What I Did on My Summer Vacation

A Note from Tohajie: This blog entry is from another member of my Ghanaian family, Amdrew Goldman, who teaches in Boston. He is a person who is forthright and honest, and has offered a unique perspective throughout the six-week trip. I hope you enjoy...


All along during our trip I had mixed emotions about the homestay looming at the end of the trip. Would it be great, or would it be an ordeal? As it turned out, I was the last one to be dropped off with my family, the Akyeampongs of Aburi. The husband is a very experienced Presbyterian minister and former teacher, while his wife taught family studies for over thirty years herself. A formidable pair, who were accompanied by two young girls, Ada and Emelia, whose status I was never able to figure out. They were in the care of the mother, Juliana, who sent them to school, but they functioned as servants around the house, cooking and cleaning in seeming perpetual motion. I didn’t notice a lot of affection aimed in their direction, but Juliana worked along side of them most of the time. Another African mystery...
From the very first, it was clear I was in a very religious household, not surprising since it was the Mission House for the nearby church, run by its leader. However, as it turned out the Reverend Kwaku was more interested in people’s character and how they behaved than in their interactions with others then in their strict adherence to specific religious practices. It was his wife who was much more interested in my personal beliefs, and in teaching me about the centrality of Jesus Christ in all of our lives. I listened politely, agreed with the principles when I felt that way, but to her disappointment didn’t leap at the chance to affirm my faith. They were amiable discussions, usually over meals while her husband was busy with church business, which walked in the door anytime night or day.
It was the discussions I had with the Reverend that were the most enlightening. While I found him presiding over a rural congregation in his last months before retirement (he’s 70), he has done some amazing things over the years. He describes himself as a builder and an organizer, and he has taken a number of churches over the years and inspired his flock to grow, improve the physical condition of their house of worship, and to get more people involved with both improving their own lives and in serving their community. His photo albums are filled with smiling people at his installment in various pulpits, presiding over weddings, and sadly seeing him off to other assignments. He was also a Peacekeeper during the South African elections in 1994, which meant he was an observer. Another member of his team: Jimmy Carter. Indeed. We talked about everything - personal values, teaching, world peace (really!), black-white relations, raising kids, travel, and some topics I have forgotten. Over the course of these conversations, we found ourselves in tune with the others beliefs on a very deep level. We, two men from very different backgrounds and homelands, not to mention religious histories, had very similar views of the world. We were both pleasantly surprised, and very touched and pleased.
I had a number of fascinating experiences with the Akyeampongs. On Saturday, the Reverend was asked to officiate at a funeral far away near Kumasi, so I accompanied his wife to another funeral in a nearby town. As her husband was to deliver the sermon, we got more than a few second looks when we walked past the laid out body and went up to greet the local minister. Then I was seated in the front row facing all of the mourners! This was clearly an occasion when I would have to strive to not fall asleep - Juliana would never hear the end of it. After awhile, a man came up to us with a paper and pencil, to find out who I was. Juliana spoke to him and later, when the visiting dignitaries were introduced, Brother Andy of Boston visiting from the United States was compelled to stand up and wave to the gathering. Life as a celebrity. This happened again the next day in church (of course), and then again on Monday as we attended a celebration of the institution of the new teacher training policy at a local teacher training school - as a fellow teacher and not a politician, I got big applause - how funny is that! The wildest thing is that this “new” policy is 35 years old! Rev. Akyeampong remembers it being passed in 1972 under Busia, when he worked in the Secretariat of the Presbyterian Church. Unfortunately, when the military government came in such things were shelved.
But my various visits to the VIP platform won’t be my enduring memories of this visit. What I will cherish are the images of a loving family, and of a community united joyfully around its faith. Not coming from an especially close family, and living in the ever malleable United State where practically no one lives where they grew up, these stark differences from my life were especially poignant for me. This is a way of life that clearly works for these people, and I hope that in their drive to be more modern, to reach for some of the things they see that will make their lives easier, that the people of Ghana don’t lose the aspects of their culture that we would do well to emulate. I had so much fun pounding foo-foo, learning that I shouldn’t “fear my own hand” when eating kenke or anything else without cutlery, and showing that even an abronie (white foreigner) enjoys the spicy sauces that Ghanaians love. All of this, along with a series of spontaneous gift exchanges, solidified my place in this family.
And there is a person who deserves his own paragraph - Kofi, who is finishing up his university career at Cape Coast. He is studying Math and Statistics, and hopes for a job in telecommunications after he completes his national service. We had an amazing time comparing notes on college life, people (who values you enough to call on their cell phone when it costs them minutes!), playing sports, and life in general. We chatted for hours, and when his mom declared that he had a new wufi, or uncle, neither one of us had any desire to contradict her. Kofi is his father’s son, but has his own mind. He questions everything around him, respecting what seems to him to be sincere and consistent, and wondering about the rest. I think he is well on the way to being an extraordinary young man, and I would not be surprised to find us in touch in ten years time. Kofi is quietly intense, but also has a sneaky sense of humor which I very much appreciate.
This whole visit to Ghana has, for me, been a much bigger stretch than my jaunt to China three summers ago. This has been much more personal - in China, we mostly observed from afar. This trip has been a get in and get our hands dirty, rather than an academic exercise. Both approaches have their place, but this time around has taken root in me in a much deeper way. I have plenty to tell my students to be, and perhaps even more to mull over on my own and with friends. This is an important time in my life, and only the future will show how I come through it. Stay tuned, and come along for the ride!