Marathon...

I ran a marathon this morning here in Ghana, and once again, what an experience! I have been training (sorta) for the last few months and was not sure that I would really go through with the actual race until two days ago. When I arrived here and tried to run, it was much harder. The air here is so thick with humidity and with diesel fuel (almost all the cars and trucks run on diesel and there is no EPA so the pollution is bad). Regardless, I thought while I am in Africa, I really should make the most of every opportunity.

I woke up this morning at 3:30 am and took a taxi to downtown Accra where I was supposed to get on a bus just for the marathon that was to leave at 4:30. After some difficulty finding exactly where we were to all meet, I did meet some of the other runners and waited for the bus…and waited….and waited. Finally, at 6 it showed up and we all piled onto this bus that was packed well beyond capacity. A group of runners, for some reason, had decided to bring drums and other instruments and proceeded to play music (that was really good and different from anything I have ever heard) for the next 45 minutes to an hour as we drove to the start of the race. When we arrived, we all got out (in, seemingly, the middle of nowhere, it is actually a little beach town 26.2 miles from Accra called Prampram) and after about five minutes they said “Go!”. We were supposed to have started at 5:30, but did not start until 7, but I think that is good for Ghana ( I am still adjusting to that and am not sure I ever will). I felt great for the first ten miles or so, but then the sun came out and I started to tire. I was still ok by the half way mark, and just kept pushing. Once we hit the half way mark the whole course goes directly along the ocean for 6 or 7 miles, and it was beautiful, even though the sun was HOT by this point. As we neared Accra we ran through some very poor areas but everyone I saw was cheering us on; a neat feeling. However, because these areas are so poor there is no sidewalk and being that close to the ocean, there is no dirt, but rather just sand, so those miles, running in sand, were not all that fun.

With about a mile left I was just trying to concentrate on putting one foot in front of the other when I ran up on a kid who could not have been but 9 years old. He was walking and as I passed him, I waved him to run with me and he did. I asked him if he was running the marathon (I am not sure he understood a single word I said), but he shook his head and it obvious that he had been running for a while. At one point he fell back a few yards and I motioned him to keep up, so he did. As we neared the finish line and it was at last in sight, I looked down to notice that he was wearing flip-flops! This 9 year old kid just ran a marathon in the same time I did, in flip-flops! We crossed the line together and it was almost surreal (as many things here have seemed): Here I am finishing a marathon in Africa, running with a 9 year old boy in flip-flops, the finish line is right on the beach overlooking a picturesque ocean and the first thing that happens when I finish is, instead of handing me a bottle of water, someone hands me a coconut! Another guy takes it, cuts it open with a machete for me to drink the water that is inside (there is about a liter), and then I am supposed to hand it back to him and he cuts it open so that I can eat the meat, which is soft and juicy too- not like American coconuts that I have had.

Although, by no means was it fast, I finished a marathon in Africa and it was quite the experience.

Democracy...

I am very glad to be in the classroom and teaching, it is, however, very differnt here than in the US. Not better or worse, but just different. In the Government class that I am teaching we have started talking a lot about the election in Ghana. The students seem very knowledgeable (at least in comparison to me) and I have been genuinely impressed. I have also talked about the election in the US and the students know about both the canidates and seem pretty informed about our democratic system. Ghana is one of the few African countries that is a democracy and has a history (all be it short) of peaceful elections. In discussion I asked them, if they were of eligible age, would they vote. I was shocked when more than two-thirds of the students told me very honestly: "No". They had a myriad of differnt reasons, but they all ended with; "so that is why I will not vote". I tried to enphasize the importance of participation in a democratic society, but I am not sure if I got my message across or not (I had anticipated teaching that). I guess I expected that democratice participation would be a honor of sorts here, maybe even more than it is precieved in the US. It goes to show what expectations in Africa, are out the window. I hope to be able to teach these students, but as of right now, I am the one going to school and learning from them.

Slavery...

This week is the first week of classes where I am able to actually begin teaching new material. In the social studies classes I have begun with giving a very brief history of Ghana focusing on geographic factors of development. It is impossible to discuss the history of Ghana and West Africa though, without discussing slavery. Discussing slavery is a difficult, but interesting, topic in a US classroom that is predominately white-European. Here, there are so many more dimensions to the topic and the discussion that follows. I am the only white-European in the room, and for that matter, the school. These students may have ties to slavery of some kind. How, as a teacher, do I teach this coming from such a background? I have had absolutely no problems in the classroom, but it is just a very interesting topic, in a very interesting place and really does give me pause for thought. Not sure how I feel about it at the moment, just trying to absorb everything, journal it, and take it in stride.

P.S.- The "chalk/candy" is actually something that is edible! It is, however, only something that pregnant women eat. Why did the lady sell it to me?

"Candy"...

Today I had about a 25 minute break in my teaching this afternoon, so I decided to walk just off campus and get a pop. On my way to get a drink I saw a lady selling candy so I decided to stop on my way back to get a piece. Keep in mind that the candy here is, for the most part much different than US candy, it is often homemade, and even if it is not homemade, I have never heard of most of the brands. After I got my pop, I came to the candy lady just in time to see her packing everything up (it looked like it was going to rain) She had one container left out of this powdered football shaped thing. I asked her what it was and in Twi she told me, so I had absolutely no idea. But, I thought, it is candy, how bad can it be. I asked her if it was good and pointed to my mouth and she just smiled and nodded. So I gave her 10 pesewas (cents) and she gave me six pieces! AS a walked away I looked at them and realized that they really had a lot of powdered sugar on them. I took one and bit into it only to realize that the white powder on the outside was the entire thing, and it was not powdered sugar. It was chalk. I then proceeded to spit and spit and spit and rinse out my mouth with the pop I had just bought, but for the rest of the day my mouth has had a bit of a gritty feel. Live and learn, I guess, but, in the future, I may be a bit more discerning as to what kind of “candy” I buy.

Lost Email Contacts...

Due to a server crash last week, I lost almost all of my email contacts. If you emailed me within the last week or so and I have not responded, please resend it. Also, to anyone who wishes to get in contact with me, I have no way of reaching you. Please send me an email at coryell@shg.org so that I may a least have your contact info. Any of the old contacts that I had, including students and staff, have been lost. Sorry for any inconvience and hope to hear from you soon!

Beginning of School...

School started on Tuesday! The students began to arrive Monday evening and then Tuesday morning we had our first assembly at 7 and then the students cleaned the campus until 11AM. (As the students cleaned the campus I spoke with another teacher and he asked me if we did the same type of thing in the US and I said no, that most of the students probably would not clean the school. He looked at me shocked and said who cleans. I told him we have a maintenance staff and he was amazed.) Classes then began and I stood in front of an African class for the first time! It was fun. I have been ready for classes to begin for awhile so I was excited for school to start. However, this week we are still using the schedule from last year because the new one is not yet ready. Therefore, many of the classes I am supposed to have now I will not have next Monday. Also, the Form 1, or first year students will not arrive until the first week of October, so for now, things are beginning, but they will change in the next few weeks. Regardless, I did get to teach one class yesterday, one class today and, I think, three classes tomorrow. Something that I am finding to be very nice and interesting to me is that (even though it is early) despite how different the two cultures are, the students are remarkably similar. The same things that I say in the states that the students laugh at, the students here laugh. The same things that I use at SHG to get students attention, work here too. Granted I have not been in the classroom long, but I thus far find it neat that the cultures are as about as opposite as can be, but that the students are so very similar. I am excited about the teaching and am anxious to really get into in the weeks to come.

Boti Falls...

On Saturday I also did a bit of traveling through Ghana with one of the other Fulbrighters and one of her coworkers to Boti Falls (probably the most beautiful waterfall I have ever seen in my life). There was a little shrine there as well that was for traditional African gods and it was super cool to see that and to just think about religion and nature and different peoples views and how they worship and celebrate. While there, I said a prayer of thanks. (How many Americans in their lifetime have been able to pray before a traditional African shrine in front of a gorgeous waterfall in Africa…a truly blessed experience.) We then went to a little village where we put on traditional funeral attire and went to pay our respects to an Aunt of the Ghanaian we were with whom had just lost a son. It was quite an experience as well. Then we checked out the Aburi Botanical Gardens which were ok, pretty, but not awe-inspiring. I did notice that a lot of plants that are here, are in the states, more specifically, my house! Moses and the bulrush, wandering Jew, philodendron, ficus, and Norfolk pine, a neat thing to see.

Visiting the Chief...

The weekend here has been VERY busy, but great as well. Sunday I went to a “Charismatic Christian Church”. I got up at 5:15 or so and we were at church by 6 and it went for 2 and a half hours! The singing was great and the dancing was cool too.
Aftewards, Akordy (headmistresses son) and I met up with the other Fulbrighter in Accra and took a trotro up to Tema and and met with the 3rd and final Fulbrighter. The 4 of us and a couple of Ghanaians from Tema all went to PramPram which is a fishing community near Tema right on the Atlantic. The city was founded, or so it is told, by freed slaves that came back to Ghana. We were able to see how they fish which was neat…a lot of manpower, not engines or motors at all. Some of the little kids that would yell “Obruni” were adorable and I played with them a little bit (looked at them, turned my back to them, and then flinched like I was going to chase them, they got a huge kick out of it as did I) and they wanted to feel my hands and what white skin felt like. Weird, but an unforgettable experience for a white boy from the Midwest.
We then went to a nice beach resort a bit further down the coast where we checked out the ocean for a bit and then had lunch (rice and chicken, nothing fancy, but fine). It is really very pretty. The ocean is beautiful, but honestly, the whole thing is so new, so different, so overwhelming, that even the awesomeness of the ocean is diminished.
After lunch we drove for to another little beach where there was a lagoon that has tides come in and out like every 4 minutes. I was in the wrong place and the wrong time and the tide started to come in and I had to run for shore! The Fulbrighter from Tema was right behind me and was not quite as quick and caught up to her waist or so in water! Nothing serious but pretty funny for us and hilarious for all of the Ghanaian spectators. Then, we got back in (we were in two cars by the way, the two girl Fulbrighters in a nice car with a Ghanaian teacher from Tema and his cousin, and they in a rickety old taxi with were Akordy and I…the Taxi driver did not understand the difference from left and right, so you had to point, the car had no seatbelts, the passenger airbag was deployed and hanging out deflated, the engine visibly smoke whenever above 60kmph, had no suspension whatsoever and ran on a methane gas tank that was in the hatch-back portion of the car) and took off again for 45 minutes down a the bumpiest, dustiest dirt road ever. Finally we came to a small traditional village where we were formally greeted by the chief of the entire region. We sat and talked with him, he gave us fresh coconuts to drink and eat and also he got out a bottle of Whiskey. The girls both politely refrained, but I, being the only white male, felt a bit obligated to drink with him. Keep in mind that this chief is a rather large, imposing man, he is a chief, we are in his kingdom, at the end of nowhere and I am the only white male and he makes a great deal of eye contact with me, more so than anyone else. So He poured us some whiskey and he started on it pretty hard. I went slowly, which was fine. After some fine conversation about Ghana and the US we went to leave. I set my glass down on the table with about a shot of whiskey left in it (hoping I could just leave it behind) and he saw me, and asked “Oh, don’t you want to finish your drink?”. So, when in Ghana… I was a little light headed for the next hour. As we walked out of the village with the chief, one of the Ghanaians explained to us that it is usually customary to bring a gift (alcohol) to the chief when visiting, but this was ok today. As we were getting in the cars, I took a shell from my pocket that I had picked up at the beach (someone had told me that a long time ago the shells were used as a form of currency in Ghana) and gave it to him and told him that I had nothing else, but it was a token and that he was invited to Accra Girls’ anytime.

Makola Market, A Whole New Perspective…

Today, Madame Headmistress took me to Makola Market in the center of Accra. We had to take two trotros to get there and when we did is was an interesting experience. Most everyone in Accra, or Ghana for that matter does all of their grocery shopping in the markets, not at a grocery store. (I think there are only 3 that exist in Accra). This market is the biggest in Accra and, rumor has it, the largest in Africa. We got off the trotro and walk around for nearly 3 hours and still did not see even half of it. I was amazed. We walked into one of the entrances from the street and as we walked through, I glanced over to notice a railing and that below us there were 2 more levels! They sell anything and everything that you can imagine and every 3 steps is an entirely new cacophony of smells (some good, some not so good). Many of the things in the market are things that I have never ever seem before. I asked the headmistress what some things were and she tried to explain it, but more often than not I just nodded my head and stared in amazement. It was a neat experience and a bit overwhelming as well. I think that, initially at least, I may stick to the smaller market nearer to the school, but maybe not, there is still much exploring to be done!

Thank You...

As I have now arrived here in Ghana and just begun to get my feet under me, I would be amiss if I did not thank some very important and key people. There have been a number of people that have helped me get to this point and I am sure that I will continue to call on many of them in the future. Thank you to SHG for the opportunity to be able to do this. I know I asked many people in my department and the school to go above and beyond and all of them came through with great character. Theresa Duffin and her family were especially helpful in easing the transition for, and opening their home to, Mrs. Kpobi. Thank you to the Social Studies Department for doing everything they can in welcoming a new department member. And thank you to Sister Margaret Joanne and Sister Katherine for there work and support behind the scenes in making such an experience possible. To Sister Phillip, thanks for helping in whatever ways you have been. Also, thank you to the Rotary Club of Springfield and their generous donation to help make this Fulbright year as rewarding and successful as possible in the eyes of not only myself, but the students here as well. Susan Gustavson of Whitney Young School in Chicago has been a wealth of information and advice that has already been worth its weight in gold; thank you and have a great school year. Last, but certainly, not least, thank you, thank you, thank you to my family and Stacey who have all gone out of their way to help me in whatever way possible. You have been there for the last few months, were an enormous help in the days immediately prior to departure, and I am sure that you will be of indescribable help in the year to come (at least I hope). To all of you, any many others I am sure I have failed to mention, I offer you my sincerest thank you.

Laundry Day...

Laundry, or “wash”, here is not quite the same as it is in the US. Here it is by hand, it takes much longer, and is hard work. Yesterday for the first time I tried to do it and it was not pretty. I started way to late in the day. I did it around noon when the sun was hot and it was humid and there is not enough day left for everything to dry by the evening. Regardless, I did 24 pieces of laundry. I have never counted laundry in the US in my life, but here, after an hours worth of hard work, I counted to see how much I did.

I took two huge bowl like buckets and filled one with soapy water the other half full with clear water. You take the clothes in the soapy water and scrub them together one by one, dunk them in the clear water, rinse them again from a huge “poly tank” and put them on the line to dry. I did this, but I don’t; think I used enough soap or scrubbed long enough. Needless to say, some of my t-shirts still don’t smell or look the greatest. This morning, after my run, I redid some of the wash and it is on the line to dry right now. Hopefully it will be better.

Trip to Kakum and Cape Coast...

Saturday I went with Rebecca Watt (Fulbright teacher from the US at another school in Accra) and Samuel (Ghanaian) and Kasa (Ghanaian) from Achimota School to Kakum National Park and St. Georges Castle at Elmina near Cape Coast. A very interesting trip. They picked me up at my house at 6am and they said it would take about an hour to get there; 2 and a half hours late were arrived in Cape Coast and still had 45 minutes to go to get to the park. I think that I am learning that when Ghanaians say a time, double or triple it and that is closer to reality. However, when we got to Kakum, it was neat. It is a tropical rainforest that has hiking trails and a canopy walk. They have taken not quite half a mile of rainforest canopy and suspended a path 40 to 50 feet in the air so that you get a very unique look at the area. There are only 4 canopy walks in the world so this was pretty cool. The park was neat, but it was definitely a very “touristy” location; many “Obrunis”.

We then left and went to visit Samuel’s wife and baby girl at Cape Coast University. Samuel stayed with his wife, while Kasa, Rebecca and I went to the St. George’s Castle. We took the tour and it was fascinating on many levels. In Springfield the Lincoln Home is kinda neat, the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum is pretty cool, but this was different. The castle was built more than 500 years ago; white men were not even in America; Columbus had not sailed the ocean blue. In addition to its age, the most astounding part is that between 12 and 14 million slaves passed through the castle on their way to being shipped across the Atlantic on the Middle Passage. We were allowed to see the actual cells and the “Room of No Return”- the last time the slaves were in Africa before the Middle Passage. Still not sure how I feel about the whole tour, I think I need to let it sink in a little bit. We also visited a festival they were having in Cape Coast where the President of Ghana had come to visit. The traditional chiefs invited him and they paraded in with great pomp and circumstance. But also, from each neighborhood, there is one youth chief that paraded down the street. They were not allowed into the formal ceremony, but it was neat to see all the costumes and the dancing. They were all just having a good time.

We left and then need to “quickly” stop at Kasa’s village. Probably the most remarkable part of the trip. We drove about an hour from the main road over a very bumpy dirt road through these tiny villages with mud huts with no electricity or running water before we got to his village. When we arrived, Kasa went to talk to the elders about a scholarship that would allow any of the children that could pass a specific West African Standardized Test free secondary schooling. Meanwhile, here I am, sitting in a car waiting. Within 120 seconds, 40-50 children, 11 and under, gathered about 10 yards from the car and were just staring. I can assume that they don’t see cars that often, but it could be the first time in their life, that they have ever seen a white person. So I got out and was really nervous, but introduced myself (I wrote my name with a stick in the dirt and we all sounded it out), asked them their names and ages, and did a magic trick. It was really just kind of an eye opening experience. Places like Americans see on TV really do exist.

On the way back to Accra we were stuck in traffic and had not eaten so I decided to get a loaf of bread for a vendor to share with everyone. Kasa was in the front seat, so in Twi he called the lady over and asked how much for a loaf. She told him 5000 (about 50 cents). So from the back seat I handed it out the window to her and she looked at my hand, saw I was white and said 10,000 ($1). As soon as she saw I was white, or that a white person was buying the bread the price doubled. I have no problem paying 10,000 for the bread, if it is a fair price, but I told her no and gave her 5000 and that was fine. Everywhere I go people stare. Sometimes they will yell out “Obruni” (white person). They think that because I am white I have money. I have already seen people try to befriend me because they want something. It is difficult sometimes to have to be so careful as to who you can trust and not. However, the vast majority of people have been very nice and very friendly in a very forthright and honest way. Everyone that is associated with the school has been genuine with me thus far, which is nice to be able to fall back upon.

Arriving in Africa...

I left for Africa on Monday, September 1. The goodbyes were tough, but no regrets. I left Springfield at 2:20pm and did not arrive in Ghana until 1:20 pm (IL time)- 23 hours of flying is a long time (plus, I can’t sleep on planes). When I arrived in Ghana, I went through immigration without problem, got 1 checked bag without problem, but the second one never arrived. I had to wait in line for almost an hour to report a missing bag, (which still has not come in a day later) and then went through customs. I am not sure if what I did was good or not, but when I walked through customs I did just that, walked through, never stopped. There were officials sitting at desks helping other people coming into the country, but none of them said anything to me, so I just walked through. I hope that is ok. Then I left the airport to see a huge crowd of people standing outside the doors. I was hoping to see someone holding a sign with my name, but no such luck. So there I was; an “obruni” (white person) in Africa, at night, in a city of 2.5 million people, not knowing a soul, missing a bag, very little money, exhausted, and with no ride. I decided to hire a taxi (with a very nice driver) and he took me to a reasonable hotel that I could afford. I crashed there for the night and decided to worry about things in the morning. The next morning I was able to get a hold of my contact at the embassy and the headmistress and one of her sons who picked me up and brought me to Accra Girls School. They showed me to my new home for a year. Today, I was able to, not only be driven around Accra, but also went grocery shopping, ate fufu and got a local phone number. The headmistress and her two sons have been very helpful.