Barack Obama

People back home may not be aware, but Barack Obama is currently taking part in his first visit to the African continent, deciding to start off in Ghana. Before coming to Ghana, I was not aware that Obama would be anywhere close to Ghana, however, it didn’t take me long to find out. In the big cities you would see giant posters of Obama and the president of Ghana, and Ghanaians would be wearing Obama shirts, Obama pins, and anything else Obama that they could get their hands on. During his visit here, President Obama is traveling to Accra and Cape Coast. He landed in Accra on Friday, the 10th in the evening and was to travel to Cape Coast on the Saturday. When I traveled to Cape Coast 3 weeks ago, every Ghanaian I spoke to couldn’t help but remind me that President Obama would be coming to Cape Coast. You see Michelle Obama is a descendent of slaves, who were thought to have been brought through Cape Coast Castle during the time of the transatlantic slave trade (or this is what I have heard on the news here and from Ghanaians). Everyone in Cape Coast told me that I should come back to Cape Coast when he was here, but also knowing that when Ghanaians gather in big groups, people tend to die, I thought I better not. So instead, I decided to travel to Nzulazo to visit the stilt village(or that had been the plan). One day before I was to depart for Nzulazo I found out that there had been extremely heavy rainfall in the Western Region and Nzulazo had been evacuated, so that took that option off the market. Instead, I decided to stay in Accra and do some shopping.

It was very interesting being in Accra leading up to Obama’s arrival. Walking down the street that would be all that people were talking about. Children would run up and down the streets banging containers together, shouting “Obama! Obama!” and there was just this vast amount of energy in the air. Saturday morning I left my home around 09:00, to headed off to the Arts Centre and the Loom in search of one specific item I still had to buy. However, after walking the block and a half to Joker’s station to catch the tro, I was surprised to find that the entire road was closed off and there were police everywhere. Now on any other day, I wouldn’t know what to think, but today, this could mean only thing. Obama was going to be coming there!
Now we’ve all seen presidential motorcade on T.V., but actually being on the streets is an entirely different experience. Beach Road is the main road to Labadi. It is a two-lane road in either direction separated by a median about 15-20 feet wide. Normally it is buzzing with traffic (which can make it, at times, rather treacherous when crossing the street), but this morning, the road was absolutely empty. People had started to gather along the road, and, knowing that any attempt to get to the Arts Center would be futile (as they had stopped both motorized and foot traffic) I decided to join them and wait. There were police everywhere, about every 10 feet, all holding batons and some in riot gear just in case things got out of hand. I could see snipers in the distance on the roofs of some tall building under construction, and there was a helicopter circling low overhead. At one point I saw a group of about 50 school children marching down the side of the road in black and white Obama shirts who had to pass through a security check point before disappearing out of sight. By 09:30 the crowd had grown further and the police pushed the crowd back a couple of feet, in order to put a rope across to act as a barrier. I was standing right behind the rope, about 150 feet from where Obama would be going. I didn’t know it at the time, but I was going to have a prime spot to get a glimpse of Obama in his motorcade. As I waited, you could feel the excitement and anticipation in the air building. Occasionally, a small police escort would drive down the road, which would get people really excited, as I don’t think many of them had an idea of what a presidential motorcade looks like, but shortly after 11:00, they found out.

The motorcade began with about 15 police motorcycles, sirens blazing, followed by several black SUVs. Following the SUVs were the two presidential vehicles, with small American and Ghanaian flags on the four corners of each vehicle. Following the presidential vehicles were several other SUVs, large vans, and one 47 passenger bus (completely empty), followed by more police vehicles. The motorcade had been traveling down the opposite side of the street, and turned in the La General Hospital about 150 feet to my right and did not pass by, but people around me erupted into cheers at the very glimpse of the presidential vehicle. At this point, I was a little disappointed that I didn’t actually get to see Obama, just his vehicle, but people around me weren’t leaving, so I figured I should stick around too (I still didn’t know what he was doing there). A Canadian photographer and his wife joined me where I was standing, and I asked them what he was doing in this area. They told me that Obama was speaking at La General Hospital to promote the improvement of Ghanaian health and healthcare inside Accra. After another hour of waiting (I had been standing on a 4 inch wide piece of concrete for 3 hours now) some vehicles began to emerge from the hospital. To my delight, I saw that to exit, the vehicles had to continue down the opposite side of the road for a little under 200 feet, and then had to slow down to make a U-turn about 20 feet to my left, passing by me on my side of the road at almost their slowest speed.

Thee opposite side of the road erupted in cheers and applause as Obama’s vehicle passed by approaching the turn, but my side of the street was absolutely silent with anticipation. As the motorcade turned you saw the two presidential vehicles that look exactly the same, so no one was quite sure where to look. But when the second vehicle past, and you could see Obama smiling and waving through about a 2 foot by 1½ foot break in the tinted glass everyone just started screaming. He couldn’t have been more than 10 feet away when he passed by. The crowd also all seemed to lean forward, almost knocking me off my piece of concrete and sending me into the open sewer 5 feet below (which would have been pleasant). It was amazing though, looking at the crowd as he passed. They looked so proud, and so hopeful. The crowed varied from homeless men, wearing nothing but tattered rags, to families with little children dressed in their Sunday best, but everyone seemed equally taken aback. It is just crazy what a phenomenon President Obama has become, a sign of hope and change for the future for people all around the world. It’s also funny to think that I actually got to see Barack Obama because it was flooded in Western Ghana and I wanted to go shopping.