Obruni on MetroTV

This Friday I appeared on the popular Ghanaian show “Thank God It’s Friday” hosted by the comedian KSM! Ms Okra wrote to KSM and told him about Eve’s Foundation and asked him to be a guest on the show. She told me while we were waiting that she never thought she would get to be on this show. This is why I love Ms Okra, she dreams big and makes things happen.

When we arrived at the MetroTV station on Monday we were asked to wait and James, the man Ms Okra had been in contact with, would come and get her. At this point thought I was there to support her and to document her appearance on television. When James came he asked if it was going to be both of us and I said ‘No, no, no, It’s Ms Okra’s organization and I am just here to support” but Ms Okra said “Yes! Can she come?” to which James said “No problem.” Geez. (Good thing I dressed up that day!)

So then we waited while they finished another interview. They called us back to the set after about half an hour, which gave me plenty of time to get nervous. Ms Okra told me she used to get nervous but that she has seen so many ‘important’ people on television talking about irrelevant things that now she doesn’t worry so much. I, on the other hand, was worried that I wouldn’t know what to say. I looked over the brochure again and asked Ms Okra what she wanted me to talk about. Her main request was that I mention that Eve’s Foundation needs a lot of support. Well, that’s what I’m here for- to gain support and resources for the organization so I was more than willing to weave that message into my comments.

As we walked to the back we arrived in the control room where someone looked at me with a confused face and then looked at Ms Okra and asked “Is she with you?” Obviously it didn’t seem I should be there.

Then the woman who does make-up put some powder on Ms Okra and looked at me and asked if I had my compact with me. (Those of you who know me well know that this is a funny question because I hardly ever wear make-up. I don’t even own a compact!) I just told her no and jokingly asked “You don’t have obruni make-up?” She went to find some powder and lightly put some on my face. As we were waiting to go to the set the electricity went out. To the right you see the technicians waiting for the ‘light’ (what they call electricity) to come back on:

I had contemplated putting my contacts in that morning but was too lazy to deal with them so I was wearing my glasses. When they called us back to the set I put down my backpack and decided to leave my glasses with my things. So I was blind during the interview! J When I walked up to the set I asked a guy who looked in charge if someone could take pictures for me and he gladly took my camera and did a good job capturing the event. Here’s one he took of me getting miked:

We chatted with KSM about the Eve's Foundation and what we would talk about a little bit before the interview began. There were about ten guys in the set room and I was curious what they were all there for. As we started the interview I realized that they serve as the ‘audience’ and clap and cheer to make it seem like there are a lot of people there. Watching the show, you would think there is a whole studio audience. A friend even asked me afterwards how it felt to face the audience. I told him it wasn’t bad because it was just a few guys, I was more nervous facing the camera.

We began the interview and about five minutes in the electricity when out again. The producers were not happy because usually they have a generator which runs in order to keep the recording going but this day something was obviously wrong with the generator. We waited a while, which was kinda cool because we got to chat with KSM and he learned more about the organization and us. When the lights came back on we started with the question he had previously asked. We got in another few minutes and the lights went out again! This time it was only off for a few minutes and it allowed KSM to include a little joke in his question the second time around. After we were done I asked KSM if we could take a picture with him, I said "It's not everyday that this obruni is on Ghanaian television!" I'm honored that a top Ghanian comedian laughed at my little joke :D

When the show aired on Friday we had a few guests. Isaac (left), a guy we have befriended who lives nearby and helps us with random tasks and questions and George (right), the brother of our landlord who as Lindsay put it “gets stuck fixing everything.” I was determined to record the show with my camera so I created this little set-up:

I told all my Ghanaian friends I was going to be on the show and most everyone watched it! I am so grateful to have such an amazing support system and network of great friends already!!

Here is one more glimpse of what they saw:

Black or White (No Brown?)

Today I had an interesting conversation about race with George. While around town we have seen buses like the one we rode in during the Maymester. George refers to these specific modes of transportation as “the bus that the white people come in.” (I should probably let you know that George is very funny and we joke a lot.) This comment made me think back that someone referred to the group to Dr. Gilbert as ‘the white people’ during the Maymester, never mind the fact that we were a very diverse group in our eyes. So I asked George if there were other terms they use for people from different places. I tried to explain that I am brown. He looked at me funny and looked at his arm and then my arm. I had to admit, ‘ok, my color isn’t really brown but I’m not only white.” He seemed to understand, but stated that in Ghana you are either Obruni (white man) or Obibini (black man). I knew coming here that I would be Obruni but I have to say I miss being a person ‘of color.’ I even find myself passing judgment when I see ‘Obrunis’ walking around town, most often questioning motives. I quickly have to check myself and realize that I am also an Obruni!

This being said; there are definitely similarities between Obibinis and Chicanos! (More on this later…)

I think this picture taken when we met up with Deran, last year’s intern from the UTSSW who was visiting her fiance, and the Ghanaian peers from the Maymester highlights my point ;)

Forward Ever, Backward Never

Today we visited the Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Park. So this blog will be about Kwame Nkrumah’s role in Ghana’s history. Nkrumah is a vital historical figure in Ghanaian and African history. He was Ghana’s first President and one of the “Big Six” who laid the groundwork for Ghanaian Independence from England.

Before independence Ghana was known as the Gold Coast, because of the gold sought by colonizers. Nkrumah argued that this name illustrated the colonizers primary concern, which were the natural resources found in the land and represented the disregard for the people of that land and their development. He stated that “We take pride in the name of Ghana, not out of romanticism, but as an inspiration for the future. It is right and proper that we should know about our past. For just as the future emerges from the present, so has the present emerged from the past. Nor need we be ashamed of our past.” He was very proud of his African/Ghanaian heritage and was often wearing traditional clothing when visiting foreign leaders.

Nkrumah was imprisoned by the British for subversion and while imprisoned was elected Ghana’s first Prime Minister and eventually lead the nation to independence and was elected their president. Ghana became the first West African nation to gain independence on March 6^th, 1957. During his “midnight speech” he proclaimed Ghana “Free forever” and stated that “Our independence is meaningless unless it is linked up with the total liberation of the African continent.”

Nkrumah was a well known Pan-Africanists and argued that Africa “must unite in order to achieve the full liberation of our continent.” He saw Ghanaian independence as a part of a larger changing world. He expressed his viewpoint by stating “I have never regarded the struggle for the Independence of the Gold Coast as an isolated objective but always as part of a general world historical pattern.” He was often criticized for this viewpoint and Ghanaians were not happy that he traveled the world to further the Pan-African movement, on their dime. There was also criticism that he ruled as a dictator and wanted all the power for himself. There were two (‘62 and ‘64) assassination attempts made during his time as president.

In February of 1966, while Nkrumah was on a trip to North Vietnam, his government was overthrown in a military coup. It is believed the coup was supported by the CIA, who lured Nkrumah to Vietnam in order to get him out of the country. Nkrumah fled to Guinea, where he served as co-president. He never returned to Ghana but continued to push for African unity. He died in Bucharest, Romania, where he was undergoing treatment for cancer, at the age of 62.

Here are some pictures and quotes from the Memorial Park:

"Forward Ever, Backward Never"

“We face neither East nor West, we face forward.”

(This was in reference to his ties to communist countries.)

“No man is born a criminal; society makes him so, and the only way to change things is to change the social conditions.”

“A revolutionary fails only if he surrenders.”

“Capitalism is but the gentlemen’s method of slavery.”

“Any compromise over principle is the same as the abandonment of it.”

In the left of this picture (very very small) you can see the headless statue of Nkrumah which was vandalized during the coup in 1966.The head has been recovered but the current government has decided not to display it next to the statue.

We have arrived and hit the ground running!

We (Lindsay and I) arrived in Accra! The trip here was pretty uneventful, which was great, especially with recent inclement weather around the world. Leading up to the trip I felt overwhelmed with what I had to get packed and moved before I left. I packed my things into boxes to store while I'm gone and that took a lot longer than expected. I had been collecting my “Ghana stuff” for a while and was able to lay it all out before I packed it (the day of me flight!). So left in a bit of a whirlwind and my dear brother and mother were left to, literally, pick up the pieces. I have been so honored to have an incredible support system!! Not only has my family been greatly supportive but my friends have just been amazing! Leaving has been bittersweet for this reason and because I love Austin. But the flip side of that coin is that I have this amazing opportunity and I'm really looking forward to it!

When I was done packing my bags at home I weighed them on my home scale. I knew they were right around 50 lb (the weight limit) but I was a little nervous if they would be under the weight limit. When I placed the first one on the scale it weighed in at 51lb, I nervously looked at the woman at the counter and she said “That's fine!” and I was so happy! Then the next one weighed in at 51.5lb and again I nervously looked at the woman who again said “That's fine” I jumped with joy!! I was so glad I didn’t have to ruffle through my suitcases to choose what to leave behind! I had a long goodbye with my mother and brother at the airport and was on my way. To the right is a photo of me and my brother at ABIA.

All went as planned on my first flight and upon arrival at Dulles airport the flight attendant was letting us know about connecting flights, I didn’t think he would mention mine. At the end of a long list of flights and gate numbers the flight attendant said “…and if you are traveling to… uh… Accra you will depart from C5.” He did not know how to pronounce this place he had never heard of and pronounced Accra with an ‘a’ like in aim. When I exited the plane at Dulles I was glad to arrive at an airport shuttle which would take me to terminal C but was not very excited when after one stop the automated voice let us know that the train was now out of service and to please exit. As I exited the train a sign greeted me showing the “future of terminal C and D” which was being renovated, a lot of good that did me at that time ;) Then the trek to terminal C began… I went along a long corridor with some pretty cool pictures of planets. I went up on some escalators and then down on some escalators. Then I had finally arrived at terminal C, but at gate 30! So the walk through the very busy terminal began. When I finally got to C5 I looked for Lindsay, who had arrived much sooner than myself. I went to a corner to call her but the moment I pulled out my phone I saw her walking towards me to throw something away! We were together and on our way!!

Here we are at Dulles airport:

When we got onto the plane we tried to switch seats but were unsuccessful. The man next to me didn't want to switch, he stated that he had paid for that seat and wanted to stay there. I told him he had every right to stay put. I waited on the person sitting next to Lindsay to arrive… it was a woman with a baby so we all just stayed put. I chatted a bit with the man next to me, watched Social Network and tried to sleep, pretty unsuccessfully especially because of how incredibly cold it was!

George and Theo picked us up from the airport and spend the rest of the day with us. George was our driver on the Maymester trip and Theo has recently been working with Dr. G (Dr. Dorie Gilbert is the professor who teaches the one month Ghana study abroad course and is our faculty advisor for this semester, aka Dr. G.) to plan for the upcoming Maymester and will be taking Kwame’s spot as her assistant during the trip.

As the day went on many things came rushing back to me. Once we arrived at the airport there was a big sign greeting us with ‘Akwaaba,’ which means ‘welcome.’ While talking with George he said ‘Eh he’ pronounced correctly means, loosely, ‘you are right.’ Other things I was immediately surrounded with were the bartering system of business and andinkra symbols everywhere.

We are staying in a small apartment which is connected to the house Dr. G was in during the Maymester for a few days while we look for a permanent place. From the apartment we first went to the A&C mall to pull money from an ATM, get some water and to have a late lunch/early dinner. This is when I realized Lindsay has a Master Card and I remembered how hard it is to find an ATM that takes anything other than Visa. (She didn’t get money out until the next day; more on this below.)

We decided to eat at the café we became very familiar with during the Maymester and were greeted with a big smile and hugs from Ms. Dinah, who was very glad to see I had indeed returned. After we ate we decided to go back to the apartment to rest since we were tired from travel. Soon after we got back to the apartment Bart (who was the ‘Ghanaian peer’ to my group during the Maymester and is a good friend) came over. Again I was reminded of a day-to-day practice in Ghana; Bart used the handshake with a snap at the end to greet Theo. We visited and I gave him the computer he asked me to find for him. We made arrangements to visit HOPE orphanage (the organization I worked with during the Maymester) on Sunday.

Here is Bart with his mother during the Maymester when we went to church together:

After Bart, Theo and George left we turned in very early. I fell asleep very quickly and slept a long time, making up for the lack of sleep leading up to the trip.

On Friday we visited both mine and Lindsay’s internship sites to check in and let them know we are here and will be starting work soon! Lindsay will be with the West African AIDS Foundation (WAAF). It took a few tro-tros and a long while to get there.

Here are photos of Lindsay’s first tro-tro ride (Above: with George Below: with Theo):

Again, more things were refreshing my memory, like the man who shouted “Obruni” (foreigner/ white person) at us outside of WAAF. It’s not used in a negative way, usually to get a person’s attention or just to point out the obvious. Kids often yell it when they see white people walking. After visiting WAAF, we headed to the Police Hospital in Osu to meet with Ms Okra. We decided to take a taxi to cut down on travel time. While we were driving to Osu Lindsay and I asked how much the taxi would be and Theo informed us that the driver asked for 20 Cedis but he was a “good man” and George chimed in with “Yes, very good man” implying that he wouldn’t charge us that much for the trip. They were still bartering as we were on the road. Haha. The ride ended up costing 17 Cedis. I met with Ms Okra and she provided me with a long to do list and shared her hopes and dreams for Eve’s Foundation.

After our meetings we planned to get our internet services up and running so we headed to the Airtel office. Airtel recently bought out Zain so their colors and logo, which were everywhere, are currently being replaced. After realizing it would take longer than expected and feeling our tummies growl, we decided to go eat. Theo, who informed us that he has to finish his day before he eats because he become tired after a big meal, offered to stay at the Airtel office to get the modem he had for me activated. So George went with us to Frankie’s (Maymester folks are very familiar with this place) where you can have Mexicans and Homos for lunch (Yes, I am aware that homo is part of Lebanese cuisine):

Theo met us at Frankie’s and we headed to the Accra mall to get the other modem Theo had, for Lindsay, activated at Vodafone. At Frankie’s they still had the Christmas tree up and when we got to the mall it was still full blown Christmas!:

Theo and George explained that it would be like that until February! I like Christmas and all, but it ends at some point ;)

While at the mall another order of business was to get money out of an ATM for Lindsay, who has a Master Card as mentioned above. So I figured at the mall one of the ATMS HAD to take her card. Below you see the ATM Hall where Lindsay is trying her luck while George and Theo wait:

After unsuccessfully trying pretty much every machine we were advised that there was a bank nearby that took Master Card. So we headed to the Ghana Commercial Bank nearby, just to find the ATM out of order. George and Theo said there would be one at the University of Ghana, so off we went. It took a little wandering and a friendly student to point us in the right direction but eventually Lindsay had some Cedis in her pocket!:

After ALL that we were exhausted. The Ghana heat and humidity is no joke! So we headed home to test out our modems. Sadly when we tried to connect to the internet we had no luck… another task for tomorrow...

On Saturday we went to Eve’s Foundation’s first Pregnancy Class of the year. A record 92 attendees benefited from the class!! The class was lead by Ms. Okra and a German midwife who is married to a Ghanaian and lives half time in Ghana and half time in Germany.

Here are some photos from the class:

We left the class early to take care of some things with Theo. After buying a new modem for me at the Airtel office and doing a little ‘I have internet dance’ which Theo found amusing we headed to the Vodafone office. We stood outside the Airtel office for a moment while Theo sat back and signaled to taxis. Lindsay asked “What are we doing now?” (I have to admit I was a little curious why we weren’t moving, going, doing something when we had so much to get done) and Theo informed us that there was no need to talk to taxi drivers, if you know where you are going you can point in the direction of where you want to go to see if they are going that way or as he was doing making a circle with his finger to signal that he wanted to go to the Nkruma Circle. When we got to the “heart of the city” (as Theo described it) we were blown away with the activity. There were people selling anything you could think of out of countless shacks next to each other that formed something resembling a maze. Theo said “You are in China now, you can buy anything.” There was also a massive tro-tro stop where, apparently, you can get to anywhere in the city.

Finally after taking an overpass and passing countless vendors we arrived at the Vodafone office. There was a long line to people queued (Ghana was colonized by the British mind you) around some seats in the middle of the store. It took a long time before Lindsay was up. Theo came to talk to me while she was getting her computer checked and said “This is Africa for you; it takes all day to do one thing.” In reality we were there for about an hour and had gotten both of our internet connection problems resolved before lunch, although we were both starving by this point. Theo, knowing by now that we aren’t happy hungry, suggested ‘fast food’ so we went to Chicken Republic. Ghanaian fast food is way better than ours! I had roasted chicken with rice which was pretty yummy. We had a long talk at lunch with Theo about politics (the night before Lindsay and I had watched President Mills hold a forum with editors who asked very bold questions), culture and race. It was a very informative conversation.

Theo got us a taxi back to the A&C mall where we bought a few more groceries before walking back to our temporary home. When we got in we both immediately tried out our internet and rejoiced in being able to skype and have other contact with friends and family. My mother used to write letters to her waiting parents when she was abroad… I talked with my parents and my brother today and have been in contact with many others through skype, facebook and e-mail. It’s a new world.

Back to Ghana

Tomorrow I leave for Ghana again. I have been accepted to an international internship through the School of Social work at the University of Texas, where I am completing my graduate degree. I was fortunate enough to go to Ghana at the end of May of this year for a Month for a ‘Maymester’ International class. I met a lot of interesting and friendly people who I look forward to seeing again!

I will be working with Eve’s Foundation, a small organization which provides classes about pregnancy and labor issues. The organization has been in existence for ten years and is essentially one woman who is determined to make a difference. I met with Ms. Okra once at the end of my last visit to Ghana and I look forward to working with her.

I’m curious what cultural differences will come up. When I was there before, I found that, interestingly, sometimes there was a language barrier. Even though we were technically speaking the same language there were often misunderstandings and different ways of expressing thoughts. It’s a great challenge!

There is another student going and we will be living together. We have arranged a place to stay for the first five days after we arrive. Once we get there we will work on getting housing, local phones and internet. We will be checking in with our respective organizations and touring the city of Accra.

I wasn’t good about updating this blog while I was there last time because we were so busy! But my New Year’s resolution is to keep up with my writing, here and in my journal, so let’s see how that goes…

Let the adventure begin!