A Ghanaian Folk Tale

We’re spending our last few days in Ghana on the beach - a long weekend beneath a blazing sun; with coconut palms swaying in a warm tropical breeze and the swish of the waves rocking us gently to sleep under a starlit equatorial sky. What could be more idyllic – we thought?

We eat fresh fish and lobsters hooked straight from the ocean as we sit above the waves on the veranda of the oceanside restaurant at the Anomabo Luxury Beach Resort near Cape Coast and watch the world go by. But there is a dark side to this coast. This was the epicentre of the slave trade for three centuries when hundreds of thousands of slaves were shipped to the Americas and Caribbean from this 1482 Portuguese castle at Elmina…

International slave trading was eventually abolished in 1808 but not before millions of Africans had been transported to the New World from this and many other ports in West Africa. However, the chaotic harbour at Elmina today still looks like a painting from the 18th century when slavery was in its heyday…

The only concessions to modernity in these traditional wooden fishing boats are the smoky old engines and nylon nets, and Cape Coast’s dark sides today are the huge piles of garbage and discarded nets that clog the water and litter the beaches. Cleanliness may be next to Godliness but here on the Ghanaian coast the job of garbage and sewage disposal is left entirely to the sea. You can’t swim here – you can only go through the motions!

God is everywhere in Ghana and Ghanaians give their businesses religious epithets in the belief that it will make them successful. The ‘Steps to Christ Credit Union,’ ‘God Loves You Aluminum Company’, ‘Jesus Never Fails You Enterprises Ltd.’, and the ‘Apostles’ Café’, are just a few of the hundreds of examples we have seen. But the owners of our ‘luxury?’ resort didn’t take advantage of this ecclesiastical insurance policy, nor did they bargain on us coming to dinner. What happened? Just as we were finishing our chicken and chips Sheila accidentally dropped a wing on the floor. James, being the gentlemanly type, deftly picked it up and threw it over the veranda towards the sea.
Now this is where things started to go tragically wrong. The wind caught the wing and whipped it into an overhead lamp which promptly burst with a ‘bang’ and all the lights went out. We sat red-faced for a few seconds but when the lights came on we realised that no one had seen what happened, so we quickly paid the bill and giggled all the way back to our beachside chalet…

But then - catastrophe. As we opened our door we turned for a last look at the restaurant in the moonlight just in time to see the whole place collapse into the sea…

Yes, dear blog reader, while it may be difficult to believe, James’ thoughtless act might have precipitated the destruction of a fine restaurant. This is all that remains of the dining room…

We are leaving as soon as possible, (before anyone at the resort sees this) but we would encourage them to read Matthew 7 Verses 24-27 before rebuilding, and to rename the place “The Jesus Never Fails You Luxury Resort and Restaurant.”