By Jose Carrillo

This week our group was given the privilege of visiting Kumasi, the second-largest city in Ghana. Prior to leaving, coworkers prepared me for a change in people and way of life, when compared to Accra. Of course, like a naive traveler, I believed this change wasn’t going to be noticeable, at least not to a foreigner. That being said, I began to notice it within a couple hours into our road trip there. The roads switched between miles of paved or dirt, the homes were built to house generations of families (some still doing so) or have been renovated to serve new purposes (while still keeping the original foundation).

We were told about the traditional values of Kumasi and the matrilineal structure in the Asante succession line, but being able to see it in person was invigorating. From museums depicting the unreal history of the Asante to the Kejetia market; the second-largest marketplace in the world, the change I was told about kept becoming more apparent. Take the markets for example. Typically, in my experience here in Accra, they’re more hectic because; 1) we’ve been visiting markets targeted specifically towards tourists, making the approach vendors use more direct or aggressive (in a sense) and 2) the “average” personality from people living in Accra (agreed by my coworkers and sort of seen by myself). However, in Kumasi, the opposite is the norm. For one, Kejetia is for everyone. Locals and tourists shop here, so interactions felt more casual or “laid-back”. The sense of chaos found in Accra (especially while driving) is still present, but for some reason, in Kumasi it became organized chaos. I felt as if we were all part of one dance, weaving in and out of shops, dodging buses and vans filled with merchandise and people, or exchanging quick daps with passerby. I can honestly say I found my reason to visit Ghana again, for Kumasi.