So 8 months later and my time in Ghana has
officially come to an end. This experience has been an incredible experience
that I would do over again tomorrow if asked. Although I may have done a few
things differently, I feel as though I came here with a positive outlook on Ghana
and what I was about to encounter. It has been challenging in more ways than
one yet I have not let those challenges define my experience and instead,
enhance it. I have learnt so many things not only about development but also
about myself. I am not the same person that I was 8 months ago. This experience
has changed me and I am incredibly grateful that I was able to have this
opportunity.
I am leaving on today and being so close to
the leaving date brings up emotions. While I am incredibly excited to see my
family and friends again, I am also incredibly sad that I have to leave Ghana. Although
there are things that are frustrating at times, I really do love it here. The
people are so friendly and welcoming, the culture is incredible to learn about
and witness and it is just so different from home. To be able to experience
this has been amazing. I can’t imagine waking up one day (even though this day
is coming soon) and no longer being in Ghana. This has been my life for the
last 8 months and it will be very hard to leave. The other day I was in a cab
in Accra and I talked to the cab driver in Twi, told him where we wanted to go
and bargained down a price. Beware, I have become quite good at bargaining! When
I sat down and we started to drive, he told me that my Twi was very good and
asked how long I had been here. Once I told him 8 months, his response was “8
months?! You are now a Ghanaian. You are no longer a foreigner. You should sign
up and vote in the next election in December.”Although I am obviously not
Ghanaian, I do feel that I have made a strong effort to become as integrated
into Ghanaian society as possible. Although it was only a simple comment, not
meant to be anything more than just that, it really did touch me. It also shows
how much even being able to say a few words in Twi can impact someone’s view of
you. I do think that I have picked up on Ghanaian tendencies and habits. For
example, I do have a Ghanaian accent. It’s awkward. Also, in that same cab ride
I said “some some.” (in Ghana, it’s always small small but apparently I thought
it would be okay to take extra liberties). Some some?Really? I have also become
a bit of a Ghanaian fabric addict. It has become a little bit of a problem.
Please, no judgements.
Last night was the farewell dinner and
Becca and Dorothy made a really nice speech, noting each of our codenames that
will be in Becca’s book. Becca is planning on writing a memoir of our time here
in Ghana. My name is “The Sleeper” because according to Becca, I have a skill
that allows me to fall asleep anywhere at any time. So true. The Blazey genes
shine through.
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| Elise, Lynsey and I at the farewell dinner |
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| Amy and I |
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| Playing the drums at the dinner |
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| Really concentrating |
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| Drums |
This last week in Ghana has gone by
incredibly fast. It has been filled with stress over our final paper as well as
our final presentations. It has also been filled with excitement because after
3 months of being apart we are all finally living in the same place again. It
has been really nice to see everyone and get to learn about everyone’s
placements. There was one significant day this week that I feel that I should
mention because it really couldn’t be a last week in Ghana if something didn’t
happen. I had originally been staying with a few of my TIG’s (Becca, Lynsey and
Elise) when I first got to Accra but then decided to move in Mama Hette’s (my
original homestay) to say hi and catch up before I finally left Ghana for good.
On my last night, I couldn’t get to sleep and so decided to stay up and watch a
movie. I thought I saw a red flashing light outside my window and then a hand sort
of grab the curtain. I thought that I was just really tired and was seeing
things. The next morning, however, I woke up and was taken outside by Mama
Hetteand saw that there was a hole through my screen. Someone had apparently
tried to cut a hole through the screen and put their hand in the room, hoping
that there would be something that they could steal. Needless to say, as much
as I love Mama Hette, it was time to move out. I moved back to the girls house
in the morning before school. While trying to find a cab I stood on a tree and
then when we finally got a cab, I walked around to the side and opened the
door. I managed to get my one foot in the car and then the cab driver decided
to reverse the car, with the other half of me hanging out. Then when we got to
school, my apple was fluffy. It was only 8am and needless to say, it had not
been a good day. Apart from this morning, however, my last week in Ghana has
been amazing. I have been able to get my last minute shopping done, listen to
my classmate’s experiences and catch up with some really important people in my
life.
I have had some very mixed emotions during
this week and to be honest for the last month or so as I have begun to realize
that this is it. That very soon I will soon be on a plane to see my family;
that I will be able to eat all the food that I have been craving; that I will
be sitting at a restaurant with all of my friends around me; to be in my own
bed. It is crazy to think that I have been away from my life at home for 8
months. I have missed Thanksgiving Dinner; spent my 20th Birthday without
my family but instead my new found friends; spent Christmas in a warm country
and missed the snow. Missed so many things but experienced some incredible
things in their absence. I have met amazing people who I hope to stay in touch
with when I get back home to Canada. This experience honestly would not have
been the same without them. I honestly believe in 2 things. 1) This experience
can only be as good as you make it. 2) This experience is also
shaped by those people who are in your life. I have been fortunate enough to be
surrounded by incredible people. We have been through a lot together, more than
most people have been through with their life-long friends. We have seen each
other at our worst, our best, sweaty and dirty, beautiful in Ghanaian fabric,
through the good times and the shitty ones (literally). We honestly have seen
and been through it all. The thing is, we managed to do it together. We
survived.
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| The TIG family |
So it’s time to leave this beautiful
country; time to return home to my family and friends and say goodbye those who
have made this experience as amazing as it has been. It’s been one hell of a
journey and I couldn’t have asked for anything more.
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| <3 Ghana |
GHANA MISS LIST
-The playlist of about
10 Ghanaian songs that are constantly on repeat with the additions of celinedion
-Twi
-The trotro
-Bartering. Te so!
-The markets
-Obruni
-Surfing
-Getting into a cab
with missing mirrors, cracked windows, no seatbelts but a working radio and
speakers
-Dancing
everywhere….all the time
Tthe handshake. Snap.
-Babies on backs
-Fabric shopping
(probably better for the bank account that this will not happen anymore)
-Yam chips and plantain
chips
-Busua and my students
-Honking horns
-My fellow TIG’s
-Never knowing what’s
going to happen next....
LOOKING FORWARD TOO
-European Adventures
-Snuggling on the couch
with movies and ice cream
-Good food!
-Driving
-My pillow and bed
-Seeing my family and
friends
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| Me and Becca on campus |
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| Walking into the Institute of African Studies |
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| Playing football on campus |
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