The First Ghan-orrhea post yet!

Due to popular demand (meaning, possibly just my mom) I have decided to try to write some stuff down about my experiences here in Ghana. I have been here for 2 months now, and so far I have avoided doing this for several reasons:
1. Lack of motivation.
2. The scarcity of internet access at convenient times here and slow connections.
3. My dislike of the idea of journaling and diaries.
4. Blogs are often me! me! me! things. Nobody likes to read things only about you! you! you!

So what finally made me change my mind? Alzheimers/Dementia. In case I acquire one of these in the future, I'll have something to refresh my memory. This way I can justify Reason #4 above since the intended audience is the future "me" who won't mind hearing about himself.

Honestly, I hope you have better things to do than to read this blog. If I were you, I probably wouldn't read it. Who has time to read other people's blogs? Everybody has something to say on the internet. Who has time to read these things? Time. Time. Time. But here I am on a friday afternoon with nothing much to do. Time is of abundance here. How about where you are? So that's enough negativity... I salute you, Mr. Blog Reader, if you are reading this! And maybe it will end up being funny at times...

Also, why is this blog named Ghan-orrhea? Isn't gonorrhea the name of a serious sexually transmitted disease? Does James have gonorrhea? No. Then why is this blog ... Honestly, I don't know. The best rationale I can think of is that gonorrhea, when spelled Ghan-orrhea, could indicate some condition which affects outsiders who come into Ghana without knowing what to expect. As this is not a logical argument, I think it will remain that the title for this blog is inevitably a stupid one and should not be further rationalized.

So, shall we first cover the personal details...
I, your host, am currently studying at the famous University of Ghana in the Republic of Ghana in West Africa on the African continent. I say "famous" because in Africa it is considered a premier university. With a student population near 30,000, the university hosts around 1,000 international students. An overwhelming majority of these are from Nigeria. The rest are from other African countries (like Cote d'Ivoire) and the rest of the world. My non-African international friends include Canadians, Americans, Norwegians, a Brit, Germans, a Hungarian, aHong Kong girl, Koreans, Japaneses, Frenchies, and Californians (which must go in a separate category simply because they are so distinguishable). Ghanaians come here for free, but after their four years of study, they give back a year of national service.

Being a student here is difficult- not because the classes or assignments are particularly demanding, but because access to educational resources is limited. Let's start with the library - the Balme Library - supposedly the most extensive library in all of West Africa. To enter the library, you must first check any bags at the front desk. Then you may proceed to the computers, of which there are six, to search for a book. These computers are always full, so you have to wait. ...The books available for your topic are all dated 1980 and before. Old books! Eventually you start looking some book on the shelves, only to find that your book is not where it should be. Most likely it hasn't been checked out of the library in years, so it should be there! Where is it? Eventually you find it. But why was call number SB1090.B76 sitting in the SK400 section? Hmm. Then you go to check it out. Oops, there's no barcode because, as we suspected, it hasn't been checked out since 1993. So the front desk will have to hold that book until they get it barcoded (in my case, this meant telling me for three subsequent days that barcoding was still in process followed by my finding that same book in the reshelving section on the fourth day and showing no signs of having been "barcoded" at all). What nerve! ...There are plenty of other unforeseeable conditions that can prevent you from doing things... Perhaps it's Sunday (no checking out of books on Sunday). And no photocopying after 4:00 M-F. The library also keeps innumerable books under lock-and-key: these are books which are prescribed as valuable. (These books seem just as old and commonplace as the books on the open shelves - but they are precious - security is tight on them.) If you want to try finding something written after 1995, you may try the online resources, which can only be accessed within the library in a small, crowded computer lab that charges by the half hour. If you want to be able to access these off-campus, then you should apply for a password, which I have done. I am expected to receive this password within the last two weeks of school. No help. That's enough about the library, I just wanted you to understand how frustrating it can be: unforeseeable frustration. Oh, and there's a security guard at the front entrance to shoot you dead if you steal a precious old book.

Let's continue with lack of information...
Students don't buy textbooks. They're simply too expensive. Usually the professor owns the sole copy of the textbook for the class, and this is photocopied incrementally to provide the text for the class. This brings about a shocking discovery for me: To educate in Africa, only ONE book per professor is required - not one book per student, but one per class. If only your professor used a modern textbook! With ONE new book, he could educate hundreds of students each year with MODERN knowledge. Mmmm. My Norwegian friends are taking a class called "Transportation Geography;" the text for the class is titled "Modern Transportation" and was published in 1950. Enough said.

Finally, the internet. It's run as a business here on campus. Often the internet cafes are full. The connections are slow. And you pay for it - if one page takes 3 minutes to load, yup.

One last thing I want to say in this first blog is my "disclaimer." That is, I am not a better man than you because I got to go to Ghana. I'm lucky to have been able to come here; a lot of things sought to prevent me (Clemson curricula requirements, mom), but you are not missing out if you don't travel. Occasionally, we get the chance to go to interesting places. And I believe our duty upon our return is to increase awareness of the situation and conditions of our destination. I, personally, hope this blog and whatever I verbally communicate in the future will help change Americans' views of Africa as "The Dark Continent" (more on this later). ...But I will never say things like "You just have to go to Africa." or "Africa is so much better than the U.S." This is partly due to my skepticism concerning tourism here. Sometimes developing countries I think are treated as monkey exhibits at a zoo. Tourists come here to see the animals and the history and they stay in only the nice hotels. I imagine that sometimes they forget about the people. If your only interactions with people involve exhanges of money, you may fail to see the humanity aspect. And while the competition for cash (from tourists) is especially strong here, there are still plenty of people here interested in getting to know more about you. The trick to reciprocate this interest - be interested in them - and then you have put Humanity first. It is the people here that connect this place to the rest of the world (more on this later).

Here are some future articles I hope to write on this blog; they are going to be hilarious (I've already decided):
"The Dark Continent" (Africans know what Americans think of their continent)
"National Pride - and Disdain" (Ahead of Africa, behind in the world)
"Africans don't need light to see in the dark" (oh, the places and times you'll find people)
"Hey obroni (white man)!, Hey obibini (black man)" (where is racism in this country?)
"The Spiritual Dilemma" (Euro-African clashes, naivety, and skepticism; how Christianity can be quite disturbing)
"The Sword in the Ground and other Questionable Ghanaian History" (self-explanatory)
"Marriage Proposals and their Frequency" (British inhibition, and how it never caught on here)
"Can I borrow a cedi?...God Bless you!" (misconceptions in the mind of an outsider)
"Ghana is making money...but who is profiting?"
"The University of Ghana: A premier African education" (the grim outlook of graduates from UG)
"So do you think you can dance?" (African babies begin dancing immediately upon exit of the womb)
"GMT: Ghana Maybe Time" (or, 'if I decide to show up')
"I'm not afraid of Malaria" (a discourse on frequency of the virus, and how it happens that the most careful people come down with the most serious health problems)
"'And coming all the way from America..." (an Ghana media experience at 'Ghana's Most Beautiful' pageant)
"100 friends in three days" (the country where it is quite possible; defining 'professional friends')
"Akwaba Obama" (how the U.S. president became their favorite person - instantly!)
"Twi, Gaa, Ewe, and Twenty-some-odd other languages" (and the current state of the English language in Ghana)
"But I had that for lunch!" (the local foods: I will describe them. you will practically taste them)