Upon arrival I was experiencing plenty of excitement, just
as I felt in Thailand. There was one rule I had to keep in mind while traveling
Ghana: This is not Thailand. Although many friends attempted to smother me in
advice such as “Don’t get robbed, travel with a partner, and watch out for
lions.” I ignored most of it mainly because this advice was coming from people
who had no idea what Ghana was like. On the contrary I decided to listen to two
people, my father and Dr. Kalyango. In order to keep this short I will give one
piece of advice from each of them.
My father: “Zachers, Africa is not Thailand, it is best to
not go wondering in the streets. Thais are smaller people, Africa has the big
boys.’
Dr. K: “Don’t listen to people who tell you everything in
Ghana is dangerous, most people are kind and friendly.”
As you can see, my father was warning me and Dr. K was
reassuring me; giving me just the balance I was looking for.
Internship
Upon my first day at the internship, utter confusion and
miss communication was provided in abundance. There were about 8 different
internships that our group of 16 split into and all but 2 (the 2 NGO’s) had
very little idea that any of us were coming. My internship was at the Daily
Graphic, which is Ghana’s largest and most influential newspaper company. When
myself and the 2 other ladies I was paired with (Lyndsey and Grace) arrived
they had no idea we were coming and started to send us home; however our
program director straightened things out and got us back to work. Now I say
work but in reality I sat in the same spot for 8 hours staring at a wall, I
didn’t do as much work as I desired to.
For lunch I ignored my father and listened to Dr. K and went
on a bit of adventure through what seemed to me as the slums.
There was garbage everywhere and the river smelt of oil and
feces. People were living in shacks and babies were running around naked.
Meanwhile, I was dressed in slacks and a dress shirt. Most people smiled at me
yet here and there I received some stink eyes from some who were not too happy
about my afternoon stroll, which is understandable. Although my first day was
rather unorganized I was reassured by my supervisor that tomorrow would hold a
bit more venture.
Thank you for taking time out of your day to read my “blog”
and enjoy your day!
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