History 101

I’ve already been in Ghana for two full weeks which is pretty hard to believe, but there is still so much to do and see. I have been able to fit in some tourism here and there, and tomorrow I am off for a weekend trip to Cape Coast to do the famous canopy walk and see one of the forts that was used in the colonial-era slave trade.

Elliot, one of the Ghanaian volunteers who helps run the
project and is our on-call tour guide extraordinaire

Before coming here, Ghanaian history wasn’t something that I knew very much about since we never learn about it in history class, but even after doing some Wikipedia-ing and visiting the National Museum, it is still a very complex place. But this is definitely the first place I’ve been to where you can dramatically see the effects, some good and some bad, of rapid Westernization. 

 

One of the important landmarks that I’ve seen here is a l’Arc de Triomphe look-a-like in Independence Square. Ghana was under European influence for hundreds of years, but it was most recently a British colony known as the Gold Coast up until 1957. The Independence Arch was built and people symbolically walked under it to mark the transition from colonialism to independence. And you can definitely see the Ghanaian pride just walking around… all the cabs have Ghanaian flags and the color scheme on many buildings and structures is red, yellow, and green. 

Ghana also has a huge music scene, which was a must to witness on my to-do list, and so far, I have seen five shows with many more in the works. From what I’ve heard so far, there is your rap-reggae-African drum blend of music, some rock music, and also a lot of spoken word art (which is essentially doing poetry with a beat behind you). I’ve collected a playlist of over 40 songs with no end in sight. And music is also very important to the kids we are working with… any given opportunity they have, they will dance or play some kind of musical instrument. So for the final film project screening, we will also be putting on a concert while we show the student-made films... more to come!