Living a Ghanaian Life
By Andrea Waitrovich, Staff Writer, The Poly Post
October 14, 2008
If you had the opportunity to travel to Africa, would you take it?
Twenty-two students were the second group to spend two weeks of their vacation in Ghana, Africa this summer as part of a study abroad program organized by the AYA Centre for Intercultural Awareness and Development.
The organization offers short term, quarter, semester and yearlong study abroad programs to all students.
These students stayed at Hotel Angelica in the country's capital, Accra. Each day, the students listened to lectures and presentations from various Ghanaian scholars.
"Not only are students exposed to lectures by distinguished Ghanaian scholars, but they are also immersed in the culture, history and traditions of Ghana," said Professor Renford Reese, a political science professor and group leader of the trip.
"Students earn 12 units of credit while having the experience of a life time."
The students visited various monumental sites throughout the country. For Ruminsha Bowyer, a third-year landscape architecture student, one of the most intense experiences was the trip to the Elmina slave castle.
"It was powerful. No words could describe it," said Bowyer. "Until this day, 500 years later, the female slave quarters [still] smell like death."
The slave trade had dramatically affected the continent which is still recovering from it. Historically, more African slaves passed through the Elmina slave castle than any other slave fort on the continent.
Students spent a few days at La Pleasure Beach, took a canopy walk in the Kakum National Park and visited rural towns.
Students interacted and established friendships with Ghanaian locals during the trip.
"Seeing everyone in Ghana so happy with so much less than me really had an effect on me," said Jonathan Avila, a third-year landscape architecture student.
Each student described their trip to be an amazing experience.
"To say that Ghana was amazing is an understatement and I have found it hard to relay my experience to anyone that has asked," said Ivee Yu, a former hospitality and restaurant management student. "This trip released an appreciation for life and culture that I have never felt and I feel honored to have had such an adventure in my lifetime."
Dan Fielder, senior political science student, said he enjoyed various aspects of the trip.
"I fell in love with the sweat of traveling without air conditioning. I fell in love with the omnipresent Ghanaian handshake," said Fiedler. "I fell in love with the relaxed attitude of the entire country..."
Students were given several assignment during their trip, including keeping an academic journal about daily lectures and site visits and conducting interviews with local Ghanaians.
The purpose of the trip was to learn about Ghanaian culture and to see how the United States influences the Ghanaian culture.
"Africa has always been featured as an obscure backdrop to the various adventures, battles, and sometimes, nefarious deeds of Western culture," said Tiffany Chi, a senior political science student. "The trip to Ghana opened my eyes to the vast array and richness that this continent has offered to the world and how privileged we were to experience it first-hand."
