obama rama

Hello all,

So last weekend was a big weekend since we made the trek to see Obama at the Accra Airport. It has been our understanding for the last month or so that Obama was not scheduling a PC event due to his tight schedule. A few days before Saturday, we found out that, indeed, there was going to be a PC event. :D Whoop whoop!
All the PC trainees left for Accra on Saturday morning from our training site near Kofrigidua. We traveled in two PC vans and a red tro. The trip took about three hours. We got to the PC site in Accra and got our tickets for the event. We then headed to the Embassy, though this was somewhat difficult since all the roads leading to the airport were blocked by the military. We had to wait at roadblock for about thirty minutes until the fully armed officers were thoroughly impressed by our PC logo on the vans and our laminated letter from the US Gov. We then waited at the airport, in the air conditioned Embassy buses, for at least an hour and half. Life in Ghana entails not knowing what is happening 24/7 and lots of waiting. While waiting, we watched the award-winning film Sheena. The themes include a blonde child being abandoned in Africa and then fulfilling the prophesy that a "Golden Child" will come to the tribe and save them (since they are not capable of saving themselves), a wise, older African woman that only speaks in prophesies and parables, an American journalist that finds Sheena and then is changed forever into a better man because of this savior/Golden Child/blonde with no hair on her body except her flowing golden locks. How ironic that in the Embassy bus we watched a movie with the themes of colonialism and Africa as the "Other."

Finally we got in line to get in our positions to see Obama. In typical Ghanian style, there was no order or process for letting people into the gate. There were about 100 of us from the Peace Corps waiting to get in and then about another 300 Ghanian. The police only instituted some semblance of order when the Ghanians began to push. There was a seperate space for the Peace Corps volunteers that was about 15 feet from the podium of the Ghanian president and Obama's podium. Before we saw Obama, there was drumming and dancing. Helicopters were taxing around the site of his speech constantly. He arrived at the airport in a helicopter and then was driven to the podium. When he arrived, we were ecstatic. It seemed so surreal. We were cheering so loudly that we did not hear what the Ghanian president, John Atta Mills, was saying during his first few lines. I could not see Obama too well. I stood on my tiptoes for the majority of the event. I just relished the fact that I could hear his renowned oratory skills first hand. I felt so priveleged. He gave the PC two shout outs and we responded widly. :D His speech focused on the themes of the extreme wealth Africa possesses in terms of man-power, the symbolic importance of Ghana (Cape Coast, first African nation to gain independence from a colonizer, one of the most peaceful countries in Ghana, the long-standing relationship with the U.S.), the appropriate role the U.S. can take in assisting Ghana, and the more important role the youth in Ghana most play in the development and sustainability of their own country.

What I find very interesting is the hope that Obama gives Ghanians. This event sparked many conversations about the U.S. , politics, and Obama. Of course, they were very pleased due to his administration's large monetary donation. That aside, the sentiments Ghanians express about Obama and the exuberance their countenances exhibit is an effect a bit more untangible. Many of us have walked through our villages to cheers of "Obama! Obama!" One just has to mention Obama and children and adults alike smile their widest smiles. At times like these, it feels so good to be an American. Policies and his first months in office aside, their joy is understandable. A man, who does not look so different from themselves, has the highest position in America for the first time in history. Seeing through their eyes, anything is possible, and this spirit is hard is contagious. At moments like these, I put away my intellect and the political issues I am concerned about, and just pump my fist in response to their cheers.

Oh yeah...one of the first comments my host mother said to me after I returned from Accra was, "Obama, what a fine, fine man. A handsome man!" She then proceeded to dance about the room for three minutes. We all have our reasons for jubilation. :D

hope all is well,
Lindsey