During the entirety of my time in Ghana, I thought about how I was going to talk about my experience. I’m still not sure if describing what I was thinking and feeling for my ten days there would be adequate even if I was able to use the exact right words. But I feel like keeping everything to myself and not putting my story out there would be a disservice to the experience and to Ghana as a whole. So here is on representation of Ghana as seen through the eyes of a white man from the United States.
I spent ten days in Accra, Kumasi, and Cape Coast, Ghana as a winterim study abroad opportunity to experience Ghanaian culture as well as tour institutions of higher education in the country, especially how they handle student affairs in the cultural context. Our days were filled with sightseeing, travelling, meeting Ghanaian professionals within higher education, and a significant amount of reflection and debriefing. Without those last crucial aspects, the experience would not have been nearly as impactful; we may have turned into just more Westerners imposing ourselves on a country ravaged by neocolonialism. Both of our faculty leads as well as our guide throughout the trip immersed us in the culture and context of Ghana. On the first day, our tour guide, Charles, gave us a quote to reflect on: “Don’t pass through Ghana, let Ghana pass through you.” I believe that was a statement that stuck out to everyone on the trip.
The first day was pretty disorienting. Culture shock, jetlag, and a full schedule all combined into simply a blur of a day. Being exposed to the busyness of Accra, my first exposure to an artisan market, and the new ways of interacting with people was all very overwhelming. Over the next couple of days, I tried to look at things in a non-Western light, thinking about how everything I experienced came together into Ghanaian culture.
The immediate observation upon exploring Accra on the first day was, as I said, the busyness. People between the lanes on the street selling Coke products, plantain chips, fabrics, water, or other food items; giant billboards with advertisements, funeral details for people who recently passed away (and by recently I mean 2016), and political campaigning (also from 2016); and cars everywhere seemingly clamoring to get past each other with hardly any traffic rules or regulations to speak of. In a word: chaos. But it takes time to realize that all of this is actually organized chaos. This is just life. There is a significant element of trust in each other in Ghana. Everyone knows that eventually they will get to where they need to go, even if they are late (this relates to the concept of “Ghanaian time,” where overall time is just a more relaxed concept). One of the other people on the trip pointed out that in a place like New York, the honking would be constant and unbearable, most of the time due to road rage. Ghanaian honks are more just a declaration of presence: “I’m here, I’m trying to pass you, let’s work with each other to make it happen.” On the surface, Ghanaian drivers may look like they’re terrible by Western standards, but I joked on occasion that our driver, Mr. Solomon, was the person that I trust most in this world. The gates, bridges, and traffic through which he navigated us as well as the sheer amount of patience in going through those obstacles and simply waiting for us to finish our activities was just incredible. Africa as a whole is often seen in the media as having chaotic streets with constant movement. While some images may be accurate, that portrayal falls so short of what the culture actually is like.
There are so many positive things to say about the Ghanaian people as a whole. They are passionate, proud, reflective, friendly, and welcoming. The hospitality we received in Ghana was incredible, not only from our tour company and hotels, but practically everyone we met. Ghanaians are always prepared to share something about their culture, whether it is regarding their rich national history, vendors talking about their art, or simply their philosophies on life. Given the major role the slave trade had as well as British colonialism, Ghanaians are always talking about unity not only between Africans and their Diaspora brothers and sisters, but also the unity of people from any skin tone; two separate artisan vendors in two separate cities talked to me about how black and white are unified like the keys on a piano, creating something beautiful. One of those same vendors was so passionate about the paintings he created, embracing many aspects of Ghanaian culture. Charles worked extremely hard to give us as much information about the history and culture of Ghana as he could, and he really valued being able to teach us all of those things. It’s hard to know where to even begin with the cultural experiences we had. We received a drum and dance demonstration, visited the Assin Manso River of the Last Bath and Cape Coast Castle, spoke with an Asante elder and visited the royal palace, met with artisans of the traditional kente cloth and Adinkra stamp patterns, and so much more. Of course, a major part of the trip was learning about higher education, but I will cover all of that in another post. All of the cultural experiences we had represented the passion, pride, and history of Ghana in a way that is unparalleled to any other cultural immersion in which I have participated, and it is all due to the power of the Ghanaian people as a whole.
Of course, there are some aspects of Ghanaian culture that should be talked about. During one of our group debriefs we were discussing how the bartering system at the open markets made many of us feel uncomfortable, feeling as though we had too much power in the situation. I realized that in Western cultures, we’re used to the vendor having all of the power in a monetary transaction. However, in bartering societies, that power is evened out. The vendor offers their highest price at first and gives the buyer a chance to negotiate, and either side can back out of the deal at any point. Bartering is not a strict system. Both parties want something the other has, and as Westerners our power in a transaction has been boosted from zero percent to fifty. In reality, if a vendor felt like they were being ripped off they would back out of the deal completely. Western capitalism takes any power away from the buyer, which of course can be extremely dangerous for those that may be on the lower rungs of society. While I am terrible at bartering, I think there is some beauty in the equalization of power that happens in such exchanges.
One ironic part of Ghana’s culture is the all-too-obvious patriarchy, which is contrary to the matrilineal heritage of the Asante kingdom. Throughout the entire trip, I was surrounded by twelve intelligent, insightful, strong women, and I think it is fair to say that our two faculty leads are the most brilliant people I have ever met. I was the only man on the trip, not counting Charles and Mr. Solomon. Going in I knew things would probably be fine since many of my closest friends are women and I am always striving to simply be a good man and check my privilege, albeit in a Western context. People in Ghana noticed much more than I thought they would. There were small reminders from the Ghanaians I interacted with from time to time that I was surrounded by women, but I usually didn’t worry about it since those interactions in passing were not going to affect our experience. However, when meeting with professors and students from the University of Cape Coast (UCC), they had a chance to ask us questions. One professor specifically asked me in front of the whole conference room what it was like to be surrounded by all of these women, and I had a difficult time thinking of what to say. My basic answer was that I was used to it and had many close female friends. He followed up and asked, “So they are taking care of you?” My only response to that was “Sure.” It wasn’t until later that I desperately wish I had said instead, “I’m perfectly capable of taking care of myself.” The interaction made me uncomfortable, and as we debriefed about our overall experiences at UCC the next day, some members in my group were pointing out how some of the women seemed to shrink when in the presence of men in the room, particularly one of the women that my project group was working with in the Office of International Education. She seemed very strong and vocal in our interactions before arriving, but did not speak much when we actually met, perhaps because of the presence of more men. I had noticed she was quiet in our meeting, but I did not realize what was happening until our debrief later. Even on the flight from Brussels to Chicago I was sitting next to two Africans who were traveling together (at least I assumed based on their accents). As I sat down the woman in the middle mentioned that she didn’t like being in the middle of two men, and the man she was traveling with started talking about all of the benefits of having men in her life, again leaving me speechless like at UCC. I cannot pretend to know what it was like for the women in my group, but it was a new experience being in a place where gender issues (and sexual orientation spectrum acceptance) were in a significantly different place than what I am used to. I sincerely tried to learn as much as possible and challenge my male privilege on this trip, but I also feel that I could have done better at times, and I hope to continue to learn and become aware in the future.
Ghana is not a shithole. A narcissistic, xenophobic, close-minded individual has no place in the modern world. I did not see poverty in Ghana, at least not the poverty that we are led to believe exists in every part of Africa. I saw people living their lives. Poverty is a relative term. Taking into account the qualities of Ghanaian culture I talked about, there are so many ways in which Ghana truly is an amazing country with incredible people and cultural value. It is not a place of “poverty,” although help can always be given to people in every country. In fact, some students at UCC mentioned their service learning trip to the United States where they were studying poverty. They were quick to mention how similar poverty in Ghana is to poverty in the US. We are in a time where many people are seeking to become more aware of the world, despite the fact that we’re being led by a man who is not. When you immerse yourself in a culture, you quickly realize that there is no such thing as a “shithole country.” You learn to value people for who they are and what they hold dear. We become better people for it, and I will never stop believing that.
Life, man. 