Episode 7 | THURSDAY; SEARCH DAY!

I spent the rest of Wednesday sleeping, eating and then sleeping again since I had nothing else to do. On Thursday morning, my Uncle called to let me know that his son would come to take me round town in search of hostels. He arrived around 9am. We exchanged pleasantries and began our search.

We first went to UPSA. We visited Prestige Hostel and all other hostels around but we found none so we made our way towards the residential area. After hours of walking, asking around for hostels and receiving very discouraging responses, we finally got to an area he was familiar with.

He recalled when he was in the University and had one of his friends staying in one hostel around, so we made our way towards the hostel. To be honest, it wasn’t even a hostel. It was more of someone’s house that they converted into a hostel to accommodate the increasing number of students who had no halls every school year. What was meant to be a four-bedroom house had been converted into a house with almost ten bedrooms. You can just imagine the size of the rooms after the conversion. The four-in-one in actuality could only accommodate two students comfortably, and the state of the beds were nothing to write home about. The one-in-one was so small you could hardly move about once you’re settled in with your items. And they priced it outrageously. The four-in-one was priced at GHC1600.00. How ridiculous? After considering the negatives-the high possibilities of having my items stolen should I take the four-in-one and not get good roommates, the stuffy nature of the room, the ridiculous price, the distance from campus and many other factors-and the positive; having a place of my own, I decided not to take it. It wasn’t worth the risk.

By the time we got back to UPSA, it was already dark. We ate supper at a nearby banku and grilled fish joint and called it a day.

YEAH, I’M LOST AGAIN

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Before he left, he made sure I got into a trotro because I wasn’t familiar with the area. Unfortunately, I got into the wrong car. When I sat in the very back of the car, I had the urge to ask the driver where exactly the car was going, but I thought otherwise and assumed I was in the right car. Oh, how wrong I was. When in Accra, never assume always ask when you’re unsure. I learnt this the hard way.

After the trotro was full and the driver drove off, I realized we had been riding for a while and per my calculations from earlier in the day, UG wasn’t far from UPSA. They proved me right when it was time to pay and I told the mate I’d alight at UG and he looked at me as if I just fell from the sky. He was confused for a while, so he asked me where I’d alight and I told him. All the passengers in the back turned around to look at me and I was so confused. Fortunately, there was one good Samaritan who asked me if I was a fresher and I answered in the affirmative. He smiled and told me the trotro was going to Kasoa so I’d have to alight and take a taxi back to UG since we were already far from campus. I thanked him and the mate alerted the driver to stop the car. Fortunately, we were close to an overhead, so it was easy for the driver to stop for me to alight. I still had to pay the fair for Kasoa, though. When I alighted, one lady in the trotro instructed me to cross the road to the other side and I’d get a taxi that’d take me back to campus. I thanked her wholeheartedly and made my way to the other side of the road.

After I had gotten to the other side, I started looking for a taxi. I have to admit I was scared because it was already late and I could hardly see any taxi in sight. I tried putting on my phone to order a ride, only to find out that my battery was dead. One other problem was the fact that I did not know how much the driver would charge for a ride back to campus, and considering my history with taxi drivers, I wasn’t enthusiastic about the ride. I looked through my purse and thankfully, I had at least GHC20.00 and my debit cards. I prayed it’d be enough.

After a while, one taxi approached, and the driver asked me where I was going. I told him I was going to UG, and he said he’d take me to campus for GHC25.00 and nothing less. I just told him I didn’t have that much, and he drove away. I had the same encounter with two other drivers. I had lost almost all hope since it was getting later and I knew no one else around. A dead phone wasn’t of any help either.

SAVED? MAYBE, I DON’T EVEN KNOW

Thankfully, a few minutes later, taxi driver pulled up and after I had told him my destination, he said he would take GHC20.00. I told him I could pay GHC15.00 (I know, perilous) and he said that’d be ok. I quickly said a ‘thank you’ prayer to God and literally jumped into the car.

He started the car and began driving towards where the trotro had come from. While sitting in the back of the car, all I could do was pray he was taking me to the right place because I honestly didn’t even know where we were going to. I couldn’t help but draw rather horrific pictures of being kidnapped in my mind. These pictures did nothing but heighten my anxiety level. I had so many horrible images up in my mind that I couldn’t even pay much attention to the ride. Amidst

the horrid imagery, I’d say a quick prayer now and then.

After a long while in traffic, I recognized the uncompleted UG stadium and the overhead from afar and was grateful I was in familiar territory. He pulled over when we got to Legon first; I paid him, said a hearty thank you and bounded towards campus.

When I got to Sarbah, I took my bath and called it a day.

to be continued...

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PLAYLIST

To my future wife by Jon Bellion

Try Everything by Shakira