So we had just got adjusted to our nice hotel room…complete with air conditioning, nicely made beds, hot water, spacious living conditions, and maid service. Fast forward to our arrival in East Legon on the campus. Let’s just say, our dorm alone is bigger than Muhlenberg. Yeah. Let’s think about that ‘berg people. The distance in walking from this dorm to the other International Student Hostel is roughly a forty five minute walk. Yeah. Why? Haha
Gyasi (our program director) has made that the universal saying for the trip. Why? Why in America do we tip when in Ghana tipping is seen as a gift? A reason for a Ghanaian to welcome you even further into their lives. Why is education in American up to 65, 000 dollars per year while in Ghana, primary (elementary) and secondary junior college (middle through highschool I believe) is mostly free? It wasn’t until around fifteen years ago that payment began involved in schooling. And even then, college for a year is roughly 450 cedi to 500 cedi. That is around 300-350 dollars American. Yeah. Why? WHY?!
But then you realize that American’s minimum wage is what? 7.50? Here it is custom for one to make only 2 cedi or 3 cedis a day (these are street sellers). Minimum wage for them is equivalent to 2 or 3 cedis. I cannot believe it. Yesterday morning we had a lecturer come in from the University named Dr. Kofi Baku. He is a history professor with a great sense of humor, a very good public speaker. He gave a speech about the Evolution of Modern Ghana. Ghana gained their independence on March 6th, 1957. It is bordered by three French-speaking countries. The language of Ghana is English- so no worries there. However, they have over 79 language groups in the country. He broke it down into 6 general groups: Akan (45%), Mole-Dagbani (15%), Ewe (13%), Ga-Abangbe (9%), Gurma (4%), and Grusi (2%). Quite a handful, am I right. Ladies? Haha
Here comes the kind of history we Americans NEVER like to hear about. The Portuguese were the first to arrive to Ghana and they found gold. They named it “La Mina” for the mining and the gold found available. Today it is called Elmina. The Southern Coast of Ghana became known as the shopping line. However, soon the gold trade was switched to slave trade. He mentioned three types of slavery: Domestic, Atlantic, Indian Ocean, and the Trans-Saharan slave trade. On paper, these slave trades lasted from 1530 till 1807. However, it “illegally” existed till 1874. Here comes the overwhelming statistics.
From 1530-1600, 13,000 people were taken as slaves. From 1600-1700, it was 27,500 people. From 1700-1800 it was 70,000. Can you imagine? The leap from those two hundred years is astounding to me. After 1800, the number jumped even higher to 135,000. Absolutely insane. INSANE.
After slavery, the professor jumped on Colonialism. Europeans needed industrial raw materials…and where would we get them? Certainly not from ourselves. Palm oil was needed to lubricate engines that brought fossil fuels into being. The palm oil was also used as edible vegetable oil, a suitable way to make soap, etc. This professor did a good job expressing how history keeps repeating itself. Countries have always wanted exclusive markets to protect their industries. However, today everything comes from China. The Ghanaian flag comes from China. Computer parts come from China. EVERYTHING comes from China. Also, the more we develop technology, the less employment. This is currently an issue that is being experienced throughout America. Even back then, it was prevalent. The cotton gin put many people out of work.
One of the more humorous parts of his lecture included an interaction he had with another lecturer at a seminar. She said that they were making a mistake in not making a monument of a mosquito in Africa because it drove the white man away. Haha. We all got a good laugh out of that. How true.
America, unfortunately, has not allowed Ghana to hold true profit to their oil and gold materials. We have taken over their gold and oil enterprises. Recently, Ghana has struck oil and has had a great boost in their economy. However, they only have access to 12% of the product instead of the 100%. Through colonialism, we have been able to harvest a great deal of their raw materials. Through nationalism, Ghanaians began to fight back. Education exposed the idea of freedom, and armed those being schooled with a new wisdom. Americans could not ignore this new cry of wisdom due to the power of intellectual argument. Colonial racism began to take part in employment throughout schools. Soon black teachers were being replaced by white ones, regardless of the qualifications of black teachers. In 1925 the Gold Coast established a high school. Their first principal named Alexander Frasierargued that he wanted black professors and not just white men. He argued that black teachers instead of white teachers would be more effective in teaching to black students. 8 white teachers were recruited and one black teacher. When arriving in the Gold coast, the 8 white teacher were offered European lodging while the black was offered African lodging. Here we see a side of whites that make me feel slightly less cruel- the whites refused to stay in there lodgings unless if the black professor was allowed to stay with them. Eventually, a white professor gave up his bed for the black professor in an effort to promote equality. However, this is just one situation. An example if you will. I am not arguing that because of this one example, white people are excused from the years of colonial racism that took place. It’s just a nice reminder to us that everything is not black and white.
On a more general note, in East Legon, where we are staying for the four and a half months, the first president of Ghana was buried. Independence was also declared here. On July 1st, 1960, Ghana became a republic meaning that now they had a president instead of a monarch as their head of state.
We discussed a few more interferences of America into Ghana’s affairs- such as their interactions during the Cold War. Believing Ghana to support the Soviet Union in the War, they interfered to “discipline” the country. We did not delve into the details of the discipline. Similar to the U.S., each president has a four-year term and can only have this title for a total of two terms. Today, their president is John Evans Ata Mills. He was elected in January 2009.
SO ANYWAY, I thought I would give a little history lesson to the readers. Hopefully it wasn’t too boring. I think its important to generate some awareness from this blog…or at least I hope too. Now on a more personal note, I am finally on campus in my room with a roommate. Her name is Sama, and she is from Pittsburg, goes to school in Atlanta. Funny story, my mom prayed that my roommate would either be Ghanaian or from Atlanta. Strange, right? But she is the best roommate I could have hoped for. She probably won’t have as many bouts of homesickness as I will, which means she can help me out. Also, she is a generally more positive person than I am. Haha. According to Ethan and a few others, I am a very pessimistic person. Hence, why I have been experiencing some difficulties. But, I signed up for these difficulties, didn’t I? It’s just that you never know what you are getting yourself into. So far I have talked to some family member each day here, in addition to Ethan. I know eventually I won’t need such a strong communication with home, but for now, I find it to be necessary. Luckily I have a father who supports that one hundred percent. He just wants me to be happy and I am one incredibly blessed daughter.
So, in the meantime when I am feeling down, I keep reminding myself that this is temporary. And that everything I am viewing is not my home, but is the home of over 24 million Ghanaians. I get to experience it for four and a half months. I get a snippet. Today I woke up, and the water was out. Weird….right? I had to use a water bottle to brush my teeth and haven’t gone to the bathroom yet. Temporary for me, lifelong for Ghanaians. My walls are now decorated with over sixty pictures of Muhlenberg friends, as well as my family and some dogs that aren’t mine (haha sorry to be creepy, Ethan). Next to my bed I posted a select number of photos that include my siblings, Samantha (my best friend from Massachusetts), and Ethan. It’s nice to look over and touch the pictures, knowing I will have them back again soon. But for now, I am here. Regardless of any tears, any frustration, I am in Ghana, Africa (as my mother says). Let’s not spend the day’s homesick, shall we? Hahaha. It’s getting easier. A few more days to adapt to the room, a few weeks to adapt to the distances, and four months to adapt to the heat. That’s it for now, folks.
A shoutout to Sam, Ethan, and the family- thank you for being so supportive and loving. You should know there would be no way I could do this without you. Prayers are appreciated- you know, the usual J. Also, registration begins this week, apparently the most stressful part of being here. Wish me luck.
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