Weekend Trip - Kokrobite

Having endured a really stressful week, Thomas and I decided to hit the beach... and let me tell you how great of a decision this was! We met the coolest Rastafarian family and the father's legal name was Freeman Jah....you can't make that up! Check them out.

Week 3 - No longer the kid i used to be...

First week of Placement

I must admit that this has been one of the heaviest week's of my entire life. I finally started my internship at the Police Hospital in Osu! Luckily for me, traveling to placement isn't as bad in comparison to some of the others; roughly about one hours travel from Legon where i reside. The first two days would be my orientation and introduction to the various wards of the hospital. Both days began relatively smoothly moving from the childrens ward to the maternity ward and so on. But something towards the end of orientation would happened which would change my life forever.
As the second day of our orientation was coming to a close, we still had one ward left on the agenda.... the mortuary ward! As we walked in, I began to feel nervous for I had no idea what to expect. We entered a dark room where there were three autopsy tables, and you could just imagine some of the horrible things that people have witnessed in this room! As we continued walking down to the office, we were introduced to the Mortuary Director Akosumbo Okai who welcomed us. He discussed with us some of the issues that the Hospital was facing as well as some specifics concerning his ward. Of all the issues he laid out on the table, one thing which stuck with me was the way he described the unsanitary treatment of the bodies due to the wards' lack of funds; being a publicly funded hospital. Morticians are forced to spray RAID (as in the stuff which kills insects) and bleach on the dead bodies because the proper medical chemicals needed are virtually unaffordable.
As we were leaving, Susan our supervisor took us into another room which was more peculiar than the last. As the door opened the first thing that caught my attention were three naked corpse lying on their backs with scars indicating where the morticians' dissections had been made. Just as I thought the worst was over, the mortician opened a white door to the left; and what i saw in that room I feel no human being could ever prepare themselves for! It was a dark fridge which stood 15 meters by 14 meters filled with metal bunk beds covered by wooden planks. There must have been over 300 bodies stacked up one on top of another in no particular organized order. The congestion of the room was absolutely horrifying. The chilled smell of the rotting corpses hit me so hard that I almost puked right then and there! A smell that to this day has hauntingly not left me. And speaking of haunting, one image which reoccurs in my mind constantly sending me to an unsettling state of shock is the image of two dead girls thrown on top of a man whose stomach was in a disturbing state which I will not describe.
My initial thought during the time was as that white door opened, any ties I may have had to my childhood or youth were long gone. I knew that that single moment oddly and sadly enough was my transition to my adulthood. I've seen a lot in my short life of 22 years but never have I ever seen anything like that, and never have I ever felt the feelings that I felt during those moments. But although I can finally say that I have seen what death can look like, and as dark as it may be, I can confidently and optimistically say that the light of life will always shine much brighter! Look at me being all philosophical...

View from my room!

My View from Thomas Granofsky on Vimeo.

Week 2 - "Everyday im Hustlin"

Intensive Course with Dr. Akua Benjamin

Intensive is really an accurate word to describe how my second week in Ghana was like. 9am to 5pm class days felt more like 9am to 12am with all the work that was expected of us. Papers and an hour and a half presentation doesn't seem like much but with limited time, resources and extremely slow Internet, a challenge it surely was. Yet although at the time it seemed like the work and stress would never end, I must admit it was extremely beneficial to my professional and personal development; as cliché as that my sound. The crash course discussed the Ghanaian context of social work, cultural interactions, ethnic diversity, traditions, local/ geopolitical structures, human rights and critical self-reflexivity. It was helpful in really beginning to conceptualize my role as a foreign male intern from the global north in Ghana. Although clearly time would be required in grasping a complete understanding of the complexities of insider/outsider elements in Ghana, the intensive course was a good start.

More importantly, I felt that the course really (and I mean REALLY) helped me understand the harsh realities many Ghanaians face. The intensive course brought me back to my first couple of days when we attended the city tour in Accra. The tour began with a drive through administrative and economic districts, which were scattered throughout different regions of the city. But of all the places we had visited, I recall feeling greatly impacted by our drive through Sodom and Gomorrah - the poorest district of the city. Sonny our tour guide, explained to us that many of the residence that live in Sodom and Gomorrah live in homes, which are no larger than 4 by 4 meters. These homes are built on mounds of garbage, which is right beside a stagnant body of water where the city waste is dumped and accumulated. You can smell the stench of the district from about 5-6 Km away! To see the extreme poverty and unsanitary living conditions that these people were living in was absolutely crushing. I was seeing first hand everything we had read and studied in our course reader. Economic liberalization, IMF structural adjustment policies, Globalization, Hunger and poverty were no longer an abstract theoretical entity for they were now a reality to me more than ever! The only thing I can really say to myself these days is...DAMN!

Laundry

When someone goes on a trip, usually the last thing they think about is laundry. But last Sunday, doing my laundry gave me something to think about. I had ran out of clothes to wear and was in dire need of doing laundry. That afternoon, I walked to the market, bought wash soap and headed to my room. Thinking this was going to be a piece of cake, I threw all my clothes into the tub and started scrubbing. (Yes its true, I hand washed my clothing and it was the worst thing ever!) I was scrubbing for FOUR hours and it seemed like it would never end! The amount of work that goes into hand washing is indescribable and I have never sweat so much in my entire life! To make matters worse, it began to rain outside just as I was finishing up. Not having anywhere to dry my clothes, I put them out on the window thinking I could just put them out to dry the next day. As I woke up the next morning I soon discovered that it was raining even harder than the previous night! I didn't have any clean clothes for two day, I was beginning to smell and sunshine was nowhere in sight! By the time a got a chance to hang and dry my clothes, they had smelled even worse than before I cleaned them. In all of my days here in Accra doing laundry by far was my biggest challenge!!
There are so many things we take for granted in Toronto and having a washing machine is one of them. Looking back and thinking about it now, most of my frustration and sheer inadequacy in the area of hand wash clearly was rooted in my privilege being Canadian. It is overwhelming to think about the fact that the majority of the human population have to deal with this form of washing on the regular. Although I can laugh at myself about it now, most of us really need to stop and think for just a second about being thankful for what we have!

Week 1 in Accra, Ghana

What a week is all i have to say! The life experience encountered in the last week was richer than any I've had in the "bubble city" of Toronto. In comparison to Toronto, it's incredibly different here in Accra, Ghana. Different in its customs, traditions, dialects and more importantly the sense of community! Being so accustomed to Toronto, its a bit of a challenge in complying with differences between the Canadian vs Ghanaian contexts. In many instances, the left hand is a sign of disrespect. People are not allowed to eat with their left hand, shake hands with their left hand, receive anything with their left hand or even wave with their left hand. This sucks for me because I'm LEFT HANDED! More strikingly, the thumbs up in Ghana I've learned means "F#$% your mom" which is the most offensive symbol that can be given to a Ghanaian. This is one of my biggest challenges because the thumbs up is a positive gesture that i give quite often to almost anyone!
In terms of the language spoken here in Ghana, (although English is the national language of Ghana) almost nobody speaks to each other in English! I feel that the only time Ghanaian s use English is when their speaking to a foreigner like myself. Everyone in Accra speaks to each other in Twi. Ive been trying to learn the basics to try to fit in but to be totally honest....i suck!
But if its one thing that makes up for all of the many challenges of fitting in in Ghana, its Ghana's unique sense of community. I absolutely love it here for that single reason! Ghanaian s are among the most friendliest people I've ever met. Everyone in Accra that I've met so far are so willing to give a helping hand. You can talk to almost anyone at any time! I find it really interesting to see that the most snobby people in Ghana seem to be foreigners haha. In Toronto, people in the public wont even look each other in the eye, let alone engage in conversation, but in Ghana it's a different story. There is a such a strong bond the Ghanaian community share which is something I admire and envy as a Canadian.
Ghana is considered a poor country in comparison to the western world when measured in global economic terms by its GDP, GNP and HDI. But in being in Ghana for just a week, I've soon come to realize that Ghana and the Ghanaian people are much richer than westerners hope to ever be. Although the Ghanaian standard of living may be significantly lower, the Ghanaian standard of being; one who loves, cares, and in doing so truly lives is immeasurable in its richness! I came across this quote during a tour of Dr. W.E.B. Du Bois home who is one of Ghana's most influential figures of all time. It reads:

"One thing i charge you. As you live, believe in life! Always human beings will live and progress to greater, broader and fuller life. The only possible death is to lose belief in this truth simply because the great end comes slowly, because time is long." Dr. W.E.B. Du Bois' last words.