I live in a Carnival.....

I live in a carnival….it has taken me some time to come to this conclusion, but after being in Ghana for 15 months, I have arrived at this fact, living in a carnival means never having a dull day.

 Let me take you through a day at the carnival, in a city or should I say a fair, called Kumasi.  We start in a tro, which is very much like a roller coaster; the bumps, the slides, the fast and slow movements of the tro,   just like you would expect in a coaster, only this coaster is longer and a little less safe at times, but none the less, always exciting and different each time you get in one.  Once off the tro coaster, you land in a place surrounded by people and noise; most of which you can’t understand or make out, but exciting all the same. You walk down a path filled with objects you have never seen before and people trying to call and get you to come and see what they, just like a barker would do:

“HISSSSSSSSSS, You, come, see, Come, many new things to show you”.

So many people are trying to get your attention at the same time that it’s difficult to know where to go and what to see. All the while, people are bumping into you, pushing past you, and calling to each other. As you continue down this path, music of all sorts are pumping out of huge speakers along the way, making you want to cover your ears, it being so loud. You round a corner and run into a man with a microphone and a set of speakers, preaching about something or someone with much vigor and zest.  You dare not stop for fear he would bring you into his web and start to discuss his subject of zealous retribution with you. As you continue your walk, you start to notice all the colors and shapes that you pass by, no two looking the same, and always something to see that is new to you, and as you see those unique features, another one of your senses is being assaulted, your olfactory glands. The smells that waft up to you range from divine to disaster. Many you cannot place, and most you would not want to know where it came from or what it is. Despite all of that, you can still appreciate how quickly the smells come and go, and how rich and exotic some of them are.

You find a booth that interests you and the game begins; you want this, for this price, but the vendor has other plans. His goal is to get as much from you as possible, always with a smile on his face and a lie behind his eyes. With your wits about you, you might win, but not always, sometimes they get the upper hand and you storm away knowing that the next time, you Will win! With all these things going on around you, it’s easy to lose your head and go insane, but if you let it all wash over you on step at a time, you can and will get out alive with more confidence and strength then had when you first arrived at the carnival known as Kumasi.