Feeling It Out

Hello!

So.. I have spent a long time deciding about what it is I was going to write for my first blog post nearly a month into the trip. There is a lot that I could say. I could go on for pages about the work and different projects that Heather and myself have been working on (but it seems like Heather is covering that quite nicely). I could go on about the countless and interesting people we've encountered here (some due to our bright personalities, most due to our skin color). I could tell you about all of the exciting sights and smells and food and culture that has filtered its way in to our everyday lives. And everyone reading this post will tell their friends, "Wow! Did you hear all the things that Heather and Robin are doing?" But I wont. Not now at least. For now I want to focus less on the 'doing' aspect and fill you in on the aspect of travel that is what keeps my heart pumping and hits with me with the unbelievable fix that the travel junkie in me craves from this beautiful rock of a planet. Because everything we 'do' can be a rushing experience at the moment, an amazing story to tell a friend and ideally and most importantly build a platform for positive effects in Ghana. But ultimately, these actions true effects are how it effects us and our perspective on the world. So this is why I want to share some of the feelings that have ever slowly crept into my brain as a result of all the wonderful things we are doing, tugging at the many thoughts that rattle around in my head.

To start, "one month" is a bit of an odd way to describe the length of my trip so far. Anyone that has been thrown into a new world of culture can relate to the idea that time gets very funky when abroad. In one sense, I cannot believe that (in the "real world" calculation of time) over one month has already passed and we are almost at the half way point. Where did the time go? It has seemingly disappeared. Yet, at the same time, the streets of Accra, and more specifically our neighborhood of Pig Farm, seem like home. I can't even remember the time when eating with your hands was thought to be rude or navigating through the city on a 'tro-tro' seemed more complicated to me then Heather's engineering homework. The differences of culture have quickly became a normal part of life in relation to my previous Western existence. Here, extra time has been created out of thin air.  

The feeling of opposing forces has certainly been a strong theme amongst my dueling emotions as well. Experiencing living a developing country is one that will shake all your tallest highs and shortest lows together. It is no secret that there is a lot of poverty in Ghana, and our work definitely highlights many serious issues within the country. But then you meet some of the happiest people on the planet. It might be the diet of fufu here, but there is a contagiously deep laugh that explodes out of the bellies of Ghanaians that is just unexplainably heart warming.

And of course, there is the ever looming experience of being the 'obroni' in Ghana. 'Obroni' simply means 'white man' in Twi and it is a name that is shouted at you almost everywhere you go. For the most part, there isn't a negative connotation that is attached with it, just a friendly recognition that, yes, we are white. There are some times after a long day at work that you just want to walk around with a shirt saying "My name is not Obroni" (which I swear I actually have seen an obroni wearing), but for the most part it is an unbelievable feeling being able to make an entire group of people smile and laugh because you can say a couple phrases in Twi. You can make a kid's day by just waving back at them when they call out to you. There is a 'celebrity-esque' feeling walking through many streets here which again, has its ups and downs. Many people do want to talk to you and learn about where you are from, which is always a great way to meet new people.

Hopefully this pushed readers slightly into the headspace of an obroni in Ghana. At the end of the day, it is this newly forming perspective that becomes are biggest asset. We can try and change Ghana as much as we can while we are here, but ultimately it is Ghana that is changing us for the better.

-Robin Koczerginski