Kay's Thoughts

Hello! Kay here, writing from Kumasi, Ghana. We've been here for nine days so far, and it has been one of the most unique and different experiences I have ever had.
Some thoughts on race and being white in Ghana:
In Ghana whiteness is the exception not the rule. As my host brother Daniel said to me, "everyone in the united states is black-white-black-white. Here everyone is black. Everyone." Everywhere you go as a white person in Ghana you are stared at and treated with a kind of tenuous reverence. Many of the children have never seen a white person. Sometimes the very small children even cry and run away when they see us. Everyone here calls white people 'obruni', the Ghanaian term for white. Unlike similar epithets for races in the U.S., however, the term is not one of prejudice, but simply a statement of fact. As you walk down the street, everyone will shout 'obruni! bruni! white man!" to get your attention or solicit their wares. They mean no offense at all, which is a unique truth to get used to. I have come to value my difference here very much. The tables are turned on race in Ghana and being the minority race gives an amazing amount of perspective on racial differences everywhere in the world. In the United States, despite every integration effort, there are still evident rifts between blacks and whites- with whites being the overwhelming majority. Here, as in there, the stares of the people are more indicative of interest and curiosity than hostility. There are some people of an older generation who still mistrusst whites, but for the most part everyone is friendly and inviting- but curious.

That's all for now!
-Kay