The strikes are over
(University of Minnesota public health students are writing about their experiences abroad this summer.)
By Ele Scherman
Environmental Health Sciences
Writing from Ghana
Well, it was a little more somber couple days this week after the Ghana vs. Brazil match on Tuesday. Everyone had so much hope for the Ghana Black Stars, but it was not enough to make them victorious, especially in light of the horrible officiating that took place against them. Listen to me, I sound like I know what I'm talking about with soccer, but I've gotten quite an education. One of the things I love about Ghanaians is that they rarely complain...about anything. They weren't complaining after the bad match, but they were upset. Everyone is still very proud of Ghana's first showing ever in the World Cup!
On Saturday, Ghana celebrated Republic Day, the day they became a republic after winning their independence. My host family, some friends of the family, and I went to the Aburi botanical gardens that are about 2 hours from town. It was a beautiful day and the garden was very nice. Gradually, throughout the day, more and more people arrived there for the holiday. By mid afternoon, the place was packed with people. There were various stages set-up with DJs playing music and people dancing. We were close to one of the stages playing pop music for a large group of young people. You think people watching at the Minnesota State Fair is a trip? You should have been at the gardens that day! It's just such a different environment of behavior and attire. I was really surprised to see how much of western youth culture the young people here have adopted. I was also trying to distinguish those ties from the African influence that is so prevalent in the US.
I was very surprised to meet some other American women living in a small town about 10K away from my town. I thought that a Canadian woman and myself were the only "obronis" (what "white" people are called here) living in a large radius from here! They're here on a volunteer assignment teaching in a middle school. We got together once to chat and decided we'll travel together next weekend to Kokrobite beach outside of Accra that is home to the African Academy of Music and Arts. Besides it having what is said as some of the best beaches in Ghana, there are regular African drum shows and other music related attractions.
So, am I actually doing anything productive here yet? Almost...thankfully, the strikes are officially over! This week I am going to propose a project to the sanitation unit of the District Health Management Team to do a study on food handling in the restaurants, chop bars (kind of like a lunch counter), and the market/street vendors in hopes to help improve food safety in the community. In the meantime, I've been able to participate in some of the other outreach that the DHMT is responsible for. I went to a traditional birth attendant training, which was very interesting. TBAs are the people that those living in remote areas depend on for council during pregnancy and delivering of their babies. This week I will be going to a few child welfare clinics that are periodically held out in other communities where parents bring their children come to get weighed, receive vitamin supplementation, and get checked for signs of malnutrition.
I hope everyone is having/had a great 4th of July weekend! Wish I could be there, I'm really craving some potato salad! And to see all of you of course!
Peace,
Ele