Hello yes, I think the theme of most of my blog posts are “I love combining two random topics together into one monster” so here’s another one. I also have a horrible habit of having lots of writing ideas but no drive to actually finish them.

This is Oben. He is a security guard at The Finder office. Sometimes our tros tros align and we get off at the stop at the same time. If so, we’ll walk together, and he’ll teach me new Twi words at relate to the neighborhood around the office. Oben is also a lot better at saying hi to everyone we see on our way.

The best thing to have taken the Twi class is how much more responsive people are to be friendly, to let people know that I don’t expect to have anything catered to me in a place that they live. I’ve learned how to ask and barter for prices, get directions, and make small talk. I’ve hissed and hollered with street vendors and trotro mates through Accra.

I think people think about it the same way when they go up to me and say nihao, it’s an attempt on their half to make connections with me about what they see on the surface, to make me, the foreigner feel more comfortable. Sometimes, it’s difficult for me because if that were to happen in the United States, the context is that person is racist for assuming what your identity is. However, this assumption can be kind of painful, because I don’t speak Chinese. One time at a press conference I said I don’t speak Chinese to a man and the after he said nihao to me and the whole room was shocked. There’s an implication that because of my physical appearance, I can’t be from anywhere but China.

At Ntonso, in the taxi lot, a man went up to Clare, pointed at me and said, “oh she’s not a real American.”

I couldn’t believe the man wouldn’t even say it directly to my face. Sometimes, interactions like these makes me insecure about all the identifiers I hold. I’m clearly foreign in Ghana and that’s simply a fact, but I’m also not viewed as a resident in my own home. There’s been a couple of times were I’ve been confused as an exchange student during the first week of class. To me, this incident shows how dangerous it is when there is a global perception and implication that being American means being white.

It showcases the power of American exceptionalism that is so effective in erasing the injustices committed by American people such as the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II, imperialism in the Philippines, and assimilation and extermination of indigenous people. The last point was the most difficult. For example, during conversations people made assumptions that Native people didn’t exist anymore, or that Native people needed to look a certain ethnotype, and it was necessary for me to be a good ally and destroy these misconceptions and let people know how hurtful these preconceived notions are. As an ambassador holding many different identifiers such as Chinese Indonesian, American, disabled, woman- I learned how to navigate through how these manifested in Ghana and I hope that I broke some stereotypes about how I’m perceived with the relationships I have built here.