Winshield Wisdom

I traveled to Kumasi this past weekend for a coworker’s wedding. The photos tell a better story than my words could, and so a few are included below. The journey was . . . hair raising. As you leave the Northern Region and travel through Brong-Ahafo, the topography changes – the nearly flat, thickly forested surroundings give way to rolling hills, open fields and impossibly tall palm trees.

Our tro-tro (a small mini-van that should seat eight people, often seats twelve, and is held together with a combination of rope and prayers) definitely had some kind of problem . . . but I’m not the type of engineer who would know exactly what. Each rise was a struggle. The vehicle would start off well, but seemed to lose motivation halfway, and we would crawl over the crest of the hill. The brakes were either nonexistent or ignores – I think the driver wanted to use momentum to get us over the next hill. So we coasted on the downhills – as the hills got higher and the tro tro went faster, my chest got tighter. No seatbelt, of course. Broken speedometer, of course.

I calmed myself by looking out the window at the flying countryside and the passing vehicles. Each of the tro-tros, taxis, and transport trucks that we passed had a short phrase printed on the windscreen. I began, in a shaky hand, to record them in my journal. Some of them are faithful, some are thoughtful, many are obscure – together, they become somehow poetic:

Be Kind
Fairplay & Justice
Oh Africa
Had I Known
Allahu Akbaru
Be Patient
Yes Man
Never Trust Them
Respect
So Good to Be Good
Don’t Ever Forget
Watch Out!
No Jesus No Life
Future Is Unknown
Trust in God
Talk True
The Same People
Still This Boy

And photos from the wedding:

The couple and the wedding party posing for photos

This was an attempt to get a work people photo - you can see the photographer missed some of us!

There was a boy at the wedding who knew it was Canada Day and came all decked out in flags (socks, bandana, everything!) So we took a Ghanaian girl/ Canadian boy photo. Still sideways, sorry.

Saying a blessing for the couple - I managed to take this with my eyes closed and my hand extended to bless them!

The bride's sister is on the left - the couple danced around the courtyard while guests gathered and poured money over them.