Wrapping Up...

Well my three month adventure in Ghana has now come to its conclusion. First of all I would like to thank my family and friends for their support. I truly appreciate it.

I am also grateful to everyone who supported my fundraising efforts that enabled me to have this experience. Thank you to Campbell Cohen for their sponsorship and to Supermarche PA for donating 50 fruit and nut bars which sustained me when my (or my friends’) needs were dire.

I thoroughly enjoyed my internship from an academic, cultural and developmental perspective. I know I have learned more than I could possibly put into words. I found my research on the petroleum industry in Ghana fascinating and I am eager to see how the situation unfolds when oil begins to flow later this year. I sincerely hope that the citizens benefit from the revenue influx and that the government makes wise decisions regarding the allocation of funds. While it is next to impossible to sum up my experience this summer, here are my top 10 likes and dislikes about Ghana:

10 things I will miss about Ghana…

1. The fruit!

It’s always in season (cause you can’t get it out of season and it’s always cheap and delicious). That being said, I wish someone had told me there would be no more mangoes from mid-July onwards – I would have eaten so many more before then!

2. The best street snacks ever

My ultimate faves : Kelewele (fried plantain with ginger and spices that I will most certainly be re-creating at home), polo (coconut mixed with flour, sugar and then deep fried), groundnut cake (kind of like peanut brittle but in a triangular shape), popcorn, guacamole sandwiches, omelette sandwiches, roasted plantain

3. The music

WAY better than any North American Top 40 pop could ever be..the beats, the melodies… check out the following: Shorty by Ruff and Smooth (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fpcI62slGw8&feature=search), Kiss your Hand by R2Bees(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0tfTz6OfBXU&feature=search) (anything by those two groups I love)

4. Guys that can actually dance

I swear it must be in their blood. It’s common to go to a bar and see a bunch of men together dancing– it’s so nice to see.

5. The friends I have made here – my sistas and Ghanaians alike

6. Tro-tros

Even though I sometimes wonder if I’ll get home in one piece or if a shard of rusty metal will dig into my skin as I disembark, I have developed a certain fondness for the tro-tro. Riding around on one feels like being part of a team – people get out of their seat so you can get off, passengers pass your change back to you and help you alight at the right place - it just feels so communal.

7. The friendliness between strangers

It can sometimes be inappropriate, but on the whole, Ghanaians are genuinely friendly. It’s customary to greet the brother or sister next to you in the tro tro and people that I’d meet for 5 minutes wanted to get my number and check on me periodically just to see if I was ok.

8. Salsa nights at the Coconut Grove Hotel

Witnessing people of all ages and backgrounds dancing salsa under the stars truly makes me feel alive.

9. Having so much time to read: book list (Denise Chong)

This isn’t particular to Ghana, but I was delighted with how much time I had to read for pleasure this summer. Two books I highly recommend are Beautiful Boy by David Sheff, which is a memoir depicting a father’s struggle with his son’s addiction to methamphetamine, and The Concubine’s Children by Denise Chong. It is a Canadian biography detailing her family’s immigration to Vancouver during the Great Depression.

10. Availability of stuff everywhere

A huge convenience is that one barely ever has to enter a store to make a purchase in Ghana. I realized on my way to work one day that I had forgotten my gym socks but it was no big deal, I just bought some out of my tro tro window right then and there.



10 things I will not miss about Ghana…

1. The lack of sidewalks and quality of the ones that exist.

I have immense respect for the women that wear high heels here. Serious props.

2. Poor air quality

It is common to see black smoke spewing out of exhaust pipes -having to inhale that while sitting in traffic is not pleasant.

3. The hissing

At first when I heard people hissing at me I found it offensive and derogatory because I thought it was only a man-hissing-at-a-woman-type deal. But then I came to realize that everyone hisses at each other to get their attention. My female co-worker hissed at me the other day. I wanted to say, I have a name! haha

4. Being a visible minority

I will not miss being a visible minority although it does occasionally have its advantages - I feel even safer walking around late at night since I practically glow in the dark and it’s convenient if you are meeting up with someone you have never met - they know it’s you ‘cause you are the only white person around for miles.

5. When there is no running water.

Quite often, I have found myself in situations where there is no running water. At restaurants, hotels, at home – it happens. Bucket showers just aren’t the same.

6. Seeing garbage everywhere. I get upset in Canada when I see improper recycling but
Ghana is on a whole different level. There is trash everywhere – people throw things out of their car windows all the time – I always resist asking them: who do you think will pick that up?

7. Blatant intolerance towards homosexuality

Homosexuality is actually against the law in Ghana and some of the articles written about the subject in the newspaper would be considered hate speech in Canada. I do admit though, that Canadians reacted similarly 50-60 years ago and I’m sure in less time than that, opinions will change in Ghana.

8. Washing all of my clothes by hand.

I will appreciate my washing machine so much more! I just don’t have the patience for wringing out all the water and soap in my clothes so they never feel really clean and they take days to dry.

9. Paying for everything in cash

In 3 months I did not use my credit card once. This was very strange for me because in Canada I hardly ever pay with cash. Using cash was challenging at times because there is so much less money in floating around – it happened often that we’d want to pay for something that cost around 2$ with a 5$ bill and the vendor couldn’t break the bill! The situation was even worse in Togo and Benin. Thank goodness there were 3 of us traveling together - we had to take turns picking up the tab because they could only manage to find so much change.

10. Ghana time

Things NEVER start on time. The only advantage: one can never be late


All in all, a fabulous experience, I can’t wait to go back and see how the country has progressed in 5, 10, 15 years. Thanks for reading; it was great having your feedback on all my adventures.