bad thursday
there is way too much to write about in the last two weeks so i'm not going to even attempt to cover everything. that'll give me some stories to tell when i get home which havent been told in my blog.
it has been a good two weeks and it has been a horrible two weeks. up until thursday night at 1 am things were peachy. ill start with thursday i guess. we had a great night early on. a big group of us went to a sports bar called Champs which is run by a canadian guy from PEI. it was like being back home, pretty surreal. we entered a team in the pub quiz and got third place meaning we got a lot of free beer. afterwards chris, kris, timo and I went to bywell's bar which is a five minute walk from our house. they have live music and a nice atmosphere so that was cool. kris met a girl so stuck around, but chris, timo and i walked home. we were almost home when a moped sped around the corner and stopped literally inches in front of timo and i. a guy jumped off with a knife and started motioning like he was going to cut me if i didnt empty my pockets. i did quickly and gave him my cell phone but didnt have any money so i pulled out my pockets to show i had nothing else. he then moved on to timo and timo gave his wallet but the guy smacked him across the face with his knife anyway for no reason at all. as this was happening our neighbours came running to help catch the bastards but they jumped on their moped and made off. there was no liscense plate or anything and it happened so fast we didnt even get a good look at them.
timo got cut pretty bad by the knife. i went off with another guy who saw the whole thing to chase after them, but then we realised it was useless. it was only after timo called me back that i saw how bad it was. his face a shirt were covered in blood so we flagged a taxi down quick and got him to the closest hospital. we got there and he almost passed out so the doctors gave him an iv and cleaned the cut up a bit. then kris showed up with his ladyfriend and brought some money so we could pay the doctor. then we went in an ambulance to a bigger hospital where after waiting for two hours for the doctor to wake up and get there, timo got stitched up. they did a decent job with the stitching but he's still gonna have a wicked scar on his face. he's posted some pictures on his blog which you can get to by clicking the link to his blog on the right of the page. some are graphic just to warn you.
it was an interesting night. we'd been at champs and bywells since 830 so we were not sober when this happened. in fact the whole night at the hospital was not sober. timo, despite "ruining" his new obruni house tshirt (look at his blog for a good picture) managed to stay in really good spirits and keep his sense of humour. it was actually a somewhat enjoyable time at the hospital if you can believe it. he was bragging about the scar he'd have and we took some pictures of all of us giving the thumbs up around the hospital bed.
we got him home from the hospital around 5am and we were all pretty scik and hungover so we stayed up for sunrise. then we spent all day taking timo to his office, then a UN doctor, then a dental surgeon who put his teeth back in the right place. candice had to sit next to him and hold his hand as the doctor forced wires into his mouth. kris and i watched squeamishly from across the room. i guess the surgeon game him anesthetic but it didnt seem to be working too well. terrible stuff. timo might have to go home a month early to get more work done by his orthodontist. it will really be a shame if he has to leave, we will all miss him very much.
it was only later when we got home from the dentist that i realised that i had been involved in the whole thing as well. i wasnt hurt but i think i was still shaken up a lot more than i realised. its not everyday that something like this happens. i've always told people that accra is a safe city and i really believed it. i felt really safe walking on the streets at night in my neighborhood because you never see any crime or shady characters around. in ghana, if a thief is caught in the act, people around him will beat him up, often to death. crime really doesnt seem worth it here. this changes how i feel about the city a lot obviously. the speed with which it happened was maybe the most shocking part. it was all over in twenty seconds which makes me think that it could happen anywhere.
things are starting to return to normalcy however. we're going to one of my favorite restaurants tonight and Kris is bringing his projector home from work so we can watch movies off of someones laptop on the roof of obruni house.
it will be nice to put this behind us.
it has been a good two weeks and it has been a horrible two weeks. up until thursday night at 1 am things were peachy. ill start with thursday i guess. we had a great night early on. a big group of us went to a sports bar called Champs which is run by a canadian guy from PEI. it was like being back home, pretty surreal. we entered a team in the pub quiz and got third place meaning we got a lot of free beer. afterwards chris, kris, timo and I went to bywell's bar which is a five minute walk from our house. they have live music and a nice atmosphere so that was cool. kris met a girl so stuck around, but chris, timo and i walked home. we were almost home when a moped sped around the corner and stopped literally inches in front of timo and i. a guy jumped off with a knife and started motioning like he was going to cut me if i didnt empty my pockets. i did quickly and gave him my cell phone but didnt have any money so i pulled out my pockets to show i had nothing else. he then moved on to timo and timo gave his wallet but the guy smacked him across the face with his knife anyway for no reason at all. as this was happening our neighbours came running to help catch the bastards but they jumped on their moped and made off. there was no liscense plate or anything and it happened so fast we didnt even get a good look at them.
timo got cut pretty bad by the knife. i went off with another guy who saw the whole thing to chase after them, but then we realised it was useless. it was only after timo called me back that i saw how bad it was. his face a shirt were covered in blood so we flagged a taxi down quick and got him to the closest hospital. we got there and he almost passed out so the doctors gave him an iv and cleaned the cut up a bit. then kris showed up with his ladyfriend and brought some money so we could pay the doctor. then we went in an ambulance to a bigger hospital where after waiting for two hours for the doctor to wake up and get there, timo got stitched up. they did a decent job with the stitching but he's still gonna have a wicked scar on his face. he's posted some pictures on his blog which you can get to by clicking the link to his blog on the right of the page. some are graphic just to warn you.
it was an interesting night. we'd been at champs and bywells since 830 so we were not sober when this happened. in fact the whole night at the hospital was not sober. timo, despite "ruining" his new obruni house tshirt (look at his blog for a good picture) managed to stay in really good spirits and keep his sense of humour. it was actually a somewhat enjoyable time at the hospital if you can believe it. he was bragging about the scar he'd have and we took some pictures of all of us giving the thumbs up around the hospital bed.
we got him home from the hospital around 5am and we were all pretty scik and hungover so we stayed up for sunrise. then we spent all day taking timo to his office, then a UN doctor, then a dental surgeon who put his teeth back in the right place. candice had to sit next to him and hold his hand as the doctor forced wires into his mouth. kris and i watched squeamishly from across the room. i guess the surgeon game him anesthetic but it didnt seem to be working too well. terrible stuff. timo might have to go home a month early to get more work done by his orthodontist. it will really be a shame if he has to leave, we will all miss him very much.
it was only later when we got home from the dentist that i realised that i had been involved in the whole thing as well. i wasnt hurt but i think i was still shaken up a lot more than i realised. its not everyday that something like this happens. i've always told people that accra is a safe city and i really believed it. i felt really safe walking on the streets at night in my neighborhood because you never see any crime or shady characters around. in ghana, if a thief is caught in the act, people around him will beat him up, often to death. crime really doesnt seem worth it here. this changes how i feel about the city a lot obviously. the speed with which it happened was maybe the most shocking part. it was all over in twenty seconds which makes me think that it could happen anywhere.
things are starting to return to normalcy however. we're going to one of my favorite restaurants tonight and Kris is bringing his projector home from work so we can watch movies off of someones laptop on the roof of obruni house.
it will be nice to put this behind us.
posted by Z at 5:55 AM
3 Comments:
It's really sad...that you didn't get stabbed zach. Other than that and the mutilated vaginas, seems like you're having a pretty sweet time. Come back in one piece.
~Alex
sorry you had to go through such an unfortunate experience Zach. Ghana is pretty safe but we have our fair share of crime. Do enjoy the rest of your stay and come back in one piece
this blog has gotten really boring.
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