Independence Day

Today was Ghana's Independence Day - celebrating 55 years of independence from British colonial rule. The whole country has been preparing for weeks, with groups of children all over the country practising the marches in their droves; everywhere I went I saw school children in their blue or green or yellow and brown uniforms, lined up in rows in the school fields, or even in the streets, marching up and down in small careful steps, arms swinging at their sides carrying small colourful hanky's, as they sang songs and recited important statements about Ghana's history, independence and future.

Yesterday there was a real sense of excitement and anticipation in the air, indicated by the level of giddiness of the children around town, and the bustling excited interactions between friends and families. In the evening it was clear preparations had begun as the nightlife here where I live took on a different form, as children and parents hustled and bustled back and forth from the shops and the town singing and whistling and whooping away.

Today we had planned to go to see some of the celebrations down at the local school field where all the local schools were to gather. There was to be marching, presentations, games and fun, and we were really looking forward to the action. The only problem was that we didn't know when this would all begin...so we asked around and the only answer we got was 'when you hear the drumming'. Hmmm...ok, not the type of planning us Brits like to have, but we thought ok let's go with it seeing as we are in Ghana! So John and Bev waited to hear the drumming, and when they did they quickly ushered me over and we took shuttle trips on John's motorbike down to the school fields. There were hundreds of people there - it was packed! And very hot and sweaty. The place had been kitted up with bright orange and black marquees, a VIP area, food sellers, drinks stalls, and hundreds of children were milling about flushed with giddiness and tiredness! We made our way to the back of one of the stands, and tried to squeeze in under the shade to see what was going on.

Unfortunately we discovered that we had in the end arrived too late, so we had missed most of the action. But we did get to see one of the prize draws; what on earth they were having the prize draw for I have no idea but the highlight was that someone won a fridge, woo hoo, and then that was it everyone started packing up to go home.

So we didn't get to see much of the celebrations, and unfortunately I haven't any photo's or film of any of the marching which would have been pretty impressive, but we did get to experience the vibe in the air and it was definitely full of spark, energy, pride and hope for the future which n itself was a nice experience after all.

xxx