Theories of Relativity

You can't know where your going, until you know where you've come from. Thus this trip, a pilgrimage of sorts, was very necessary for me. The last couple of days, I've spent time piecing together that which is my heritage. The other day we took a trip to cape coast, which was about 5 hours away and visited Kakum National Forest and the Cape Coast Slave Castle. On the long trip we drove through numerous towns, and i saw the town where my father lived for part of his childhood, as well as the town where my maternal grandmother was raised. The trip, being both experiential (Go Dukes!) and entertaining began at Kakum National Forest, which is home to the sky scraping canopy, which is only one of 4 in the world. I braved the canopy, and temporarily conquered my fear of heights ( and i have pics to prove). We also took a brief tour of the forest and learned a bit about the different animals and creatures that inhabit the forest, although we didn't see any since most of them are nocturnal. A mini exhibit at the beginning of the forest displayed a lot of information on things that the forest has provided such as vaccines and cures from plant, leaves, and roots.

After leaving the forest, we went to the Cape Coast Slave Castle and took a tour, which began in the male slave dungeon. In the past I've studied slavery in school, as well as seen and heard about the slave castles, but being inside one is definitely an experience that I think everyone needs to have. The male slave dungeon was built under a church. There was also a tunnel that led from the male slave dungeon into the female dungeon which ultimately led to the "Door of No Return." There was torture and punishment rooms for women that protested being raped, and a cell that slaves were left in to ultimately die in, which had now windows, or other holes for food, light, or air.

I once spoke with a Professor of West African descent and in the conversation they made a comment of the sort comparing African Americans to Africans. What i took from the conversation was that the Professor felt a sense of superiority to African Americans for the fact that they were descendants of slaves while he was rather a descendant of an African heritage untarnished by slavery. That conversation has stuck with me to this day, in hopes that i would one day find an understanding for their sentiments. It was also ever present in the tour of the Cape Coast Slave Castle. The tour guide talked about how a number of the slaves were captured from town raids, as well as sold as prisoners of tribal wars in exchange for arms and other goods. So if this is the case, Africans selling other Africans into slavery, how could one, whether of African descent or African American descent be untarnished by slavery? It was definitely a surreal experience to stand there, and think of how many souls could have possibly passed through that space.I think everyone

While on the subject of relativity, i also met my paternal Grandmother,in a sense. I went with my father and his sister to visit her grave. Rest in Peace Elizabeth Asante Opokua 2.1.1916 - 10.11.2002

A Humbling Experience

You would think that I was spoiled. I'm staying in an air conditioned residence (this might not sound lavish to some, but this is definitely a luxury in this weather). Someone drives me around wherever i want to go. I'm asked what i want to eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner daily, with the option(s) of whatever I'd like. Someone cleans my room and washes, irons, and folds my clothes on request. They make sure that have access to most, if not all, the amenities and things that are readily accessible to me at my house in America. All for what tho? I must say that this is truly a humbling experience. At least this aspect of it. Its kind of disheartening to know that a large number of people don't live like this in Ghana, and me coming here for just 3 weeks, never setting foot on this soil before am living like this.

Lost in Translation

I'm enjoying being in another country, on another continent soaking up everything from sun rays to life changing experiences. But there are times when things get lost in translation and my mind wanders back across the waters and I feel like I'm missing so much. The realization of this comes when I try to say something, or ask a question and the language barrier is realized. But its nothing to major (or is it?). Nonetheless, I definitely can't wait to get home and share all that i can't put on this blog, and as well be filled in on life back in America.

Lesson of the Birds

So today is kind of boring in Ghana. Nobody to take me around and not crazy enough to venture out on my own just yet. So i caught up on some reading and watched some TV, then decided to sit out on the porch and observe the birdcage and garden area. In the cage there are two birds, I'm not sure the exact type but i do know that one is male and the other female. When we first arrived, i got my Dr. Dolittle on a bit and had a conversation with the birds (and by conversation i mean that i whistled at them an they made noises back. Good enough for me...lol) Who knows what was said but I definitely learned/understood them in their silence today.

Those of you that truly know me (how can you truly know a person anyway....that's a topic for another post tho) know that I'm a very observant person. To some this may read as being shy or antisocial but i rather wait for the opportune thing and/or time to speak. Its just been my nature. So today i was doing one of the things that i do best, observing the birds. The two of them were eating some type of fruit out of one of the three bowls attached to the cage. The other two were filled with water, not that it's relevant, just trying to paint the picture. Since birds obviously don't have hands, to eat, they held the fruit with one foot, while using the other to balance on the bar. The one bird that was eating at the time probably dropped 6 or 7 pieces of fruit before being satisfied with the meal. He/she knew that there were plenty other pieces of fruit in the bowl so why stress over lost ones? Just move on to the next with little regard.

The other bird rather had one piece of fruit held tightly in its foot while steadily maintaining its balance. Making sure not to move around too much so that they wouldn't drop the fruit. Just like the other bird I'm sure they were aware of the ample amount of fruit in the bowl but what I'm not sure of is if this bird was smarter than the other, or just not trying to be wasteful.

I can't help but correlate this scenario to how some humans behave when it comes to relationships. (this of course is my personal interpretation, take from it what you will). Some humans will go about them with little regard cause they know that, there is always "other fruit in the bowl." Aside from being beautiful, nature is also educational. Interesting isn't it?

An Entrepreneriual Spirit

Get money! A popular phrase used by my ADP, Good Friend and Frat brother Paris Hamilton is definitely a prevalent theme her in Ghana. I can say this from the tons and tons of businesses, TV ads, billboards, and other signs that I've seen since I've been here. In an earlier post i talked about the people in the street hustling, well add to that multitudes of side shops filling the streets. Everything from cell phones shops, convenient stores, salons, barbershops, and even chop bars..lol. Some people get up and wonder what they'll wear or eat for the day while here some get up even before the sun and worry about their pockets. This entrepreneurial spirit isn't just a Ghanaian mentality, its definitely an African mentality. This, in turn, has become a gift and a curse for many African countries. With that hustler's mentality comes greed, which ultimately leads to corruption, which i don't need to go into further detail cause there are numerous depictions of such. But let me get off the negative aspect of it and return to the heart of this post.

Another thing I've noticed is the names of most of these businesses. A lot,if not all, include some biblical reference as if putting God in your hustle will make your "paper flow" more frequently. Its interesting in my opinion. I've seem everything from God First Fast Food Joint, to Woman of Virtue Beauty Salon. Even the erratic taxi cabs all have a scripture or spiritual phrase on the back. I guess that is to make up for the crazy driving? maybe. But I'll keep the stories coming folks. Be easy.

Driving Around

The streets the streets the streets! Where to begin. I don't think i could ever drive in Ghana. Even if the majority of drivers here didn't drive so erratically the next thing you'd have to worry about would be the pavement. I'm surprised we've gotten to all the places we've been to thus far in the Toyota corolla that we've ridden around in. I don't know who to give props to, Toyota for making a reliable car (lol) or the owner of the car Asante for maneuvering it the way he has(lol). You would think with all the pot holes (and by pot holes i mean craters..lol) that the car would have been tore up by now. A 4x4 or even better yet an all terrain vehicle is definitely necessary. Although i must say that the kid in me does like riding around through town. Aside from the traffic its kind of like being on a roller coaster (it may sound like an exaggeration but raise your hand if you've tried it?....didn't think so..lol) Buckle up and hold on! This morning we went to church and it was literally on a mountain, which made the name all the more ironic (MT. Zion Assembly COP). Now you would think that we'd park somewhere and walk to the church since the majority of the terrain surrounding the church was rough but no, Asante bobbed and weaved that corolla right to the bottom of the church and i was definitely impressed.The shocks on his car, on the other hand,...we'll have to dedicate another blog post to those...lol.

We drove through places that i wasn't sure we'd even be able to drive out of. For example this hill that we approached i thought we weren't going to make it. Talk about steep. But we made it.

So now that I've talked about the pot holes, let me speak about the stoplights, or should i say lack thereof..lol. When we went out during the day, I saw all of 12 stoplights, 2 of which were actually working and mind you we'd been driving around for about an hour. Driving through town during the day is sort of like playing Russian roulette...lol. If your not an aggressive driver, with quick hand-eye coordination (that you'll need to get to your horn) i suggest you call a cab. But thankfully no accidents have happened,and i haven't seen any. Its sort of like a system that they all have. Interesting nonetheless.

Commercials

The other day, I saw some commercial that i found amusing so i just thought I'd share. The first one was a commercial for cargo bitters ( an alcoholic beverage I'm guessing gin or something of the sort). The commercial starts with this guy picking up the phone and saying hello. I don't know if he called someone or his phone rang but it turned out to be a wrong number. The voice on the other end was female so he decided to lay some "mack" down..lol and say that her voice sounded nice and then asked her could they meet in person. She agreed. So the man who is probably all of 5 ft tall, gets all dressed up (suited and booted) and hops in his mini cooper and heads to the location that they are going to meet. He then gets out of the car to wait and you can he's anxious cause you see him pacing back and forth. Then this big woman (I'm talking Aretha Franklin big) comes out of nowhere and says that she's who he's there to meet. He has this stunned look on his face but tries to hide it and remain polite and she asks was she what he was expecting. He replies, "naw your fine" (not in those words exactly) and then she says that she brought along two friends ca they come along too? He says sure and what'll you know two big girls (just like her) come out of the back and they all hop in his mini cooper, looking like sardines in a can and drive off. The last shots of the commercial are of the big girls dancing to the cargo bitters theme song and some random Asian guy making awkward faces. Hilarious.


The next commercial was one of a little girl in her house making cereal to eat. She goes to the refrigerator only to find that there's no milk for her cereal (don't you hate that?...lol). So she then goes to the living room and finds her older sister chilling with her boyfriend and low and behold what is the boyfriend holding but some milk. She goes and asks for the milk for her cereal and is brushed off rudely by her sister and the boyfriend. So she retreats and restrategizes and sees a cell phone lying on the table. She picks it up and then heads back to the living room and asks "Does dad know he is here?" waving the cell phone. Knowing that she's been caught the sister and her boyfriend give up the milk. A marquee shows above the little girls head reading pure genius which i found cute since the brand name of the product was pure milk. I think siskel and ebert would have given the commercial an a for effort. maybe not, but i thought it was cute.