Go Ghana - win the world cup please!

Six pairs of high heels and lots of makeup. I packed these things to take to an extremely impoverished west African country of Ghana in the 1980s. I had never been to a lesser developed nation before. There had been a coup not long before I arrived. I didn't need my heels. I was with my friend Sal. We walked everywhere, there was no public transport and the only other honkies we saw were in embassy cars. Sometimes the few white people we saw in cars would stop to offer us a lift. I remember asking a Lebanese guy who drove us back from the beach why he didn't stop to offer a local woman carrying a heavy package a lift. He said: "Don't be ridiculous".  I thought he was mean.

I remember meeting a white woman and her younger Ghanain companion on the beach. She was a Brit and wore far too much heavy gold jewelry. They made Sal and I an offer of a free trip to Bolivia if we would collect a suitcase for them. In fact they tried very hard to persuade us.

We said no, because we had never heard of Bolivia before and it didn't sound very exciting. I was so naive in those days. I am a little less naive now.

I fell in love with Ghana, to date it is my favourite African country. I plan to go back there, but I fear it would have developed a lot since my last trip. I was manic when I was there and did some extremely dangerous things, like refusing to bribe the guy in customs blowing him a kiss instead, when he asked me to give him something.

I was there because I was 'in love" with a very handsome Ghanain young man who turned out to be an importer of drugs. He sent me there, but he didn't join me. He ended up in jail. I could have too but that's another long long story. His name was Daniel, and I still remember his beautiful face and sexy voice. All my gay friends had the hots for Daniel. He was a total arsehole. But that is another story. Wherever Daniel is, I hope he is happy and being nice to whomever he is with. He was charming but misguided.


I hope Ghana wins the world cup. Africa needs that winning feeling most.