Ghana's Independence Day

Today was Independence Day for Ghana. 55 years ago today, Kwame Nkrumah declared that Ghana would be "free forever" from British rule. Besides a few businesses being closed (our office being one of them), life pretty much carried on as usual. Seeing that we had a free day, our friends invited us to play with them in a golf tournament with a few interesting twists: players could only use 3 clubs - any 3 clubs and NO trading.



We thought we would form our own "Girls Team": Anne, Jane, Gladys, me, but then we found out there could only be 3 on a team. Gladys politely said she would play with her husband, leaving the 3 of us to find our way around 18 holes with the help of our caddies.



I chose a 3-wood, 7-iron, and pitching wedge. The major problem was trying to putt, and we found the driver had the flattest face, so it was the best choice. (I made this putt, by the way!)



David was playing across the fairway from us, and I was so impressed that he was walking with hardly any limp. We've been working very hard on strengthening his knee.



The good news was that we didn't have to carry our own 3 clubs! Everyone had a personal caddy - and these young guys were good! My 15-year-old caddy's older brother is a professional golfer, so this kid knew the game. The bad news was that we walked the whole course - there are NO golf carts. The temperature was in the 90's, and the humidity had to be the same. We could hardly move by the time we reached the last hole, but lunch was prepared for us: pig and lamb on a spit.



I still haven't tasted this...fufu. It is a staple of West Africa; people love this. It's made by boiling a starchy root in water, then pounding it forever into a thick paste with a mortar and pestle.



The buffet was Ghanaian food: a soup (David told me later is was Goat Soup. Euww - I ate it. But just the broth), rice, chicken, vegetables, and salmon rolls. It was very good, but the best thing was having 6 glasses of water.



This is our group: Lee Curtis, Gladys Sitati, Joseph Sitati, Marty Slater, David, Jane Curtis, me, Richard Smith, and Ann Smith. We are the only missionary couple; the others are either church employees or authorities. Great, great people!



The goal: a trophy. Gladys made a very good move, leaving our group. When we started out with our caddies, they assured us it was fine if they kept score for us, since we didn't really want to do it. Wrong. All 3 of us: Jane, Ann, and me were DQ'd for not keeping the score ourselves. Hmp.



Cuties. Gladys came in 2nd for the women, and her husband came in 3rd for the men. We had a great Independence Day; the price was right, 20 Ghana cedis per person - about $15 U.S., which included lunch, and we were with darling people. It's good to mix up our experiences with student responsibilities and service with a little bit of social recreation!