Today, we took a small walk in the community near our hotel. Seeing the small area behind the stalls and kiosks we view from the inside of our tour us was incredible. We heard our first greeting of "obruni" from a group of children, and still even coming into unfamiliar territory we were not met with any unkindness. We were walking into this other world following uniformed school children home into tin roofed huts with dirt floors. I started taking pictures of stalls as we rounded the corner but I realized that these are people's homes. Women were in 'open' spaces between stalls pounding fufu and doing laundry. Outside also there were stock animals: turkeys, chickens, and goats. This was also the first time I've noticed people with animals as pets (I assume). Seeing this slice of everyday life was important because it highlighted the similarities between life in Accra and like in Knoxville. Children go to school and come home from busses, they do their chores, their parents wait for them and greet them with a snack; everywhere there is business and purpose.
As we walked on the street I noticed how there is almost a stream, a method to walking along the pathway, which winds through traffic, over gutters, past and around stalls and roadside plants. From other cities, even American ones, there is such a difference in the attitude of the vendors. They are not pushy, although they might greet you, all the spaces look welcoming. I saw one kiosk made out of a converted port-a-potty within which a young man was selling cell phone minutes. In this space where need is great and resources are scarce, nothing is wasted.
After the walk we attended a lecture on the environmental situation in Ghana. Having just experienced a city street I was certain what the focus would be--clean water. The sewer/gutter ditches are filled with a gray muck of human waste and rubbish stewing with stink in the sun. The smell hits you from underneath without warning as you are passing through the street. The slum we saw from quite a distance on our first day made clear the level of the issues surrounding environmental degradation. If that much corruption is visible how much is there occurring that we cannot see? Our lecture yesterday answered that question clearly and honestly. The professor who spoke to us was incredibly knowledgeable and obviously affective in his pursuit of the cause to make Ghana healthful in a sustainable way. How hard it must be to watch one's country rot from the inside out. When your space, your home, had been a dumping ground for centuries, when your people have never been educated to the level where they contain the intellectual tools to protect themselves from what is unseen--be it microbial or consequential--how do you move forward? How do you change a national mentality fast enough to prevent more harm? Can a habitat rehabilitate itself from such a point? It is difficult for us, as Americans who have lived in a shell, to comprehend the level of these issues facing Ghana. Even if the government was willing to help, even if they pumped money to use in the communities, created forward thinking programs, it would be up to the people to initiate change. Our lecturer made a point to this effect saying that when companies come into the villages and bore wells for clean drinking water, the people still drink and use polluted water because they don't like the taste of the groundwater and they can't use it for washing.
Also, it was mentioned that when some people are infected with NTD's they don't seek treatment from available medical sources (nationalized healthcare) because they feel that the affliction is from spirits and it must be endured. The belief in and respect for natural and supernatural spirits is an ancient and integral constituent of African life and culture, our first lecturer spoke to this when he outlined religious and non-religious methods of encouragement/enforcement of moral behavior. Animism is African. As much as the majority of Westerners believe in the Christian mythology and its structures and lessons are incorporated into promoted and acceptable public Behavior norms so spirits and Animist principles are in African society and moral traditions. Changing the mentality of Africans with regards to environmental issues should not seek to remove these religospiritual templates and world views. But is this possible? A subsequent question to ask is, how much have these templates already been edited by 'Western' influence? It is outstanding to me, this complexity. With all that we have been presented in our lectures it amazes me how the country is able to function at the level it does with so many layers acting simultaneously. Having written that I feel kind of stubborn, but in all seriousness when one begins to consider what all is going on, what challenges have passed recently in Ghanaian history, it amazes. America could not survive what Ghana is currently enduring--we would split into camps and fight each other to death within the first year. I am glad we have had the chance to hear these scholars at the center. All of these people have been instrumental in their respective fields. Their knowledge is experiential as well as academic and it brings quality that most students in the US don't experience (we, at MC, being among the lucky ones). Seeing the life around us, it is refreshing to know that avenues of mobility do exist here, that it is not impossible to become moved by an issue, called into a certain exploit and to have your points respected, accepted, and shared if presented with confidence.
After the walk we attended a lecture on the environmental situation in Ghana. Having just experienced a city street I was certain what the focus would be--clean water. The sewer/gutter ditches are filled with a gray muck of human waste and rubbish stewing with stink in the sun. The smell hits you from underneath without warning as you are passing through the street. The slum we saw from quite a distance on our first day made clear the level of the issues surrounding environmental degradation. If that much corruption is visible how much is there occurring that we cannot see? Our lecture yesterday answered that question clearly and honestly. The professor who spoke to us was incredibly knowledgeable and obviously affective in his pursuit of the cause to make Ghana healthful in a sustainable way. How hard it must be to watch one's country rot from the inside out. When your space, your home, had been a dumping ground for centuries, when your people have never been educated to the level where they contain the intellectual tools to protect themselves from what is unseen--be it microbial or consequential--how do you move forward? How do you change a national mentality fast enough to prevent more harm? Can a habitat rehabilitate itself from such a point? It is difficult for us, as Americans who have lived in a shell, to comprehend the level of these issues facing Ghana. Even if the government was willing to help, even if they pumped money to use in the communities, created forward thinking programs, it would be up to the people to initiate change. Our lecturer made a point to this effect saying that when companies come into the villages and bore wells for clean drinking water, the people still drink and use polluted water because they don't like the taste of the groundwater and they can't use it for washing.
Also, it was mentioned that when some people are infected with NTD's they don't seek treatment from available medical sources (nationalized healthcare) because they feel that the affliction is from spirits and it must be endured. The belief in and respect for natural and supernatural spirits is an ancient and integral constituent of African life and culture, our first lecturer spoke to this when he outlined religious and non-religious methods of encouragement/enforcement of moral behavior. Animism is African. As much as the majority of Westerners believe in the Christian mythology and its structures and lessons are incorporated into promoted and acceptable public Behavior norms so spirits and Animist principles are in African society and moral traditions. Changing the mentality of Africans with regards to environmental issues should not seek to remove these religospiritual templates and world views. But is this possible? A subsequent question to ask is, how much have these templates already been edited by 'Western' influence? It is outstanding to me, this complexity. With all that we have been presented in our lectures it amazes me how the country is able to function at the level it does with so many layers acting simultaneously. Having written that I feel kind of stubborn, but in all seriousness when one begins to consider what all is going on, what challenges have passed recently in Ghanaian history, it amazes. America could not survive what Ghana is currently enduring--we would split into camps and fight each other to death within the first year. I am glad we have had the chance to hear these scholars at the center. All of these people have been instrumental in their respective fields. Their knowledge is experiential as well as academic and it brings quality that most students in the US don't experience (we, at MC, being among the lucky ones). Seeing the life around us, it is refreshing to know that avenues of mobility do exist here, that it is not impossible to become moved by an issue, called into a certain exploit and to have your points respected, accepted, and shared if presented with confidence.