International education week

I was chosen as 1 of 65 kids to go to 12 amazing countries for the 2016-2017 year with the YES abroad program.  I now want to encourage students all over the United States to apply for this program (the application is due December 1).  This program is run by the State Department and gives full scholarships to all students accepted.  

I am currently on my exchange in Ghana, Africa and it is an experience that is so unique, and so amazing that I know it will be a part of who I am for the rest of my life.  You experience wonder, amazement, confusion, loneliness, sadness, love, friendship and so much more.  There are so many aspects of the country that you experience and learn about.

The host family is the base of your exchange, they are the ones who will be most important to you on exchange.  The host family also gives you a deeper understanding of the culture.  My family is always smiling, asking me at every opportunity how I am doing.  My Mom wakes up every morning at 4:30 and makes lunch for my little sister and I to take to school. My Dad always is so happy to see me that I always feel so much better around him.  My little sister holds my hand through the market, making me feel like one of the family.  My sister that is my age is away at boarding school but when she sees me she gives me the biggest hugs, and jumps up and down with excitement.  With this exchange you learn of the love and kindness of people who never met you but then take you in as their own child.  

School is an experience, sometimes maybe it feels like you are not learning much academically, but what you are learning can never be put on a transcript.  School is where you make friends who are so interesting and different you could talk to them all day.  My school is very different from what my school in the USA is like, but with that I'm truely understanding how school is for so many other kids.  My school is a boarding school, and I'm the only white person there.  Being the minority is a crazy but amazing experience.  School lets you be with so many other kids your age who you can learn so much from.  

The markets are a huge part of Ghana.  In the market I can buy dresses, tomatoes, credit for my phone, toilet paper, and some plantain chips all in less than 10 yards.  walking through the market is actually one of my favorite things to do.  The variety of venders is incredible and I can't help but stop at most of them.  I will never get to taste all the amazing food sold on the street, most of it is carried on people's heads on trays or in boxes until someone wants to buy some.  In the market you see so many people dressed in their brightly colored African prints.  But the best thing is the kindness of the people, always asking if you are lost, wanting to know your name and if you'll be their friend, and laughing with happiness when I can speak a little of their local language.  One time I was trying to get to a shop to buy stuff for my Mom, and when some ladies asked where I was going I told them, they laughed and said I was very far away.  They immediately flagged down a taxi for me and made sure the driver did not make me pay to much, I'll always remember them even though I don't even know their names.

Transportation here in Ghana is hectic but kinda fun.  The most common way to get around is by trotro, which is a bus people are constantly getting on and off.  It is very cheap, but you can't be scared to get cozy with your neighbor cause they pack people into them. To get on a trotro you stand on the side of the road and when one passes you use hand signals to show where you are going and if that trotro is going the same way they will pull over for you to get on.  Usually when they pull over you have to jump out of the way or they will hit you.  You can also take taxis. Most the time you take shared taxis which are not too expensive.  With a shared taxi it is similar to a trotro just smaller.  You can also charter a taxi to take you exactly where you want to go, but this is definitely the most expensive option.  Getting places is a whole exciting experience in of its self when your on your toes trying not to get hit, while also trying to get a ride to the right place.

With living abroad you get to learn much more than you'll ever know.  You get to break stereotypes about your country, and also the people you meet will break the stereotypes you had about them.  While living abroad you grow so much stronger, you become more your own person.  You will be building bridges and tearing down walls.

A visit to the hospital

Don't be alarmed by the title I am perfectly fine.  On October 27th I woke up with a very soar throat, which in the USA I would have taken cough drops and gone to school, or if I was feeling lazy would have convinced my mom to let me stay home.  Because it is Ghana it was 4:30 am that I went into the kitchen to tell my mom who was cooking that I had a soar throat, she told me I needed to go to the hospital, I thought that was overdoing it but she insisted.  Since she was going to Accra for the day she left the house by 5.  I slept until 8 (and cried because I was homesick) then I caught a taxi to my moms work in town where my dad and one of my moms workers met me, they then took me to the hospital which is literally 100 yards from my moms work but I had never noticed it before because it is behind all sorts of run down Ghanian homes and other buildings.

I am not writing this to explain what happened to me but to share what going to the hospital is like for all Ghanaians.  I don't know how it is all run but I'll try to explain it as best I can.  The hospital is small, you sign in and wait outside.  When you sign in you show an insurance card or pay some money.  For me, my dad took me to the female recovery room where there were about 4 beds with sick people in them.  The nurse in there sat next to a computer and she asked me what was wrong I told her and she typed it in to the computer. Then took me to another room where another person and nurse were and she weighed me and took my temperature.  She then sat me in a room with about 40 others one at a time we went into one doctors office, each patient taking about 2 min.  When it was my turn the doctor just said go to the lab, this was after I waited for about 1 1/2 hours.  I didn't really know what was going on but I went and sat with about 50 others waiting out side the lab.  The same nurse who helped me in the begaining called me into the female recovery room again, where I saw the nurses giving soda and fried food to the patients.  I was sat down on a bed next to a girl with tubes coming out of her wrist, across from us were two little girls who also had tubes coming out of them and were asleep.  The nurse all the sudden was tying some rubber tube around my wrist tightly, then I saw the needle in her had and realized it was for me.  She turned my hand over cleaned it then put the needle in and withdrew my blood.  She put a cotton ball on it and told me to hold it on my hand till it stopped bleeding.  I went and sat outside with my dad we sat there for three hours I slept most of the time, most others there did the same.  Around 1 the same nurse told me they needed my urine and she gave me a small container. After giving it back to her I sat again for another half hour.  Through all this I was never told why this was happening, or if anything was wrong but it seemed like that's the experience for everyone who goes to the hospital.  When results come from the lab it is for about 20 people so we all go back to the one doctor who tells us what's wrong, so after waiting for another hour I was told I have a small infection, but no malaria.  So the doctor sent me to the pharmacy which is in the same building where I go some vitamin c, again after waiting for another hour.  So after sitting all day at the hospital I learned that I could have gone and bought oranges instead.  But it was really eye opening to see the medical system here, it really shows how privileged we are in the USA.  The things that stood out to me were that everyone there looked fairly wealthy.  There is no such thing as appointments you only go to the doctor when needed.  Getting into the doctors office involved lots of arguing between patients cause everyone wanted to finish as soon as possible.  I had a needle stuck in me, and no one told me why it was happening the only reason I knew was because I saw the needle in her hand.  If you need serious medical attention you must go to Accra, where they have more resources.  Even though for medical reasons the visit was pointless, I'm glad I got to experience that part of Ghana. 

Religion

A key part of Ghanian culture is religion, and everyone I've met since arriving here has been religious.  Not in the USA standards of religious, but more intense like going to a church or mousque 3 or more times a week, and praying everyday.  The people here are Muslim or Christian, there are some other religions but they are not very common.

I go to church with my family and it is a lot of singing, dancing, discussing, and praying.  It is a really amazing experience to watch how much things like God and Jesus move people spiritually.  Since I'm not religious it can sometimes be amusing to watch the people in church, but I don't think any less of them because of what they believe.

      I've grown up in a world where there are hundreds of ways to believe, your beliefs can be completely unique to you and that is ok.  In the USA I called myself Jewish even know I don't believe in God or many other spiritual things, I am culturally Jewish.  When people in the USA asked what I believed in I would say I believe in love and nature.  I have no issue with any set of beliefs, as long as your a good and moral person, than I respect the way you believe. 

      Here in Ghana I can't tell people I'm Jewish because then they automatically assume I believe in God, and that's not true.  Once I tell people I don't believe in God they ask in a very confused manner, "well then how was heaven formed?"  I would assume that someone who doesn't believe in God would also not believe in heaven, but here that idea is so unheard of that it just can't be fathomed.  Another common question is "if you don't believe in God who do you think created you?" I usually answer that I believe in evolution, and many times have been told that evolution is a delusion.  Usually at this point I just say "well we have different beliefs I respect yours and I hope you respect mine" and so far everyone has said they respect my beliefs.

My family is Christian and very religious.  They know that I support gay rights, and am pro-choice with abortion as well as some other things that go against the bible, and they respect that even if they don't agree.  I'm glad they know because I don't want to hide my beliefs, I want them to love me for all my beliefs not just the ones I think they will agree with.  My mom and me have had many discussions about religion, we usually don't agree but there is no tension.  One of the big things we have discussed is moral.  My mom says she try's to do everything as best she can and show as much love as she can because on judgement day God will look at all her sins and all the good things she has done.  She doesn't understand that even though I don't believe in judgement day I still do good, she thinks that if I truely didn't believe in judgement day then I wouldn't care about who I hurt or what I did in my life because no one will punish me after death.  

In school there is a lot of religion which is weird for me coming from the USA, where religion is a touchy subject in school.  Here everyday before school starts there are prayers.  Many teachers talk about God in class, I'm in a class called Christian religious studies (CRS), which is pretty much just readying the bible.  One of the weirdest things though is that before every physics class the teacher has us pray, which just seems so out of place.  And in ICT (information, communication, and technology) we pray at the end of class.  At break very commonly students come to the class rooms and preach to us, which was definitely shocking the first time that happened.  Many have told me to accept Jesus Christ as my personal savior, or to believe in God.  I have asked some of them why and non have given me a very clear answer, or they say that if I don't I'll go to hell.  They don't say this in a mean way, they say it more as, they really don't want me to go to hell.  Mostly though people just don't understand, it doesn't make sense, in there world religion is part of everyone's life, if you aren't religious something is wrong so they really want to help you.  

            Another thing is the bible is law.  So when I talked to one girl we got on the subject of gay rights.  The said she would have no issue with gay people but the bible said it was wrong so there for she was not ok with it.  I've also heard when people learn that I don't believe in God, heaven, or hell,  "but the bible says they are real.", they would never think I don't also believe in the bible.  Through all this learning of religion I may change some of by beliefs or not, but I'm ok with either.

      Even though I don't think I'll every be particularly religious, I am really happy to learn about religion, since it is such a big part of so many people's lives around the world.  This country is sometimes called the most religious country.  Not because of how religious people are but the % of people who are religious is the highest.  I'm learning lots and working through this exchange day by day.  Miss all my family and friends.