2-8 July

Research continues to progress consistently and although I enjoy it, the work is rather dull to discuss.

My work-week was pleasantly disrupted by a few afternoons spent at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science & Technology (KNUST), where I sat in on a few classes with their MPH students. To be honest, I was not looking forward to these classes. I had many negative expectations…the lectures would be too advanced or too basic, the English that lectures are supposed to be taught would evolve quickly into Twi, the lectures would be flat-out boring, the room would be uncomfortable, etc. However, my fears were for naught; the classes were extremely enjoyable.

The classes covered HIV transmission, surveillance, and therapy guidelines and were taught by my advisor, Dr. Agyarko-Poku, as well as the Dean of KNUST’s medical school, endearingly called “Prof” by students and fellow faculty members alike. The students in the class were older than the YSPH cohort and were all very engaged in the class discussions. I found it fascinating that the classes seemed to explicitly focus on public health “in developing countries.” Although this makes practical sense, it was just odd to hear all these Ghanaians saying things like “because we’re a developing country, we must create this type of surveillance program.” It also hit me in the middle of a class that the students must have a totally different out-of-classroom experience than students in the Western world…course material is not available online, papers are all written by hand, yet all over the world, other students like me do almost all of our out-of-classroom learning sitting in front of a computer. I learned quite a bit from the classes and plan to incorporate a few aspects of the therapy discussion into my research.

This weekend was my first full weekend not leaving the city! It’s odd to think I’ve been here for a month, but haven’t really gotten to know Kumasi that well. I spent Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights with Unite For Sight volunteers now stationed in Kumasi – Abbie, Nick, and David. I had volunteered with Abbie during her first/my last week in Accra, but met Nick and David here. We got some really filling Indian food on Thursday, and then went to a few bars on Friday and Saturday night. On Saturday I also attended my first Ghanaian wedding! Similar to my church service experiences, it was interesting, but not overwhelmingly culturally different. The wedding service took place in a church and was almost exactly the same as an American service except it lasted about 2 and a half hours (in typical Ghanaian fashion). A fair amount of time was spent “blessing the couple”, which reminded me more of an exorcism than a blessing…lots of ministers shouting while they stood around the couple. The reception was almost exactly like an American reception, although I don’t have much to compare as I left the reception pretty early in search of a cab to take me home for a surprisingly necessary nap.

Experiencing a Ghanaian wedding really makes me notice Ghanaian culture, especially of those living in big cities like Accra or Kumasi. Ghana has such an interesting patchwork culture, with different traditions and customs coming from the various native ethnic groups, as well as the many European visitors/colonists over its existence. Yet, Ghana has only independence for 55 years. It feels as though Ghana is in its awkward teenage years of cultural development. The country wants so badly to be one of the cool, popular “developed countries” that it is willing to sacrifice its rich background to assimilate. This is exemplified in events like weddings, where tradition has been taken over by tacky Western decorations and music once filled with heritage is replaced by blaring Christian soft rock. Fufu, a totally appealing (to Ghanaians…not me) and critical Ghanaian dish that requires someone, usually a woman, to pound the dough with a large stick, is now mass-produced and sold in boxes, completely consumer-izing one of Ghana’s few traditional foods. These are formative years...will Ghana be able to hold onto and embrace its fascinating culture…or will it get sucked into the Western world with little to show for the many challenging years its citizens endured to gain independence?

With my co-worker, Helena, at the wedding reception