Teaching and Traveling, Traveling and Teaching

Matt Miles

That is what we do.  We travel to teach and after we are done teaching we travel again. 

John, Madison, and I take a 45-minute hike through a beautiful rain forest twice a week so we can teach in Akakom.  After the lesson we turn right back around and make the return journey home, often experiencing why the area around us is called a “rain forest”.   The green surrounding the trail is breathtaking, crossing the swift current of the river by canoe is an adventure every time, and braving the weather is like an adventure would read in an Earnest Hemmingway novel. 

We also travel to get to the other towns when we accompany the collectors.  Getting to these areas hasn’t proven to be difficult, a quick trotro or taxi ride takes care of that, but the ways that we return are always a surprise.  Depending on the time of day and the town that we find ourselves in determines how our evening will turn out.  Barely catching the last trotro of the evening, a special order taxi thanks to Douglas, or the dreaded unplanned hour or so walk that brings us home through the dark of Africa are a few of many ways that we have made it back to the Abu’s at the end of the day. 

We don’t just travel to do work, our leisurely activities require just as much, if not, more traveling and have been quite the adventure as well.  A trip to Accra and Koforidua have shown us that things don’t move quite as fast as they do in the states.  A simple walk to find the path that we would take to get to Akakom in the future turned out to be an all day ordeal and a great way to break in Jamie and Ross on their first full day in the country.  The roads that look like they have many stories of falling bombs and strategically placed mines from a past war are the only way to get out and have served as a Ghanaian chiropractor whether we have requested treatment or not. 

We are quickly becoming experts about getting around the area.  I may not know the area like the back of my hand quite yet but if you ask me where the nearest donut or Fan-ice salesperson is I can give you GPS-like directions.  Though discouraging at times, our travels are teaching us a lot and the experiences we have had make every pothole and blister worth it.