Bye Bye Obruni

Now that I am home after spending 4 months in Ghana, I figured I should write one final post to give this blog some closure. 

It's hard to comprehensively sum up my experience, but I can say that I have learned a lot over the last 4 months, and I think I can say I have changed a bit too. It's not like I had an earth-shattering epiphany on a daily basis, or even discovered the meaning of life, but I do feel like I developed a somewhat better perception of the world and Africa's place in it. 

Even though I cannot solve the problems that exist between Africa and the rest of the world, I feel like I have a much better sense of empathy for events that happen far away from where I happen to live. I no longer think of Africa as an impossibly remote place. When I think of Africa, and Ghana for that matter, I am able to visualize specific places and specific people. I view this as a pretty important change in my mindset.

One thing that surprised me about my time in Ghana was the fact that I probably learned more this semester about home economics than I did about journalism or political science. While I went abroad to to find adventure and independence, I actually assumed the role of a regular 1950's housewife. I spent a good deal of my time cooking and doing laundry by hand. These are without a doubt valuable skills to have developed, but they are just not exactly what I had had in mind.

Overall, I have to say that Ghana was a really good experience.  I made some really great friends, met some really interesting acquaintances, and talked to some pretty creepy Rastas. Although I will remember some of these people more fondly than others, I can say that most of them helped me to grow in some way. (Even the Rastas.)

Ghana was such an eye-opening experience and it has only made me want to discover more places and cultures throughout the world.  I look forward to many more adventures in the years to come.

Haunted Hostel

I haven’t had much to write about for the past few weeks because I was doing pretty much the same stuff every week. There was a solid month that I just went to different beaches every weekend, but I’m definitely not complaining.

Classes ended last week, leaving us with one month and one day of finals. In this time span I only have two finals, so it goes without saying that I’ve had a lot of down time. After having a big celebratory weekend when classes ended [at the beach, of course], I was feeling pretty tired and unmotivated to leave the hostel.

Then yesterday, a friend asked if anyone wanted to go see a botanical garden nearby and spend the night in the woods.  I had a few moments of reluctance, but then decided to go for it. I also went so I could take pictures for my mom who always made it her mission to tack on a botanical garden trip to the end of every family vacation. My brother and I would beg and plead that we just keep driving, so I never thought I would see the day that I would head to a botanical garden by my own free will.

That being said, I could not be any happier with my decision to go on this spur of the moment trip.  The village we went to was situated in a big mountain range that had the most beautiful view of the entire region. This was easily the greenest and prettiest place I’ve been to in Ghana.

We stayed in a hostel inside the botanical garden that was really cheap, but also haunted. I think we were the only guests, there was a giant hole in the ceiling, and the antique furniture and floor space were eerily huge. Since the power was out all day and night, the receptionist gave us a big candle when it got dark, and we melted it to the coffee table to keep it upright. [After staring at in confusion for a few moments and realizing it wasn't a flashlight.] My friends thought it would be a good idea to then tell scary stories in the candlelit room. If I had any doubts earlier that this place was haunted, they were thoroughly erased.

Even though the room was haunted, it was really cool because since the buildings in the gardens were so old and unmaintained, vines and trees were starting to break things down and take over. I finished reading a book a few days ago that talks about this same process that would occur all over the world if people were no longer around to maintain all types of infrastructure. Essentially, once enough time passes, there would be few, if any man-made legacies, at least in the form of buildings, bridges, etc. I was able to see the author’s descriptions right before my eyes, as vines were beginning to swallow the walls right up.

After surviving the night, we went on a bike ride to a waterfall about an hour away. It was a very fun ride- One moment it would feel like I could be in the mountains back home and the next we would approach a small village that put everything back into perspective. I got back today just 24 hours after I left, but that one day was all I needed to feel completely revitalized. I have 3 weeks left here and a few more adventures ahead. [Sans haunted rooms, I hope.]

A Day In The Life

Now that I've established somewhat of a routine here, I figure I should briefly explain my typical day, or better yet week in Ghana. 

I have class 3 days a week- Tuesday through Thursday (ambitious, I know),  and I volunteer at an orphanage on Mondays.  My classes are pretty boring because most of the lecturers are difficult to understand, but I usually get a thing or two out of each class.  I usually spend the rest of my time hanging out with friends, running, reading, attempting to cook, going out to bars, and traveling.  I've seen most parts of the country and a little bit beyond, wandering by foot, tro-tros, and motorbikes.

There are certain things that have taken awhile to get used to, but that are beginning to feel pretty normal to me. This includes doing my laundry by hand and using clotheslines, drinking water out of plastic bags, and regular power/water outages.

As for the food...We have the "Night Market" where they sell fresh produce and Ghanaian dishes right across from our hostel, making us pretty spoiled in our location. We get most of our meals-which usually consist of rice, beans, or eggs- for about 1 cedi, which equates to about 75 cents. (Sorry Mom, I haven't actually been spending that much money on food.)  Most of the people at the Night Market are great-- I get fresh pineapple and mangoes every day from Rita, a 12-year-old girl who has the demeanor of a grown woman. But that type of young-for-your-years-wisdom is pretty common here. 

There are seamstresses who come to our dorm a few times a week and sell us custom-made clothes. We have all gotten some great stuff, which is good because clothes-wise, most of us came to Ghana prepared more for a camping trip than anything else. We were seriously mistaken though, and we're working on being as put together as the people who live here.

I spend each week itching for the weekend and the chance to travel again, and I am always happy to be back home a few days later.  My friends and I share an insatiable longing to explore and see new places, and our bucket list is long and in the making. We're always looking forward to next week, though totally unsure of what it will bring.

random monkey that lives on campus

Rita's stand

rainbow money

International Students' Hostel- ISH II

The Night Market

Even Politics in Ghana are Fun!

Tonight I got a rare opportunity to see the vice president of Ghana speak on campus. It is an election year, and the social democrat club on campus organized an event to rally support for the re-election of the current administration.


I decided to bring a pen and notepad along just in case I could make a newspaper article out of it.  I ended up taking notes on the vice president's whole speech, and learning a lot about Ghana's politics in the process.


The event was so much more fun and interactive than I expected it to be. There was cheering, there was chanting, and there was singing involved.


Not only did I thoroughly enjoy the event, but it turned out that I was given some space at the end of the upcoming news issue for a short article about the event!


The first issue of the newspaper comes out next week, and I have two articles-- One is a longer article that touches on the presidential speech last week, and now I have an article about the vice president's speech! I would say I'm pretty happy about this as a journalistic starting point!

Independence Day

Though I am a whole week late to follow up on it, I feel the need to mention Ghana's Independence Day, which took place on March 6th.


I found out that there was going to be an independence parade in Accra that I really wanted to attend.  Since Accra is the capital of Ghana, this was the main independence day celebration in the country. The event hosted all of Ghana's leading figures, from traditional rulers, to military, to the President of Ghana. I even got to listen to the President deliver a speech which I was really excited about!


I am writing for a school newspaper that some international students are starting up at the University of Ghana, and I wrote about the Independence Day parade for my first article.  I was pretty stoked that for my first article ever I was taking notes on a presidential speech!


All in all, I am really glad that I was able to experience Ghana's Independence Day in the heart of all the action. It was cool to see the level of patriotism that a lot of Ghanaians have. It was only the 55th anniversary of the country's independence, so I found the day to be a lot more meaningful than any Independence Day I've ever experienced.


Ironically, I went out with my British friends later that night, but that's another story...

Ada Beach

Thanks to Independence Day (and to my already minimal class schedule), I've been able to enjoy a very long weekend.


For my friend's birthday, we decided to spend the night at Ada Beach, a beautiful spot that we first visited about a month ago.


To get there, my friends and I FINALLY took tro-tros, a form of very cheap transportation. They are these vans that go around their given routes, similar to how a bus might work. They are hard to figure out at first though, and I have had multiple friends who have traveled hours away from where they intended after getting on the wrong one. I enjoyed the tro-tro a lot though, and using them made me feel a lot more integrated with the locals.


Once we got off the tro-tro, we wandered around a deserted area, trying to figure out how to get to the boat taxis that would take us to the right part of Ada. It was hard to figure out where we were going, and the few people we were able to talk to didn't speak much English. After a bit of wandering, we were approached by a group of locals on motorcycles. (They're not prevalent in Accra, but motorcycle taxis are quite common in other areas.) We were transported to a boat on the backs of these vehicles that were somewhere between a vespa and a full-on motorcycle. It was so much fun as we went through a remote village on the motorcycles, winding between huts; dodging goats, chickens, and each other.


We were dropped off at a boat that then took us to the strip of beach where we spent the night. The island-type piece of land was nestled between the Volta River and the Atlantic Ocean. We spent our time there relaxing, eating fresh coconuts, dancing with the local children, and sleeping in a hut. It was so nice to wake up in the morning and be able to walk out onto the beach and into the ocean. .It made the hours of travel the day before feel far away and well worth it.


I can't wait to go back!

Beacon House

After a somewhat hectic, but mostly relaxing weekend, today I had to return back to reality. Well,ok...RELATIVE reality. I don't have class on Mondays, but I volunteer at an orphanage called Beacon House in the morning.  It's sometimes hard to drag myself out of bed before 7 am, but once I am there, it is always well worth it.

Today was a very special day in particular because two of the children who I have been seeing each week and have grown somewhat close with were being adopted today! A young woman from Colorado is now the mother of two of the kids, one girl, Gifty (age 3) and one boy, Acholi (age 6).  I don't know Acholi too well, but Gifty is the wisest and sassiest 3 year old you'll ever meet.  My friends and I joke that she's like a grown woman in a 3 years old body, who speaks "the Queen's English". 

There was a bittersweet vibe in the air this morning as everyone was excited for the kids, but also slightly heartbroken that they were losing two children who were practically their own.  

Once I found out that there would be an official ceremony in the afternoon to send the children off, I knew I had to come back to witness it and to say goodbye. I am so glad that I made the decision to go back because it turned out to be one of the most heartwarming experiences of my life. 

It started out with a bunch of prayers being said by the house mothers as well as by some of the other orphans.  Once everyone started to say their goodbyes, the emotions really started to set in. It was the site of the other orphans giving tight, desperate hugs to Gifty and Acholi that made me start to cry.. I couldn't even imagine how the full-time staff who have lived with these kids must have felt. After saying my goodbyes to Gifty and Acholi, I spent some time hanging out with the other kids and then saying goodbye, which was harder than usual, even though I'll see them next week.

It is so crazy for me to think about the fact that Gifty and Acholi will be in the United States within a few days. They're actually first going to the Northern part of Ghana to say bye to Acholi's family...I'm not exactly sure what their whole story is, but I can't imagine that that will be easy.  I can't believe that by the time they are grown up, Gifty and Acholi will be completely American, and likely will not remember their days at Beacon House. Especially considering that today that is all they know! It's too much to even process at the moment, but working at Beacon House is definitely an unbelievable experience!

More posts soon to come about the past few weeks!

Gifty!

Michael and Gifty

Emmanuel. the next Biggie, I guarantee

the road less traveled--our weekend in the North

It’s Monday night and I just returned from a 5-day trip to the Northern part of Ghana. The trip consisted of several stops, and we ended up visiting five out of the ten regions in the country.  

The trip was quite an adventure with both ups and downs, as well as bumps in the road—literally.  There is a route that winds from the South to the North(but in a roundabout kind of way), and large stretches of this route are unpaved.  For one part of the drive we were going in and out of ditches, bouncing up and down, rocking from side to side, in every direction imaginable…for three hours. One of the girls on my trip described it pretty accurately when she compared the car to a bag of popcorn in the microwave.

We were told beforehand about the increasing level of poverty that we would witness as we went further north, but none of us were fully aware of its extent until we experienced it for ourselves.  As we made our way up the unpaved road and entered new regions, we were able to see visible changes before even stepping foot out of the car.

We started to notice very different settings, leaving behind the metropolitan atmosphere of Accra, and replacing it with increasingly rural communities.  There were small villages with “hut” houses, and a lush, green rainforest consumed most of the leftover space. 

ancient mosque (still in use)

Part of our trip included visiting local markets and villages in the North.  In one village, we were given a tour and local residents told us about the ancient mosque that was located there. We were also shown the inside of one of the huts, which was the home of a village midwife.

As with everywhere else we go, there were tons of adorable kids who wanted to hold your hand and know your name and talk with you.  It can get pretty overwhelming though because a lot of the time they are looking for money or some other form of help.  I try to give them what I can when I can, but most of the time I don’t have anything to give.  I also end up feeling disheartened because I start to wonder whether any of these kids genuinely like us.  I always choose to give everyone the benefit of the doubt though, especially when meeting new people, because most of the people I meet do end up being very genuine.

I am still getting used to how friendly Ghanaians can be, and I sometimes need to remind myself of this fact, so that I act appropriately in greeting acquaintences and passerbys.  We visited a waterfall on our way to the North, and we ended up sliding down part of the waterfall with complete strangers.  The locals hadn’t even hesitated to include us.  I’m still not entirely sure whether it was just friendly or maybe a little weird, but it was definitely fun, so again I want to give the situation the benefit of the doubt. . .

Since dealing with people can be overwhelming and at times confusing, it was definitely a nice respite when we visited Mole National Park for a few days.  We spent one night in a motel that had a breathtaking view of the Savannah below. We went on a safari by foot and were able to see what we had all been looking forward to. . . elephants.  Seeing the elephants up close definitely exceeded my expectations, and after our safari was through, the presence of animals only seemed to increase.  Warthogs roamed around close to our room, there were herds of baboons close by, and some of the footprints on the ground supposedly belonged to hyenas. I saw a definite trend forming, and I tried to sing Hakuna Matata to a warthog, but he didn’t have the reaction I was looking for. . . Later that same day, as we lay out next to the pool, we could see elephants off in the distance. To say the least, it was a pretty surreal experience.

My favorite part of the trip was when we spent the following night in a treehouse in the middle of the forest. We were lying high up in a tree, looking up at the stars through the leaves, and any trace of stress dealing with cultural/societal norms couldn’t have felt any further away.  I was also pretty stoked in the morning when the first sound I heard after waking up was the call of monkeys in far off trees. 

Though many people complained of not being able to sleep that night, I would definitely do it again in a heartbeat.  On our way back from the treehouse, we saw more elephants, and a final one in the parking lot as we left that morning.  We probably ended up seeing around 15 elephants in all, which will probably be one of the most memorable parts of the trip, at least for me.

This trip was eye-opening in more ways than one, but I am really glad to be back now.  Every time I leave a place that I am living, it feels more and more like home upon return, and it feels good to be home.

Kintampo Falls

   

the beginning of a good thing

After a few weeks in Ghana, I am starting to feel much more at home, but I am also far from figuring this place out.  It’s very strange to learn the ins and outs of a culture that you haven’t grown up with. Unspoken social norms can seem pretty odd when they need to be verbalized to you.  Like the taboo of waving with your left hand or the compulsory snap at the end of a hand shake.  Though there is a lot to learn, I feel like I am slowly making progress.

Ghana definitely has a lot of contradicting qualities, which makes it even harder to figure out. Most people are dressed more conservatively(and are often more put together) than us Obrunis (foreigners), but it isn’t unheard of for there to be a naked person on the side of the road in a more rural area.  There are strict rules when it comes to social etiquette, but absolutely none when it comes to driving. I feel like I have somewhat of a responsibility to learn to play by the new rules, no matter how long they may take to learn.

On one of the first days, we had a lecture about assimilating to the culture here. We were told that there were 4 stages that we could be sure to find ourselves in at any point in time. These are the 1) Honeymoon Stage, 2) Hostility Stage, 3) Humor Stage, and 4) Home Stage.  I definitely find myself jumping back and forth between these stages quite often.  I am in the honeymoon stage whenever I am at the beach or see a Ghanaian smile(which is very often), and the hostility stage when I have trouble communicating with people or getting things that would normally be easy to come by. 

I have made some great friends here already, and we are perpetually in the humor stage, whether we are bitter or blissful.  Being able to laugh about everything is really the only way you can approach this situation if you don’t want to drive yourself crazy.

I will try to keep stories and pictures flowing on a regular basis, partly for myself, and for anyone else who is interested in seeing them! 

Cape Coast, Ghana

Ada Beach

Cape Coast: former slave castle