Ghana

Ghana 

Sometimes it’s hard to put experiences into words...this is the situation I find myself in as I sit here attempting to write about my time in Ghana. Words won’t do it justice. You have to see, hear, smell the truths and untruths of Ghana for yourself. Here’s my attempt...

Immediately after arriving and disembarking from the ship, I was surrounded by smiles, waves, and “hellos” from the Ghanians. They all knew that we were coming to their country, so stands were set up right beside the ship and they stayed there throughout our entire visit. Rachel and I jumped on our bus which would be taking us to our drumming and dance workshop. We were so excited to be there and waved outside our window to all the Ghanians on the street; they happily waved back. 

Once we were out of the port area, we were very shocked by what we saw. The majority of the people we saw were simply standing on the side of the road. Most looked up at us in confusion, wondering why there were so many white, college students driving through their town. It puts you in a state of shock when you see what we saw. Ghana is a developing country, and you could see remnants of an underdeveloped country, but also signs of industrialization. Trash was everywhere, women were carrying everything on their heads, houses were made of tin, but at the same time children were in school uniforms walking to school, there were signs for liquor and cars, and Vodafone stands were every 20 shacks. 

After the shortest bus ride we would have (20 minutes) we arrived at a Ghanian hotel on the water. As we walked through to the back, the drummers and dancers were already performing for us. The made us feel very welcomed and we each shook hands with the instructor. Then it was our turn to dance. They taught us a dance with four different movements, but the most important part was to be in rhythm with the drummers. If we were not, the instructor would make us start again. Afterwards, we each had to perform individually. You had to carefully watch the head drummer to know when to change to the next movement. We then had to improv in pairs. Rachel and I did a goofy dance, but one of the Ghanian dancers asked if we were dancers. 

We all had tons of fun dancing, but we were eager to watch them perform. The dancers did four different dances, all from different parts of Africa. The energy they put into their routines is uplifting. Throughout the whole time we were there, the instructor was very insistent that we “make connections” with the dancers and drummers. Semester at Sea had warned us that the girls would get many marriage proposals while in Ghana and they were right! The boys would immediately start calling me their “wife” and Rachel their “sister” or the other way around. Once we were done making “connections” we were able to have a Ghanian feast. 

Later that day, Rachel and I decided we would explore Accra since it was still fairly early in the day. We didn’t think there would be any harm in taking the SAS facilitated bus from Tema to Accra and then walk around Accra for a bit. Of course we were wrong. We got onto the huge bus to find only four other girls on it. As we were driving along, our bus driver started to drive really fast even though there was another truck on the road and there wasn’t enough room for both vehicles to fit. The right mirror of the bus was destroyed. We pulled over and the two drivers started to verbally fight, but they worked it out in the end. 

It was about an hour drive to Accra. We were so happy to finally make it, but literally the second we stepped off the bus, we were swarmed by young, Ghanian men. We tried to walk to the bank, but the walked right with us. They were all attempting to sell us stuff. They would make you hold one of their items and they wouldn’t let you give it back, hoping this way they could make you pay for it. I could shake off most of them, but after 30 minutes of caring around painting, I ended up buying it because the guy was annoying me so much. Right when we had gotten off the bus, Semester at Sea girls had said good luck to us, but we didn’t know why until that moment. We eventually were able to ditch them, except for one guy. Supposedly he was a professional tennis player so that was why he was the only person who wasn’t trying to make us buy something. We had a few hours until the bus came back, but we were eager to leave and it was getting dark, so we took a taxi back. It took 2.5 hours to get back to Tema because of the traffic. Once we got back on the ship everyone had the same experience and was feeling as overwhelmed as we felt. 

While I was in Ghana, I was able to work on a “Habitat for Humanity” project through SAS. We drove 2 hours out of Tema to a small, remote village. It was so interesting to see a village outside of the city. The people were so friendly and accepting there. An older man gave me his oranges throughout the day and an older woman offered me chicken, but I sadly had to decline because we were warned not to eat most of the local food. Our project was to build the foundation of two houses. Their “mortar” was merely a mix of dirt and water. It was hard-work, especially in the hot African sun, but well worth it. We were all so proud of ourselves once we were done. I don’t think I’ve ever been so dirty and sweaty in my life. Unlike the Ghanians though, we could simply get back on the ship and take a shower. 

The last day I had a field lab with my class. We went to two slave castles and dungeons in Ghana. A majority of the slaves who were sent to the Americas came from Ghana. The first stop was at Cape Coast castle. It was a shocking experience when our tour guide would take us down into pitch-black rooms with no ventilation. He then told us that hundreds of people lived in the room that we were standing in with only 40 people and that felt overwhelming. We saw the famous “Door of No Return” which is the small door that all the slaves walked out of when they were said goodbye to their home forever. 

After the first castle, we had another Ghanian feast on the beach. This one was just as good, but we also got chocolate ice cream. So yummy! Then we went to the Elimina Castle. There was a room in the slave castle that was full of bats; it was so gross! Seeing the slave castles was a very powerful experience. It’s hard to grasp that millions of people were tortured there. The people could not leave the dark rooms, so the rooms would fill up with poop and pee. The ground was originally brick, but because of all the human waste, it is now black. Also the women were treated horribly. The European men would chose who they wanted to rape and if a woman fought back, she was chained outside and beaten. Many of the African slaves were impregnated, so they were set to live outside the slave castles in a village until their child was five, then they were set back to the slave castles. This is why many Ghanians have European last names. 

I feel so fortunate that I was able to experience Ghana. It’s still difficult to process that I was in Africa. Africa! And what makes it even more exciting is that we were in the center of the world. Ghana is the most central country on the globe.