Below is a list of things that have occurred during work and general life here in Ghana that have required me to pause for a moment and remind myself that this event is not necessarily weird, strange, or wrong. It’s only different from my lived experience. It’s easy to get caught up in an egocentric cultural outlook, but I have found it is important to put that aside in order to appreciate and respect other cultures.
- Watching a herd of goats and a chicken cross through the midfield during a soccer game.
- Newspaper headlines like this: “Damongo SHS; teachers burn 300 phones belonging to students.” And This: “Business booms for Kaptinga ‘witches’”
- The use of Whatsapp as a social media.
- Religion in the workplace. During the first meeting I attended I was caught off guard when everyone stood up and participated in a ten-minute prayer, including songs, before starting off the weekly meeting.
- An entourage of marriage proposals by Ghanaian men.
- Buying food or cleaning supplies from a basket on the top of someone’s head while driving down the main street in a tro tro.
- Snapping at the end of a handshake.
- Carbohydrates and starches. Meals go by with little veggies and a whole lot of beans, pasta, rice, dough, and plantains.
- Men getting out of the car to pee off the side of the street. After hopping in my Uber to go to work one morning my Uber driver said to me “Please, I will go urinate,” as he exited the car and headed for the edge of the street.
- The level of friendliness and openness that people tend to exude.
