These are long because this is my personal diary of Ghana. I don't ever want to forget this experience so I'm writing as much as I can remember about what happened in a particular day or week or whatever time period exists between posts.
Today was the beginning of orientation. We all convened in the conference room of the Coconut Grove Regency Hotel at 8am after a breakfast of egg and cheese omlettees, white bread that didn't toast, rice krispies with really sweet milk and orange juice that tasted like something that wasn't orange juice. We met our Program Director today for the first time. He is a clinical psychologist and is a really cool man. His name is Mr. Kwasi Gyasi-Gyamerah aka Mr. Gyasi. He has been Resident Director of CIEE Ghana for 10 years so he knows his stuff and is really helpful. One of the first activities we did with him was that we had to write down a lot of the reactions we got from people when we first told them we were going to Ghana. Some of them were just ridiculously bogus. They included:
“Die your hair black so you don't stick out too much.” Obviously, if your white in Africa you're already going to stick out, changing your hair color will not help.
“Don't get married/Don't marry a Black man” Well I can understand the don't get married statement but the don't marry a Black man statement? Unnecessary.
“In what part of the country is Ghana?” First of all people, Ghana is a country on the CONTINENT of Africa. You learn that Africa is one of the seven continents in what 2nd grade? Geesh.
“Don't be mean to the people. They will curse you and put blood in your food and give you HIV. You know they all have HIV/AIDS.” Ok, why would I be mean? I don't know anyone or anything and need help with everything I would assume the first thing I would do is be nice to everyone. Put blood in your food? Whatt? Whose blood? What blood? Yes, blood is just lying everywhere in Africa waiting for someone to drip it in your food. Finally, the Virus dies once blood hits the air so thats impossible and Ghana has the lowest prevalency rate of HIV/AIDS in all of West Africa. Next.
“Don't get raped.” Wowzers. People watch too much TV. Ghana prides itself on being one of the safest countries in all of Africa. I'm more likely to get raped in America, honestly.
“Watch out, don't get eaten by a lion.” This was both me and Mr. Gyasi's favorite. Who told you lions, elephants, and monkies were everywhere in Africa? You gotta go on a Safari to see all of that. Mr. Gyasi just replied: “Yes, yes there is going to be a lion crossing the street at 12 noon. Don't miss it.”
All I'm saying is if you don't know, then don't make assumptions. Get the stereotypical of images of Africa out of your mind. This is not TV, this is real life.
To continue, we also had some lessons on Ghanian history and customs. Some interesting facts from the history of Ghana include: Ghana was the first African nation to gain independence from its' colonial power which occurred in 1957. Ghana has had some of the most peaceful democratic elections for the past five terms in Africa which is one of the main reasons President Obama visited last month. Ghana recently had to borrow money from the IMF which of course came with conditionalities. One of those conditionalities was that there was a freeze put on Ghana's public sector for two years, meaning people can't get hired in that sector for two years. Essentially, the Ghanian public sector is suffering terribly in areas from healthcare to education. Damn the IMF, sometimes I feel like they do more bad than good. This is a topic I'm definitely going to look into/read into/learn about more in the near future. Additionally, we also learned some cool things about Ghanaian culture. One of the coolest things we learned was the hand shake/snap which is something the youth do to greet each other. It's like going in for a handshake, pulling your hand away and then there is a snap of the middle fingers before you completely pull your hands away. You do not, DO NOT, do this handshake with an elder, just your peers. We also learned to never use your left hand for anything. Don't use it to eat, to shake hands, to hand someone something, to say hello, to answer a question in class. Nothing. This is because traditionally the left hand is used for doing foul things with like wiping yourself in the bathroom. Also, everyone in Ghana has a name according to the day of the week they were born(there is a different name on each day for a boy or a girl). My name in Ghana would be Ama Tamika because I was born on a Saturday. If I were a boy my name would be Kwame Tamika. Get it? Kofi Annan former UN Secretary General is Ghanian and his name “Kofi” means he was born on a Friday.
Ok so a little after this activity I decided it was time to take my Malaria medicine. It DEFINITELY makes me sick. No more than five minutes after taking it my stomach started spinning, my mouth starting salvating, and I immediately had the urge to throw up. I tried to run downstairs to the bathroom but I could'nt make it and vommitted right outside the door. Disgusting. I poked my head back in and the caught the eye of the assistant program director, Abena, who was very helpful. She felt very bad for me and calmed me down because I was freaking out over the fact that I had just vomitted on the floor. She led me to the bathroom which was actually a lot closer and actually already INSIDE the room I had just come from. Ugh. Anyways I cleaned myself up and she called housekeeping. Thank God for Abena. She is amazingly nice as most Ghanians I've encountered are. I felt a little better after vommiting and laying my head down on the table. I need to figure out what to do about this Malaria medicine situation.
Anywho, 15 minutes after my vommiting dilemma it was time for us to go on a scavenger hunt throughout the city. Great. All I wanted to do was lay down in my bed. Yet, I knew one of the stops was the Foreign Exchange Bureau and I needed to exchange currency because we would be buying phones later that day. I would of just given my money to my hotel roommate Annie to exchange for me but I really didn't want to miss out on anything so I just went, nauseous and all, and I'm so happy I did.
The hunt was called “In A Place Where There Are No Maps.” The title is so because there aren't really many street names in Ghana and if there are people won't use them when you ask them for directions. If you say I want to got to Champs they will say “go past the banana cart, make a right at the group of kids playing, and a left at the following junction.” So our task for the day was to simply find places on the list by asking for directions and we had to get there by foot, tro tro or taxi. City life in Ghana is amazing. As a New Yorker I can appreciate the Accra city scene very much. There are people everywhere. People selling things, children playing, people chilling, people driving, people walking to some destination, just people. You do not feel alone and I like that. I love to see a vibrant city life where people are out and about enjoying their neighborhood and environment, it's a beautiful thing. There are pictures and billboards of Barack Obama everywhere in all types of variations: Barack Obama and Atta Mills (President of Ghana), Barack Obama and Michelle Obama, Barack Obama by himself, etc. A lot of them are still up from when he visited the country not to long ago. Another interesting thing about Accra is that there are street vendors everywhere selling everything. They sell plug adapters, hangers, furniture, steering wheel covers, phone credits (minutes/recharge cards), mentos and more mentos, fruits especially bananas, T-shirts, bags, statues, loofas, q-tips, socks, shoes, DVDs, CDs, jewlery, water in satchels (pure water that comes in a sealed bag instead of a bottle-it's perfectly safe, no worries), nuts, belts, paintings, sunglasses, and the list goes on. Actually this street selling of random stuff reminds me of the Africans on 125th street in Harlem who sell everything from DVDs, to books, to CDs, to T-shirts, to perfume. That's what I call holding on to culture. To continue, we eventually stopped at a For Ex Bureau and I got some money. The exchange rate is something like $1 equals 1.43 Ghanian cedis. So to exchange $100 you would get 143 cedis, to exhange $200 you would get 286 cedis, etc. This is an excellent exchange rate which seems even better since everything in Ghana is cheaper than in the US. For example, after leaving the For Ex Bureau we hopped in a tro tro headed towards Osu. A tro tro is the most common and cheapest form of transportation in Ghana. It is basically a 15 passenger van which cost the equivalent of $.10. There is a driver and a mate on the bus. The mate shouts out the window where the tro tro is going and he collects fares. The tro tro randomly picks up people on the side of the road, there are no stops. One just informs the screaming mate they want to get in, the mate bangs on the side of the tro tro, the driver stops, and then the passanger boards. We took the tro tro to a restaurant named Papaye which served the best chicken I ever ate in my life and the hugest portions of rice I have EVER seen. It was ridiculous but for some Ghanians, as we were informed, thats nothing much. I ate “chips” or french fries though instead of rice because I will avoid rice at all times unless it is the only option. I never really ate rice the same after eating it 3 times a day when I was in Mali. Next, we took a taxi pass the stadium, Parliament building and Independence Square and the whole cab ride Kiss Fm 103.7 was playing. Guess who I heard? Lil Wayne's A Milli remade by a Ghanian rapper, Gucci Man and Mariah Carey's new song, and Rhiana's song Te Amo. They are definitely into Hip Hop and R&B here. In the restaurant they were playing Jaheim, Usher, and Brandy lol. Anywho, returned back to the hotel where we all purchased cell phones from a Tigo rep who came to the hotel to speak with us. Tigo is one of the major cell phone companies in Ghana outside of the other companies like MTN and Vodafone. You can buy a Tigo “credit” or minute card at basically any street vendor so refilling my card will not be a problem. So I officially have a Ghanian phone number and cell phone. It's a Nokia, a regular ol' Nokia. It has texting, alarm clock, internet, calculator, a conveter, and games so its pretty swanky for being a 45 cedi or $31 phone. Everyone in our program has the same exact phone and all our numbers start with 027-888- ____. I think I need to put a sticker on my phone or something so it doesn't get mixed up with everyone elses lol. After that and more orientation about our safety and health we ate dinner which consisted of fried rice, plantains, grilled sole ( a type of fish in which I picked out the many little bones) and plantains. Pretty good. I drink a lot of water here which is good. It helps to keep the dehydration and thus the diarrhia away (I'm serious). It also gets dark really early here, like 6pm as opposed to 8pm back home in the summer time. It's actually not that hot all either. It's not as hot as NYC summer and I think it's because there is like zero humidity and there was even a nice breeze. One of the Ghanians mentioned how this is cold for them though and it usually gets hotter. That's okay though, I'll deal if it does get hotter. I also found out I will be living in the International Student's Hostel which is what I requested. Yes! I'll give more details later about roomates and how it looks and stuff after I actually move in. I think that's enough for now. God is good.
Love,
Tamika Nicole
