One Month Later...

Hello everyone! I hope this message finds you all well. I finally got around to being proactive about purchasing some wireless internet in my room here and decided to send out an update. 

I have been in Ghana for exactly one month now (already?). Time seems to be going by so slow and fast at once, which is kind of confusing. But, that's life here. I live in a student hostel, Evandy, with two other Ghanaian girls. I travel from Legon to Osu, the cosmopolitan center of Accra. The traffic is bad paaa! I have to take one shuttle from Evandy to the main gate of campus where I catch a trotro to 37 station. From there I pick my final car to Osu. I stay in an office most of the day, so I do not really feel like I am IN Ghana. I feel like I am IN this office. This is life after college, eh? E no be easy, but e go be (pray).

Tomorrow I will travel to Aburi (I hope), to work on some plot of land. It will be nice to get out of Accra for a few days. Oh! I should elaborate on my work small small. We hosted a Global Shea Conference here in Accra to put shea on the map as far as it being the solution to ending "poverty" and promoting industry. Of course, this idea of poverty is problematic. Not to say it does not exist but its root cause is not the west usually dissects. Of course, that is my own thinking. A side note, I met people from South Sudan at this conference--the newest country in the world! That was such a great moment. South Sudan, we are rooting for you!

Burkina Faso is having some issues with their government--they will be okay though, the people are speaking. That is what I have noticed here, or what has been reinforced. There is an inherent consciousness that cannot, will not, be broken. One of the many reasons I love Ghana. However, it seems like every country surrounding Ghana is going through some kind of governmental change. So, Africa in general and West Africa in particular is an interesting place to be right now!

Coming back to a country for the second time is pretty remarkable. I am still amazed that I can walk to campus and people actually remember who I am and the things we used to speak about. I forgot I had a life here, I immersed myself here. To return to that is refreshing. At the same time, I have learned a valuable lesson. We think the grass is always greener and sometimes, it is not. I am learning now to accept things as they are and as they come and to enjoy the moment I have in the present, rather than worrying about the past or what lies ahead. In other words, I miss my home, I miss UCSB, but all of this is to be expected. Chimamanda Adichie says that "you travel to search and you come back home to find yourself there." This holds so much truth. 

So many things have happened but I cannot really recall everything at this moment--go figure. But I am here learning, growing, reflecting, adapting. I am exactly where I am supposed to be. I'll leave you with a short story:

A few days ago on my way to work, I was walking to 37 station--a very busy trotro station. In the street, traffic was zooming but came to a  sudden standstill (as it normally does). I heard my name being called, so I turned. It was a friend from 2009, a Ghanaian student, sitting in the passenger side of a trotro. He said to me "I thought you were joking about coming back to Ghana!" And there I was, standing in the middle of traffic telling him, "No, Eric, I came back. I'm back!" 

Sankofa--go back and fetch from the past.

Let's see what else unfolds. Sending you all lots of love and happiness! I miss you!

Yebehyia,

Abena