I've never travelled so far for such a short time. Each way nineteen/twenty hours. It seems surreal that I was really to and back from a different continent in a blink of an eye.
On Saturday evening, I left San Francisco, arrived in Accra via Paris on Sunday.
On Monday, I went to the UPSA campus for the first time and met with some faculty (the dean of the law school, the deans of public law and private law, the registrar, and other professors) and a meet and greet with the Vice Chancellor. Monday was mercifully short and I was able to take a swim and rest up for my busy next few days.
Tuesday was my busy teaching day, and I ended up teaching (surprise!) three classes almost back to back to back from 2:30 to 7:30 p.m. By the end of the day, I could barely talk. I realized that I felt much less comfortable teaching the students as I felt working with the faculty.
On Wednesday, I did a "training" for the faculty (around 25) on clinical and experiential education. Franca facilitated a discussion following the training. Afterwards, she and I had a very productive one-on-one talk, and then I had a curriculum meeting with Franca and Dr. Rowland, the public law Dean. My part was mostly over by the end of Wednesday, which was a huge relief.
I was happy to just be a participant on Thursday. Victor Ayeni, a human rights expert from Nigeria, gave the main talk, and he was joined by a speaker from Justice for All, a program that helps individuals facing extended pre-trial detention obtain release, as well as one of the professors who had formerly been a judge. It wasn't until after the lectures on Thursday that I got my first glimpse of central Accra when Eben and Franca took me and Victor to see the Black Star Square, where the presidential inauguration takes place, and the Black Star Gate. The year Ghana gained independence from the British, 1957, is lettered on the top of the gate. It seems crazy to me that independence was so recent. Many Ghanaians are alive who fought for independence. While we were at the monument, I noticed there were other Americans there. Franca said this was very common, and the Government had promoted 2019 as "the year of Return" for Black Americans to come and discover their roots, and potentially trace them to specific villages.
Friday was the debrief at the U.S. Embassy, followed by a long lunch at a fancy restaurant, then shopping at the very overwhelming Art Market, a traditional tourist market with lots of stalls. Satrday was a weird bonus day meant for sightseeing, but really was lunch (more food!), a search for local alcohol for a gift for Kent, and then a visit to Accra Mall where Franca and I had pedicures and I also did some non-bargaining shopping. And that was it! After dinner, Franca took me straight from the mall to from
I have to say, Ghanaians are so friendly and warm, and I felt incredibly safe there. But Accra did not seem like a very beautiful city. Friday was the briefing at the U.S. Embassy, then Eben, Franca, Victor and I went to a very fancy restaurant for a long lunch of traditional Ghanain food.
The most memorable times of the week were actually all of the in-between moments, like all of us crammed in Franca's office talking about consumer issues in Ghana, or me, Eben, and Victor talking about human rights in Africa, or Franca, Eban, Victor, and I all talking over lunch about the various foods of Africa, or Franca and I dishing about dating! Some things are universal :)
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