fake money for a fake country

Day 79.

Friday.

6:00pm: meeting to pay for Benin trip to support the Black Stars. 30 Ghana Cedis for international students. Paid. Told to meet at Central Cafeteria at 2am on Sunday to depart. Excitement is high!

Saturday

5:30pm: Meeting finalizing the details of the trip to Benin. International students are told we do not need visas as the organizers have received clearance from the Ministries for us to pass through the Togo and Benin borders with an escort for one day only. All we need to bring is our student id card; bring your passport if you have it. Time change: eet at Central Caf at 11pm, leaving at 12am.

10pm: Time change: text message received stating that the time we are to leave for Benin has been moved from midnight to three am, no reason given.

Sunday

12am: Nap until 2:30am.

2:45am: Walk to Central Caf to find other obrunis and some Ghanaians waiting in the dark. There is a bus but no one in it. I lay in the grass and wait.

3:45am: More people have shown up. Coordinators cannot be reached. We wait.

4:10am: We load the bus, however half of us don’t fit. They stay behind to wait for bus two. We wait in the bus. Many people haven’t slept. Coordinators show up.

5:30am: Bus one leaves UG campus. Bus two is still M.I.A.

9:45am: Arrive in Aflao, the border town. Exchange money from cedis to CFAs. We wait.

10:30am: At the border. The escort has left, as we were supposed to have arrived by 8am. Told by men in uniform that the obrunis will not be permitted to enter Togo or Benin without a visa. $20 in to Togo, $30 into Benin, $20 back in to Togo. No one has enough money or would be willing to pay even if they did. We must wait for bus two so that a bus of Ghanaians can proceed to the game and the obrunis head back to Accra. People are bummed but accept it and keep their cool.

11:30am: Bus two is still behind. We backtrack to meet it.

11:45am: We make the switch. The Ghanaians apologize for us not being able to go. We wish them a great time. Lots of handshakes, snaps, and smiles.

3:00pm: After a long, uncomfortable and hot bus ride, we are back at school. 30 Cedis and 12 hours down the drain.

4:30pm: The Black Stars lose to Benin.

The best part of the day was in Aflao, where Togolese women cross the border to sell baguettes (!) full of avocados, tomatoes, onions, and lettuce. Amazing, not quite worth 30 Cedis and 12 hours, but amazing nonetheless. Despite that fact that we weren’t able to see the game (or even step on Togo soil), the coastal drive to and from the border was beautiful, in an imperfect world, what more could we ask for?

anecdote: When we finally got off the bus, I asked Sauce if he was hungry (which he always is) and he said, jokingly serious, "yeah, but I only have that fake money for that fake country that we never went to". I laughed, then we walked to the traveling market where I bought him lunch in exchange for his fake money that I will use in Senegal. 1,000 CFA will probably get me quite a few more guacamole baguettes (fingers crossed that they have them there).