For our flight to Ghana, we met at the airport at 5am. We were all a bit excited and nervous: despite all our preparations we knew that whatever is expecting us would be a completely new experience. When we walked through the security check many backpacks needed to be controlled separately and guess what: two card games were tested for explosives But all in all, our flights to Brussels and the next one to Accra, the capital of Ghana, were good. We also passed immigration without trouble and finally walked out into the tropical humid heat. Beatrice, one of the Ghanaian buddies, and the TTT coordinator Dr Frank Twum surprised us with a nice Akwaaba (Welcome). The road to Winneba and to our host families was under construction, so it was a really bumpy ride. But when we safely arrived in Winneba the second welcome was expecting us from our host families.
The next day we finally met all our buddies for a fresh coconut at Sir Charles beach. During the next two days our buddies showed us the three different campuses (North, Central, South) and other parts of Winneba, e. g. the market. We learned how to get a taxi (equivalent to the German public transports) and that you shouldn’t pay more than 5 cedis if your way is on the main road. On Tuesday we had our official orientation at the North Campus student center where, after another warm welcome, we learnt something about cultural shock, the UEW and security. After lunch we were taken to our different internship schools.
Our first official day at school started for all of us at 7 or 8am. The two of us are at a Senior High school for girls. Here, too, everyone welcomed us very warmly and our mentors explained to us which lessons we can observe and teach in our respective subjects. We were also told that interns are expected to be present for the whole school day but aren’t expected to be in class all the time. So, we used this requirement as an opportunity and completed our timetable with additional subjects we were interested in, for example Jewelry, Food and Clothing, Music and Literature. The classes we have observed so far are different from what we know. The teacher is mostly teaching in front of the class and usually the students are listening, taking notes and answering the teacher’s questions. The class sizes vary between six and 36 students, who all wear a school uniform. It is hard for us to understand everything in each lesson because English is not our native language, we are not yet used to the Ghanaian accent and there are often background noises. Still, the lessons are really interesting and filled with new topics for us. Funnily, there are many other interns at our school who are a big help with all our questions. We often sit with some of them under a big mango tree at school.
Generally, the people in Winneba are really friendly and open-minded. As a greeting, you always ask “How are you?” even if you don’t know the person at all. Another form of politeness is the phrase “You are invited”. You say it to the people around you before you start eating something. Not only our host families and buddies, but everyone we’ve met so far, are incredibly hospitable towards us. People or children, if they don’t know us and want our attention, sometimes call us “Oburoni” (Fante term for a white person). This is still a bit unusual, as well as the concept of “Ghanaian time” in which a “soon” or a starting time can be very vague. At the same time, we enjoy that everything seems to be more relaxed here. Another thing that we enjoy is the Ghanaian food. We have already tried Jollof rice, GobƐ and fried plantain. You can also buy fruits at some of the many shops and stands along the streets. When we walk around, we notice for example chickens and goats (also cute baby goats!), some colorful dresses, trash in the gutters, coconut trees, and people carrying goods on their heads.
Most of our afternoons we spent at Sir Charles Beach, one of the places where you are not continuously sweating. Sadly, because of the current it is dangerous to swim in the sea, but we enjoy sitting in the sand, collecting shells and watching the waves. On Saturday, some of our buddies even took us to a beach resort close to Winneba, where we enjoyed more beach, good food, took pictures and played the card game “UNO”. All in all, it was a really good and exciting first week full of new impressions and cordial encounters.
By Imke and Ida
