"They Look Just Like Normal People."

----Wednesday Night we watched documentaries that past NYU students had made. The topics were wide ranged: deaf people in Accra, boxing in the slums of Jamestown, being African-American in Ghana and lastly homosexuality. This last topic raised quite a few questions and comments, as homosexuality has recently been made illegal in Ghana. The main film man for the project stepped forward to introduce the movie, and in doing so I already gave him a lot of credit. Filming the movie meant a lot of risk for him, and he still undertook it. It's upsetting to think that I am praising a man for interacting with homosexuals, but the context is so different than the United States. The culture here just shuns it, and for him to so openly support homosexuality takes a lot of courage. Ghana is his home, his culture, and by making this film he took risks because it will stay here, he will stay here, and whatever becomes associated between him and the film will stay here.
----As Isaac introduced the movie he talked about all the things he learned through making the movie. One of the things he learned is how "they look just like normal people, you can't even tell when they walk down the street" AHHHH!!!!!!! Those words came out of his mouth and our jaws dropped. To think there were still people who believed that homosexuals were actually physically different from heterosexuals. And to compare them to "the norm!" At first I was shocked, but after some time I realized I couldn't blame Isaac for his statement, or expect him to believe any different for that matter, as sad as that is. In a culture where homosexuality is illegal in any way shape or form, openness cannot be expected. Isaac had never seen or had any interaction with a homosexual, nor ever learned anything about it, so he only had his own mind and the words of others, to teach him about homosexuals.
In reference to his use of the word "normal," to expect Isaac to know the proper terminology to use when referring to homosexuality would be like expecting him to also be wearing a gay pride shirt, just in support. Ghana is just not on that level yet. There are certain levels some people have to go through in order to fully accept and understand homosexuality. Appropriate terminology is one of the last ones.
----It's so sad and frustrating to me that homosexuality is so taboo, oh wait, illegal, in Ghana. To think that the friends I have at home struggling with homosexuality have it easy, who would have thought.

Goodmorning and God Bless

My father has been asking about religion in Accra, so Daddy-o here is a quick one just for you.
Accra is largely Christian. Somewhere around 91% I believe. There are lots of churches around, with plenty of signs for mass times and such, but this is not mainly where you can see Ghana's Christian spirit. In the morning, neighbors greet me with, "Good morning and God bless." On my return home from school they say, "Welcome, you've gone and come back! God is good." God is not a ritual or routine like in the United States. God is part of their culture, part of their day. It's so refreshing to see an unreserved, enthralled opinion of a person's religion, while still remaining benevolent and gentle.
The last 9% of religion in Accra is Muslim and Other. The "other" I have yet to come across. I look forward to the day I meet an African Witch Doctor, but none yet to report of. However I walk past a family of Muslim's everyday on my way to school. They have a small cement structure built outside their home dedicated to prayer. It is a tiny thing, resembling the base structure of a house, yet with no walls or entrance. It was shocking to me to see men praying outside in this homemade cement creation, yet it's come to be something I really appreciate walking by everyday.
The best way to describe religion in Accra is through the architecture of their places of worship. It's best done with words and pictures, so I'll try to take some this week so you can get a better idea.

The Particularist Theory

----My last blog I talked about my desire to be taught in a Ghanian style. After a week of classes, I have to ask myself if thats even possible. In philosophy, the Particularist Theory says that "philosophy is its own time apprehended in thought." Meaning that whatever idea a philosopher comes up with is only relative to his own culture, of his own time. This can be argued right or wrong, yet as I read more about it in my philosophy homework I thought about in terms of what I want from my education here.
----Many teachers teach through examples. It is at times easiest to learn something new when it is compared to something familiar. Macbeth's finding of self as paralleled to King Edward II. Spanish past tense compared to our own. Foreign history connected to our relative present. So how can I really be taught in the Ghanian style? Their connections, parallels, and comparisons are far to different than mine. My teacher makes connections to Avatar, a movie that most Ghanians don't even know exists. A Ghanian teacher makes reference to a novel by Chinua Achebe, an author that most Ghanians would have read, and although many English scholars have read some of the works, few American students would be able to relate. So with all these divisions its pretty impossible for me to ask to be taught in an exact Ghanian style, because I would have such difficulty in comprehension.
----So the ideas and culture the Ghanians have been raised in, is particular to themselves, something that I can learn about, but unlikely ever fully understand without becoming intensely immersed in. Likewise, the culture and ideas of Americans are so difficult for Ghanians to understand without experiencing them. The other day I tried to explain snow to the security guard at my residence, Uncle Eugene. As I told him that I had about a foot before I left, he said to me, "But when you step on it... How...What.... How do you feel!!!?" He was so curious about what snow felt like, what it feels like to walk on, how you stay warm, and he couldn't even fathom the ideas I was telling him. Shaking his head accompanied with a high pitched, "Ah!!" (a Twi noise used to show surprise, a common noise heard throughout Ghanian-Obruni interaction).
----With all these differences between culture it seems crazy to think I could ever really feel immersed here, or have any similar experiences to what Ghanians have. But as Uncle Eugene tells me, "I protect you. I protect your home here... I hope this will be home here." Maybe, Uncle Eugene. One day at a time.

Back To Schoool

----I tried my hardest not to come to Africa with any expectations. This way I could not be let down, instead just learning and happily accepting things as I made my transition. However one natural expectation I had was that in Africa, I would be exposed to African schooling--especially since I would be taking a class in an African University. Well this expectation was wrong wrong wrong.
----I am taking two classes at Ashesi (the African, private, University). The school is well known for being for the upper class "rich kids" of Accra, and filled with obruni (white foreigners). I knew this, and had no real problem with it, because it would all be new to me, it was an African school, rich or not. The teachers would be Ghanian, some or most of the students would be Ghanian, and the information I would be learning would pertain to Africa. Well I walked into my first class at Ashesi on Tuesday, African Philosophical Thought. The entire room was filled with obruni. Not one native. Well I said to myself, this kinda stinks. Half of the excitement of studying in a African school is that I can easily make friends with (or at least interact with) African students my age. It would also be interesting to see how our ideas and opinions differ on whatever topics we discuss in class. Oh well, at least I would have a Ghanian teacher, thereby a class taught in Ghanian style. ERRRR. Wrong again. In walked Erin Robinson, my African American teacher from Los Angeles. After discussing "Avatar" and the Golden Globes, we talked about Philosophy, and how she would make sure she tried to alter the syllabus to help relate to us (as obrunis) more. Bummmmerrrr.
----Well then Erin Robinson surprised me. She said, I am sure many of you are a little upset to see a whole classroom of obruni with a African American teacher. Well I've gotten that before, and I promise more native students will show up, they're just intimidated by you, and by humanities in general [most Africans study medicine, law, computers, i'll explain in a different entry]. As for me not being a native, I am sorry if that disappoints you. I've actually had American students say to my face, "I didn't come to Africa to be taught by an African American." However I swear that I'll not be teaching you about the United States, and if I do it certainly won't be in a light your used to.
----Man did that shock me. She's a very young, straight forward woman, and I really applauded her for being able to speak to the class like that, addressing us about possible criticisms we could've already formed. I guess it could be seen as insecure, but it was clear that she was confident in herself, and simply addressing the issues for our own assurance.
----So Philosophy seems like it won't be too bad of a class after all, and filled with obruni or not, it'll be a great learning experience.

A Black...err....White Sheep

Today I started my classes and am waiting for my first class to start. I just came back from having lunch at the university next door, Ashesi University. It was such an experience I had to come right back to the Academic Center and write about it.
Besides the other three people I had gone to lunch with, we were the only white students on the campus. I finally understood what living in America, as an African, must be like. Completely alone, feeling everyone's eyes on you as you enter the room, and stay on you as you eat, drink, move. No one talked to us, except the security guard on the way out, Daniel. A real nice guy. I truly felt like a black sheep, something I've never dealt with before. I can't imagine the NYU students who are going to school at the University of Ghana, the university that most students go to.
Well I want to be off the computer when my professor comes in so thats all for now. Wish me luck!

Be that way!

Tomorrow I start my first day of classes! All I have on schedule is a class called History of Pan Africanism, it sounds really awesome and I am pretty excited. I am really nervous however because all my classes are 3 hours long. The longest class I've ever taken is only 1 hour and 15 minutes, and even that is rough. We'll see, I am sure it'll be alright. It's at 1:00 so I have some time in the morning to get organized, maybe go for a walk, explore, we'll see what's in store for me. My roommates have class at 9 so I'll have the room to myself till class, it might be nice to have some 'me' time away from all the 'we' time I've been having.
Today was a very great day. We got to sleep late as we had a brunch at 10:30. My roommates and I planned to sleep till 10:00 but our bodies were so used to waking up at 7:30 that none of us could sleep past 8:45. We went to the brunch and were surprised by a big African drumming band! Then out came lots of dancers! It was amazing! They put on a small show and at the end invited us up to learn some of the moves! It was awesome, we all participated and had a wonderful time. And everyone had a great time laughing at us all too.
After brunch we went to a local public beach. It was filled with people and unfortunately quite dirty. The water had too much trash in it so I didnt really go in, just mainly dipped my feet in while I was walking along the beach. There were horses, tons of kids, tons of crabs, and lots of activities. You could take a surfing lesson, rent a boogy board or a surf board, ride one of the horses, it was pretty cool. I chose to opt for the cheaper activity and play with all the kids on the beach. They would all run up to us and ask us to play. Giggling and pointing the whole time. We made lots of friends with all the 8 year olds, and learned lots of fun games. My favorite game was called, "Change your pose." There is one leader of the game, who is in charge. The rest of the players stand around in a circle, and when the leader yells "change your pose!" you must strike a pose. He then yells, "Be that way!!" until he so chooses, making you stand in funny or lopsided stances for however long he decides. Then if you fall, or sometimes if he just doesnt like your pose, your "dead," or out of the game. He yells "change your pose" again and again, and the last person standing wins! The kids here are just amazing, its great to see what fun they can make for themselves with so little.
Its interesting to see all the kids interacting because of how much love they have for each other. They all call each other brother or sister, and have no shame in constantly giving each other hugs, or walking hand in hand. Even the boys will walk around hand in hand, or with the arms wrapped around each other. Although this public display of affection is common and perfectly acceptable, in Ghana homosexuality has been made illegal. It is so bizarre to me that a country so built on love and community can still hold such an offensive view on homosexuality. Young boys and girls are taught to love each other, no matter of sex and gender, and treat one another like family. However the government then says that they can only love those of the opposite sex. It's so sad to me, I wish there was something I could do, but I just feel so powerless.
Well its off to bed before the big day of classes. Wish me luck.

Orientation and Introduction to Ghana

Orientation is starting to wear me down quite a bit, but I am still having an amazing time. We're busy from one minute to the next, starting at 8:30 in the morning and going till 8:30 at night. We all want to go out, but at the end of the day all we want to do is sit, chat, and sleep. My bed is becoming comfier by the night, as its quite stiff and my pillow is flat as cardboard. Luckily I have two stuffed animals to keep me comfy and feeling a bit more like home.
We've done a TON these few past days. Monday we were introduced to all the staff and got a rundown on safety, culture, housing policies etc. We had a delicious buffet lunch at Headlines Hospitality, so we got to eat as much or little as we want and try whatever we want. I had a spinach dish, eggplant dish, and a peanut soup. The peanut soup was super fresh, so there was alot alot of oil in it, so I stayed away from it in the end, I knew my stomach wouldn't appreciate it. Next we met with our RA's (resident assistants, same in the States) and learned more about our residences. We went to dinner at one of the restaurants that we have our meal plan at. The food was really good and the atmosphere was fabulous, all outside with a thatched roof, absolutely gorgeous.
Tuesday we had lots of lectures. My favorite was one on Accra from the old Mayor. He then gave us a tour around the city, showing us the major areas and what they're called and all about. It was really interesting and he definitely knew what he was talking about. We had lunch at a place called Frankies, they served pizza, burgers, grilled cheese-lots of American foods. The thing I was most excited about however was.... french fries and ketchup!!! We then had a lecture on all the community service opportunities that are available for us. It was really interesting and I am going to have a really hard time picking which to do. I originally knew I wanted to do the West Africa AIDS Foundation, but after hearing their speech and asking the director some questions, it seems as if I would be doing more clerical work, which I get enough from with Gary B : ) I also learned that the percentage of AIDS documented in Ghana is 2.7%, probably actually around 5% with all the undocumented cases. There are so many other organizations that were desperate for volunteers, and it seems as if the bigger the corporation, the less help they need. We had group dinner at the other restaurant we can use our meal plan at, Sunshine Salads, and it was delicious as well, lots of salads and wraps, more healthy options which was very nice. Again, when we got home we all crashed and fell right asleep by 10:00.
Wednesday was the longest day of all. We started with an overview of Asheshi University, the other university we can take classes at. It was a very beautiful campus, although very small, only three buildings. They had a pretty good library though, and I hear they have a great canteen. I plan on taking a Music and Dance class there if everything works out. I have a performance at the end of the year of everything I've learned, pretty cool. We then went back to the NYU School for a lecture on "Cultural Do's and Don'ts." It was really interesting and I learned alot that I would not have known otherwise. We had another lecture on religion after that, and I can't tell you what I learned because I definitely passed out for the most part of it. It's 90 degrees, with a cool breeze outside, its just like the beach! And my sleep time is off! How could I stay awake?! We then went for a tour of the University of Ghana. It was HUGE!! Bigger than any school I have ever seen in the United States. It has 40,000 students!! I sat in a classroom and immediately knew I would be way too distracted to actually pay attention, definitely not for me, although very interesting to visit. After that we went back to NYU to take our first Twi class. I LOVED it!! It was so much fun and I am really excited to be able to speak to my neighbors and all the people I meet on my walk to and from school. Then we went to the Koala Supermarket, a store that sells mostly international treats that foreigners miss. I got a razor, some apples, and laundry detergent, spending a total of 23 cedi (about 19 American dollars). We had dinner as a group and at the end of the day, we all plopped straight into bed and fell right asleep.
Yesterday we started with a lecture on Medical Care and Living Healthy, something that scared us, but at the same time eased our minds alot. As it turns out, mosquitoes with malaria only come out from dusk to dawn, the majority of which time I am not outside. Also, Ghana has so many cases of malaria that they are experts at treating it. I will not die from malaria while here, the doctors are just too good at treating it. Unfortunately malaria is one of those diseases that stay with you your entire life, causing you to get flu like symptoms frequently during the year. Luckily, I take my medication every day, apply bugspray like its my job, and have air conditioning in my house (which means no open windows EVER). We then took a tour of our neighborhood Lebone, which was really helpful and got me to know the map of where I am. We went back to the center to discuss a book we had to read and then went to the US Embassy to get some tips and pointers about our stay in Ghana. It was really interesting and fun, and I met alot of interesting people. The best part of yesterday however was our night out. We went to a bar in Osu (the city) where they play live music and there is alot of dancing. The whole thing was outside and was very inexpensive. The people are so friendly and everyone loves to dance. It is such a different night-life than the States. Here, girls dance with girls, boys dance with boys, and there is nothing homosexual about it. It is simply that everyone wants to dance, so you find a partner, and you dance, simple as that! I had tons of fun, and met alot of really great people.
Today was pretty relaxed. We went for a tour of the Artist Alliance Gallery, a beautiful buy tiny gallery right on the beach. Then we went for a tour of the Kwame Nkumah Mausoleum, the burial place of the first president of Ghana. This country has alot of really interesting history, and I really enjoy learning about it. We have rest time now, and then have our second Twi class. Tomorrow and Sunday we can do whatever we like! Saturday me and my roommates are going to buy fabric and get clothes made, and on Sunday its beach day baby! (My UK roommate Sophie says 'baby' at the end of everything, I feel like its a bad habit I am going to acquire).
Well that was long! I love the food, I love the people, love the language, and can't wait to get really comfortable, and be able to call this place my home.

Well Hello Africa

I made it! So far so fabulous. I only want to write for a little because I feel too guilty sitting at the computer when I could be exploring. The plane ride was long long long, but alright. On the red eye flight, the 80 year old man next to me continually fell asleep on me. He must have taken an ambian because he wouldn't wake up for anything, I eventually just moved him myself. A little uncomfortable.
I made friends! I met a group of girls at JFK and we all immediately clicked, so thats comforting. I am living in a house of five girls, three of whom I really like, and one who has yet to arrive (London snow made 1/4 of the group arrive late). The house is AMAZING. Better than any college dorm in the US, with a decent kitchen and huge living room and common area, huge bedrooms, and a guest bathroom. And we have air conditioning we can use SPARINGLY. Surely not roughing it out here, but I am happy.
I just came from visiting the school I will be going to. It's not what I expected at all! So tiny! It's one little house with about three classrooms, two bathrooms, a common area, a kitchen, and a staff room. It's more like a house where the bedrooms have been converted in classrooms. Its so small, but the staff seem great. Then we went to a local restaurant and ate a buffet of food, all DELICIOUS. I had curry chicken, eggplant, spinach, peanut soup, friend plantains, all delicious but very spicy. It was also all very very oily, so I tried to only eat a little to help my stomach get adjusted. I got a cell phone and to make calls is expensive and tricky, but to receive them is free! So thats good. Now we have free time for the next half hour, then a meeting with our "RA's" to discuss house rules and then dinner.
Its beautiful, its not unbearably hot, I love the language, I love the culture, this is exactly where I am supposed to be.