Monday, January 24, 2011

The Glass is Half Full

Date Written: 22 January 2011

The day began rather early as I needed to grab my bank card from the Ghana Commercial Bank before breakfast at the program director’s home. As I was walking over to the bank, which is located just across the street from the campus’s main gate, I realized that this was my first time wandering away from the group at large. However, I got to the bank and saw that it was closed. What time it would open, one could not ascertain by any sign posting the hours but the quantity of people lined up waiting to go inside.

Upon entering, I talked to the same young lady had helped me the day before. All she needed was my passport and confirmed that the card was indeed my own, and I thought I was in the clear. Thanking her profusely, I went out front to try the machine. “Terminal Error” greeted me as I approached the screen, newly freed card in hand. I informed an employee and left as breakfast at the director’s house called.

After breakfast, we discussed the Ghanaian system of education. There are six public institutions of higher education in Ghana which used to specialize in different programs but now have significant overlap. Stark contrast: Ghana has roughly 23 million people and six public universities. New York State has the largest system of public education in the world, some 400,000 students enrolled in SUNY. Our director hosted a speaker in charge of University of Ghana’s Accra campus (downtown) who discussed the education system from an administrator standpoint. The grading system is more complicated as she said not to expect an A as she never got an A during her own undergraduate studies. B’s are essentially A’s and only about 5% or fewer students in a class get A’s. Books are cheap in Ghana as there is often only one book for an entire class. Thus, the lecturer (professor) usually puts photocopies of them at somewhere on campus. I am glad that Ghanaians and I see eye-to-eye on this. After talking about various things we should and should not do, in class, off campus, dancing at clubs etc. Plus, there was a good deal of talk about relationships in Ghana, what is done and what is not done, what is acceptable/unacceptable, which was highly entertaining, funnier still since it did not concern me.

We finally moved on to Madina market. After failing once again to get money from the ATM (machine still was not fixed), the guide, another student and myself all hopped aboard a tro-tro. There are so many of them that it is not until you sits inside one that you fully comprehend their precarious state of repair. Squeaking brakes, plenty of bouncing around, a certain closeness to complete strangers who sometimes pick your pockets, and a transmission that struggles mightily to switch into third gear. With luck, we arrived at Madina market, one of the largest markets in the country although only about a third the size of Makola market, where we will be headed tomorrow.

We made our way over to a shop that sells Vodaphone, meeting up with the other members of the SUNY group. While I wanted a phone with a full key board, I was told that I was only here for a few months and a Blackberry or equivalent knockoff was not really worth the extra dough. One interesting aspect of the buying process, the phones were not stocked inside the shop. Thus, one would decide on a phone and one the shopkeepers would go out and get it from the warehouse. I got the feeling that they were just going out onto the market and buying phone of vendors themselves. The other interesting part was that we were called upon to come into the back and make sure that the phone charger was working. For 55 cedis (and later a 10 cedis calling credit, around $43), I was connected again with the outside world.

It is important to remember that everyone in Ghana has a cell phone and almost all of them are prepaid. They also use SIM cards which differ from the US where Verizon Wireless has one type while AT&T has another. Thus, network hopping is easy as all phones work on the same type of network. “Topping off” which is seen almost everywhere is how you add more credit (not minutes as the US carriers stupidly refer to). It could be a woman sitting under a Vodaphone or MTM umbrella offering “topping off,” a convenience store such as Jubilee right on campus, or at a stall in a market such as at the Night Market.

After completing that, the group split up again to explore Madina market. Our tour was quicker since we had to go back to the airport for my luggage. However, we saw all kinds of items, ranging from fish that could turn someone off seafood (and lakefood) for life, fruits and vegetables of all kinds, drinks, machetes (vaguely reminded me of a scene in Hotel Rwanda, machetes lying on the ground), clothes (second hand and new), purses (just like in the touristy parts of New York) and much more. Unfortunately, I did not bring my camera on the advice of our guide but I will bring it tomorrow is a less obvious bag.

The airport was the next stop and we took another tro-tro through what seems that back roads to get to Kotoka Airport. At one point, our tro-tro was completely full, having 23 people in six rows. While the driver focuses fully on driving (Thank God!), the mate opens and closes the door, calls out the destination, and collects the money. It cost the three of us fifty pesawas (the unit below cedis, 1 cedis equals 100 pesawas, similar to cents in the US, and about $0.32) each to ride from Madina (several miles outside of Accra) into Accra proper (near the airport). Thus, it is easy to see why such a seemingly dangerous vehicle is popular. Reunited (thanks United) with my bag, we took a taxi back as my bag was a bit bulky for a tro-tro.

We settled down for another delicious dinner and had pineapple and SIM cards for desert as one of the guides spared us the bureaucratic way of registering a SIM with an identification card. Thus, I have solved one of my two communications issues, internet still needing a solution. While it would be nice to have it in the room, it may be hard sharing since I think it is a wired connection and it may be registered for only one computer. Thus, one computer would receive all the use. But I suppose we shall see, perhaps walking to an internet connection would help my internet addiction.

Another blurb, I called home on Google Talk and found the reaction of friends of ours funny. They recently adopted a girl from the Democratic Republic of Congo, country that makes Ghana feel first class. When she was told that I was studying abroad in Africa, she looked at Mom with such astonishment and even more so when was told I was going to school there.

5 More Interesting Things

11. The door to my dorm room locks only by inserting the key. This includes inside the door so in the unfortunate event of a fire, one of us would have to insert a key to unlock the door and flee from the building with all due haste.

12. Ghanaians are very religious and profess their love of God in interesting ways. They name their businesses utilizing Bible quotations, and post messages and bummer stickers on vehicles, although the latter may be because of the age of the vehicle in relation to its condition, especially in the event of a crash.

13. Ghanaians see seatbelts as largely unimportant and in respect of their views, I have not worn one since my arrival (although it should be noted that I did not have a choice).

14. Lizards defy gravity as I watched one scamper across the ceiling while talking to Ruth, moving just as fast as it would have had it been on the floor or crawling up my arm.

15. Market smells, enough said.

Again, I have not solved the internet solution yet. In the US, we are so used to logging in wherever and fast speeds. Wifi coverage is less blanketed in Ghana and the pace of the internet is in line with the pace of Ghanaian life. That being said, I will try to post Saturday afternoon or evening.

No comments:

Post a Comment