Christmas is completely different

I hope everyone had a harmonious and satisfactory Christmas. One or the other probably ate too much and maybe there weren't really great gifts. But at Christmas the most important presents are not under the tree but sitting around the table.

For me, Christmas was completely different. Without the family, high temperatures, no decorating Christmas trees and no big dinner.

We volunteers couldn't quite agree on the plans. The young vegetables were into partying and the older group, including me, didn't want to do exactly that. After a little research, I found a costume festival that takes place in Sekondi-Takoradi over the Christmas holidays. This is the third largest city in Ghana and is located relatively far west on the coast.

So that we could get into the Christmas spirit despite the warm temperatures and the lack of Christmas trees, we attended a church service with a Christmas concert at the neighboring school. It was a very impressive atmosphere, the children were all dressed in white and it was like a beehive. Unfortunately I can't upload videos to the blog, but I got goosebumps when everyone danced like crazy and sang a well-known Christmas song. Afterwards there were Christmas presents in advance. It was weighted and everyone received a gift from someone. I was very happy about my gift because it was made of beautiful fabric that you can take to one of the countless seamstresses for clothes, bags, etc.

Since Christmas here only starts on December 25th. is celebrated, the three of us went on December 24th. on the way to the coast. Since Ghana doesn't have a railway and our village isn't connected to the bus system, we made our way to our destination by taxi, trotro and a lot of questioning. We even covered the distance in record time, which means it “only” took us 8 hours to cover 360 km. Unfortunately, I had a bit of bad luck with the person sitting next to me as I had to give up at least 40% of my seat to her.

The temperatures are significantly warmer than at our house. Due to the significantly higher humidity, everything feels very oppressive and significantly warmer. But the sea and the beach definitely make up for it. Our biggest problem here was clearly the lack of information. Nobody can say when, where and how this street festival takes place. The hotel employee told us that the festival was over before Christmas, the next one said it would be on December 25th. starting at 12 p.m., again at 2 p.m. and the last one on December 26th. at 11 o'clock. The locals don't have it with punctuality anyway, but how they can organize such a big event or schedule is a complete mystery to me. So we spent a lot of time waiting and walked back and forth too often between the hotel and the city center. But in the end we were rewarded on both days. The costumes, the music, the colors and the mood are very difficult to describe. It was all breathtaking together. In order to convey at least a fraction of the atmosphere, I loaded a video into an online folder. You are welcome to take a look here: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/12j9R1G0L16TCLjbcDp-pWtNLm36SOxWd

Despite the hardships of travel, the heat and the disorganization, it was an impressive experience and definitely a Christmas to remember. I even made it onto local television with an interview. After all, you have to show diversity.

Now there are only a few days left this year. I'll work on the farm for a few more days and then the New Year will be just around the corner. As always, I'll keep you updated and wish everyone a happy new year!

All love

Veronica