After eating a few too many local dishes (banku & foo foo particularly), the group decided to treat ourselves and have dinner out in Kumasi. We indulged on western cuisine including banana splits - yum! Once we filled our bellies, we decided to get taxis home to Achiase. Street sellers crowded us with paintings and necklaces as we rushed into taxis. Ryan, Heather and I jumped into a taxi and negotiated a reasonable price. Our driver initially did a loop round Kumasi and ended up at the restaurant we had eaten at. At this point I questioned the driver's knowledge of Achiase and offered to get another taxi. He reassured us in broken english that he knew the way. So we set off on a route that didn't look familiar, I started to imagine the worse and made suggestions that we should get out however Ryan assured me that everything was fine and we must be going on the 'back roads'.
Half an hour later I still didn't recognise a thing so insisted we pulled over and ask a local. The first said to carry on into the dark however the second looked very surprised that we were looking for Achiase and directed us back to Kumasi.
I was bursting for the toilet by this point so directed the driver to AfricaWeb (our favourite web cafe). Once we arrived the driver demanded a lot of money for the trip which we refused to pay. We offered a small amount for the petrol but he demanded more even though he hadn't taken us to our destination. We ignored his request and carried on to the internet cafe.
The following hour was spent arguing with the driver who had befriended the banks security guards (who had guns!) to intimidate us. I decided to phone a trotro that we had already used to pick us up. We hopped in when it arrived. The taxi driver also atempted to get in too, so I slammed the door while he leaned through the window. After an upsetting 15minutes I gave the taxi driver more money and finally we were on our way to Achiase. I was so happy to see my Ghanaian family when I returned, for the first time I experienced a really strong feeling that the house I'm living in is home, sweet home.
Making change happen
Platform2 is a unique opportunity for 18-25 year olds from the UK to volunteer in a developing country and then come back and creatively express their experiences in the UK.
