All in a Day's Work

My internship is at a bi-weekly newspaper called Ghana Sports. I have written a few articles and generally have one posted in each issue, but I also spend a lot of time running errands with my boss, Dan. I have come to expect at some point each morning to hear Dan urgently say, “OK Monica, we have to go,” causing me to hurriedly pack up my things and follow him out of our nice, air-conditioned new office building onto the humid streets of Accra. When this happened on my second day of my internship, a mere 20 minutes after meeting Dan, I was a little perplexed. I obediently followed him to the parking lot and got into what he refers to as his “jungle car,” an ancient, beat-up coupe with a collage of sports figures accompanied by the words “Ghana Sports,” faded almost beyond recognition. Before we pulled out onto the road, Dan informed me that the seatbelt doesn’t work, which was somewhat terrifying considering the way people drive around here. So, without questioning where we were going, I settled into the jungle car and enjoyed looking out the window during our drive to an unknown destination, which turned out to be the newspaper’s separate office.

Every day we travel around in that little car. I never bother to ask where we’re headed, it’s more exciting that way. Often we head to the smaller office, but most days we also run errands or talk to business partners. I’ve traveled through and walked around many neighborhoods in the city which I probably wouldn’t have seen if it weren’t for these excursions.

On Monday, I didn’t see Dan’s car in the parking lot. Instead, we hopped into a taxi with a man from the office who I hadn’t met yet. Again, I didn’t ask any questions and just looked out the window as Dan, the man (who I later found out was the newspaper’s photographer), and the taxi driver chatted in Twi. Our drive was longer than usual, and when we arrived in what was a much less busy neighborhood than our other errands had taken us to, I finally asked what we were doing there. I was pleasantly surprised to find out that we were doing a story on Asamoah Gyan, a professional soccer player for Sunderland, star of Ghana’s national team and the most well-known sports figure in Ghana at the moment. Gyan’s face has been plastered all over just about every page of every issue of our newspaper; he’s a big deal here. I had actually met the soccer star a few nights before while out on the town with my housemates, and was excited to see him again and to work with him. I was also excited about the venue; the soccer star was visiting a school, where his mother is a teacher, to donate soccer balls and say a few words to the kids. The day my housemates and I visited a different school was one of the most rewarding and fun experiences we have had so far, and I was happy to visit another school.

This day turned out to be my favorite day of my internship so far. The kids were thrilled to see their favorite player in person. As I stood behind the table where Gyan sat, a sea of smiling faces shone back at me. What was funny was that even though a celebrity was sitting right in front of them, a few of the kids were more intrigued with the oboruni in the background. Even though I was the only white person in a crowd of hundreds, I was still surprised by this. Their attention was taken off of me, however, when the soccer balls were handed out and teachers began throwing candy into the crowd. Light shoving turned to pure pandemonium. At one point it looked as though someone would be trampled to death. Those kids sure love their soccer and their candy.

After this ordeal, I got to talk to Gyan for a little bit. He recognized me from the night that I met him, which I found surprising until I remembered how few white people there are around Accra. He even asked for my phone number when I told him that my friends and I liked to go out but didn’t really know where to go. I’ll be surprised if he actually calls, but I still thought it was cool. Later in the day we met him at his very large and nicely furnished house to take pictures to go along with our article. I played a game of pool with one of his friends, and almost won. On our way out, I met a popular Ghanaian singer whose music video I had seen a few days before. All in all it was an exciting day, especially considering that I woke up expecting another normal day of writing and errand running.

-Monica