Kumasi-Here

A lot of conversations begin with “In Kumasi here,” and so we rarely use one word without the other when referencing the Garden City. Here is a little tour of the neighborhood and beyond. This essay begins with Bob and Camille taking a walk through the neighborhood on August 9th to do some grocery shopping.

F.F. ANTOH STREET

This is the street we walk up to buy Vodaphone internet minutes, MTN phone minutes, pasta and Savannah Dry from Dimples store. And this is the view down the same street from Dimples’ steps towards Dr. J G Wood Lane where we live. Betty’s Pub is the purple building to the right of Dimples. Both businesses are owned by sisters Adwoa and Betty who have an uncanny family resemblance, making its easy to mistake one sister for the other. Mr. Dan, Adwoa’s husband (we call him Mr. Dimples and it’s true, they named the store after his dimples) tells us there were three sisters and they all looked alike but that the third sister died.

DIMPLES

Adwoa waves from behind the Vodaphone/MTN case. Adwoa is the Ghanian day name for a Monday-born girl. Inside you can see that Dimples is well stocked with beverages, biscuits and cleaning supplies.

STREET LIFE WITH CHICKEN

This is a common street scene – chickens pecking through burned rubbish. Bob took this picture a couple of doors down from Betty’s Pub as we made our way North towards the street through Adiebeba which will take us to the produce stands on Melcom Road.

AKOS

Camille’s favorite produce stand is presided over by a very nice lady named Akos, short for Akosua which is the Ghanian day-name for a Sunday born girl. She happily sells us everything from apples to squash and always laughs when Camille leaves her with a big Me da ase peeeee (Thank-you much!) Me da ase is pronounced mi-dah-si.

GETTING IN ON THE ACT

When the street food vendors next door to Akos’ produce saw us snapping pictures, they wanted to get in on the act. Which of course, was fine by us.

UP ON MELCOM ROAD

Heading South now, towards the Melcom we pass a used toy store complete with vigilant dolls. And then we stopped in at Queen’s Way clothing and fabric shop where Salome poses in front of the ladies dresses she sews and sells.

MELCOM CORNER AND MARY’S STORE

At the Melcom corner, we headed East down Maame Serwaah Street towards home. Bob turned and caught this picture of two older women walking companionably up the street, probably to catch a tro tro into the center of town. The Chinese Casino is on the other side of Melcom Road. A few blocks later we find ourselves back on Dr J G Wood Lane. Camille stopped in at Mary’s Store for sugar and onions, just a few doors down from our house.

SLEEPING ON THE JOB

Mattress wars, revisited. Even though both brands of foam mattress are manufactured at the same plant, the marketing of the two major brands is serious business. Bob took these two pictures while out and about with Eric. On the left, a man sleeps in a stand emblazoned with a Latex Foam Ad. On the right, the Ashfoam woman sleeps on the wall with her perky breasts in a position meant to remind us that the longer you sleep on their mattresses, the deeper you sink into your very own foam rut. Take it from us, this is not false advertising. I am sure after we leave Ghana, no one else will be able to fit into the hollows we have made in our foam mattress.

CULTURAL CENTER AND SHADY ACRES

Camille joined Kirsten for a shopping trip at the Cultural Center. They posed next to a trio of giraffes they wished would fit inside their suitcases. Meanwhile, Bob is busy buying water for the house from Ama (Saturday born) and her mother at Shady Acres.