Providence

“Dodoo ho, Dodoo ho,” the man barked at me.

The words sounded familiar, but I had no clue what he was saying to me. It was the way my entire first two days in Accra felt: everything sounded and seemed familiar, but I had no clue what was going on.

Instead of feeling sorry for myself by staying in my depressing hostel and reading Travels with Charley by John Steinbeck, which I would have much rather done, I decided to take a walk. Alone. In the pitch black.

I wanted food, but instead found a bar. I tend to have this problem. The same thing happened in London. Guinness became my dinner.

“Dodoo ho, Dodoo ho,” the man laughed as he urged me to sit down…or leave…or drink…or fight…or talk… I sat down after ordering my beer. Thankfully I did the right thing.

He smiled, very pleased.

“Do you know what I’m saying? Do you know what dodo ho means,” he asked me. I nodded my head no.

“Sit down, relax, take your hat off. Chill.”

Oh, of course. You sure were doing a good job of expressing that.

The bar was called Providence. Typical Ghana.

Ghana’s version of a hole in the wall, neighborhood bar. A bad-ass woman stood behind a screen making drinks for the men. Various colored liquids of hard liquor in unlabeled bottles. An old man hunched over in the corner with his cane and stoic face. Clearly tired, or disillusioned. A group of men arguing over directions. “Go this way.” “No, that way.” Men always know the right way to go. A woman walked in with her husband. He ordered a drink, she sat at a table, lightly smiling. He pulled out a cigarette and walked to the corner to smoke with a friend. She screamed, “Umph, smoking kills!”

Leaving a joint like this always makes me anxious because I have no clue what the bill will be. I could have just drunk a fifteen dollar Guinness or a dollar-fifty one. I was bracing myself for something in between.

It was a dollar-fifty one.

I gave the Auntie two cedis (a little under $2) and she was thrilled. “Please come back. Please come back. You are always welcome.”

I found Providence.