My Professor, Andrew Linklater would have enjoyed this trip. There was no harm but in my small world I had been exposed to a microcosm of another civilization. Not better, not worst, simply different. When I set out on this journey, which for me was a true leap of faith, who would have thought that the experience would become so worthwhile? The risk was great, but as the poster at Jeff's front door says "RISK to embrace it is to carve a new path. To avoid it is to go nowhere". These words encouraged me to take my first journey alone on the African bus. Into yet another World that I now know as; Accra. Elias and Linklater have taught me a lot about people, I have now moved beyond their teaching and embrace my own views. Like so much that is African, these views are stronger and more distinctive.
I am white, living for a short while in a society of millions where hardly anyone is white. My journey to Africa has swayed the views of many of Michael's friends. He told me that they had believed that all white men were the same. It is not a good view, they were not being kind. Michael thanked me for breaking that myth. There were 50 at the traditional wedding and 200 at the Church and Reception. I was the white guy sat on the podium next to the Bride and Groom. I knew that they noticed me, how could they fail, for I had worn a Gold tie.
To avoid self harm, I had also removed my suit jacket. Linklater taught me, amongst many things, about harm. My latest take on harm is the Ghanaian prison system. I can only imagine in this heat what 'x' years with hard labour means. Worse still, this is the cold season. Hard labour is not about correction, it is solely about punishment. But in a society where so many have so little, it is little wonder that some fall by the wayside. They lack education, they lack job opportunities, they lack the means to pay for basic care. There is no social system and the biggest challenge for Ghana in the years ahead is to introduce improved education and social care. Maybe when they do, the 'hard labour' bit can be dropped and replaced by work in the community. Supervised of course, warm yes, returned to the prison at night, but hard labour no. This is something that I will have to discuss again with Michael when he becomes President in the next twenty years.
I am white, living for a short while in a society of millions where hardly anyone is white. My journey to Africa has swayed the views of many of Michael's friends. He told me that they had believed that all white men were the same. It is not a good view, they were not being kind. Michael thanked me for breaking that myth. There were 50 at the traditional wedding and 200 at the Church and Reception. I was the white guy sat on the podium next to the Bride and Groom. I knew that they noticed me, how could they fail, for I had worn a Gold tie.
To avoid self harm, I had also removed my suit jacket. Linklater taught me, amongst many things, about harm. My latest take on harm is the Ghanaian prison system. I can only imagine in this heat what 'x' years with hard labour means. Worse still, this is the cold season. Hard labour is not about correction, it is solely about punishment. But in a society where so many have so little, it is little wonder that some fall by the wayside. They lack education, they lack job opportunities, they lack the means to pay for basic care. There is no social system and the biggest challenge for Ghana in the years ahead is to introduce improved education and social care. Maybe when they do, the 'hard labour' bit can be dropped and replaced by work in the community. Supervised of course, warm yes, returned to the prison at night, but hard labour no. This is something that I will have to discuss again with Michael when he becomes President in the next twenty years.
