It’s been halfway through our program here in Accra, yet I’ve been unsure on what to write about for the blog. I have a selfish desire to need to write something profound/clever and this post is not much different. While we were in Kumasi this morning, I woke up to a Facebook message from my Read More …
I think I spent everyday since I knew I was part of the Media in Ghana program thinking about this summer. June 21st came around before I knew it and by the 22nd, I was already stepping out of the plane, realizing the stories of extreme humidity were accurate. I was overwhelmed by the thick Read More …
The culture of soccer is beautiful. Excuse me, the culture of football is beautiful. There is a saying in sports that continues spirit, pride, and skill: “For the love of the game.” Down the road from our house is a football field. Field is a general term that denotes a playing surface on a flat Read More …
As I bounced around in the backseat of a blue minivan in pursuit of current President of Ghana, John Dramani Mahama, I took a second to ponder, “What if I had stayed back in the U.S?” Maybe I’d be waking up around noon, making a halfhearted effort to go on a run, but instead complaining Read More …
Here in Accra, I am interning for the newspaper, Public Agenda. We function quite differently here than I would imagine a professional newspaper at home would. My first day of work I was given the culture column to write about “obruni experiences in Ghana,” as well as the freedom to write about any other news story Read More …
Oh, the first day of internships. For some this meant tours, meetings, invitations to lunch. For me, it meant getting sporadically introduced to people (only first names, no information about what position they were), immediately getting shown into a room with three other people, and then getting the WiFi login (not personally, someone put it in for Read More …
“So, why are you here?” Elina holds my eyes in contempt, one hand on her hip, the other around the shoulder of her younger sister. I’m caught off guard. I stammer something about being a journalism student and working for a newspaper in Accra for the summer. “No,” Elina says firmly. “Why did you come Read More …
My understanding of this part of the world has been constructed by stories. I loved the Lion King, and for a portion of my life that was the foundation for my African construct. I had a fondness for the stuffed lion that guarded my top-bunk. I consumed every story I could find about cheetahs, elephants, Read More …
I’ve never been a fan of cold showers. Really, there are plenty of things I’ve never been a fan of – bologna, KidzBop, conversations with my landlord. More than most of the myriad reasons to complain I’ve gathered over the years, however, the idea of cold showers have quite literally sent chills down my spine. Read More …
Ghana is everything and nothing like the way I pictured it, though I never could quite formulate an image of the country in my mind. I tried to abandon the typical African clichés from my pre-departure conceptions of Ghana, so I left Oregon with few expectations. But as irony would have it, my first trip Read More …
We are in East Legon, Ghana. The roads are red like the warning track at Wrigley Field. Red sand and gravel that reminds anything it touches of its presence. Our shoes are red. On each side of the road are cement gutters two feet deep and one foot wide. It is dry today, but during Read More …
First observation from flying to the other side of the planet is that Jet Lag sucks. But, it has given me some alone time (minus the two german dudes passed out on the floor) to reflect on the jump off of this journey. Before leaving my house for the airport, I stood staring at my two Read More …
We’ve been preparing for this day for months. Today, June 21st, 2013 is the day that the sixteen students in the 2013 Media in Ghana crew hop on their respective planes, eagerly awaiting the moment that they all meet in the Ghanaian airport tomorrow, June 22nd, to begin the six-weeks of sharing a home, an Read More …
Sixty-seven pounds! That’s what the airline’s scale registered when I turned over my largest bag this morning at the Eugene Airport. My eyes were half-shut, given the four hours of sleep I managed to get in before waking at 3:30 AM to shower, shave, and dress for the airport. It was now 4:05 AM. Yes, Read More …