Flabbergasted

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

I don’t know how to write today’s blog without bringing anger and disgust to most of you. Today I had a lecture that I am not sure I will be able to continue on with. I may have to drop the class because it is extremely anti-western and the professor is so ignorant. It is titled Africa in the Global System, but the only thing we discussed was how American’s (not all American’s just those that have contributed to destroy the Earth: George Bush, Condi Lisa Rice, and others) are blood sucking, money grubby people. Putting politics aside, everyone out there who agrees and does not look fondly on George Bush, please continue reading because your opinion of this professor will soon change. He explained that socialism is the best system and in order to have a Democracy there must be no poverty and everyone should be economically equal. He seems not to grasp the concept that Democracy is when all people have equal voting rights and basic freedoms. He exclaimed that the west has destroyed the rest of the world, especially Africa. The reason that Africa has failed as a continent is because America has refused to step in and has condoned terrible leaders. He leaves no fault for the leaders of the individual countries and the atrocities they have committed against their people. He made no reference to the oil, coco, or gold resources that exist in Ghana, but bring no wealth into the country because the government is corrupt. He truly believes that if it wasn’t for the west wasting money on the military and paying the police officers Africa would be thriving because America could step in more often.

I haven’t mentioned Ghanian police earlier, but now it seems imperative that you understand the system. When someone gets stopped they don’t get a ticket, they just go immediately to jail. However, this never happens because the taxi driver (in our case) just offers the cop a couple of cedis and he leaves. There is check points where the cops are suppose to look into the car and ensure nothing illegal is taking place. There were seven of us in one taxi we got stopped at a checkpoint, the cop looked in and grabbed one of the girls hands. He proceeded to kiss her hand and ask which one of us would be his girl friend; he made no comment on the fact that we were jammed into the vehicle like it was a clown car.

The professor of the Global System class had the audacity to compare the Ghanian police force with the American police force, when anyone who has been to both countries realizes there are vast differences. He proceeded to say that soldiers are worth nothing and do nothing to help our country. Whether you agree with the war or not, whether you agree with the privileges given to soldiers or not, whether you agree with the income of the soldiers or not, no one has the right to say that our soldiers are worthless. Without men willing to fight for the good of the people, AMERICA WOULD NOT BE THE COUNTRY IT IS TODAY. My insides boiled the entire time he spoke, I just can’t believe some of the things he claimed to be fact.

Later we went to Madina, which is one of the larger markets. This was the first market we went to that was not aimed at tourists, but was average Ghanians doing their weekly shopping. It was extremely intense with people asking us constantly to go look at their shops. You can’t really take photos in the market because cameras are a hot commodity in Ghana. It is different then anything I have ever seen, I have never had so many different people pull me in so many different directions.

Later on the day improved. We practiced again for the Durba and I was given a duet with David, one of the other CIEE members, although I think I am just going to look like a fool. After we went to Reggae night, which I was very disappointed with because I really wanted to go to Salsa Night. But by the time we finished practicing it was to late for salsa, which begins at seven and ends at eleven. Although I did not want to go to the beach for Reggae I went anyway and it turned out to be a lot of fun. We danced the entire night until the last taxi was leaving and forced us to leave the dance floor because the boys we hangout with are over protective and always worry we can’t figure things out on our own.

When I got back I discovered that my roommate had left the key in the lock on the inside, so my key wouldn’t work. Thankfully Sarah’s roommate wasn’t around and I was able to sleep in her room for the night.