Obama Inaguration...

President Barack Obama! Yesterday Obama was sworn in as the 44th President of the United States and, from what I gather, it was a huge event, not only for Washington, DC, but for all of the Untied States. Here, the W.E.B. Dubois Center held an inauguration celebration that was open to the public. I decided that I wanted to go and see it, but as I thought about it, I decided to try and take my government class, what a neat thing for them to witness! I talked to Madame Headmistress and she not only agreed to it, but also wanted to come along. After lunch most of my government class (the day students could not come because we would be out too late) met at the school bus and we went to the Dubois Center. The girls loved it. They were all very well behaved and watched and listened intently to the inaugural proceedings. We got to the Dubois Center around 2pm (Ghana time) and Obama was not suppose to be sworn in until sometime after 5pm. The girls watched CNN on the big TVs for awhile but they also walked around and looked at some of the “Barack Obama” wares that were being hawked. At one point a group of dancers took the stage and wanted to teach everyone “The Obama Glide”, an original dance. I told my students that if they went up on stage to learn then dance, I would go with them. 8 or 9 decided to go and I walked them up on stage, but then, like a good teacher, let them “experience for themselves”. They all did a great job and the crowd loved it. All of the major radio and TV stations in Ghana were there and they all recorded the girls dancing. After they came off the stage, the cameras and reporters came over and began to interview, not only them, but the other girls as well. (I was not able to watch the news, but I am sure that they were on it. One of the biggest papers here in Ghana, The Ghanaian Times, ran a cover story the next day about the celebration at the Dubois Center and Accra Girl’s Secondary School made the front page.)

I know that the girls had a great time and I think that they learned a lot from it as well. If nothing else they were able to have the cultural experience of interacting with so many Americans, and not only Americans, but 6 other Fulbrighters came and met and interacted with my students as well (it was a strange experience for me in that I don’t think that I have seen so many white people in one place since leaving America). They were also able to witness how excited people were about politics, government, and their country in general. Unfortunately, the government class does not meet on Wednesday, but we will meet tomorrow and discuss their reaction to the inauguration. I think that they would be hard pressed not to have gained something form the field trip. In the end, I had a great time, and when push comes to shove, really, what else is important?