Tuesday was a wonderful day; we toured the University of GHANA and had two wonderful speakers who shared their perspectives on the cultural and economic history of Ghana.
Professor Kofi Asare Opoku was kind enough to share with us five key Ghanian Proverbs as well as to explain the naming procedure for Ghanian babies (babies are named for the day of the week and are ascribed certain, postive personal characteristics).
The Five Ghanian Proverbs were:
*One must go out of one's house to be trained
*If you haven't been out of your house, you can't say your Mother's soup is the best
*Truth (Wisdom or Knowledge) is like a balbab tree; one person's arms cannot embrace it
*However big the eye may be; two eyes are better.
*Hunt in every forest for there is wisdom and reward in all of them
The students were thrilled with the presentation and didn't flinch when the lights went off (power outage). The professor was charming.
We had a nice luncheon at U/G dining room and we were fortunate that Kenya and Gifti (our associate from the AYA Center) were persistent, patient, and convincing in getting the Manager of the University Bookstore to open up so we could spend some Cedi (and we DID!). We cleared them out of their U/G sports wear (look for students sporting Tee's, tracksuits, and hats with U/G logos...except Doug decided to buy the hat with RUSSIAN Writing).
I was (unecessarily) worried about the afternoon session With Dr Vladimir Antwi-Danso Don Diego; the students were FULL and I expected some to fade in the heat of the afternoon session but our presenter was energetic and passionate in giving the students a fantastic overview of the recent economic history of Ghana. He tried to provide a context for the African slave trade as foundation for understanding the recent history. The students had many questions and comments and were fully engaged (rewarding for both Kenya and I).
We ended the day with a nice meal at an upscale restaurant (Buka) to celebrate Maria's 22nd birthday - complete with cake and singing!
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