Naadu and the Mastercard dilemma

Saturday, August 14

I arrived back to the guesthouse at 9pm dirty, sweaty, and tired…but what a great day! My day started at 7am (my new self-imposed wakeup time) with breakfast at the restaurant. This time I brought reading material and I think I stayed at least 15 minutes. After a short trip to the internet café, I met up with Naadu, the daughter of the project director here in Ghana. Naadu and I planned to stop briefly at the bank on campus so I could withdraw money before heading to the Arts Center, a local market. Unfortunately, the bank only accepts Visa cards, and since I have a Mastercard, we were directed to the main branch of the bank in the city. After arriving at the branch only to find it closed, we checked out another bank near it, only to find that it too was closed. Given that tomorrow is Sunday (with all banks closed) and I have to pay the guesthouse fee before I leave very early Monday morning, I was starting to get a little worried. At this point, we decided to just go to the Art’s Center and browse since we were pretty close. We hopped on a trotro (a van packed full of sweaty people that acts like a mini bus) and were on our way!

The Art’s Center was such an interesting experience! It is a mix of outdoor and indoor stalls with the vendors beckoning to you to come in and look. Before I even made it near the entrance I had David and Coffee introducing themselves and leading Naadu and I to their stalls. David ended up being quite helpful and showing us to a few different stalls. It seems as though there are a few young men like him that get some sort of commission if they bring in a customer who buys something. Everything was beautifully made, from wooden sculptures of animals and masks to paintings and instruments. I was so glad to have Naadu with me to help bargain- apparently there is a Ghanaian price and a much higher American price! I quickly ran out of the few dollars I had with me and Naadu and I were off to try yet again to find an ATM that would accept my card.

Our next hope was the airport, but we were quickly disappointed as we saw the VISA signs on the airport ATMs, so back to the trotro we went. At this point I was really starting to worry that with nowhere accepting Mastercard and no way for me to get money, this trip could quickly turn sour! Our last hope was the mall (which, by the way, was where I found all the Americans hiding!). After wandering around a bit, we found an ATM with “Mastercard” as one of the tiny options next to the huge VISA sign- thank goodness! I took out more money than I actually need right now, but the relief at being able to access money was so huge!

After dropping a few things back off at the guesthouse, Naadu and I headed back to catch a trotro to the other side of town (by this time Naadu and I are chatting and laughing like old friends!). Naadu dropped me off at a gas station where I waited for a few minutes for Ivy to come and get me. Ivy took me to the house where she lives with her husband’s parents and made me an authentic Ghanaian dinner-yummy! I sat and chatted with Moses’ dad-the Major- and met one of Moses’ brothers, a few nephews and a shy little niece. After dinner we were off to meet Ivy’s family, who lives down the street. Here I learned that I make African babies cry, I thought the other baby earlier in the day was just a fluke, but apparently it’s becoming a theme. American babies love me! They laugh, giggle, and hold out their pudgy little hands. But here, they apparently cry and cling to their mothers…this doesn’t bode well for my research in African infant and maternal nutrition! Tomorrow I am going to buy a bag of toffee at the supermarket…I am so not above bribery!!