As I walked up the stairs to enter the second floor office of The Chronicle, I looked out nervously at what appeared to be a construction site below me. The day had not started off on a positive note. I spent the better part of the morning on a bus, and when it was my turn to be dropped off, the driver had to spend 30 minutes asking people in the area if they knew where this office was. Nobody seemed to know and directions were made harder by the torrential monsoon that was practically blinding the driver.
When I finally entered the office, I took note of the dark lobby and empty newsroom. It was already 11:30 in the afternoon. Where was everybody?
More than an hour later, four journalists and the editor tumbled into the room, shaking rain off of their coats. They seemed surprised to see me. The editor pulled me into his office and explained that nobody arrives to the office before 11, and on rainy days that time gets pushed back to 1. I was shocked that a news organization could get a paper out every single day if everybody started so late.
After explaining a little bit about the office, the editor went on to say that he wanted me to write a 1500 word story about my trip to Ghana by four. I looked at the clock and noticed it was already 1:30. I told him that my computer was back at home, and he told me that was perfect because they didn’t have any Wifi due to a power outage. I hurried home, laughing at the idea of a news station functioning with no power, and wrote as quickly as I could (and that story happens to be my first blog post).
The next day, as I began to get to know my office and coworkers, the chaos and anxiety of the first day changed into excitement for the new adventure I was about to embark on. There were four other journalists in the office with me. Two of them were named Maxwell, one Agnes and the other Bernice. Immediately, one of the Maxwell’s tried to convert me to Christianity, quoting various lines from the Bible in an attempt to sway me to “just try it out for a bit.” When this didn’t work, he told me he didn’t believe that I wasn’t from the CIA. I was quickly finding out exactly how direct Ghanaians tend to be.
On Wednesday I began my first real assignment. I accompanied my coworker Agnes to Parliament. To my surprise, they were discussing the solution to Ghana’s plastic problem. I found this incredibly interesting and was excited to do more research. The question was whether the solution to plastic waste is an overall ban on plastic or other, less shocking solutions like recycling. Although personally I think that a ban on plastics would be a good thing if done gradually, The Chronicleis of the belief that other solutions are more practical. It was strange writing from a perspective I don’t necessarily agree with.
On Thursday, there was a bit of drama in the courtroom we were covering. The Minister of Finance did not show up to answer the questions that the other MP’s wanted to ask him. Agnes told me that this happens around two thirds of the time. However, he did show up to give a speech later in the Parliamentary hearing. The other MP’s found this extremely distasteful, and rose up to demand that he answers the questions. The speaker of the house sided with the Minister of Finance and said that he would answer questions the next day. The MP’s were not satisfied with this, and eventually the Minister left the room, to the chants of “He IS RUNNING AWAY” from his colleagues.
My first week at my internship was extremely eye opening. I learned more about the Ghanaian way of working, their governmental structure and some of the problems that they are facing in their future. I also learned more about the way to format news stories, how to take public transportation and I got a firsthand taste of Accra traffic. All in all, I am excited for what the second week of my internship has in store for me.