My First Two Days in Ghana

Hello everyone!

I am currently in Accra, Ghana, and am here with my professor from Eastern Washington University.  The rest of my group from EWU will arrive tomorrow night. I am here a few days earlier than them because something happened and I didn't book my tickets, so to avoid paying a lot of money, I just came a few days early with my professor.

Anyways...

I've only been here in Ghana for 2 days and I already feel like I have seen and learned so much and that I have so much to write about! 

It was a long trip to get here, and when we finally made it, it was nighttime, so I couldn't really see a whole lot but i knew that it was very humid.  Afasi, who works for Engage Now Africa, picked us up from the airport and has been driving us around the past few days. I feel like we have been everywhere and back.  We stayed the night in the capital, Accra, and then the next morning we ran some errands and went grocery shopping.  Everything here is very, very different.  We drove to Nsawam where we visited the Catholic Orthopedic Hospital.  I will get to go back there tomorrow night with the rest of the group, and I am very excited to spend a few days there.  We stopped at a few other villages but finally made it to Abomosu that first night, which is where the group will spend 10 days working and living.  My first impression of Abomusu was that I felt like i was in the jungle book.  Green plants and trees everywhere with bugs and animals buzzing everywhere.  The temperature was cooler than Accra, but more humid.  

Accra

Today, we looked at illegal mining going on there and then drove around to other villages and met many people and attended many meetings regarding what the group would be doing and what other future groups might be able to do.  

The Illegal Mining

Basically everywhere we have gone so far, we have definitely stood out because we are white, and some people rarely, if ever, see white people.  People have addressed me as "Obibini" which means white person in Twi.  I find that odd because in America, we never address people as "black person", but i guess it is just so rare to see white people here.  Children will shout it at me, and when I smile and wave and say hi, they smile so big and giggle, and you can just tell that having a white person say hi to them makes their day.  We stopped for gas in a village, and I noticed that there were two women that were working there who were watching me. When I smiled at one of them, she told me I was very beautiful.  She said she loved my chin, which might have been one of the weirdest compliments I have ever gotten, but it was very nice. When the other woman came over, she also told me I was beautiful.  They, too, were also very beautiful.  One of the woman just stared at me the whole time we were there. I was shocked that they were so up front, but I definitely appreciated the compliments. Also, when we were in a different village, after a community meeting, the people wanted to take a picture with us. They wanted me to be in the front, in the middle, and a few people told me they wanted to stand by me.  This was kind of odd to me, but it was also very flattering.  I don't know why they were so excited for me to be in the front of the picture and not Professor Mackelprang, but probably because I am a young woman.  It could be seen as creepy by some people, but I they were just very excited to meet a white woman.

Kids watching a school being built

Some other things that struck me as very different is the fact that in the villages, there are chickens and goats just roaming the streets. When I saw this for the first time, I thought it was just maybe for that particular village, but nope! Its in every one so far. Also, everyone carries things on their head.  I remember as a child seeing this in movies and being amazed, but I never really thought people actually did it.  They carry things in the city that they sell, crops that they are bringing in, and just anything they need to carry.  They have a cloth type thing in the shape of a donut on their head to keep the bucket or whatever steady on their head.

Another interesting thing is that most buildings, taxis, buses, and other things have a religious name.  For example, a van will say "Amen", a store will be called "God is Love" or "Abundant Grace", etc.  Their religion and faith is definitely very important to them.

The vans says "Amen"

One more thing is the roads.  The roads are absolutely terrible.  So many bumps and and rocks. The highways aren't finish, so they are blocked off, so for most of the journey we were on extremely wide, bumpy dirt roads, which was basically a free for all for anybody to drive anywhere.  The driving there is very scary and everyone honks, which is considered rude in the states. The roads knocked me around quite a bit.  I somehow fell asleep a few times while on the road, but a huge bump in the road would usually cause me to hit my head and i'd be awake again!

I've only been in Ghana two full days, and I am already fascinated by the people and the culture.  It is so different from the United States, but it is definitely amazing in it's own way.