Small Steps

I love coming home to a family. I’m so lucky to have this family here that will stay at the dinner table talking with me, that will explain to me how to get from point A to point B, and that cooks for me. (Although at some point I will be doing more cooking and cleaning).

When I came in the door today I told my host mother just that, that I love having a family to come back to after a long day. I tried walking to campus today for the first time. It took about an hour and was a pretty hot walk, although I am used to the heat now so it wasn’t as bad as I thought it might be. There are many benefits to walking though. One of them is that you get to interact with the people on the street and see the stands set up alongside. There are many stands selling fruits, mops, basically anything you can think of. A downside though is the close proximity of vehicles blowing out black smoke and stirring the dirt on the side of the road.

I now have accomplished getting to school three different ways and am ready for my next adventure – getting to my internship site at Tot To Teen. I was talking with Felix about how I get there from home and he said the easiest way is to walk to the mall (a small shopping center) about ten minutes away from my house, get a trotro going to American House, and then get out there. Once I get out I find another trotro going to Madina and take that until I get to Madina. After getting out at Madina I get in another trotro going to Adenta and finally get out at my stop at SDA. Whew. It will be quite the journey I’m sure. The way back is much easier with just one trotro and a shared taxi. We’ll see how it goes.

I’ve also begun to go running. I met up with Nikki this morning and we went on a short run around her neighborhood. It was starting to get busy on the road though so I will probably try to go earlier on in the morning. Felix told me a good place to run where there won’t be many cars so I will try a long run to figure out a route this weekend. I also must say I am very fortunate to have my dad’s sense of direction. It’s very useful when trying to figure out how to get around. I usually try getting places by memory if I’ve traveled it once by car and most of the time it works.

Twi classes have started and I found myself asking a woman on the way out of campus how she was in Twi. I was very surprised that I did that. I even turned to Nikki, who I was walking with, and said I don’t usually feel that comfortable when learning to speak a new language. However, this experience is all about stepping outside our comfort zones. I’m taking small steps.

Who Am I?

One of the things I am struggling with at the moment is the balance between life at home and life with the friends here that I am making, the Americans on this program. The students that are staying on campus go out at night, see one another often, and are enjoying life on campus. The students in the homestays are trying to negotiate what to do on the weekends, where we can hang out and go. I’ve found that in this planning I tend to remain on the quiet side, not getting involved often. I’m trying to figure out why, what it is that is holding me back. I think that I love my family here so much that I want to be around them, help out around the house, and not leave whenever I have the chance. Just today Evans, the boy who helps around the house, ironed my clothes for me and I have much appreciation for the things that he does for me. When we were sitting at dinner today he came to clean the windows and when I started speaking Twi I could see the smile creep across his face. He helped me a few times with the pronunciation of words.

This question of “Who Am I?” is one that I will continue exploring. Sometimes I feel as if I’m seeing myself as another person. For instance when I walk anywhere I always greet the people that I pass. They don’t always respond but I’ve found that this small gesture makes me so happy; that it connects me in a small way; and that I can create a better name for myself then “Obruni” or white girl.

A friend and I were walking to class today talking about friendship, the role of it during this time and what we expected. I think it’s important to remember that this is a time for self-exploration, that certainly the friends we make here will be able to help with that, but that part of the experience is stepping outside of our comfort zones and making friends with Ghanaians, asking questions of people on the street, and not sticking in a group of American students the entire time. I’ve found myself asking other students on campus where buildings are and their names, something I’m not even comfortable doing in America, but that I realize is important in developing myself here.

Right now I think I am someone who wants to experience life and wants to discover new things that will inspire me to create myself.

Starting a Project

Over the course of the past week I have been inspired by all the support from home and all of the comments, that I have developed a project I will undertake while I am here. One of the reasons why I am keeping this blog is to provide a view of Africa that may be different and challenge the perceptions we already have. I think the blog is already doing this for some, and for me it’s helping me see the expectations and preconceived notions that I had.

My interest in education and development has led me to this project, to this idea. I’ve always loved creating multimedia presentations with photographs, interviews, and music. This time I hope to follow all of the thirty-eight CIEE students to their internships and to their homestays to conduct interviews as well as take photographs to explore the connection between education and development. Some questions that I want to ask are: What is the role of education in our development and the development of a country? How are these connected? Why do we come to a developing country to learn and what do we learn? What does developing mean?

Each of us is developing, forming our own ideas and learning from the opportunities and experiences here. We’ve each come to study abroad. And yet we’ve come to a developing country, one in which the roads are not always paved, the technology is not at the forefront, so what are we here to learn? Why has our education brought us here? How does education connect us?

I’m open to suggestions, to ideas because I think this can be a learning instrument. It can be something that can be shared, that can travel, and that can inspire others. But it can only be so if others want it too. So for now, it remains an idea, but one that I want to start.

Going to Church

Adjustments

Most of what I've written about has been things I've been doing this week but I wanted to take time to also share the adjustments that one has to make in a developing country.

1. The electricity can go out at any time. Power outages occur frequently and the duration is not known. Just before writing this we experienced a power outage but fortunately it only lasted about fifteen minutes.

2. The water is not always running. This means that when the water is running, tanks in the back of our house fill up with water to provide us with running water for showers and washing hands, etc. Generally the water will run on Friday or Saturday and this is when people do laundry.

3. All laundry is done by hand. Tomorrow will be my first time doing wash and my grandmother will help me learn how to do it.

4. "It is finished." This is what people say when they have run out of a product.

5. We drink water out of small bags. They cost 10 pesawes (about 7 cents).

6. You must greet someone if you want to be recognized. You don't just go up to someone and ask a question without greeting them.

7. You can eat with your hands. I have mostly eaten with a fork and knife but sometimes its hard to eat fish like that because it has so many bones so it's easier to use your hands.

8. There are only cold showers. This isn't really a problem since it's so hot during the day.

9. There are no maps. There are no street names. This makes getting around for us Americans kind of difficult.

10. Every cell phone is pay as you go. Also purchasing internet only lasts for one month and then you have to go back and get more time.

This is just a start, a preview of what life is like here in Ghana for me.

Dancing, Singing, and Touring

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.

Growing Up

Sometimes we don’t even notice when this happens. One moment we are a child swinging on the playground and the next we are an adult walking through the streets.

Today I did something I’ve never done before. Sometimes we find ourselves gossiping, talking about other people, sharing frustrations about others, and we think it’s okay. We think that maybe if we say it to one another in confidence it will make us feel better. Instead of telling the person whom we are talking about what is going on, instead of sharing our frustrations with the person with whom the frustrations exist – why? Perhaps we are scared, ashamed, or not ready yet to accept that the only way things will change is if we make them, if we want them to change. I found myself in this situation today, caught between gossip and connecting with another human being. I chose the dirt road: the one that is harder to walk on, the one that makes your feet a little dirty, the one where you may trip and fall. And you know I didn’t fall, I didn’t even hit a bump. Instead I found another friend ready to accept her own challenges and understanding that I’ve also been through my own.

I hope that I can continue to do this, to share instead of gossip, and also for the reverse to occur, that I may be open to critique of myself in order to change, to connect with others.

Tro-Tro

A man yelling from the side of a van with the door open and waving his hand; lots of people sitting inside, four to a bench; and a man driving through chaotic traffic, beeping his horn. This is the tro-tro. We have nothing like it.

Today was my first ride on the tro-tro. To get to my internship from Opokonglo Junction, an intersection near the University, takes about thirty minutes on the tro-tro. It’s quite a distance away from my home. When we met with the headmaster today the first question he asked was “What do you want to teach?”

Wait; excuse me, me actually teach a full classroom full of children, alone? I think this may be the case though. I won’t actually start until next week or the week after, so in that time I need to prepare myself for what may greet me at Tot To Teen school.

Every day so much happens that it’s impossible to write about it all but what I learned today is that the accessibility and ease of the Internet has disabled us in some ways. And by that I mean that without the Internet available or things going the way we think they should or are used to because we have Internet capability, we get frustrated. The “we” here being us students in CIEE. This has become apparent with the registering of courses.

In America, I would think that at this moment all universities do registration for courses online. I could be wrong but I think this is most likely the case. So now, imagine going to a university where they tell you that they have only been doing online registration for one year. You may think okay, that’s not very long, but I’m sure it’s still similar to what I’m used to. It’s not anything like we’re used to. The campus is very large and the departments are spread throughout. Registration requires you to walk to every department you think you may want to take a course in and find out what courses are posted on the bulletin board and then find the timetable of when those courses will occur. But there are restrictions. Such as you can’t take economics and philosophy because when the final exams occur those may coincide with one another. And when you walk all the way to a department they may not have the courses listed so you have to wait another day. I think this has caused some stress in the group because we are not accustomed to this system.

I’ve realized in this situation that all one can do is to be patient. To wait and realize that you have no control, that at some point they will post the course timetable and then hopefully a course fits into the schedule you want. Maybe I should be more worried – but why? There are many things different here and this is one of them, that you can’t go online look up the courses you want to take, find the times, even create a schedule online that tells you whether the courses will conflict or not. Also, they don’t even have exam dates posted until a month before exams. So this is what I mean when I say the internet in some ways has disabled us – that we find it hard to imagine this new system of walking around, of courses being posted on bulletin boards (where anyone could take the paper copy with them or the wind could blow it away), and that it all happens one or two days before courses start, not weeks or months.

Campus Photos

A few photos from walking around campus today, enjoy!

How is Africa?

Africa, specifically Ghana, is unlike anything I could have imagined. What do I say in response to this seemingly simple question? What if I said Africa is good - would that suffice? I think not.

Ghana, after a week, can only be described in a few words to try and make sense of this place. One minute you are driving down the paved road and the next minute the road has turned into dirt. You walk carefully down the street, balancing on the edge of the road and the gutter, for fear of falling and being hit by a taxi. You realize as you're walking down the street that people will shout "Obruni" (white person) and that everyone expects that you are rich. And there is more. More to be discovered, to write about, to be a part of.

This is a photo of the road I live on (my house is the first on the right, but you can't see it). I have been walking every morning to get a taxi and meet up with a couple of friends to ride and then walk the rest of the way to campus. The commute is about an hour. Tomorrow I will go to my internship site, at a school, and will figure out my second commute. There's a lot to learn. But one thing I have learned today from my host mom is - do it yourself (more on that later) and don't trust anyone.

Connecting

Lots to write and yet I can’t find the words. I’ve found I’m not afraid to ask questions in order to learn something about Ghana. At dinner my host mom and brother had a conversation with me about dating, we discussed the differences between American dating and Ghanaian. I asked my host brother why he had asked a girl on my program for her number. We talked about what it meant to ask someone for their number and what I should do if I was asked. I told them that was no problem, I would tell them I have a boyfriend. They laughed and said that was a good thing.

Every day I’m learning something, figuring out something, asking questions. And by nine in the evening I am tired. I think this is how it will continue to be. It will be an adventure every day. I think the blog, although I don’t have internet right now, is helping me cope with being away. Knowing that others can find out what I’m doing, stay connected in a small way helps. I thought that I would come on this trip and be rid of internet, the cell phone, but I don’t think that can happen now. It takes small steps to let go and when the internet is so infused in our every day American life it is troublesome when we look at the internet bars on the computer and see no connection. It’s as if we don’t exist, can’t connect. I think it’s hard for some people to realize, or they don’t want to admit it but right now I’m okay admitting that I think it will help me. It will help because even if it is only one post, a few minutes of my time, I don’t feel alone. Otherwise it’s hard. And while I understand that it’s important to experience difficult things, I think every day here is a little bit of struggle and I am sure there is more to come.

Getting to Campus

No more hand holding. This is it, trying to figure out how to get to school, get home, interact with the people on the street. My host brother Felix took me to campus today where I met up with other CIEE students on the way there. He told me where to take a taxi to on the way back, what to tell the driver. After touring the campus, which is really large, we were on our own. No one was there to tell us what to do, where to go, it was our turn to figure it out.

Surprisingly I wasn’t nervous. After struggling to get a shared taxi, which is a taxi in which there are four people and the fare is the same for every person, two other students and I decided to get a chartered taxi, one that drops you off for a fixed price. As it turned out we had the same stop. Getting off of the taxi though I was alone walking home, only worried about falling in the gutter, everything else I knew would work out. I recognized where I was supposed to go, even from just driving it once, and ended up getting to my gate without a problem. Although along the walk back a small girl ran up to me and hugged my legs while an older girl asked me if I had money. I told her I had spent it on the taxi. I have not been carrying very much money on me at all and have a very cheap cell phone, for just this reason.

Every day is an adventure, learning something, where to go, what to do when someone asks for money. I’ve found that one of the most interesting questions that is asked quite often is “Are you Christian?” Just today when we were walking to get a taxi, another Ghanaian student named Frank, was also going to get a taxi and we started a conversation. Turns out he’s a Psychology major so perhaps I will see him in a class (although with 30,000 students that’s pretty unlikely). One of the questions he asked Tali, another CIEE student, and I was whether we were Christian. The focus on religion and questions intrigue me. When Alexandra and I were talking about going to church with our host families she asked me if I would go to church with my family. I said yes and she replied that she would also go maybe once or twice. I said that I would like to go every week with them and she was puzzled why I would want to do that. I told her that I would like to learn, to question my own beliefs, and to find out why Ghanaians believe. Just tonight Grandma Gritty, Phyllis and I read the Bible and she said a prayer afterwards. I was touched when she thanked God for bringing me for, for she’s sure there’s a reason, that I will learn, and that they will learn from me.

I’ve questioned religion, trying to figure out what I believe. And I think while I’m here I want to know why. Not to say that right now I believe in one thing or another but that maybe I’m missing something, maybe it takes going to another culture, to learn what I can’t see when I’m home.

A New Home

Surrounded in mosquito netting, writing, thinking about all that has happened today. I moved in with my host family this afternoon. My host mother is a very welcoming older woman who likes to joke around. She doesn’t always understand what I am saying but we’ve already had some very deep conversations, she doesn’t hesitate to ask me questions. My host brother is very nice and we talked a lot this afternoon about psychology, the perception of the United States in Ghana and his experience in America with racism. Although at first I had some reservations about him, and still do, I think he will be helpful in figuring out how to get around Ghana. My reservations came around when the other night at dinner he asked another girl on my trip for her phone number (while his mom was away from the table). But I’ve come to find out that most guys don’t hesitate to ask for your number. However, it’s not advisable to give it out and seeing as I don’t even know my number that won’t be a problem.

Today was the first time I’ve seen East Legon (where I’ll be living) and there is much to see, many people on the side of the road selling things and living in small dwellings. Also, the gutters don’t have coverings so sometimes if one is not careful you could fall in. The other day one of the presidential candidates in their elections fell in one of the gutters. Maybe he’ll be the president to decide to invest money in covering them. We also took a taxi ride from the hotel to my house and when my host mother got out of the taxi to go to the store I started a conversation with the driver. I asked him what he thought of America. “Rich.” He didn’t believe me that there are poor people in America too. Later when I was talking with Phyllis he said that he knew that it was true that there are poor people but Ghanaians are deceived into thinking America is only a rich place because of the movies they watch.

I’m finally in my bed, where I’ll be for four months, and I still can’t believe I’m here, in Ghana, by myself. It’s hard right now to think about everything at one time so I’m taking it one day at a time. Tomorrow I’ll figure out how to get to school, where to go once I’m on campus, and then this next week will be orientation on campus and lectures. One day at a time. My dream come true.

Akwaaba - Welcome!

I made it to Ghana! As I stepped off the plane I immediately knew we were in Ghana - the heat and humidity at nine in the evening met me as I walked to customs.

I met a few people in the airport in London before my last flight to Accra (the capital of Ghana) that are in this study abroad program as well. It was reassuring to know there were actual real people, just like me, depending on the e-mails that we received in the last few weeks before we departed, trusting that there would be people from CIEE meeting us at the airport.

There I was, with other students, walking to the buses to take us to the hotel and a man came up to me to ask me a question. I knew from what I had been told to refuse letting someone else take my bag so I wasn't sure if this would be the case. But then he tried to pull a quick one on me by telling me he was our driver. I sort of believed him until he asked if he could take my bag for me. At that point one of the CIEE UPals (students from the University of Ghana) noticed what was happening and came up to help me.

We've been at a hotel in Ghana for the past couple of days (although it feels like a lot longer) doing orientation and meeting one another. It's been interesting talking to people and finding out why they wanted to come to Ghana and what they want to do here. There are 15 people doing homestays and 23 people staying in the dorms. I've found myself to have a lot in common with the people that are doing homestays and in the coming weeks hope we will be able to walk to school together or do things outside of the home as I think that many of the people who will live in the dorms will do things together. However, there are trips and other competitions within our CIEE program that will keep us together.

I met my host family last night at dinner and it was great knowing that I actually have somewhere that I will be staying. My host mother is a widow, Grandma Gritty, and her son lives with her, Felix. He appears to be in his thirties and goes to another university. I'm moving in with them tomorrow and am very excited to finally be able to settle in and start to figure out Ghana on my own. Turns out CIEE matched me perfectly with Grandma Gritty who has children in Baton Rouge (and she's been to New Orleans before!) and she owns a nursery school next door to her house. She said there aren't very many children there right now but I will find out more in the coming days.

Tomorrow is the last morning of orientation and we will finally go to the campus of the University of Ghana to see a little bit of it. We did some discussion about classes today but we won't sign up until next week.

I'm starting to learn bits and pieces of Twi (it's pronounced Chi, with a soft ch sound) but Grandma Gritty said she would help. Right now all I know is how to bargain with a taxi driver to get the price lower, which apparently we're always supposed to do.

Also, my last exciting news of the day - I ate octopus for the first time! It was cooked for dinner at the restaurant we went to tonight. There we listened to music and danced for a little while. But now it's time for bed. My roommate (Zoe) and I will be going on a run in the morning, which we've been told is safe to do, because we tried to go to the little hotel gym this morning but the machines were very old and didn't work very well.

This may be the last time I have internet for a little while, until I get settled at my host family's house and go to campus. But I'm here, and it's a dream come true, actually.

And the Journey to Ghana begins...

The flight attendant checking my bags summed up exactly how I feel right now - as she looked at my boarding pass to tell me I would collect my bags when I arrive in Accra, she stopped mid-sentence, turned her head to the side and opened her eyes really wide. Once she regained composure I asked her what had happened and if she was perhaps making that face because of my flights, to which she replied yes.

Indeed, I am first taking a seven hour flight to London, then have a four hour layover, and finally another seven hour flight to Accra. But then I'll be there! And since this first flight is overnight I figure I'll be able to sleep some and then continue napping on the second flight.

The nerves and anxiety of traveling to another country for four and a half months finally hit me as I was descending the escalator to my gate. I thought, wait, what am I doing? Is this really want I want to do?

But I know the answers to those questions and those answers calm the nerves as I wait in the airport for the first flight.

One Week

Separating.

That’s what I’ve been calling it. Sorting through emotions, sharing these but not those. Keeping thoughts to myself, mostly. Understanding that in one week I will be on my own in Africa, far away from home, from New Orleans, from the familiar and that in order to be there, I need to separate from here.

When I left for college I wanted to leave everything behind, start over and recreate myself. And yet I’ve come to realize this is impossible. I’ve come back home this winter to visit with old friends, hear what has been going on with them, and share what I have been doing. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed it. It might have just been sharing a couple of hours over a cup of tea and coffee or going on a hike and long drive.

Some amount of separation is necessary. This time though, leaving is different. I will come back home, back to New Orleans, and back to my life here. I’m not leaving everything behind nor do I want to. But I am embarking on my own for about five months in a completely different country.

In the past month I’ve run into numerous friends, family friends, acquaintances, old teachers, and employers. It might have only been a minute but in that moment I was able to share that I will be going to Africa for the semester. And everyone shares his/her surprise, excitement, and concern with me in the words they utter or even in the facial expression they may not know crosses their face.

This blog is for you. I want to be able to share with you what is going on in Ghana. If you only read one post I hope it is this one, the first. And I hope that if you find this interesting, informative, and fun to read you will pass it on to an old friend I may not have thought of in a while, or an old teacher who helped me become the person I am today, or a family member that hasn’t been in my life for a while. I want this to be for you, a place where I can answer all the questions you have asked – what are you going to be doing? Where are you going to be living? And I want this to be for me, a place where I can share with you because I care. Because I think there’s something in sharing, in story telling, that we miss in our busy lives.

I’m hoping that this space will serve as a way for me to be able to communicate thoughts, feelings, and challenges over the next months with everyone who is interested. I’ve never kept a blog before, never written for others to read, but here I go. Feel free to let me know how you feel about the blog, what I’m sharing and any suggestions you may have.

Over the course of this trip I will be exploring “being open.” Open to new experiences and challenges, open to sharing this journey with others, and open to my feelings. We tend to push feelings out the way, not let them get a hold of us, for fear that they may interrupt our daily lives, but today I am going to start opening up, letting those fears, those emotions, be me, not just a part pushed down somewhere inside.

I’d love to hear from you anytime. Whether it’s a simple e-mail with an update or sharing a funny story, I want to stay connected. My e-mail is cbarry90@gmail.com.

I leave next Tuesday January 17th. This has been a dream of mine, going to Africa. It’s finally coming true and I can’t believe it. I’ll be attending the University of Ghana this semester through a partnership with a program called CIEE (http://www.ciee.org/study-abroad/ghana/legon/arts-sciences/). As soon as I’m in Ghana I’ll get more information about where I’m living, what courses I’ll be taking, and numerous other tidbits. And I’ll be sharing them with you soon.

A friend once gave me a card that said "Life isn't about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself." - George Bernard Shaw

I'm ready to be inspired, to learn, to create another piece of myself.