"God Bless America". It was a very strange phrase to hear halfway across the world surrounded by Ghanaians. It was the day of Obama's inauguration, and I had just arrived at Accra's largest gathering to watch the inauguration. Over 600 people sat in white chairs watching a projected screen with the inauguration. Every time Obama appeared, people cheered and when he began his oath, everyone stood and jumped and cheered. I looked around and saw two American flags flying in the hands of two Ghanaians and a full crowd of smiles and excitement. It was an amazing moment to witness, the sheer joy and excitement in this building ironically the final resting place of the famed African-American leader WEB DuBois. Speakers drew parallels between Obama's journey and that of WEB DuBois. I sat with a group of 60 Abrunis, white people, that sat at the back of the crowd having arrived a little late with a sea of excited Obibinis, black people.
I remember years back that a professor of mine, Professor Tidd, explained the word globalization as "interconnectedness". We spent the whole semester analyzing different aspects of this level of connectedness, but the definition of this term didn't make much sense to me until I witnessed it at the inauguration. Halfway across the world in the middle of Accra, Ghana I was witnessing the degree to which countries are connected. The degree to which the excitement and achievements of one country are heard and celebrated around the world. At this large gathering of excited, Ghanaian Obama enthusiasts I saw how connected world politics are. The acheivement of this African American was celebrated as progress around the world. An indication of a global struggle for equality that began with whips and abuse years ago have epitomized in the election of a black to the highest office of power in the most powerful country. At every indication of this achievement the crowd would shout, scream AMEN, clap, stand and jump. As one of the countries that lost almost 40% of it's population to slavery across the world, this was a achievement worthy of the excited crowd present.
It was an amazing moment. It marked the end to one of the most exciting events of my generation, America's first black president. I could not have fathomed the excitement and pride that would be reflected halfway across the world. But witnessing this made it clear to me that the world had just reached turning point. After this election, the world will never be the same and what a joy it was to watch the excitement of this small country in the heart of West Africa.
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Thursday, January 15, 2009
HELLO EVERYONE!
This is the first opportunity in the past week I have had to post, and I'm sitting in the Office of International Programs Office on the computer. I was welcomed to Ghana last week as I landed by a wonderful set of CIEE staff who knew me as the infamous Benjamin, apparently I told them I was arriving the day before so they had waited for 3 hours for me to arrive the day before, and I had already established a reputation, lol. Within the first 15 minutes of landing, I made the genius decision of taking my malaria pills without food in my stomach and was welcome to Ghana by throwing up in the airplane toilets. A word of advice, never take malaria pills without food!
So we stayed at a hotel for the first 3 days to undergo orientation. At the hotel I met all 43 members of my trip, all of them awesome people from all over the US. We spent the first couple days learning about the culture of Ghana, touring the city a bit, and getting to know each other. One of the big activities was a scavenger hunt of looking around at the city for specific sites. We took a couple of tro-tros to get from place to place, small buses that provide cheap local transport hwere the pack 15 people into seats enough for 9 and people bring many things included food, bowls, animals. We lucked out because one of the members of my small scavenger hunt group lives in Accra so he picked us up in his car and we continued the tour. We piled 8 people into a small car meant for 5 and we drove all over town taking pictures of various sites. Because we were so packed, people along the street would shout "overload" and because we were as packed as a tro-tro, we renamed our group American tro-tro. This was slightly against the rules of the scavenger hunt which encouraged us to use tro-tros, but we still ended up winning.
Afterwards we headed to our homestays and on-campus housing. Driving through Ghana, you will pass by broken down and abandoned homes, small stands selling pineapple (Abrobay) and Papaya, many partially completed construction projects. Driving is quite a project here, it reminds me very much of the game Frogger. There are no pedestrian rights so if you cross the streets without looking you have a huge chance of getting hit. Cars don't pay attention to you crossing, and a couple times I had to pull friends out of traffic that cars didn't stop for and I've been grazed at least one by car. Nonetheless, my host family is terrific. The mother is named Auntie Rejoice and she has 4 kids and one cousin that lives with her. The kids are adorable, Mubarak the youngest, 6, knows how to speak and write English quite well. Jen, 23, lives with Auntie Rejoice and helps around the house. Bibi, 16, attends boarding school learning French and intends to be a doctor, and she will leave on Sunday. Wahab, 14, attends a local secondary school and loves to play football (soccer). The father, Abu, is a UN peacekeeper stationed in Eastern Chad at the moment.
I've spent the past couple days registering for classes. You have no idea how much a hastle it is. At ASU you go online and click, click, click, click and you're done. Let me explain the process here. First of all the campus is huge, it covers about 2-3 square miles and everything is heavily spread out so walking is quite a chore. Now imagine, each building on this 2-3 square miles may have a piece of paper up on the wall somewhere in the building with the list of classes and times. Some buildings have no list, some buildings have no times listed. So you check back everyday for 3 days trying to figure out what classes are offered. So it takes about three days to get registered, which is what I'm doing this whole week. The campus is really beautiful, but the buildings are kind of old and falling apart, but this is known as the Harvard of Africa. Students come from all over Africa to come to the University of Ghana.
Each night I come home from class searching to my host family and eat a nice dinner with them. We chat for a while, sit around the TV and watch shows like CSI Las Vegas, Oprah, Friends, and The Cosby Show. All of this is on a local Ghanain Station and its quite funny to hear them introducing the shows, next time I write I'll write down some of the intros and commercials. I have so much more to write about but I have to get off the computer and go to a cooking class. I have photos to load, but it will take about 30 minutes on this computer so I'll try to do it next time I log on. Take care friends and we'll be in touch soon!
So we stayed at a hotel for the first 3 days to undergo orientation. At the hotel I met all 43 members of my trip, all of them awesome people from all over the US. We spent the first couple days learning about the culture of Ghana, touring the city a bit, and getting to know each other. One of the big activities was a scavenger hunt of looking around at the city for specific sites. We took a couple of tro-tros to get from place to place, small buses that provide cheap local transport hwere the pack 15 people into seats enough for 9 and people bring many things included food, bowls, animals. We lucked out because one of the members of my small scavenger hunt group lives in Accra so he picked us up in his car and we continued the tour. We piled 8 people into a small car meant for 5 and we drove all over town taking pictures of various sites. Because we were so packed, people along the street would shout "overload" and because we were as packed as a tro-tro, we renamed our group American tro-tro. This was slightly against the rules of the scavenger hunt which encouraged us to use tro-tros, but we still ended up winning.
Afterwards we headed to our homestays and on-campus housing. Driving through Ghana, you will pass by broken down and abandoned homes, small stands selling pineapple (Abrobay) and Papaya, many partially completed construction projects. Driving is quite a project here, it reminds me very much of the game Frogger. There are no pedestrian rights so if you cross the streets without looking you have a huge chance of getting hit. Cars don't pay attention to you crossing, and a couple times I had to pull friends out of traffic that cars didn't stop for and I've been grazed at least one by car. Nonetheless, my host family is terrific. The mother is named Auntie Rejoice and she has 4 kids and one cousin that lives with her. The kids are adorable, Mubarak the youngest, 6, knows how to speak and write English quite well. Jen, 23, lives with Auntie Rejoice and helps around the house. Bibi, 16, attends boarding school learning French and intends to be a doctor, and she will leave on Sunday. Wahab, 14, attends a local secondary school and loves to play football (soccer). The father, Abu, is a UN peacekeeper stationed in Eastern Chad at the moment.
I've spent the past couple days registering for classes. You have no idea how much a hastle it is. At ASU you go online and click, click, click, click and you're done. Let me explain the process here. First of all the campus is huge, it covers about 2-3 square miles and everything is heavily spread out so walking is quite a chore. Now imagine, each building on this 2-3 square miles may have a piece of paper up on the wall somewhere in the building with the list of classes and times. Some buildings have no list, some buildings have no times listed. So you check back everyday for 3 days trying to figure out what classes are offered. So it takes about three days to get registered, which is what I'm doing this whole week. The campus is really beautiful, but the buildings are kind of old and falling apart, but this is known as the Harvard of Africa. Students come from all over Africa to come to the University of Ghana.
Each night I come home from class searching to my host family and eat a nice dinner with them. We chat for a while, sit around the TV and watch shows like CSI Las Vegas, Oprah, Friends, and The Cosby Show. All of this is on a local Ghanain Station and its quite funny to hear them introducing the shows, next time I write I'll write down some of the intros and commercials. I have so much more to write about but I have to get off the computer and go to a cooking class. I have photos to load, but it will take about 30 minutes on this computer so I'll try to do it next time I log on. Take care friends and we'll be in touch soon!
Sunday, January 4, 2009
Welcome to my blog!
Hello dear friends,
Akwaaba! (welcome in Twi, the language of Ghana). Welcome to my study abroad in Ghana blog! I am about to embark on a very exciting journey to spend nearly half a year in Legon, Ghana studying at the University of Ghana with CIEE. I will be arriving in the country on January 9th, and leaving May 17th. While in Ghana I'll be taking 5 classes including: Twi for Beginners, Sociological Foundations of Development, Internship Course, Conflicts in African Societies, and Growth and Development in Ghana. In addition, I'll be interning in a local development-focused NGO. While studying at the university, I will be staying with a host family and taking trips with other members on the weekend.
Ghana is a particularly interesting country. The first country to recieve independence, Ghana has a history of military rule and democracy, rich culture and music, and pan-African leadership. Ghana has been a democracy since elections in 1992 and just 2 days ago elected an opposition leader, Professor Atta Mills as president in a close presidential election. Ghana has a rich culture focused on closeness of family and respect for ancestors, gods and witchcraft, and is predominately Christian, to my surprise. Nkrumah, the first president of Ghana has a legacy of African cooperation, Ghana helped start the African Union and ECOWAS is active in both organizations.
As you can guess, I'm very excited to be studying in such a wonderful country. I look forward to making the journey with all of you. I will be posting to this blog probably once a week with updates about my travels and experiences. Have a wonderful semester and I look forward to taking this journey with you!
Akwaaba! (welcome in Twi, the language of Ghana). Welcome to my study abroad in Ghana blog! I am about to embark on a very exciting journey to spend nearly half a year in Legon, Ghana studying at the University of Ghana with CIEE. I will be arriving in the country on January 9th, and leaving May 17th. While in Ghana I'll be taking 5 classes including: Twi for Beginners, Sociological Foundations of Development, Internship Course, Conflicts in African Societies, and Growth and Development in Ghana. In addition, I'll be interning in a local development-focused NGO. While studying at the university, I will be staying with a host family and taking trips with other members on the weekend.
Ghana is a particularly interesting country. The first country to recieve independence, Ghana has a history of military rule and democracy, rich culture and music, and pan-African leadership. Ghana has been a democracy since elections in 1992 and just 2 days ago elected an opposition leader, Professor Atta Mills as president in a close presidential election. Ghana has a rich culture focused on closeness of family and respect for ancestors, gods and witchcraft, and is predominately Christian, to my surprise. Nkrumah, the first president of Ghana has a legacy of African cooperation, Ghana helped start the African Union and ECOWAS is active in both organizations.
As you can guess, I'm very excited to be studying in such a wonderful country. I look forward to making the journey with all of you. I will be posting to this blog probably once a week with updates about my travels and experiences. Have a wonderful semester and I look forward to taking this journey with you!
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