By: Michael Walsh

In the first week of this trip, my friends and I have strategically placed ourselves into facets of Ghanaian and African life. In a lot of ways, it feels like a mystery has been revealed to us. A vibrant culture valuing community above all else.

We visited the W. E. B. Du Bois house in which we learned about the sentiments that formed the modern country that Ghana is today. One of the largest things was simply education–and specifically the education of native peoples in their own history written by themselves rather than conquerors or colonials. After the African diaspora, witnessed through the disbursement of African peoples (the number is unknown but estimated to be in the tens of millions) to the world through the slave trade, these same people critically needed their story to be told to know who they are and the context of where they are and why. That is the push for Pan-Africanism and why the bringing together of African history and people is so important. Their people have been taken from their coasts for nearly 400 years and their story has been taken away at every turn. Community and family are what hold these same people together.

The families are large (often 100-150 people with extended family being expected to live with you if you have space). The buildings are in progress (investing cash into ongoing developments as it comes – often meaning very slowly over time). And people are happy, even though they are often struggling to survive. There is little left to them from a government that has been giving away its resources and pocketing the change left over. Though, even the seemingly detached political system can’t seem to snuff out the Ghanaian spirit. These people work hard every day and ask for little more than to be able to take care of themselves and their families.

This week we’ve lived in a nice penthouse apartment sectioned into two living spaces in the part of town that gets you called a rich boy when you mention its name. Every morning we take a chartered bus to different locations catered with food and consistently have easy access to resources and support. Nearly every day we witness a stark change between the developed city of Accra (seeing the tallest building in west Africa from our balcony) to areas that are seemingly rural just minutes away.