Border Crossing

Crossing the border from Ghana to Togo yesterday was an experience in itself! It was chaotic and time consuming and we never have seen anything like it.
Most cars do not cross the border, but stop at the border and people walk. We were picked up from Accra and during the drive to the border we were cramped in a car with 5 people and our 4 heavy bags. The representative from PDH asked us for euros so she could exchange some money at the black market, since all banks are closed on Sundays and paying in Togolese Franks speed up the visa process! Arriving at the border 4 Ghanese women came to lift our bags on their heads!!!!!! Our bags had received a sticker with 'heavy' at Heathrow airport and it was quite something to see your bags crossing the border on the heads of women. In a row we started walking and going to the custom office of Ghana. Of course we had to pay the women for their services, and I was looking for the right amount inside the office, when a custom officer noticed that and needed some money too. After filling out the custom forms and receiving stamps in our passport, we continued to the exit. It turned out that Saskia had to go back, since they did not stamp her passport the right way. Finally we came to the Togo border and a whole new process started, which took also a lot of time. Many stamps, stickers, numbers and signatures allowed us finally entry into Togo and by crossing the border we were in Lome as well. A taxi was waiting to transport us to the center, where we were greeted by Antoine, the director, his wife Rachel and little daughter. We are staying at the center together with two other volunteers, Steve from Ireland and Justin from the USA. Saskia and I share a room at the center with a bucket style 'shower' and a lot of space in the room. We each have a table with a chair and a big fan, which we definitely need here. Rachel is preparing meals for all of us. After a very late lunch we unpacked some of the luggage and all volunteers ended up in the bar just around the corner of PDH.
Later more about first impressions, donations and first day of work!