NAWA, Golfing and Life in Ghana

After Dave and I had been in Ghana for a couple of weeks, I attended a meeting of the North American Women’s Association (NAWA). While you would think NAWA would be comprised of women from….well, North America….I was pleasantly surprised to meet women from all over the world. They just want to be involved in something, anything, and NAWA accepts anyone who is willing to pay dues into their organization. While I would have to say that NAWA is primarily a social group of expat women, the group also develops and implements projects that help the less fortunate in the country.

Last year NAWA partnered with another organization to improve the maternity theatre at a local hospital. Ghanaians (and likely most non-Americans) use the term “theatre” in the same way we use “operating” room. The previous theatre was basically ineffective as it was really being used as a storage facility. There were boxes stacked upon each other, filling the area up and leaving very little room for a woman in labor, much less doctors and nurses! NAWA was instrumental in raising funds and providing volunteer labor to remodel the room, and now there is a hygienic and fairly comfortable location in which mothers-to-be can be attended.

Through membership in NAWA I was able to meet the U.S. Ambassador to Ghana, Donald Teitelbaum, his wife, and their daughter. Ambassador Teitelbaum was kind enough host an end-of-the-year NAWA event at his home here in Accra last May. They are very nice people, and are committed to representing the U.S. with dignity and common sense!

While the summer months were quiet in terms of NAWA events, things picked up in September when families returned to the country after their holidays and vacations. I was able to attend a meeting in October, which begins as a social event and always ends with a program. This particular presentation was made by a woman who spoke about maternal and child health in Ghana. She was a former banker in Switzerland who one day felt the need to give back. She went on a 9 month sabbatical from her job to promote a new pre-natal program using cell phones in Ghana.

NAWA members receive weekly emails/newsletters announcing events occurring primarily in the Accra region. Through these communications I have found a group of women who enjoy golfing! We are semi-organized and have been meeting on Wednesdays and Fridays at alternate golf courses.

About six weeks ago I discovered a golf course virtually five minutes from our doorstep. It’s located within Burma Camp, a military base here in Accra. It is just a short nine hole golf course, but it is challenging as the fairways are very narrow. Short and straight is much preferred to hooking and slicing on this course. I have yet to take my own advice! I have golfed the Burma Camp Golf Course three times now, and I’ve yet to come close to my average. All but one of the greens is sand. Expansion for a back nine course is currently in progress, but if it’s like other construction projects in this country, I won’t expect it to be completed before Dave’s assignment is over!! Our golf group meets up at Burma Camp every Wednesday morning.

For those of you reading this from Wyoming, you know that there are times you have to hit around an antelope or two. At Burma Camp you have to watch out for chickens. Yep…chickens. They are usually over in the rough, pecking at the hard ground searching for I don’t know what. Maybe big red ants, as the ant hills are enormous here. Seriously, some of them are probably 20 feet in height and 10 feet around. While I haven’t personally experienced the wrath of the ant bite, I have heard they are extremely painful. I think I’ll continue to golf in my tennis shoes instead of my golf sandals!

Supposedly the Achimota (Ah-chee-moe-tuh) Golf Course is Ghana’s finest, and is where most of the NAWA women meet each Friday for a full round of golf. The downside to Achimota is that it takes me about an hour to get to the course. Michael and I have to drop Dave off at work first, and then fight traffic to get to the other side of town. I wish I could get on the course a bit earlier because by the time we start the back nine it is smoking hot outside! The Achimota course is most definitely nicer than Burma Camp or even the one we played in Takoradi. All of the greens are actually made of grass, which is good!

The women I have been golfing with are, again, from all over the world. Only two of us are from the states. Other ladies I’ve been paired up with are from Sweden, Canada, and Scotland. The only golf carts I’ve seen at any of the courses are those that are being used by the maintenance men. So, walking 18 holes allows for much conversation. I find it so interesting to learn about the way others live, their experiences, their families, and quite often….new places to eat/shop in Accra!!

Kathy is from the U.S. (east coast) and has been married to a man from Denmark for 25 years. They have lived their entire married life overseas, their first assignment having been in Beijing, China when the country was still under communist rule. Her husband worked for a Dutch company that sounds much like Xerox. In Denmark, the first job men receive after their formal education is one whereby they are assigned to a project within their interest (i.e., business, engineering, marketing, health, etc.). Her husband was assigned to some sort of agricultural project initially. After the two year commitment, he was then able to branch out into other areas, which is what took him to New York City and where he and Kathy met.

Lena hails from Sweden and is one of the nicest ladies I’ve met in Accra. She is 56 years old, is your typical blonde Nordic gal, and is very athletic.

She has a beautiful swing, and while she says she can’t hit the golf ball as far as she could when she was younger, she hits it straight and has a great short game. I really enjoy golfing with her as she is so diverse. Today she wanted to discuss the “Occupy New York” happenings that have recently been in the news. She also loved talking about Michael Jackson’s trial as she used to be a nurse and was appalled that Conrad Murray failed to provide Jackson with the most basic emergency care. I discovered that Lena also has a competitive side, which came out today when I beat her for the first time in five outings! She was gracious, but I’m sure she’s planning her revenge on the course next Wednesday!

Jovanna is also from Sweden although she and Lena had never met prior to golfing together. Jovanna (Jo-hah-nuh) is young – I’d guess late 20s – and is just a beginning golfer. With that being said, she is a natural athlete and has taken to the sport quickly. It won’t be long before she is blowing the rest of us out of the water. She was a soccer play in her native Sweden, and up until a couple of years ago played 4-5 times per week. She has two young children so it’s difficult for her to get to the course every week, but she is determined to improve her game. She told me that her husband loves to golf and she wants to get better so they can golf together. I think Dave would agree that golf is an activity that we can enjoy as husband and wife. Also, it’s nice to have some young blood out on the course!

So, as I was golfing today I was thinking about what I would put in my blog today and sort of “soaked up” the sights and sounds around me. Here is what the course looks like through the lens of a Blackberry camera.

One thing I’ve learned through my travels is that things are not always as they seem, so even though this picture might tell you one story, the truth is a bit different. The grass in the fairway is well….just not like grass on courses in the U.S. I guess I would equate it a bit more to crab grass. The dirt is red, much like the dirt in the Moab area in Utah. The sand bunkers are often hard as a rock. There is no rake around, and there is no need for one, as you can’t even see a footprint.

One day while golfing I noticed several men at work. In Ghana they don’t seem to have a use for large equipment. These men were physically digging out a bunker. It had to have been close to 90 degrees on this particular day, and the humidity was somewhere around 90%.

I was just walking and occasionally swinging a club and sweat was pouring down my back. It’s amazing how acclimated locals are to the heat and humidity. While golfing last Sunday, I noticed that the two bunkers had been completed.

As I golfed down the long par 5 on hole #4, I couldn’t help but notice the poverty just on the other side of the fence. Shack upon shack line the barrier between the “haves” and “have nots.” I can hear babies crying, children playing, mothers disciplining, music playing, and people singing. I don’t know exactly where the music is coming from, but I suspect there is a church or two in this area.

In the background I can catch the clucks of the chickens and the cock-a-doodle-doo of the many roosters. (It’s not just for breakfast anymore!) From time to time I’ll hear the bark of a dog. Airplanes fly low overhead and the honking of the traffic on the road is ever present. Men seem to mostly be lying around while the women are working. Sometimes I spy a child taking a “bath” in a bowl full of water. Laundry is strewn from one end of the hole to the other on clotheslines.

As we made our way up hole #5, I turned around and soaked up the view, which is actually quite pretty. These pictures, again, don’t tell the whole story.

Ghana is colorful and the buildings in the background provide a lovely scene of Accra. Some days the smell of burning garbage (or whatever they are burning) is unpleasant, but unless it’s extremely overpowering, my sense of smell appears to have become accustomed to the odors of the country.

The first time I golfed at Achimota, Michael was in a training and so a different Newmont driver drove me to the course. Yao (yow) considers himself a “professional” golfer. He is 30 years old and works fulltime for Newmont. He’s basically given up his dream of moving on professionally; primarily because he can barely afford to golf, much less travel out of the country for tournaments. Anyway, he told me that he would get me a good caddie, and his word was as good as gold.

Gabriel is Yao’s cousin and although he rarely golfs (one time per year) due to the expense, he is so knowledgeable about the game. He provides excellent instruction, and everyone I golf with is jealous! Having a good caddie makes the game so much better, especially if you are having an off day. Gabriel has now caddied for me four times and already knows my habits and abilities. He pushes me to be better. He calls me every Thursday to make sure I’m going to be at the course the following day. And his smile….oh, my gosh, his smile….is to die for! Very nice young man!

And finally, coming up on the 18th hole can be a rather daunting experience as there are vultures everywhere.

Gabriel teases me, saying they are “going to get me” if I don’t hit a good shot. I don’t know why they hang out on the 18th hole, but there must be 50-60 of them scattered about. They are truly the ugliest bird I’ve ever seen.

There are times when I’m out on the golf course in 90℉ sweating like a pig and wonder what I was thinking. But, as the day goes on, the balls drop in the holes, and conversations flow, I realize that this is what I came here for….something different. Golfing in Ghana on challenging courses, soaking up unique sensory experiences, having caddies tend to my every need, and meeting women I would have never otherwise crossed paths with in my lifetime, is most definitely different!