Wednesday is an interesting working day. Kwamina wants to report on the state of the Oguaa Fosu Lagoon. It is a filthy lagoon and there have been reports on poisoned water and that the fish is affected, too. Following the road from Cape Coast to Elmina, we stop at the bridge and I get out to take first shots of the lagoon. It is the shallow lagoon we saw from the football stadium. The banks are muddy and spotted with rubbish. I see fishermen wading through the water further up the lagoon. We continue our ride and approach the water from a different side, where the fishermen are working. At first, they are skeptical. The fishermen found that people with cameras do not bring good results. Last time, they spread the news that their fish is poisoned. Kwamina leads the discussion and reassures them, that we want to help and have no bad intentions. Some are willing to talk now. We even find a man who is confident enough to express his opinion in English. For the rest, Kwamina has to translate. They say that their fish is not poisoned. They eat it every day and their health is not affected. However, the lagoon needs to be dredged, they plead. It is filthy, shallow and the stock is decreasing. They catch less and less fish. It is not a bad life, though. One of them tells us proudly, that one of his sons attends university and the other one Senior High School. It must be a hard life, nevertheless. Standing in the water for hours and hours, and the haul is meager. At least, the money is not too bad, as the fish, a delicacy still, is expensive on the markets. Just caught in the lagoon, the fish is directly gutted by the women. They sit together in a group, bent over large bowls with simple knives in their hands. They look at us suspiciously, but when an old woman allows Kwamina to record her voice, they all let us proceed. Kwamina is good in this, he makes them trust him and gets them to talk. He always finds the right tone to address people. We let him talk, throw in some questions, and I take my shots. Having seen this and having heard the fishermen’s opinion, we need to get a different point of view. The next stop is EPA, the Environmental Protection Agency, that I worked with in Tamale. The director is the first person we talk to, but he is new, knows nothing about the lagoon and forwards us to his colleagues. Kwamina introduces us as his international colleagues who very much want to find out about this Fosu lagoon. It would be a great tourist attraction, but yet, the site is neglected. We exchange glances. It is always interesting to hear how our editor introduces us. The officers are not very eager to give any information about the lagoon. They did research on the water there and found that it was not standard. About the fish, they don’t know anything. Neither do they know anything about plans to clean the lagoon or similar projects. The government is responsible, not EPA. We should talk to them.
We do so the very next day. Kwamina arranged a farewell with the mayor of Cape Coast, Anthony Egyir Aikins. It is a little bit awkward. We saw him a number of times and reported on his speeches at events that we attended. However, we never really met him before and now he is supposed to thank us for our work. We wait more than two hours for this encounter. The mayor is in a meeting and we know very well that his speeches are usually lengthy. So we wait. When he comes, we are asked to enter his personal bureau. It is quite big and richly furnished. Air-conditioned, of course. Quite impressive. We have a conversation about media in Ghana and Germany, about the experiences we made during our time with Central Press and in Central Region in general. As Felix has to write the story about the lagoon, he questions the mayor about this issue, receiving only little new information. Kerstin asks the mayor about Cape Coast in general. How will it change in the next five years? ‘I want to see Cape Coast as a model city.‘ He has big plans, but his statements are rather vague. All in all, the conversation is over after nothing more than 20 minutes. Two other gentlemen are already waiting at a long table in the back of the room. ‘Thank you very much for your precious time. We are grateful indeed and appreciate it.’ That was all work for the day.
In the evening, I am invited for dinner at Molly’s house, where Anna, the German volunteer, lives. They are having pizza. It is not like the pizza at home, but the first pizza I eat since I left Germany and it gives me a taste of how it is going to be when I am back there in two weeks. In contrast to that, from there I go to Oasis where I meet Sarah. This is a setting I won’t have in Germany. We all sit together around one of the tables far away from the beach. It is chilly today, it is even drizzling a little bit. Apart from me and Sarah, there are two other girls who work for a different organization and three Ghanaian guys. I thought, Sarah would be there with more of our group because they were having dinner at the Castle Restaurant. This constellation is maybe even nicer. The other volunteers indeed come later, but we stay where we are. I don’t talk much and rather listen to the others. The girls are in Ghana for a year. I don’t know whether I should be jealous of them. One of the guys is Kobi, who works at Elijah’s shop. It is the first time, I really meet him knowing his name. He sold me the drum the other day and made Catherine blush by proposing to her for fun. Back then, I didn’t know his name. Now I find out, that he and some other guys were in Busua when Sarah went there. That is how they got to know each other. The second Ghanaian guy is Africa. I talked to him before and found out that he knows James. So many here seem to know James. ‘Because he is a nice guy.’ I can’t really imagine him here, though. I am tired and cold. As soon as the rain weakens, Sarah and I go home.
I am still tired on Friday, even though all we do is office work. I don’t know what is going on. There is a party in the evening and Sarah and I decide to go. We have to do something. As we have enough time after dinner, we watch a movie on her laptop first, like we did on Wednesday. 28 days later. The title sounds good. The movie is horrible. Having seen it, I am too scared to go outside, I am too scared to sleep. All we do now is wait until it is time to go. I lie on my bed, resting. When I wake up, it is 9:30 pm. Both of us fell asleep. We are not going anywhere tonight.
