Tuesday, July 16, Nzulezu, Ghana

            I had a terrific canoe trip today to the stilt village of Nzulezu. A guide polled and paddled me for almost an hour to get to this lakefront habitation.

We set out from the canoe harbor.

The trip itself was so beautiful and serene that I was in awe throughout. We began from the main, dirt road that fronts my resort. We walked over a rickety wood bridge to the canoe harbor at the base of a newly-dug canal. From there we boated through grassland and into a jungle filled mostly with raffia palms. After about 30 minutes we came to the lake.

            The village is on the west side of the lake and consists of about 40 buildings, I’d estimate. Population is about 1,000 folks. Luckily school was still in session. Tomorrow they begin summer vacation. The teacher I met looked haggard from grading final examinations of her kindergartners and first graders. Like most of the schools I’ve visited on my travels supplies are an issue. Each classroom has one textbook, for the teacher. Each of the four classrooms had a blackboard and some simple desks for the kids. Classes were 15 or so for each grade level.

An Nzuzelu classroom. The blackboard is behind me.

            The village is undergoing two transformative changes. A year ago they got electricity for the first time. With power comes….TV. Many of the women of the village were watching a soap opera when we arrived. I’m speculating that having electric lights and television has done much to change the mores and habits of the inhabitants. I’ll bet the men of the village aren’t terribly happy to see their women diverted from home tasks to check out the developments in their version of “As the World Turns”.

            The other big change is still in process. Oil. Ghana Oil Company is building a platform out at sea directly south of here. I saw lots of construction going on during my journey here from Takoradi. Soon there will be lot of engineers and oil workers in this region. What effect that will have on local life is difficult to predict. If Ghana ends up like Nigeria then this area will probably suffer greatly. Everywhere I’ve gone I’ve made an effort to quiz locals on what they think of the coming oil boom. No one had a firm answer. All hope that the wealth trickles down. If it does I suppose many youngsters from the stick village of Nzulezu will drift off eastward to find more income than they can get from their own native fisheries.

            I also visited the local fort, Fort Apollonia, built by the British in the 18^th century. It’s small but well preserved mostly because Kwame Nkrumah grew up around here. He took a personal interest in its preservation.

            Tomorrow I go to Cote D’Ivoire. I’m worried about the money exchange, about the possibility of having to bribe border guards, and the cost of getting from the border to Abidjan, nearly 100 km. distant. By the time I find Internet service I’ll likely already be in Cote D’Ivoire.