This Space, This Time...

Written on Nov. 2, 2011 Around Accra, Ghana   Greetings and well wishes to you and thanks in advance for your time while reading this message.  A bit of background: I moved to Ghana in February of 2011 with my boyfriend on what became an extended feasibility study . Our joint aim was to travel to West Africa, look for work, a place to stay and a community to thrive within- all within 5-months time. By the end of the five months, we found all of those things and so much more.  Nothing here is acquired without its price and serious emotional, physical and psychological pressure that takes a toll on us as individuals and as a couple. However, we are doing it and in our own ways creating ways to make the environment work to our advantage. But, its not easy-O!  This post is coming after a long absence from writing in this form, the last time being while I was physically and mentally transitioning in The States after a year of living in Busan, S. Korea. By the way, it fe...

Written Nov. 6, 2011 Around Accra, Ghana   Sharing... I never knew that one can be a genuinely lovely and a loving person, both empathetic and considerate, yet still have an issue with sharing. Well, my boyfriend, a middle child I will add, brought my last girl born issue to the light.  I believe that money is mine when I earn it and ours when he does... isn't that the way it works in a relationships? Sigh, I guess not... Ive never grown as much as I have in the last few months in West Africa.  It seems like I have been forced to dig deep within to make life livable throughout. In the relationship, with this new melting pot of culture and customs, and when on the job, or looking for assistance managing the jobs I am creating for others, I am learning to strengthen the focused, direct, humble and steadfast muscles inside myself that I never knew was so important for adulthood. Life... it is not easy o'.  

Written Nov. 29,  2011 Around Accra, Ghana Never Alone. In Ghana. It just occurred to me that I am alone. Completely alone. I cant remember the last time I could say that I was totally by my self . Its certainly been more than 8-months- since before I arrived in Ghana. I have not been alone for a solid period of 24 hours. I mean seriously alone- with the removal of everyone- coworkers, employees, bus passenger, talkative taxi drivers, random school children, neighbors, significant other, house guests, family and friends...  Remember the last time that I was so isolated from everyone, you know? Its a bizarre feeling for me right now, just because of how long its been since I have felt this way. A bit cautious, yet, cool, nervous and...    

One of the greatest 'take-aways' I still have from my work experience with the Kokrobitey Institute while in Ghana, is the awareness of an essay that I feel captures the essence of how I am now and still, who I aspire to be. The author has since laid to rest, but Taiye Tuakli-Wosornu was said to be herself a lovely Afropolitan herself. Her piece "Where is Babar" is also known as "What's an Afropolitan?" I want to share it with you all at this time. "What's an Afropolitan?" It’s moments to midnight on Thursday night at Medicine Bar in London. Zak, boy-genius DJ, is spinning a Fela Kuti remix. The little downstairs dancefloor swells with smiling, sweating men and women fusing hip-hop dance moves with a funky sort of djembe. The women show off enormous afros, tiny t-shirts, gaps in teeth; the men those incredible torsos unique to and common on African coastlines. The whole scene speaks of the Cultural Hybrid: kente cloth worn...

Check out what Ji Young & Ji Soo, the Korean students I taught while in Ghana wrote as a part of my lesson! http://akoreanstudentsdiaryinghana.blogspot.jp/ http://koreanstudentinghana.blogspot.jp/ They tell part of the story of my time there! Maraina

I beg anyone to disagree that a fitting motto for life in Ghana is simply " It's not easy ." This is stated by both native, foreign and repatriated folks all the same. Ghana may be a "peace country," as its proudly referred to by all those born here, but at times life in this land of peace can certainly make a sista want to go to war with some of these cats! However, instead of griping about the hardship that I may face as a new comer in the home of the Black Star, I find it more appropriate to offer some insight to those who have not yet arrived to Ghana about one group of citizens who have created not just a way, but an industry, to manage for themselves all the while chanting their national motto; It's not easy- O' . Accra is known for having the longest market in the world and all major roads leading to the city Center are brimming with hardworking Ghanaian men and women who I respectfully call the "Never-Knew-I-Needed-It-Til-You-Showed-It-To-M...

GoneToGhana: Mardi Gras v Harvest Festival