Statesman Newspaper: Day II

This day was much better.

I started by helping to organize the writer's room. We went through all the newspapers and arraged them by organization and date. After that we watched a speech by the country's leading presidential candidate. His name is Nana Akuoffo-Addo. His party the NPP has been in power for the past 8 years and has lead Ghana through arguably the only real democracy in the nation's history. He was talking about the party's legacy and how he will continue their efforts to improve the economy, modernize the society and ensure democracy continues. He used the speech to announce his election committee(the folks who are supposed to get him into office). At the end, I was given a copy of the speech, so I could read it and take notes.

After that my self and one other reporter set out to come up with some questions and interview Akuoffo-Addo's opposition, to get their reaction to the start of his campaign. We were given a list of names and phone numbers of some of the leadership in the nation's other political parties. It was all really cool. I was about to become a real journalist and co-write my first article.

But, bad information and/or communication networks hit. We attempted to call them all. But only reached two people. One was a member of Akkuoffo-Addo's political party and the other declined the interview because he hadn't had time to see the speech. The rest of the phone numbers gave us an error message, telling us that the person whom we were attempting to reach was out of coverage area or had turned off their phone. Typical.

End of the road.

I still can say it was a nice glimpse of my work to come. Can't wait to try again.

My Ghana Courses

These are the Classes I Signed Up For:

1. SREL 365 - Islam in West Africa
2. HIST 308 - History of Africa from 1500 to 1800
3. DANC 112 - Introduction to African Dance
4. TWIL 1001 ACGH - Introductory Twi Language
5. INSH 3001 ACGH - Internship at the Statesman Newspaper
6. SOCI 3001 ACGH - The Sociological Foundations of Development Studies

Statesman Internship

I started to do an internship at a local newspaper called the Statesman. They are the country's oldest mainstream newspaper. And have a pretty nice website. So check them out.

This first day that I went was really bad. I was there for about 5 hours and spent most of my time sitting and waiting for someone to tell me what to do. One and a half hours in, all I had done was write the following as I sat in the lobby:

Waiting With You

[What to write?]

I'm in Ghana. Here, football is the national pastime. I'm doing
the other national pastime... waiting

Machines begin to crank and putter. I can hear that the presses are
rolling. This waiting room has a view of the workmen.

Journalist sit behind clean desks to make the stories, while printers
manage greasy old machines to make the paper

I wait

There's someone keeping me company while I wait. I'm not refering to
the man sitting next to me. He's asleep and unconcious, which doesn't make
for the liveliest interaction. And let this be clear: my companion is not
my friend, although it's becoming increasingly clear that I am a friend
of his.

I speak of a spider, who refuses to leave me alone.

I brushed him off my arm, then my leg, then my arm again... and the next time
I look down, there he is again. He's scaling my mountainous body like a
passionate climber who will never call it a day unless he's seen the view from
the top.

To be fair, he's not a complete nusence, this arachnid friend of mine.
He is one of those tiny jumping spiders I love so much. I like he way he
looks; he is a miniature, zebra-striped companion. I like the way he
moves; crouching his eight legs, he is a ferocious jaguar, waiting to
pounce. Waiting, calculating, preparing for the jump.

There he goes. Right back onto my leg.

I want to like him. I really do. I'd just prefer for
him not to be on me. There's no way for me to be comfortable while he
darts to and fro, scaling me, peak to peak.

I brush him away once more.

It's something in the quickness and unpredictability of their turns that
makes me jump. Insects, arachnids and other bugs... even when I like
you, it doesn't mean I want you around.

Brushed away one last time. Maybe this time he won't come back.

Awisa

And back to Awisa. I had been told that we had to attend a funeral while in Ghana because they were just so different, so I jumped at the opportunity to go with my family. There were some differences, but for the most part it was the same sort of British style that we're used to. The only part of the ceremony that i hadn't seen before was the thanksgiving ceremony. This was at the end of the weekend to that all those who came to the funeral for their support(financial and goodwill). This one was a celebratory event with dancing and drums and such. During it a chief from a neighboring town came and had a fairly large procession with him. His entourage included an orator that talks to people for him; man that shakes hands and greets on his behalf; some dancers and a group of musicians. Oh, and of course, two people who held his umbrellas so he wouldn't have to get caught in the sun. Well, it was cool to see the chief. But whats more, everyone in the crowd pushed me out in front so I was able to dance for him. I joined his entourage for a little and the crowd went crazy. It was a lot of fun.

When we arrived to the village we first walked around from house to house meeting relatives. Everyone fits into the following categories: friend, sibling, parent or grandparent. They categorize extended family in with the nuclear family, so, i met a lot of papas and momas, brothers and grandmothers. Many of them would speak to us in Twi and luckily my brothers tought us just enough to get by: hello, how are you, i'm fine, etc. Although a lot of the elders would either only speak to us in English or poke fun at the fact that i didn't understand Twi by speaking to me for about 15-30 seconds and expect me to respond. Then when i looked confused, they would laugh and do it again. Little children in the town would follow us(me and Rihana) around with hails of 'Obruni, obruni!' and 'How are you?' They would even run up to Rihana and hug her or hold her hand and walk with her. That happened only to her since she's more white than I am. But the shouts of 'Obruni' and waving followed me the whole weekend.

Oh and by the way, I'm white here, the same way I'm considered black in the US. I knew that I'd be completely considered an obruni(foreigner), but i forgot that because Ghana is a black society, any racial deviance from that norm would be thrown into whichever category they can fit into, thats not black. So in the US and a half black/half white man, they say I'm black. Then in Ghana they say I'm white. I thinks its interesting that neither society would consider me mixed, unless prompted to do so. Just more proof that the idea of race is completely arbitrary and useless.

Back to the story.

After meeting everyone, we ended at the house where we were going to eat dinner. They told us that we had to go there for dinner because that part of the family had been waiting for us to slaughter a goat in our honor. When we arrived, it turns out that they actually wante us to slaughter the goat. Rihana couldn't handle it at all, being the city folk that she is and she refused to take part or even be present. So then I picked up the obruni slack and slaughtered it with the help of my brothers. It wasn't as bad as I had feared it would be. It was fairly quick and painless, and not messy at all. The only time that it got messy was when we were burning off the fur and some juices spurted out of it onto me.

After that we ate. The brothers(who the family calls "Boys, Boys") have a very frantic way of eating. Rihana and i get served our food, then the boys all sit/stand/kneel around a communal bowl. The meal generally starts pretty calmly, but the pace quickens ever steadily as they notice each other beginning to be outpaced. In order to save their food from being stolen, they begin to steal. They begin to grab food by the fistful and swallow with out chewing until rice is flying and someone grabs the bowl and runs away. We later learned that another technique they use is to hide containers near them while they eat. That way they are able to fill that extra bowl or plate without the others noticing, then when the meal is over they grab their bowl quickly and try to get away without anyone noticing. They are crazy. But they tell me its the best way to eat.

One last thing before I go. We also went onto their farm. The farms here are almost like walking into a forest. It was pretty nice. Tons of biodiversity.

Aburi, Classes, and Village Life III

This weekend my family and I went up to the village of Awisa. Thats where our family is from. The reason for the occasion was to attend the funeral of an Uncle. He died at the age of 42. And just a year before that another one of the uncles died. So, its been a sad year for the family.

One the way to Awisa, we stopped by the biggest tree in West Africa. It was pretty big, but I've seen bigger in Oregon. I told them about the tree in California that is big enough for people to drive through. They were trying to imagine a car going through the center of their big tree. While we were at the tree, a guide told us about some dwarfs that live at the tree and keep it clean and protect it. They told us about how people come to the tree to make offerings to the dwarfs and ask favors. I was thinking 'alright, some traditional african religious worship happens here.' But, i wasn't expecting that it happened very often. However as we were leaving, two men came up and took off their shoes in preparation for their ritual. We didn't get to witness their ritual because they waited for us to leave prior to starting. A lot of the things our guide told us about the tree was spiritual. There were stories about men trying to cut down the tree and being rewarded with death. They also showed us a line in the tree where a chainsaw had attempted to cut the tree. They say the cut has healed completely and did so within a week.

A lot of that sort of mythology/mysticism/superstition happens here in Ghana. Not so much in Accra, because its a pretty cosmopolitan city. But once you venture out, everyone believes it. Another stop that we made on the way was to the Brin river. This river is also considered a deity and there are stories about it being the nasty sister(out of a group of rivers in the area). A man once tried to reunite the Brin with one of its sister rivers by digging a canal and the river turned him into a tree. My host parents are so afraid of the river that they wouldn't allow us to go near it. That's why my pictures are of other people in the boat/swimming in the river... not anyone i know. And the whole family here is very Christian, church on Sundays, Bible study during the week, and my brothers are nearly all confirmed, plus one of the uncles is a priest. But in Ghana they have kept their traditional beliefs, while converting over to Christianity. Its the similar to the way that those in Latin America merged their beliefs while they converted, only in Ghana it seams like the two religions are side by side rather than one. If you ask around, or if the government takes a survey the whole country will saw that they are either Christian or Muslim(with just 10% practicing traditional beliefs) but in practice i'm guessing most people don't forget their theological african roots. For example, Lexis's mother(he's one of my brothers) died recently. She died in Guinea so not many were able to go to her funeral. So after the funeral when one of his aunties had a stroke everyone was convinced that the mother's spirit attacked the auntie as a sign to the family that she was angry. This weekend that part of the family went to a Christian holy man who didn't do anything for them, so then they went to a local shaman to see what could be done. I'm not sure what happened after that because Lexis is the only person from that side of the family who lives with us and he didn't go to the shaman because Christianity is against that sort of thing, but he was also just scared of it.

This post is pretty long. Perhaps i should start a new one. And I'll write more on Ghanaian faith as events come up.