Peeling through the Layers of Ghana

In my last post, I had started off by saying that I really started to feel like I was finally IN Ghana.  I was mostly talking about immersion.  Looking around me at the time, I began to feel myself soaked in a Ghanaian lifestyle: eating and making the food, talking about locally relevant issues, wearing the clothes, walking the walk, living with Ghanaians, practicing languages and greetings . . . This was all pretty important for me since for the first time, I knew next to nothing about the place I was coming to.  It wasn’t like my last trips.  It is almost as if I came to Ghana blindfolded, dropped off by a taxi on the side of a deserted unrecognizable road that could have been in several places in the world.  Yet as I began to make sense of it all, I started to realize shortly after the last post that I still did not understand Ghana and what to make of this place in general.

Kokobrite Beach

Fufu and Light Soup

Colorful Ghana Creatures

This is one perplexing theme that my mind has been wrestling with.  What is Ghana?  Upon arriving, I began to pick up phrases in a local language of Twi, I was given my Ghanaian name of Kwaku for being born on a Wednesday, I bought some cool Ghanaian printed shirts and explored various places – all while eating the food, managing trotros, operating in intense heat once again, and trying to adapt to different social behavior.  I started coming to conclusions about what Ghana is versus what my culture is, until I found myself in the same trap I always fall into: Ghana is not just one homogenous culture.  It is so much more complicated than that!  In fact, learning Twi and taking on a Ghanaian 'day name' of Kwaku is really only beginning to understand Ashanti culture--only one dominating culture of Ghana.  I know, I know, I have written this before, but I can not just write what all Ghanaians do and what is typical of here when people are so much more dynamic than that.  I have found myself stuck, over and over again, in conversations with international students comparing Ghanaian culture to the US, only to realize that their idea of what Ghana is not the same as mine, or that they have made limited or hasty generalizations of this place.  I even realize that their idea of what US culture is not even the same as mine!

Kaneshie Station

Tro-tro Madness

Out at Container with a good friend Samuel and my roommate Joshua

March 6 Independence Day (54th Anniversary)

All this has prevented me from writing much.  Although it is hard to avoid being reminded of my “Americanness” or to step outside of my culture and just accept another’s, I have still tried to forget about constantly comparing Ghana to where I am from as a means to understand it.  I have instead dove head first into many projects and activities that have allowed me to get close to different kinds of Ghanaians and undersrand what it's like to live, work and organize here in the Ghanaian system.  The month of March disappeared for me while I kept busy working on a play, implementing my photography project, helping put together an activist forum for University of Ghana students and working hard on a village development project for the village I mentioned last post, Wli Todzi.  Each project though has provided me great insight around so many different perspectives on huge themes like racism, religion, development, sexuality, sexism, gender divides and even various political views on Ghana locally and Ghana in the world today.  Let me break down what each activity has been like. . . 

"Atobra"

The play took the most amount of time, but it was one of the cooler things I have been able to do here.  The storyline was hilarious, with a modern relationship going sour because of complications with traditional expectations.  I played a chief wizard (a male witch and leader of a group of vodoo witches) that tried to destroy the husband with the help of his wife, and then Jesus saves the day in the end!  Kind of out there, but it was still a really cool experience and great way to make a bunch of Ghanaian friends and be apart of a performance directed by a local playwright.  Since I have been in Ghana, it has been interesting to open myself up to how outgoing so many people here are.  It is not as frowned upon to be the loudest person, or to be extremely outgoing and confident as it is back home.  With the momentum of other people here, I felt like I was able to come outside of my own constraints and confidently perform something. It was a great opening up experience, one very big theme to my time in Ghana.  Also, every night during rehearsal or performance, we all always had really interesting conversations back stage mostly around religion, race, culture and politics.  Religion comes up here a lot, and since Jesus saves the day in the end of the play, I definitely had a lot to say and hear about Christianity.  Some of the people I met in my play though were some of the coolest and smartest students I have met here.  It also brought me closer to the performing arts department where I have been dancing my ass off at!

"Youth Partnership for Social Justice"

Youth Partnership for Social Justice (YPFSJ) is another project that I have been involved with.  It is a really great and necessary space for international students and Ghanaian students to get together and is discuss common issues that fall between us all, beyond borders.  It has been an awesome way to break down barriers and having a place where themes important for encouraging activism to be explored and talked about by all different kinds of people.  This is one place where I have totally realized how different Ghanaians are from one another, but also a place where I have realized immense apathy amongst the students and youth here.  There definitely seems to be a sense of powerlessness against a massive system against change and too extreme of social progress.  But, I am gaining faith from people who come to our group discussions so passionate to relay ideas and thoughts.  Recently there was a really controversial happening on campus where a girl was stripped naked and sexually abused by a bunch of men in dormitory as a punishment for getting caught stealing from someone's room.  Stealing is serious here, and it rarely happens, but if it does it usually is by men.  If they are caught, they can be beat to death or stripped naked and walked all around campus for everyone to see you.  This time it was a girl though, and a "female appropriate (as many have explained) punishment was given of sexual abuse while it was video taped and disbursed all over campus.  The event and the commentary by various students afterwards opened up my eyes to the immense gender divide and sexist views held by many here.  We talked about it one week as a topic for out YPFSJ meeting, and it was just another topic that made me realize how much more complicated it is to understand things here, and how difficult it is to penetrate as well as understand thoughts soaked in a completely different social context.

"Rise Up Wli Todzi"

Wli Todzi is my other source of extreme pleasure.  Since my last post, I have become really involved with trying to work alongside the people of Wli Todzi and just get them simple things they need.  The clinic is still the largest concern, but is becoming more and more difficult to attain.  Working on this project has been such a beneficial experience for me to try and run a development project with other students all from our own hands and minds, but it is so challenging as well given our short time and limited resources.  Wli Todzi is also such a special place. Since my last post, I have gone up two more times, and have plans for about two more visits.  I wanted to go up even more times than I have to spend time with people that I have grown close to and explore a completely different side of Ghana; a humble village life in the Volta Region with a whole different language, social system and traditional roots stemmed far away the busy and hectic collage of things and life that exists in Accra.  What I have done most is try and talk to people about the village, help continue to streamline the tourism project that will generate revenue for the village, conduct a baseline study for figuring out health stats on the villages for advocacy, research grants and writing a proposal for what our project is trying to accomplish.  We hope to at least be getting a large sum of money to build the clinic from a fundraiser we are currently organizing.  My eyes are more open more than ever to how ridiculous this place and the world is sometimes; all we need are materials and no one we need help from is convinced that a clinic is necessary.  Aside from all of the challenging work, Wli Todzi has become the most special place for me in Ghana so far.

"Photo-Adesan: Photographing the Young Voices of Ga Children of the Street Academy of Accra"

This has been one of the most satisfying and interesting experiences yet.  The project took some time to take off, and I have gone through a roller coaster of emotions and self-critique on what the project means and how well it is or isn’t working out, but right now I feel that it has taken off so well.  The kids I am working with are some of the most underprivileged kids I have ever met.  They are also one of the primary sources of inspiration for me at the moment and have completely filled the void that developed after leaving my students and job at College Track of Oakland.  I finally have been able to buy 6 cameras for the project, and have also gotten two cameras donated and volunteered my own cameras for the project.  Having these artistic instruments for capturing and recording their lives as a means for self-representation/expression and therapeutic value have opened a flood gate for the kids to explore a totally different educational medium.  I have also seen the kids feeling more empowered and stoked in general because of photography, which has made me feel somewhat accomplished.  However, the kids are still crazy, and I am continually confronted by intense challenges.  Also, I am becoming so worried about just ending it next month after all this work of setting it up on my own.

Claudio and Ajetay

Caleb doing flips in Jamestown

Patience, Rashid and Caleb on our first photo field trip

Claudio in class

Photo Homework

Travels. . .


I have not traveled much since the beginning of my time in Ghana besides to long journeys to Wli Todzi.  Craving to get away, last weekend I took a little escape trip to Koforidua with my friend Chuks from Nigeria and Rhiannon from the UK. Koforidua is the capital of the Eastern Region, just north of Accra. It was just a random last minute trip, but ended up being so much fun. Koforidua sits in the Shai Hilla, north of Accra, so it was nice to drive up through beautiful vegetation and plush green hills, to a place cooler than Accra. It was a really cool chill city, and we also got to escape to Boti Falls, some nearby waterfalls, and a few other random natural tourist attractions like "Umbrella Rock" and a palm tree with three stumps. We found ourself in hilarious situations, from hichhiking with a bus full of Christian University students from Boti Falls back to Koforidua, to being stranded in the city in the middle of the night with no hotel and then meeting a cool taxi driver who took us for free to a nursing school to sleep for the night. The hostel at the nursing school is usually only for its students, but they let all of us sleep there in the nicest room I have seen in Ghana yet!

Chuks, Me and Rhiannon in a trotro

Boti Falls

A walk through the park with giants

Umbrella Rocks

Palm Tree with three stumps

Aburi Botanical Gardens

I just wanted to write a simple and blunt update.  All of these experiences have shown me completely different sides of Ghana, especially mixed in with going to school with wealthy Ghanaians and exploring fun places and interesting people of Accra!  That’s all I got for now . . . More thoughts coming really soon.