Sogakope: Visiting the VAM Girls Academy Site

Sunday was a very long day. We woke up at 4am so that we could drive early to Sogakope. Even though it was a 2 hour drive we didn't get there until about 9 because it took a while to leave and we had to stop twice. I learned that most Ghanaians are a very relaxed and often are not worried about getting somewhere fast. This took a little getting used too having grown up in New Jersey and spent a lot of time in New York where everyone is very stressed and always seem to be moving with great urgency.

Accra is a very large and developed city with over 2 million people. There was lots of construction, tall buildings, and traffic everywhere. In contrast the Volta region, which includes Sogakope, is very rural. There are low trees, grassland, and marshes everywhere. Sporadically there are small finished and unfinished buildings near the roads. Sometimes there will be speed bumps on the road with a large cluster of 20-50 buildings that form a village. Sogakope is a large village with maybe a few hundred buildings and a couple thousand people spread out over a large area. Many people and small animals (chickens, goats, dogs) are on or near the street creating a very active and vibrant place. There are also many street vendors selling food, clothes, and even SIM cards for telephones (wifi is not common in Ghana but 3G cell service is pretty reliable, fast, and cheap. I got a SIM card right away at the airport). Cars, motorcycles, bikes, and trucks also share the road. The faster vehicles frequently cross the center line to pass the slower ones. Cars also honk a lot to let others know that they are passing or making a turn. This is very different from the US where honking is uncommon and everyone is expected to be alert naturally. Ghanaians use honking to let people know what they are doing and to be careful.

Visiting the site in Sogakope for the first time was really eye opening. Even though I had seen many photos and looked at Google maps there was a lot to learn. The site is about 20 minutes south of Sogakope on a very large piece of land in the middle of the countryside. There is no village near the site along the road but there is a very small village near the site along the Volta River. I was very surprised there was a village with electric wires there because there didn't seem to be any road to get to the village. This village was definitely the most remote one we saw. The edge of the site along the Volta River was very beautiful, cool, and calm. Our school will be built closer to the road but maybe sometime VAM will build along the river.