FRIDAY 31st JULY 2009 - TRAVELLING TRIALS

Even though, by many standards, I'm reasonably well travelled - I've been to seven or eight islands in the Caribbean; America over ten times; and Europe just as many times - coming to Ghana has been exactly the eye-opening and heart-warming experience I was hoping for.

However, before we get there, let's talk about travelling. It's boring. It's slow. It's monotonous. Reading, writing, listening to music and people-watching may help to pass the time but, even those activities get tiring after a while.

I flew from London to Tripoli, Libya and while waiting for my flight onward to Ghana, I realised a few things:

Firstly, the man dressed as if he were about to perform open heart surgery was NOT playing when handing out forms enquiring about swine flu. I KNOW I was not the only liar who answered 'NO' to the question asking 'Have you recently been near someone who had flu-like symptoms.' Everyone in the UK has been near near someone who has flu-like symptoms! That is the whole problem with swine flu. The witty comment 'You're taking swine flu to Africa!' is not so witty when you have been reading about transatlantic slavery and the way in which mortality rates were ridiculously high because of European or indigenous communities lack of immunity to disease!

Secondly, my daughter is absolutely correct when she says "We're not black, we're brown Daddy!" I taught her the colours and then - if you're blessed like we are - explained that we're 'black' and ummm, it doesn't make sense to her because we are actually varied shades of brown! When she draws those delightful family portraits, she takes the time to select the correct shades of brown for herself, her brother and mommy and daddy. I saw a TRULY black guy in the airport. He was from the Niger delta and his skin was the smoothest and darkest I have ever seen - not a blemish or a variation in shade: perfectly black. From this guy, the colours ranged to the dark brown, brown brown, light dark brown, dark light brown, light light brown, darkish lightish brown and varying brown browns of Arabian peoples! The few pinks stood out and - for a change - they were the minority!

Thirdly, because Tripoli is a hub for connecting flights to other countries within the African continent, it is filled with the sounds of languages. The tannoy would erupt with the sounds of Arabic and then a variety of other languages which, I am ashamed to say, I did not recognise. (There are over 50 languages spoken in Ghana alone. Still, people communicate easily, happily, readily by virtue of the fact that most people speak about three languages and they possess the willingness to communicate with someone even if they do not share a language. More on Ghana and language later.) Sitting in the airport and watching folks do what I am doing, travelling, I realise it is not impossible to work out from context what some of them are saying. When a father turned to his little boy who was lagging and dragging his bag and hollered something: his meaning was clear: "You better pick up that bag and move your behind!"

D