Shouting heard around the neighborhood - the sounds of a happy people when their football team scores a goal. This is what I'm hearing as I sit to write about all that has happened in such a short time.
Learning Ghanaian songs and dances, pushing myself out of my comfort zone to enjoy a moment I may never have again. This is what I was thinking when we danced yesterday. I'm sure the Ghanaians behind me were laughing at this white girl dancing but I was learning and all of us were in the same position. When we went to University yesterday we had our final lecture as part of our CIEE Orientation. But instead of a lecture we sang and danced for a couple of hours with other students, dance majors at the University. I don't think I've ever experienced a moment like that before in another country; never have I felt so connected through dancing and singing.
Then today we went on a tour of Accra, the capital of Ghana. Most of the time was spent in the bus traveling around the city but we were able to have lunch in Osu (one of the areas where night life is big) and then we visited Kwame Nkrumah National Park. Kwame Nkrumah became the first prime minister of Ghana after they achieved independence on March 6th, 1957. There was so much to see in the city and I will definitely be going back to explore and take photographs. However, the hardest part of all of this is seeing the people: the people who stand in the middle of the street trying to sell things, the children on their backs and the goods they are selling on their heads. It's hard to imagine this way of life. Indeed one of the things that our resident director pointed out was how lucky we are to be doing homestays in the East Legon neighborhood (the richest in Ghana) where things are not perfect but at least we have a toilet and a place to sleep.
The photo here is of Kwame Nkrumah's memorial, the place where he and his wife are buried.
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