’s hand with your left hand, how sharing everything including food with family

was the norm, celebrating birthdays wasn’t a norm, and how important respecting elders was in

Ghana. I had heard some of these things from my parents, but it really sunk in when my cousins

showed me how much it meant to them.

The longer we stayed in Ghana, the more my appreciation of Ghana and the way of life

grew. When it was time to leave, not only did I get to know family I didn’t know, but I also

learned about my parents upbringing and culture and it put into perspective why they were the

way they were and gave my siblings and I a sense of pride to know our families history. The

country of Ghana grew on me, to the point that I didn’t want to leave when it was time. The time

spent made me want to explore the possibilities of Ghana. But at last as they say, all good things

come to an end, and so when it was time to leave, we said our goodbyes to my aunt and cousins

and headed back to America, with experiences I could tell my friends back home.
 Works Cited

Plane Photo
https://www.travelingmom.com/germs-on-an-airplane/
Google Map Photo
https://www.google.com/maps/dir/41.6237282,-88.1363742/
Kumasi+International+Airport+new+terminal,+PC74%2BQXR,+Kumasi,+Ghana/
@19.4256012,-83.4102983,3z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m9!4m8!1m1!4e1!1m5!1m1!
1s0xfdb9561c430eb75:0x8f22232af02139d4!2m2!1d-1.5943003!2d6.7135407
Fufu Picture
https://newsghana.com.gh/price-of-fufu-goes-up-in-kumasi/
Plantain and Fish with Palm Oil
https://www.expedia.ca/things-to-do/kumasi-market-tour-traditional-cooking-
class.a2292835.activity-details?endDate=2022-03-12&location=Kumasi%2C%20Ashanti
%20Region%2C%20Ghana&pwaDialog=&rid=1863&startDate=2022-02-26

Tro-tro Photos
https://www.graphic.com.gh/features/opinion/ghana-news-a-difficult-trotro-experience.html
https://theculturetrip.com/africa/ghana/articles/how-to-travel-on-tro-tros-in-accra/

Accra, Ghana Photos

https://www.heremagazine.com/articles/accra-ghana-weekend-guide
https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g293797-d478881-Reviews-Makola_Market-
Accra_Greater_Accra.html

Ghana Kids
https://www.cefonline.com/big-picture/ghana/