I am riding home from the tro tro after a slow day at work. The commute is long and tedious, as it often is, but I am used to it. The mate goes around to collect the fare and I stretch my arm to give him the one cedi. After about a minute of going Read More …
“We are more alike than we are different.” This was the topic of my senior year English essay. Of course being an idealistic eighteen year old, I wrote what I thought was a profound essay about the unity of mankind and the ways in which we are much more alike than different. I still believe Read More …
This morning I sat in the middle front seat of a tro tro and contemplated life and death…in a very literal way. You see, Ghanaian public transportation vehicles rarely have seat belts for anyone but the driver, so I sat there thinking that only a thin expanse of glass separated me from the pavement. Since Read More …
We watch as the investigator circles the room and stops at the tall window behind the couch. The gate that is usually locked across the glass is ajar. The screen and glass are pushed aside creating a wide opening into our backyard. I can see the receipts from my wallet lying on the pavement that Read More …
This is the true story… of sixteen students… picked to live in a house… work in Ghana and step out of their comfort zones… to find out what happens… when you are thrown into an unfamiliar situation… and then told to figure it out… The Real World: Ghana During my interview with Leslie, she said, Read More …
It was Friday June 21st when I was on my way to the airport in Portland, OR to begin the journey of a lifetime. I drove to the airport with my family, and my girlfriend met us there to also say her goodbyes. I was in a frantic rush to get everything situated at the Read More …
On the day we moved into our sprawling, barbed-wire fenced East Legon home, Kelly Vigil unpacked his Canon 60D camera and wandered from room to room, filming and interviewing a handful of students. “It’s like Real World: Ghana!” someone said. The moniker stuck. And why wouldn’t it? Not only was our living situation reminiscent of Read More …
When I first heard of the robbery, I didn’t believe it. Nonetheless I jumped out bed and went into the kitchen; I didn’t even put on a shirt or pants (sorry roommates). It wasn’t until I saw my backpack outside of the house, emptied of valuables that I believed what happened. I think we were all Read More …
It’s easy to believe our lives reside within our electronic devices, and especially if we fail to back them up to the cloud (that one is on me). They hold our memories; pictures of the ones we love and the moments we want to immortalize. They have the documents and files that hold everything we Read More …
Note: the following is my article published in the Daily Guide, the newspaper here in Accra for which I am a reporting intern. Shortly, some of us will be publishing blog pieces that reflect on the experiences of being burglarized last Wednesday. I am posting this article to provide factual context. An East Legon home Read More …
Living in Ghana is an adventure to say the least. I can honestly say that many of the stories I’ll tell when I’m back home revolve around public transportation. On my first day of work I decided to take a taxi home. I hadn’t learned the ropes of the tro tro yet and every coworker Read More …
Before I came to Ghana, I was told Ghanaians were very religious. Previous students warned us that our coworkers will probably ask us about our religion at some point during our internship. This was definitely not a conversation I wanted to have and I planned on avoiding it at all costs. Even at home, I Read More …
“Mesdames will see you now.” I sit on a hard wooden chair in a long narrow hallway waiting for this moment. The walls are painted institutional gray and lit by harshly flickering fluorescent bulbs. At least a dozen others sit in similar chairs along both sides of the wall waiting their turn to disappear behind Read More …
Before coming to Ghana, I had a single story of Africa. In the U.S., popular images of Africa portray the continent as one place that is characterized by poverty and suffering. Many Americas fail to recognize that Africa is actually made up of 54 different countries. Big name celebrities and major media campaigns encourage Americans Read More …
Yesterday was just one of those days. You know, when you’re tired and it takes 2 and half hours to get to work and you get ripped off/semi-extorted by a cab driver who drives you through dirt fields to take a short cut. You don’t know? Let me backtrack. Yesterday was Monday morning, which in Read More …