Goodbye to Ghana

September is all a bit of a blur. Leaving became very real once my flight details were confirmed and I started making arrangements to be met at Heathrow and to see family and friends in the UK once I was back.

My leaving dates were arranged so that I had a few days to hand things over to Hazel in person so I spent time at the office before she arrived trying to ensure that what I was leaving in my desk and on the computer was relatively well organized. Cherith and I kept really busy by helping out with putting single spine salary information on to the computer and as soon as they arrived we started to do some initial analysis of the BECE exam results.

In the week before I left Zebilla I could feel a change in the weather as the rainy season started to draw to an end. Ayuba brought us round some maize as his family had started harvesting. The crops were tall and everything was lush and green as I remembered it being when I first arrived. Full circle. I was very aware that I was doing many things and going to many places for the last time.

And so many goodbyes. A small party at the house with friends from Zebilla. Strange without Ellie (still in Accra with her ‘sore waist’),Tony (in the UK on holiday) and Stephen (in Accra meeting the new volunteers) but very enjoyable. The pizza was a triumph and Cherith’s yam balls passed muster with Sophia! Then a sitting at work where there were speeches, minerals and kebabs, I was presented with some cloth and at the end Gilberta, Madame Ladi and Madame Cecilia sang lots of goodbye songs. And finally a party in Bolga, kindly hosted by Jillian and Jason, so that I could say farewell to fellow Upper East volunteers. In between the ‘events’ there were lots of goodbyes to individuals too. I found myself coping by taking it all one day at a time and being in denial about actually leaving.

I was very glad to have company on the journey from Bolga to Accra. Jillian and Satchin were travelling as far as Kumasi and Sophia was going all the way to Accra to meet Tony who was returning from the UK. There were a few nearly tearful goodbyes at the OA station and then I was on my way south for the last time. Just to see me off in style the bus broke down and we ended up passing a few hours sitting on the edge of the road (literally) in the dark while we waited for a replacement bus to arrive. We eventually got to Accra at about 7.30am.

In Accra Sophia and I had breakfast (real coffee and pastries – a different world from the Upper East as long as you have some money) and later on met up with Ellie for lunch. We spent the afternoon with Ellie, visiting her Accra house, and then I got a tro tro back to the hotel to meet Stephen for yet another goodbye. On the Monday I braved the Accra tro tros again and met Tony and Sophia for breakfast and said goodbye to them and Ellie as they all headed back north. Then it was back to the hotel to check out and off to the VSO office for my exit interview. More goodbyes, including to Cam, another volunteer, who was also leaving but going on to another placement.

Then everything that needed doing was done and once at the airport I really just wanted to get on the plane and get going. Everything went to time and the flight was smooth. A meal, a movie and a nap and we were on our way down to land at Heathrow. I was quite quickly through to Arrivals but couldn’t see Emma. Once we located each other she exclaimed that I was ‘’skinny’’. Then the drive home with a stop at a motorway station with an M&S to collect a sandwich for breakfast. Everything familiar but somehow unreal.
Lots of adjusting to do in the next few weeks.