Eid celebrations and the last supper

Here's the latest blog from Cheshire Fire Cadets who are out in Ghana, Africa. This blog has been written by Sue Cleaver.

Eid celebrations

After two wonderful days on the Cape Coast, we departed for our final night in Accra. On the way through Cape Coast we were amazed at the amount of traffic for a Thursday morning and one of our leaders suggested that it was like the school run in Widnes!

On closer investigation we realised that today was the festival of Eid, which celebrates the end of Ramadan, so those of the Islamic faith, were going towards the open air mosque at Cape Coast to offer prayers. When we passed the celebration location there were hundreds in an open air arena.

Coffins

A further hour into our journey, we stopped to see another of Ghana’s wonders, in the south of the country, it is custom to have coffins made that represent the job you did, we saw coffins in the shapes of fish, snakes, drinks cans and were shown a picture of fire engine coffin. All of these are made by hand by basic tools, but the apprentices are very proud of the work they do.

FuFu

On the arrival into Accra, cadets were invited to go to a local Ghanian fast food joint know as a chop shop. There they saw Fufu being made, this entails peeling casava, a root vegetable, boiling it and then putting it in something akin into a large bowl and pounding it till it formed a smooth paste, this can take two people up to two hours to do. The cadets ate FuFu, with a sauce containing meet from Grass Cutter (a rodent) this is a delicacy here in Ghana. Most enjoyed some found it too spicy, but an experience they may never have again.

Last supper

We arrived in our last hotel in Prampram at around 15:30, where we have all enjoyed some pool time and had our last supper as a team. After supper Kevin was presented with a Ghanaian flag, signed by the whole team as a reminder of this, his fifth project to Ghana.

All cadets and leaders have talked about the amazing two weeks we have all experienced, and we will all leave tomorrow, looking forward to going home, but with heavy hearts and having to leave Africa.

Tomorrow, after a late breakfast, we are touring the old colonial area of Accra, visiting Fire Services HQ and doing our last minute shopping at the craft market, before leaving tomorrow night.