Ghana @ 50!

Ghana @ 50, the celebration of 50 years of "freedom," has been perhaps the most hyped aspect of my visit in Ghana, and I have to say that the day itself lived up to the talk. We somehow got the (very silly obruni) idea to walk through Osu to Independence Square, an enormous expanse of concrete the guidebooks like to mock. It may be a ridiculous use of beachfront property most of the time, but on very special occasions it becomes an amazing place to be.


In terms of descriptions, I think the photos speak for themselves pretty well. We survived the crowds, my camera was not stolen (despite a few attempts), and we only lost one of our friends. While she was lost, however, before fleeing back to the hostel, she took a lot of great photos, many of which I have stolen and displayed here. If you have ever been to a city in Africa, combine that level of disorder with the kinds of crowds you might find on the mall in D.C. on the 4th of July, and you have some idea of what the day was like.


The afternoon held a rather different sort of celebration for us, as we all visited the juvenille detention facility where one of our friends volunteers as a teacher. We brought FanIce (really creamy ice cream) and Netanus's enormous drum, and what we got was a group of young boys, aged 6 up through 16 (at least) drumming, dancing, and playing with our digital cameras. Some of them were absolutely adorable, and as with most interactions with children here, I felt vaguely guilty leaving. I know that caring for children is not what I am best at (which is why I have decided to do my volunteering for the West Africa AIDS Foundation doing outreach and education work) but I still always feel like I should be giving more of my time to these kids who obviously love the attention.

For now I will refrain from any more discussion of NGOs and aid and guilt, which I just wrote a 5-page paper about, and just let you enjoy the pictures. Ghana is 50! I never grow tired of listening to Ghanaians argue about whether or not real progress has happened in those 50 years. Maybe by the end of my stay here I can tell you.

PHOTOS: the crowds in Independence Square, the photo Netanus got lost to take, Josh dancing in his flag, then drumming and dancing with the kids

NOTE: I will be travelling for the next week or two (the entire trip is TBD), so I will be unfortunately out of touch, though I may be able to get in to an internet cafe in between buses and "mountain"-climbing. There will be many adventures and reflections to share after my travels in the Volta region, mainly what the ethics are of being a "tourist" in a place like Ghana.