Days 4 & 5 in Ghana

Actually wrote this on days 4 and 5, just getting around to posting now...will put up pictures with it as soon as I can. Pictures up now.

First days with my host family –

Upon returning to Accra, it was time to meet our host families. Max Fluerme and I are staying with a woman named Joyce and her son, Kweku, in downtown Accra. I’m hoping that the commute to work won’t be too bad as traffic in the downtown area has shown to be miserable thus far. Joyce’s story is pretty fascinating and quite tragic and she is putting her son through private school singlehandledly.

Joyce's son, Kweku. Haven't been lucky enough to get a photo of Joyce yet.

She seems to really be pushing Kweku to do well in school so that he can attend a university in the United States. He’s a bright kid and has helped Max and I with some questions we have about living here.

And if ever there was evidence of how small the world really is…..Joyce and Kweku lived in Lawrenceville, Georgia for many years. Kweku was born there and Joyce was there for 14 years. She still visits Lawrenceville quite often. Now, why is that significant? My family will know, but others won’t.

I was born in Lawrenceville and spent the first 8 years of my life there. Joyce literally knows where the street I lived on is. Her hosting me was completely random with the simple exception that she asked for male students – the rest is inexplicable coincidence I guess.

Anyway, her time spent in America has rubbed off on her and her son. I was told I can expect a combination of American and Ghanaian dishes. This might help when I’m really feeling homesick.

The home is really nice although the area we are in is somewhat poverty-stricken (edit: Now that I’ve been here for 2 more weeks, I don’t see the area as I did before. In fact, it’s not so bad after all.) The house is gated and the concrete walls surrounding the property are topped with barbed wire and shards of broken glass that were placed before the walls were completely hardened. Oh, and there’s a Rottweiler that lives exclusively outdoors for security purposes. The windows and doors are also backed with metal bars and the front door has 3 locks all moving in different directions.  At least I feel safe, though. Anyone of the middle class or higher lives in these “security zones”, it simply wouldn’t be safe not to.

Our home!

Barbed wire lining the top of our home's gate.

Joyce has strong political views and oftentimes I find myself on the receiving end of long lectures about the serious corruption in the political system and the greed of government officials (edit: I have learned to love and cherish these conversations. Joyce, Max, and I spent much of the time we’re around the house just sitting and talking, sharing stories, etc. It’s a nice escape from my otherwise hectic work week and the hustle and bustle of downtown Accra). This comes as a bit of a shock as we were told by Ghana’s ambassador to the UN that Ghana’s government is being watched carefully by the media and is entirely transparent with the flow of its revenue.

You might be getting the impression that I’m a bit scared, and I am, but I still find myself being reminded that in large part these are very friendly people. Today at the barbershop (Max and Kweku needed haircuts), I met a Ghanaian who was watching Tom and Jerry episodes on his iPad. He offered to let me use it to browse the internet. I said no, at which point he set the episode to “Full Screen” mode and turned the iPad so we could watch together. I laughed as I watched this man crack up from Tom and Jerry’s antics; he even said it’s his favorite show!

Took this on a rare walk I had the chance to take before it got to work. The highlights in the background are actually from a trash fire someone had started in the neighborhood.

Apologies for not putting more new posts up. My work week is becoming increasingly demanding and I now can expect to log 50+ hours. I can’t even begin to describe the amount I’m learning, though, so I’m grateful for the opportunity. Unfortunately, some of the stresses I left the U.S. to escape have followed me here, and I’d be hard pressed to say that I’m really relaxing. I hope to be more active with my posts in the coming days.

Our street at dusk. You can see the fire on the right.