https://vimeo.com/77669772 During my six-week internship in Accra, Ghana, I had the opportunity to report on the waste management issue facing Ghana. This story addresses the issues the country is facing and the steps numerous agencies are taking to combat the issue. Special thanks to Kelly Vigil for his assistance in filming this Read More …
Hello, Maybe it’s time to let you concerned readers know that I did indeed arrive safely back in the U.S. so you can all breathe that sigh of relief. I would also like to say, if it wasn’t apparent in my other posts, that I had such a blast in Ghana. It was an experience Read More …
A tad late, but here is the video of my interview on Metro TV after our house was robbed. https://vimeo.com/74139421
I miss the “ssss ssss” and the “kiss kiss” of people trying to get my attention. I miss the shouting of Obruni because I know it’s me they are talking about. I miss the Tro tro mate yelling “circ circ circ” or “Cra cra cra.” I miss the fruit stands that were on every street Read More …
As the only International Studies student on this Journalism study abroad program, I felt that my internship was a bit unique. Instead of working in a newsroom or at a radio station, I spent my five-weeks with a non-governmental organization that aims to define and protect press rights and freedom of speech in West Africa. Read More …
For the last eight weeks I feel like I have been suspended. Half of Dana has sat somewhere watching the other half blunder wide eyed through this adventure in Ghana. I woke early this morning filled with a strange loneliness. I walked down the road towards our old house. Street hawkers wove in and out Read More …
Preface: This post is about the robbery that my family experienced in Ghana. I have marinated on this for weeks after the fact. This is not journalism. This is my interpretation of the situation: A palpable quagmire of tension sits waist high throughout our house. It smells of the gutters that line the Read More …
I was standing in a nightclub in Barcelona when it really hit me: I really miss that Ghana group. The music was obnoxiously loud and the dance floor was empty, and my friends refused to budge from the doorway. “This is lame,” was their only response and they wanted to leave. I started missing everyone Read More …
I’ve been able to somehow manage through my of week of “American recovery.” I had a 16-ounce cup of coffee right when I got into JFK airport. Once I reached Californian soil I spent the rest of my day eating sushi, sea salted potato chips, and other various snacks courtesy of Trader Joe’s. The next Read More …
This weekend I said goodbye (for now) to some of the most adventurous, loving, and supportive people I have ever had the privilege of calling my friends. It sank in more and more as each group headed off to the airport that I will never again be in a house filled with my strange 15-member Read More …
A month and a half away from home was the longest amount of time I had ever spent away from my family and friends. I had never lived further than an hour and forty-five minutes away from my parents, and I’ve had the same best friends since sixth grade. Needless to say, I was a Read More …
Does long hair and a beard make me Jesus? No. Does getting awarded the Jesus Award in our group’s #GhanaAwards make me Jesus? Not quite. (But I did beat Him for the win.) What makes me question my holiness is the constant name-calling I get walking the streets of Accra. “Are you Jesus?” “Hey Jesus!” Read More …
During my first week in Ghana Same Love by Macklemore came onto my iPhone shuffle. I listened, staring out the bus at the beauty that is Ghana. I reflected on being in a country where gay rights are at a completely different place than back in the U.S. and felt more impacted by the song Read More …
Today, hundreds of students graduated from the University of Ghana, Legon. Two colleagues and I went to the ceremony to cover it for the campus radio station that I work for, Student Univers. The graduation was held at my favorite place on campus and maybe one of the prettiest spots in the entire city, their Read More …
Sales people at the markets in Ghana are very persistent. So much so that they grab my arms and pull and drag me to their shops and tell me they don’t even want me to buy anything they just want me to look, while impatiently, and somewhat frighteningly, pointing at their own eyes. So if Read More …