You shall go to the ball.....

Before we came away to work in Akropong I had a call from my friend who is a fairly senior American Marine here in Ghana inviting me to the Marine Ball this Saturday. This is a very big occasion in Accra and landing a free ticket is a real score plus a fantastic networking opportunity, everyone who is anyone will be there, so of course I accepted the invite. As soon as I got off the phone I realised I had nothing to wear, now I know that it is what we are all expected to say but seriously when packing for 2 years in Ghana I was trying to be as practical as possible, surprisingly enough no ball gowns and only one pair of heels which really are not for the evening. I had to buy something, there was no other option expect not to go. My friend told me that the Marine’s will all be wearing full dress uniform (eek!) so I had to hit the shops...one problem..Where do you buy a evening frock in Ghana!? Where do you buy an evening frock on a volunteer living allowance! I then realised that all the women I knew would direct me to Accra Mall where the dresses would be at least half of a month’s salary for me here (clearly not an option). So I headed to the office downstairs to ask the secretary of another NGO, she delighted in telling me all the best places at the market and popped me in a taxi to Makola Market. Buying an evening dress in one of Africa’s largest markets was certainly one of my most memorable moments so far in Ghana, those of you who have spent any time in Africa will be familiar with the numerous stalls of clothes (bizarrely known as dead white man’s clothes) which are basically things you find in charity shops in the west. On my budget I started my search there, where a rather nice, but upfront sales women decided she would help me find something suitable, a number of ghastly polyester bright dresses were tossed my way before I declared I was looking for a black dress, many crumpled black linen primark esq numbers were suggested before she squeezed me into a black and cream dress which would have been ok if it was a size bigger, sure it I got in to it but it was hardly suitable for meeting Accra’s elite. I said I wouldn’t take it but she wouldn’t let me take it off without firmly patting my bust and bottom and getting her friends to come and look at the white lady with the African figure! These ladies were a lot of fun but time was ticking, with only one hour left to find a dress I asked them to direct me somewhere else. I ended up in at a lovely shop on the market where the sales lady ‘Abigail’ invited me in, closed the door, stripped me and had me try on nearly every dress in the shop...I was beginning to loose hope when we hit the jackpot and found a suitable dress, black with a little silver trim, it might not have been my first choice at home, but I will be comfortable enough in it. Then I realised, no shoes....there are so many Chinese made shoes at Makola I knew I would get a pair of black strappy heels for about £6, I even indulged and bought a silver necklace and earring set (I just pray it doesn’t go green on my neck during the night!). The whole experience was a true delight and set me back around £25...who knows I may be the best dressed lady at the ball...just hope I don’t have to answer one of women’s most standard first meeting questions...’I like your dress, where did you get it from’!