The Obruni treks to Lady Volta

My Trusty Ghana Guidebook and I have become very close; so close in fact that I now refer to it as TG2.  TG2 freely admits that "there's not much notable to see in Ho." One of the two places recommended is Lady Volta, a shop affiliated with Village Exchange International Ghana.  Village Exchange is an NGO which works in partnership with Global Mamas to help improve the lives of women in poverty by teaching them new skills, or upgrading their skills in batik and beadwork so that their products are good enough to sell.

The map of Ho in TG2 shows my hotel and Lady Volta. Excellent!  Just down the road and to the left. So while I could have taken a taxi for 40 pecawas, I thought I'd just walk and "meet the people" along the way. How long could it take?  How far could it be? Besides the meet the people factor, I have mostly been driven everywhere in Ghana and felt the walk would do me good. An able-bodied obruni I am.

So off I went.

Beautiful downtown Ho

It was a nice walk, though hot.  The clouds and rain of the last 2 days have given way to sunny and humid conditions. It was also market day in Ho, so the sidewalk-less streets were jammed. I missed the "left" (what passes for a road in Ghana is amazing...). Fortunately when I reached the "T" junction, I knew I had gone too far (thanks to TG2 which, of course, I am studying while walking with a Voltic bottled water like a stereotypical obruni tourist).

I doubled back, found the correct road and made my way to Lady Volta, which was easy to find because TG2 smartly noted it was on the ground level of a building, and there aren't that many multi-level buildings around Ho. And it had a sign, that told you exactly what it was -- and that's not exactly common either. In fact, the streets here do not have names, nor do the ones in Wa.

Lady Volta is a nicely painted, cheerful place with a salesperson named Gift Odoku.  Gift was very helpful in explaining the different beads, where they come from, how they're made and, in some cases, their meaning.  So for example, says Gift, if you are buying for someone who has a good heart, you buy the oblong blue beads which signify "power of heart" and if you buy for someone who is close to you, you buy something with a certain pattern of beads close together and then you each where it.  It was mesmerizing to hear her talk about this.  And I don't believe she was trying to talk me into buying two of everything!

Of course, I was mesmerized until, out of the corner of my left eye, I spotted the thing that knew I could not leave Ghana without...a CARVED TURTLE.  Many of you know that I collect turtles. I buy one wherever I go, and I ask others to buy them if they're going somewhere exotic.  So, thanks to Kevin, I have a turtle from China. And thanks to Andy, I have a turtle from Brazil. And thanks to Candy, I have one from the Dominican Republic. And thanks to Patrick, I have a turtle from Florida who incidentally has 3 fins. And now I have my fairly-traded turtle from Ghana.


Gift writes up my order at Lady Volta

Contrary to what some of you may think, the turtle was NOT the real reason for this trip.