There is something so grounding about sitting on the beach, especially in a foreign country. The ocean is vast and, yet, when you are sitting at the shoreline of any beach, you are watching the waves crashing into the sand and rocks in the same way they would miles away on a different continent. As I sit on the beach in Ghana and watch the sun rise over the palm trees, I am overwhelmed by that same sense of grounding I have felt when sitting near the ocean in other countries. Beach towns have a kind of universality that is unmatched by many other communities and terrains.
I am here in West Africa, yet I am watching the fishermen take out their boats, which have a similarity to those I have seen in Southeast Asia and the Caribbean, and begin the long and arduous process of bringing in the day’s catch. I can only assume that these fishermen will then take their catch to the market to be sold alongside fruits and trinkets native only to those regions surrounded by the ocean’s spray which will then be purchased by those who visit these scenic views. I am so grateful that in a month in which I am experiencing a new culture and learning many new things about this region and its history, I can also sit and watch a sunrise at the beach and feel the peace and calm that only the crashing waves and salt in the air can bring.
