As I bounced around in the backseat of a blue minivan in pursuit of current President of Ghana, John Dramani Mahama, I took a second to ponder, “What if I had stayed back in the U.S?” Maybe I’d be waking up around noon, making a halfhearted effort to go on a run, but instead complaining about the heat wave that has struck Eugene (88 degrees if I’m not mistaken). Instead I was in Accra on my second assignment trekking through an off-road circuit fit for any ATV lover in pursuit of the Ghanaian president. Is it fair to say I made the right choice in coming to Ghana?

My job was to shadow veteran reporter Frank Myonator and get a feel for a day in a life of a Ghanaian journalist. Myonator is no ordinary journalist though. He is Metro TV’s presidential correspondent and exclusive reporter to former president Jerry John Rawlings. Myonator is a hard-nosed reporter who has a very western approach to timeliness and responsibility, which some of his colleagues evidently don’t possess. After he verbally assaulted our tardy cameraman, we ventured into the city in pursuit of President Mahama. Mahama was touring multiple road construction sites that aimed to reduce the gridlock torturing Ghanaian drivers every day.Three hours and a pair of very muddy dress shoes later we had followed Mahama to three separate locations and reported live from location all before lunchtime.

Soon after, Frank had I were in another car, this time on our way to visit former President Jerry John Rawlings. Located in a modest suburban home, Rawlings was meeting with tribal leaders from the Volta Region who were voicing their concerns about the lack of quality water in their region. (Side note: Regions are Ghana’s version of states, sort of).  Rawlings, a daunting man over six feet tall and bearing a striking resemblance to James Earl Jones greeted me with the same hospitality as his Ghanaian countrymen. He chatted with his visitors from the North before kindly inviting me to take a picture with him. The gentle giant who headed the 1979 coup d’état was quite endearing to me minus his snappy remark to get my left hand away from him. Later I was reminded that the left hand is disrespectful to use in Ghanaian culture, especially to a president. Still, I walked out from my brief meeting with Rawlings with a sense of gratitude for his hospitality and good nature.

This internship feels like anything but a lowly position serving coffee for my superiors. This is my first week on the job and I already feel like I am a seasoned vet. JM