Out With Victor

Me and my roomie, Victor, have been getting along great. Unlike most of the students here, he has a car that he shares with his brother who is also a student at the University. Since he’s from Accra and he has a car he decided to show me around town a bit. Before that though, we went to one of his girl friends rooms in Mensah Sarbah Hall to watch a football game on their TV (Chelsea vs. someone). It was a good time and I met some cool people but let me just say I’m glad I don’t live in that dorm. There were 5 girls crammed into a room that was probably half the size of mine. The halls were dark and dirty and almost mazelike. It wasn’t very inviting and I probably would’ve been lost if I wasn’t with someone who knew the way. After that, we went over to some of his guy friends’ room in Akuafo Hall. Again, there were too many people crammed into a small room, but overall the dorm wasn’t too bad. We had a good time of conversation and people asking me questions. Victor and I, along with two of his friends, Kwame and Kikee (sp?), then went into Accra. They showed me some of the sights like the National Theatre, Independence Arch, the U.S. Embassy, the Ocean, a popular nightclub, and some other buildings of interest. It was a fun night but on the way home it got really interesting. There was a temporary police checkpoint set up along the road and the police were making everyone stop and they would look into the car quickly and then usually let the car continue on. For us though, they decided to give us some trouble. They wanted to look at the registration and all of the other documents (which we had and they were all up to date). They still insisted on wasting our time though. They insisted that the car wasn’t registered and so they wouldn’t let us go. The police then said we would need to go to the station. The police car with a few of the police took off and they allowed us to drive to the station, but a police officer (with a huge gun) had to ride in our back seat. We got to the police station and tried to figure everything out, but they still wouldn’t let us go. They said we had to wait for some other officers to get there, so we did. They finally got there and nothing changed. They still weren’t going to let us go. And needless to say, I had to go to the bathroom really, really bad during this ordeal. I felt like my bladder was going to explode. At the police station, I asked if they had a bathroom, and of course the answer was no. Public restrooms are very hard to find. So I ended up having to go in front of the police station where they told me I could go. Luckily, it was a pretty sheltered area, but it isn’t uncommon at all to see people peeing in the gutter right alongside the road. I actually see it all the time. The police officers were actually pretty nice though. We talked a lot and would occasionally ask politely if we could go. Finally after a couple hours of talking they decided that we could leave. So after some handshakes and goodbyes we took off for the University and got back around 2am. This is actually a fairly common occurrence in Ghana. The police are quite corrupt and this is a way that they make some extra cash. We most likely would have been able to leave at any time if we just paid them some money. Police officers here hardly get paid anything, so I guess this is a way they make some extra money. I was also told that they get really bored, so they sometimes do it for the conversation. I think the reason that they chose our car is because I was an American, and in Ghana an American usually equals money. We didn’t pay them anything though which I think is good because it really would have just reinforced the stereotype that they have of Americans. They think that Americans will pay anything and that they are easy targets to take advantage of. Even in the markets, people will try to charge Americans much higher prices, and a lot of them do pay it. Luckily, I’m not stupid, and I know when I’m being ripped off. Overall, it wasn’t a bad night though. I wasn’t ever scared a bit. I thought it was a little humorous and I just thought it might be a long night. Along with it being a really great story, I was also able to practice a little Twi with the officers.