Six days ago I was in Takoradi, Ghana and now I am in Cape Town, South Africa. My days on the sea are starting to get shorter and shorter. When I go to India I hear that sea days will be short and ports will be often. And with every port, I am more and more amazed and excited by my travels. I am learning more than I ever thought I would. For example, in Ghana I did not know what to expect. But what I experienced exceeded my expectations by far.
The first day in Ghana my friend, Sarah, and I went to a beach called Busua. It was about a 30-minute drive out of the city. You see in Takoradi there really isn't much to see. It is kind of like a giant village. There is a main market that reminds me of the grove on a football saturday at ole miss with different smells hitting you and people running into every where you look. The only difference is there is no grass, it's dirtier, and the market sells like steamed fish jerky, cloth, and spices instead of chik-fil-a, BBQ, and beverages. So, needless to say, any other exploration we wanted to do we had to leave the city. And that is what we did. Busua beach was amazing. The scene was beautiful, the sand was soft, you could see a small island right off the beach, there was fresh lobster that could be cooked over a fire for you, and the local kids wanted nothing but your attention and to teach you a few hand games. I spent two days there and each of them was awesome. I got to skype my family and friends which was amazing because I hadn’t really seen any ones face for over a month. However, where I learned the most was at my school visit and home stay.
20% of our classes at SAS are spent in the country. This means that for every class I have there is a set amount of fieldwork and research I must do. They set up trips called FDP (faculty directed practica) and I am required to go on a few for each class. I am taking Multicultural and Global Education and my assignment was to go to a school and observe how the children learn and the teaching strategies used. I was so excited! When we arrived at the school the first then you saw was a square courtyard with buildings on three sides and no air conditioning. The school had grades from pre-school to 8th grade. Each class had 30 to 50 students in it.
Upon arrival we were ushered into the computer room where the founder of the school and some of the teachers greeted us. Then we were divided up into groups of two or three and put into a classroom. I was paired with a pre-school class. The classroom was very simple with some posters of the alphabet on the back wall, a few windows, and very little material. The teacher started teaching her students and I took notes. They started with some songs, like “Old McDonald” “If you’re Happy and You Know it” and a few others I did not recognize. The she asked us to teach her a song. We taught the “Hokey Pokey”. The teacher loved it. She wrote down the lyrics and memorized it right away. After a lesson of the alphabet, we pulled out our cameras and all structure was lost. Most of these kids have never seen a camera much less touched one. I took maybe 2 pictures and the kids took the rest. What was interesting was the teacher was just as fascinated by the camera as the kids. Overall the experience was really good. I learned that kids go to school mainly in the dry season and they have several long breaks throughout the year. The school we visited was a private school but that didn’t mean kids came every day. Sometimes, students cant make it to school for various reasons like they have to watch a younger sibling, help in the market, or simply don’t want to walk the length that day.
My next experience was very different. I did a home stay. I was paired with a host family and stayed the night with them. When we arrived we did a traditional African naming ceremony where all 36 of us received a new name. We were lined up in groups of 10. Individually, we participated in a ceremony where we drank a sip of water as they said our name three times, then a sip of Fanta while they said our name three more times, and finally, we repeated our name to the village so they knew we understood it. We received a certificate from the chief and a medicinal leaf as well. Some aspects were changed, for example, we used Fanta instead of liquor and we were given the medicinal leaf instead of using it to drink from for health purposes. The name is received is Adwua (Ah- dew-ah) Mansa (man- sa). In African villages you are given a name according the day you were born, a strong name the family likes, and your family name. Typically, you are called by the strong name in the middle. My African family called me Adwua, but my full name was Adwua Melissa Mansa.
After the naming ceremony we were served lunch then spent the rest of the time with my family. I was with a family of 5; a mom named Elizabeth, her husband who I briefly met the next morning, and three children, one 13, one 9 and one 6. Adiza, the 13 year old was the family member I spent most of my time with. She spoke the best English and was able to help me translate the easiest. She taught me a few words like medaase, which means thank you in Twi. (Pronounced chwi). I helped cook and learned to carry water on my head. We also got to see another school, however, this school was very different. There were three to a desk that we would sit one two, everyone shared books, there were maybe 10 pencils for the class and teachers had to sharpen those pencils using a blade. However, the students were happy and learning was happening. Of course, they were so excited we were here that they could hardly sit still so class was let out very early.
When it was time fore bed, I learned that I would be sharing my bed with my host family. There were 5 of us in one room, for they only had one room in their house; Adiza and I in the bed, the mom, brother, and sister on the floor, and the father was away on business. The family, unfortunately, had expected me to give them more than I could. I brought presents for the kids but that was all I could offer. However, they asked for me to leave everything I brought with me; my clothes, my medicine, and my money. They did not ask just once, but multiple times till I left the next morning. It did become very uncomfortable. I woke early the next morning to the sound of a muslin temple praying, roosters crowing, and a goat’s baa-ing. I left early because of the constant bantering of asking for my money, clothes, and medicine, but felt satisfied with the experience because I had learned so much and lived in a way I never thought I would. I truly experienced some one else’s life and as different as it was it was so incredible. That night, I was talking to Adiza, and she asked me which life I thought was better. I replied that neither was better than he other, just different. There were things she can do that I cannot and things I can do that she cannot. Overall, my trip was again, amazing. I tried foods like banku, which is dough like mashed corn dipped in a soup, drank straight out of a coconut and learned about the different ways of life.
