The AFS Gala!

The great thing about traveling without a set itinerary is the ability to change things up at any time, especially when really fun opportunities come about. On Monday, while visiting the Ghana AFS office with the students, the National Director, Kwame, asked if I would be in town for the big gala event on Saturday, celebrating AFS’s 100th year Anniversary. I had planned on being in Togo or Benin by then, but easily reconfigured plans to be back in Accra for Saturday’s events. Very Good Decision.

With my new dress all ready for the big occasion, all I had to do was get from Winneba to Accra, find someone to press the dress, manicure, pedicure, get to the local market to search for a purse and hopefully some shoes to match, and get back to the hotel in time to shower, get ready, hop in a taxi and get to the event on time. Whew! All was actually accomplished, although with a rather whirlwind run through the market (getting there took longer than expected, and I had about 10 minutes to find what I wanted), except for the shoes. My black sandals (a last minute addition to my luggage, actually) would have to do.

I was told the event started at 6:00. Was that 6:00 real time, or Ghana time, I asked Kwame. Ghana time, or GMT as they like to call it, is a time system that would be right at home in most of Central/South America. Say you are meeting your friend at the café at noon. Well, that almost certainly doesn’t mean arrive at noon. Even at 12:30 you may find yourself sitting alone for quite some time. 1:00, 1:30, maybe even 2:00 is perfectly acceptable. (Yes, I’ve found a place for mom to retire to quite happily.) But with formal events, was GMT still in play? Kwame said not really – a western style fashionably late (6:15ish) would be appropriate. So I arrived about that time, to a totally empty venue. The staff was still setting up, and I was the first guest there. Awk-ward. Oh well, I got to meet assorted volunteers, host families and staff members as they arrived.

The event was being held at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, in an open air atrium set with a red carpet, flowers, candles and little twinkling lights. While most of the younger women chose western style dress, or a bit of a mix (western style, but made with Ghanaian style fabric), many of the older (40 and over) women arrived in more traditional African dress. All long dresses, fabulous colors, lots of gold accents, some with big headdresses to match. I was happy with my choice of material and dress style, and I also had some of the dress material made into a simple headband, to have my own spin on the traditional headdress (which I just can’t pull off). Some of the men were also in traditional dress, which varied in style from long dashiki (straight collared tunic worn over pants), to a toga style wrap of kente cloth, and other styles I wasn’t familiar with. AFS President, Vincenzo Morlini, who was the guest of honor, wore a normal western suit. I introduced myself to Mr. Morlini, who started his AFS experience about 50 years ago in no place other than Ohio. (He was hosted just outside Mansfield, which shows placing students in the middle of nowhere is a long time honored AFS tradition.)
The band played a strange assortment of music, quite a bit of it sounded more Jamaican than African to me. I did recognize the Abba classic Fernando at one point during dinner, and of course, a little Paul Simon. People started dancing as dinner ended, and I got pulled onto the dance floor by the little 5 year old host sister of Anouk, one of our Belgian girls here. (The two Americans staying in the Accra area also were at the gala.) I quickly learned that the traditional dutch wax cloth, while really pretty, doesn’t exactly breathe. Soon I felt like I was wearing a full length Hefty bag, and had to get a little air. The night went on with awards to volunteers, speeches by President Morlini (everything sounds funnier when said with an Italian accent), and more dancing. The 9pm ending time converted to about 10:30 GMT, which seemed perfectly appropriate.

Sunday morning I carefully folded my dress (along with the other short dress I had made), put both into one of the vacuum seal bags I brought, and even with that they now pretty much take up all the spare room I had in my backpack. Good thing I packed an extra tote bag for souvenirs!