University of Ghana in Legon

Although it might just look like I am having a vacation in Ghana, I actually am also here to go to school! I am a student at the University of Ghana in Legon. The University's main campus is in Legon, which is about 45 minutes north of the Accra, the capital of Ghana. The campus itself is very large. Luckily the music building, where I have most of my classes, is only 15 minutes away. The process for registration for classes was so chaotic. Registration for classes started on August 9th. We could not register for classes online because the internet system was down due to the recent strike of the admissions staff. I had to go to each individual department to register for courses and find out what times they were offered. School was also supposed to start on August 13th. Only about half of the professors showed up to teach that week. This was the first time that I was actually anxious for my classes to start!

So... here is my class schedule and descriptions:

Mondays

1:30-3:30 Music of West and Central Africa

Tuesdays

9:30-11:30 Guidance and Counseling

5:00-6:00 Twi Language Course

6:00-7:30 Traditional African Dance

AND PRIVATE DRUMMING LESSONS!!!

Wednesdays

1:30-3:30 Introduction to Drumming

Thursdays

5:00AM-7:00AM Institute Class (talk about dedication haha)

9:30-10:30 Drumming Practical

5:00-6:00 Twi Language Course

6:00-7:30 Traditional African Dance

Fridays

NO CLASSES!!! (aka travel day!)

One of the unique opportunities that I have while I am here is doing my research for my Honors thesis. To summarize my thesis topic, I will study African drumming (specifically drumming in Ghana) and look at how it is used in their culture. Then I will compare/contrast the use of drumming in music therapy and discuss what we can do to improve our use of drumming in music therapy interventions. Having this as the topic for my thesis makes the whole process so exciting for me! What better place to do research than in a foreign country while studying abroad?!?!?

This week has been quite eventful! To start off, Monday was Ramadan and it is an observed holiday here in Ghana. So what better to do on a holiday than go to the beach!!! We went to Labadi Beach and enjoyed the nice sunshine and the sound of the waves. That night was also the first FHE for the LDS students at UG. We just met to discuss the semester activities that they had planned. It was fun to meet everyone and get to know them. There are about 20 members of the UG group. 

The rest of the week was great to get started with my classes. Other than my awesome drumming/dancing classes, my favorite class so far has been my Guidance and Counseling class. It is really interesting to hear the perspective of a therapist/professor here in Ghana and learn more about the way that they practice counseling. Our professor received his PhD in Suicidology (I didn't know that such a field existed). 

On Friday afternoon my friend Kristen and I went drum shopping with our drum instructor Franscios. He took us to the Art Market to pick out our drums. I felt very confident going with him and having him help us get drums that are good quality and will be sturdy for their trip back to the US. While we were looking at the drums, Kristen and I both fell in love with ones that we saw and we decided to buy them!!! I was going to buy one anyway, so why not get it early on in the semester so that I can have more practice??? We each got a lolo drum, the drum that is native to Ghana. We are going to pick them up later this week when they have finished putting the skin on the head of the drum!!!

Friday night I went to a church event at the Madina Stake Center. They were hosting a program/dinner for a large group of members from the Ivory Coast (country just west of Ghana) that traveled to Accra to go to the temple. (Unique fact about Ghana, it is surrounded by countries that speak French, not English, as their main language) I was able to meet the temple president for the Accra Ghana temple! It was a great night filled with delicious food and some pretty hip dancing!

Saturday was one of the best days that I have had in Ghana. We loaded a bus at 5:30am and traveled 6 hours to the Nzulezu village. This village is in the Western Region of Ghana. Once we finally arrived, we all loaded into canoes and rowed our way for about an hour down a river to go to the village! It was such a visually stimulating experience. Nzulezu village (village on the water) is a group of 450 people that have built their homes above the waterline. They use large pieces of wood to raise these houses up so they sit up high and are not washed away. We were able to walk around the village and meet the chief. He talked to us and gave us a brief history of that area. It was such an amazing experience to be on the water going to and from the village. Get ready for a lot of pictures :)

Well that is about all for my adventures for this last week. Life is great and I am still malaria-free! I love Sundays where I have this chance to "journal" about my experience as well as skype with my family. I thank everyone for their love and support for my decision to come here to Ghana. What an amazing 3 weeks I have already had! Until next week!

Obroni Observations

I am an Obroni. A white person in the middle of Africa. The people here call me "obroni" as I walk past them, especially in the market. It is not really a derogatory term, it just is what it is. And being an obroni comes with a certain perspective and view of the world. So this post is mostly about the basics of the culture here in Ghana. It doesn't mean that my view or opinion of the Ghanaian culture is right or wrong, it is just merely my reaction of being exposed to a different way of life.

To start, there are some "conveniences" that we enjoy in the USA that we definitely do not have here in Ghana. As for my living conditions, they are actually a lot better than I was expecting. I share a room with one other person. I have a bed (with poles for mosquito nets shown in the picture), a chair, a bookshelf, a desk, and tall dresser for clothes. I thought that I would wake up every night with lots of bug bites but not so far! We have mosquito screens on our windows so that has helped with that problem. When I read that they had "laundry facilities," that really meant a row a sinks for hand washing your clothes haha! I use a bar of soap and scrub the dirty places of my clothes and then rinse the soap through. So far I have been able to get everything pretty clean, it just takes some time. If I let my laundry build up for over a week like I do at home, it would take me about 3 hours to wash everything so I try to keep up with it. No wonder the women here are so strong! They have been washing their clothes like this their whole lives!!! And finally, the shower. The very cold shower. We are very lucky here to have running water for the bathrooms. A nice cold shower sure does wake me up every morning! It is not that bad. I have learned to do the Hokey Pokey while I take a shower... "put my right arm in, put my right arm out, put my right arm in and I shake it all about" That's what it's all about!

Although there is running water in our hostel, it is NOT safe to drink. Anytime I want water, I have to buy a bottle of water or a water bag (yes, a plastic bag filled with drinking water). Most of the time it is not cold water. And to top it off, they have no recycling here. The plastic is just burned. The level of cleanliness is VERY different from what we would expect to see at home. Except for buildings like those you find on campus, there are no trash cans and all of the trash is just thrown into the streets and the gutters. At first I was appalled. Then I realized that they probably don't see it as a bad thing... It just is what it is. Something to watch out for when you are in the market are the gutters. They are not only filled with trash, that is the sewer system for the market as well. So I am very careful when walking over the gutter so that I don't fall in!    

Although the water situation may not be the greatest, the food definitely is amazing! My meals so far have consisted of a fried egg with bread for breakfast, some type of fresh fruit for lunch (pineapple, mango, banana, plantain, avacado, coconut), and then a new food every night for dinner! Some of my favorite foods so far have been: chicken, wache (rice and beans), jollof rice, fried rice, noodles with peppe, and veggie kabobs! I really want to try the fish, but there is something about eating it with the skin, bones, head, and eyes all still there that kind of grosses me out... There are still many main foods here that I have yet to try, like bonku and fufu! Everything has great flavor and is very spicy!! Yum!! 

One of the things that is great here is the public transportation! Although some of the roads are under major construction, the traffic is less dense because of the use of cabs and trotros. You are probably wondering what the heck a trotro is. It is 15-20 passenger van that is converted into a mini bus used to transport people around town. There are places the trotros stop along the route. The trickiest part is getting on a trotro! As the van approaches the stop, the mate (the person who sits next to the sliding door) yells out of the window to let you know what route that trotro is taking. Then, depending on how many seats are available, you have to push your way through to get on. Once you have made it on to the trotro, the mate takes your money. Taking a trotro to get around is the best way to travel in Ghana. It is very cheep and can get you close to almost anywhere you want to go. As long as you don't mind sitting very very very close to people, the trotro is the way to go!

The best way to go shopping is to go to the local markets. We have a market very close to our hostel, the night market. There you can buy anything and everything that you need. Food, clothes, shoes, magazines, movies, minutes for your phone, ANYTHING! People also set up stands along the side of the road so you can get things as you are walking to different locations. I like to go to the night market to get my breakfast (fried egg on bread) and my pineapple! The girls who run the stands are very nice and I have gotten to know them really well because I see them every day. Even if you are in a cab or on a trotro, people are always walking in the lanes of traffic selling different items. It can be very convenient when you are on a trotro for an hour and you need some water, you can just reach out of your window and buy it!

One of the highlights of the 2 weeks that I have been here has been finding the local church. From using lds.org website, I found a church out in Adenta, about a 15 minute drive from where I am in Legon. Last Sunday I took a taxi out there and was a little late but made it for the sacrament and then found a seat near the back. In the middle of one of the talks, a priest-aged boy came to me and asked me for my name and where I came from. Then, during the intermission of the meeting, the bishop stood up to the pulpit and introduced me as their visitor that day! It was obvious that I was the visitor, being the only white person in the ENTIRE congregation haha! Everyone was very kind and helped me to find my way to the different classes. During the entire 3 hours of church, I was constantly trying to gain control of my emotions. I held back tears and I thanked Heavenly Father that I found the church and that I felt peace. In the midst of this foreign country, I had a home. That is what I love about the church... No matter where you go in the world, you will always have a family away from home - your ward family!

This weekend was the All Africa Day of Service! All of the members of the church in Africa would participate in a day of service in their community. This is very similar to what we have done in the USA. On Saturday, 4 of the wards in the stake went to the Adenta Community School to clean up the area. There were about 200+ people who came to help. The cut down grass, picked up trash, and brushed off rocks. Someone tried to teach me how to use a machete... but after many people started laughing at my sorry attempt to cut down the grass, I gave up and picked up a rake instead. We were there for about 4 hours cleaning up the area. I was able to meet some American missionaries, other obronies haha! How cool would it be to serve as a missionary in Ghana!! I met a lot of very kind people there and they were all grateful for my attempts to assist in the service that day. 

Well, this has been quite a long post. But I hope this gives you an idea of what the culture is like here in Ghana. The other events from this week include: trip to Makola Market (the biggest market in West Africa), driving past the Accra Temple and West Africa Area Offices, finally going to see The Dark Night Rises!!!, discovering places to eat, and attending and participating in the launch of the 50th Anniversary Celebration of the School of Performing Arts at the University of Ghana. Next week I will write about the main reason why I am here... to go to school haha!!! But Monday is Ramadan so there will be no school! We are headed to the beach tomorrow. More adventures to come!!

Week One of Culture Shock

Oh my... Where to start... It was a miracle that I made it to Ghana. I had problems with all of my flights over here. Delays, mechanical problems on the plane, etc. I flew through Chicago and London on my way to Africa. I wish I could have spent some time in London, seeing as the Olympics were there! Oh well. I at least got to see the airport for about 30 minutes as I RAN to catch my next flight.

I arrived in Ghana late on Sunday night after being on the plane for a VERY long time. I was picked up from the airport and brought to the International Student Hostel (ISH) at the University of Ghana Legon. The campus is very large and very beautiful! We live on the very edge of campus so everywhere is quite a walk. Luckily we are right next to the gym and swimming pool!  

The next few days were spent during orientation and becoming familiar with the city of Accra (which I will document in more detail in another blog). The group that I am with are from the International Student Exchange Program (ISEP). There are about 26 of us from around America. Twenty girls and six boys. My roommate is Pandora White and she is from Mississippi (the one on my left in the picture below). She has such a heavy Southern accent that it is almost as if I was trying to understand a native Ghanaian who is trying to speak to me haha. But she is really great and super funny! I went with her and some of the other ISEP students to a reggae club down by the beach for some live music and dancing. The live music consisted of recorded songs on a screen and the dancing was mostly from people who were drunk or high off of marijuana!!!! AAAHHH!!!! It was really funny because I was not expecting that at all. I must be from the "sheltered Utah bubble." Despite those things, I did enjoy my first time on the beach and I found a guy who let me play his djembe! It was awesome.

 

On Friday and Saturday we traveled about 3-4 hours west to the city of Cape Coast. It was a beautiful drive. We passed through many smaller villages along the way. Cape Coast is right along the ocean line. 

We went to Kakum National Park which is a Rain Forest! We hiked up into the forest and went on the Canopy Walkway! It is made up of 7 canopy bridges that are fastened high up on the trees so that you are walking above the canopy line and overlooking the lush green forest. It made me nervous at first and I held on very tight with both hands... But eventually I got up the nerve to take one hand off for a few pictures haha.  

We stayed at a cottage hotel right on the edge of a swamp full of alligators!

The next day we went to the Cape Coast Castle. This castle is one of few remaining fortresses along the coast of West Africa that was used for economic trading as well as the slave trade. We went into the dungeons where they kept the slaves before they were shipped to Europe/Americas. Cape Coast is a beautiful city and I hope that I can go back there again.

This last picture is my favorite from the trip to the Cape Coast Castle. Many of you have seen my huge poster of Martin Luther King Jr. and know the passion that I have for the civil rights movement. This plaque describes what I felt during the tour. The more time that I spend here in Africa, the more I come to see that God loves all of His children, no matter what continent you are from and no matter what color your skin may be. We have come so far from the time of the slave trade, but we still have a long way to go before our attitudes reflect what should be in our hearts. I hope that we can all learn from the mistakes of the past and move forward in treating everyone with the kindness and respect that they deserve as a human being.