By McKenzie Days

I’ve always struggled to get a grasp on airsickness. As a child, I would have to cling to my mother on the airplane as a kid as she fed me Dramamine. I now realize as an adult, I’ve repressed a lot of these memories out of denial of this consistent physical ailment in addition to my curiosity and wonder about traveling. So when I arrived at the London airport feeling completely fine, I got pretty cocky and felt that I had “grown out of airsickness.” I had wondered why I worried in the first place about it pre-flight. 

I quickly got humbled when I started to feel very dizzy and nauseous on my last flight to Ghana. From then on, this sickness accompanied me on my Ghana journey up until my third day of arrival. Nausea coupled with sleep deprivation was a deterrent from food and my enjoyment of the first-day pleasures.  

As a result, my first day in Ghana truly felt like a fever dream. I was disoriented from sickness in addition to witnessing the features of an entirely new country: it was surreal. It felt like I was about to wake up any minute. 

I remember feeling defeated and despondent about this predicament. I wondered if I was ever going to be able to eat Ghanaian food. I started to worry that this would ruin the cultural experience of the trip. 

However, there was a shining moment of it all. It was in this troubling state that I experienced my first Ghanian moment.  

My professor let me sit in the front of the bus to alleviate my nausea. When I climbed aboard, she explained to the bus driver about my condition. I looked over at him and attempted to raise a wave for a greeting. He touched my arm and said a prayer in Twi. I looked over at my professor who was laughing and explaining that he said something of the equivalent of, “You will feel better soon.” 

This moment not only provided some respite from my suffering but also challenged my own thoughts about spirituality, since I actually did feel better soon after! My professor later told me that is one of the shining features of Ghanaian culture: faith. They have faith that things will work out and they share this with others as well. 

In hindsight, I realize now that this was my initial greeting from Ghana. One of my central anxieties when I was in this physical state was that I was “missing out on the rich culture of Ghana”; this sickness hindered my cultural immersion. However, this moment assuaged this worry and informed me that I had been interacting with Ghanaian culture all around me since the moment I stepped off the plane (despite my sickness). My first greeting from this beautiful country was the gift of reassurance and comfort.