Dave’s 7th Post

February 11, 2011

This is my second attempt at a seventh post. Jean volunteered to send off the first attempt and lost it in cyber space. Somehow my Word document was replaced by hers. What a shame, my legion of readers (two that I’m aware of—thanks Kristen and Becky) will be denied the wisdom of my observations and the pleasure of Pulitzer quality prose and reporting. I’m not a man who beats his wife, but I may make an exception in this case. Of course, it would be for her benefit only.

I recognize that my 6th post was a little dense and had a negative tone, not the happy traveler talk that one expects to encounter. This post will go down a little easier for those who are still with me. Let’s start with some factoids and observations about Africa.

•We just left Ghana on the west coast of Africa yesterday and are headed for the country South Africa. Africa has 53 states (countries) which are primarily the legacy of colonialism which were created with no regard for tribal or ethnic boundaries.

•Africa has over 800 languages, 1,000 ethnic groups, and all celebrations and rites of passage (birth, marriage, & death) have public dancing and music. Musicians are well respected in Africa.

•Drumming is universal and “spirit filled.” You don’t stomp your feet. You pound your chest to drive it inside.

•Ancestral spirits are important and summoned by music. At death, the soul does not disappear. It’s not reincarnation so much, but rather emulation of the good qualities of those who passed.

•At the Battle of Omdurman in 1898 in Kartum, Sudan, the British lost 28 while killing 11,000 attacking Africans. The Brits were using the new American invention, the Maxim machine gun. It wasn’t bravery that won the battle. It was technology.

•In thinking about the colonization of Africa, one can compare it to Europeans earlier conquest of the American Indian nations. Our colonial fore-fathers were a little better. They did not enslave the native population to my knowledge. Although Columbus did allow his men to hunt natives like rabbits for sport, which our textbooks fail to mention.

•We had a guest lecturer last week who does volunteer work in Africa helping villages putting in water wells. He claimed that because of child soldiering and other practices, there are more slaves in Africa today than during the international slave trade era.

The slave trade:

•Ghana was the embarkation point for 12 million slaves, 3m of which went to the US. Most went to Brazil and the Caribbean.

•Many on our ship, Benders included, visited Elimna Castle where slaves were held before being loaded on ships. Entering the castle they went through “The Door of No Return.” It chokes me up to just write about it.

•There were 300 slaves per ship, stacked on platforms with minimal food and water, and about 20% died on route

•They were chained but there were revolts and suicides

•Slaves with different languages were put on a ship to minimize plotting and revolt

•A recommended autobiography about an African who was seized and became a slave is titled Olaudah Equiano & the Igbo World.

Let’s move back to Ghana where we spent our first five days in Africa and where I am now an expert because of this experience.

•Ghana is English speaking, has 10 regions, is rich in resources, and has pervasive poverty.

•Trash is omnipresent and wrappers of various kinds are everywhere on and in the ground.

•Like every third world country I’ve visited, it does not have “the habit of maintenance” as the longshoreman and philosopher, Eric Hofer, would call it. Every structure is either unfinished or shabby in appearance. They have perfected the practice of building “instant old.”

•NEWS FLASH: THE CAPTIAN JUST ANNOUNCED WE ARE OVER THE PRIME MEREDIAN AND THE EQUATOR—0 latitude and 0 longitude. He said we might experience a slight bump (the bump part is a joke)

•60% of the world’s chocolate comes from Ghana and much of this is produced with slave labor. Children are abducted or sold into slavery from neighboring countries—see the movie The Bitter Truth. Hershey & M&M/Mars have 2/3 of the U.S. chocolate market. We have been encouraged to write to Hershey management to ask it to only use cocoa labeled slave free. Congressman E. Engel has proposed mandatory labeling in the U.S. Why do I assume he’s a Democrat?

•Ghana is rich in gold, cocoa, timber, and recently discovered oil.

•In 1957 Kwame Nkrumah (I’m guessing the George Washington of Ghana) declared independence for Ghana and was thrown in prison for his efforts.

•He was president of Ghana, which he renamed from its former name Gold Coast, from 1960 to 1966.

•I spoke to a political science professor on board today who predicted that democracy would not last in Ghana.

Jean’s blog described in excellent detail our overnight village stay. I would add that the village is very poor and partially dependent on money from SAS trips like ours that occur twice a year. Our visit is a win/win situation. In talking to the chief, who has royal blood and is a realtor on the side, I discovered they just started recycling plastic bottles three weeks ago but the village is littered with debris. Discarded material he told me is part of the culture and stuff is embedded in the ground from years past. The outskirts of the village looks like a dump in places. While Jean and I sat at the village store, customers would buy items and discard wrappers as they walked away. No trash barrels were in evidence although there was a communal dumpster. The village has homes from grass covered huts to unfinished concrete buildings. Below you will find in order, pictures of the chief, the village school, the library, and the principal’s office. The most revealing picture is the principal’s office. It is symbolic of the disarray and how difficult it will be for this culture to contend in the 21st century.

Jean mentioned the omnipresent religious signage and listed some of the more intriguing store titles. I’ve never experienced a more outwardly religious country. Most establishments have a religious identification sign. Jean recorded the names of the shops as I took pictures from our bus. Two of my favorites were Jesus Is the Answer Motor Care Shop and Immaculate Heart Clinic. I thought this second sign was a wonderful play on words and indicative of religion in Ghana, where as Jean mentioned in her blog, 70-80% are Christian. The river of religion seems very wide here but not deep. It is riddled with traditional native practices and superstitions which appeal to the heart, a symbol for emotion and feelings. And of course, every good Catholic is familiar with the title Immaculate Heart.

As Bugs Bunny used to say, “That’s all folks.” (for now)