///WrappingItUp///

Its my last day of work. In thirty minutes I will officially be no longer an employee of Saatchi & Saatchi, only an unemployed wanderer who is left to figure out where this road leads him .Well, who am I kidding I'm trying to figure out which road gets me fastest to the nearest club tonight! But my coworkers are sad to see me go which is a good feeling because I consider them good friends after these 5 weeks and I'm glad to see they feel the same. Plus, as evidence to prove their emotional bleeding I have a huge yellow shirt in my posession now that reads "I REP GHANA", its extremely official.I learned a lot of great things here and I think it will definitely stand out on my resume and set me apart, especially in this shit job market.
So last weekedn we cruised to the Volta region which is as far east as you can go without hitting Togo. It was a quick trip but we go to go to the Wli(pronounced valee) waterfalls, which is the biggest waterfall in Africa. This picture doesnt depict the bottom well but there is a huge pool of water where everyone swims and you can stand under the waterfall as it drills you. It is about a 45 minute walk both ways in a place that looks like you're walking through Jurassic Park. Nonetheless it was legit. The next day we went to the monkey sanctuary where we got to feed the monkeys bananas, then they would peel them in our hands and eat them it was hilarious/really cool.
Anyways, I have one last weekend to take in Ghana and then I am headed to South Africa with my friend Kaleigh fro two weeks. We will be staying in Johannesburg for a couple days then Durban, then Cape Coast. I can't wait, it should be fantastic. Talk soon my friends, miss you all!

///FromThePitch///

As I strum through another stack of endless papers from my desk of despair I will risk lack of job security to enlighten you on a topic closest to my heart, the activity that is athletics. I would be a fool to travel to a country which inhabits the most remarkable athletic specimens I have laid eyes on, and not report back. The problem is that Ghanaians know one sport: Football (soccer, for the culturally challenged).Everywhere you look there is a game going on. As we speak, as the Backstreet Boys pulsate my ears inside office, outside the confines a football game ensues. And let me save you the suspense they arn't playing in a dome where the astrograss can be ejected from the stadium to catch sunlight and then return to its proper posistion. The pitch I describe looks more like a Middle East battleground than a field, with an uneven plain scattered with rocks and all sorts of obstacles that could potentially misdirect the ball, which would all accumulate to frustration and possible retirement for Americans but these players couldn't be more in the zone. As the sweat drips down their faces and their commands echo out to their teammates, their competetiveness is synonnymous with exstacy. Its an escape, pardon the cliche but its true. Cept they're game is on point. Excellent precision and teamwork. As an audience assembles inside and outside the walls and goals go back and forth through unnetted goalposts, it becomes clear that these guys can really play. I think part of that due to their hard labor childhood, where they all worked carrying and moving materials for their parents which has molded their Statue of David physiques (which if the rumors are true, without the small endowment). . And the other is just God given, as I discovered that Ghanaians don't exercise when I decided to go on a run and everyone looked at me like I was running FROM something. Taxis honked as if to imply that they could just give me a ride to wherever I was going. It found me confused as I pondered how jacked these guys are for how little they exercise and simultaneously jealous of course.
But then I tried something.
If Ghanainans are so good with their feet what about their hand eye coordination? I asked our security guard George to throw me a baseball I brought from home. Not only did he throw like Smalls from the "Sandlot" pre-Benny instruction, I could see he craved to bounce it on the ground and boot one over to my glove. It was so bad I felt like he should have been throwing lefthanded. Like just when he was about to release and follow through he was suddenly struck by lightening and had a siezure as the ball spike into the ground. They cant catch or throw like us, but they can kick the shit out of a size 5
Which got me thinking. What if someone we to come over here and introduce American football to these kids, could they catch on permanently? Of course the pure logistics of the game would take time but they have the perfect formula for it. Ghanaians are not very tall but are strong and fast, perfect for the backfield or defensive back. But then I put it in perspective, they would lack enthusiasm this because the best players are still going to play soccer, similar to America's situation. Soccer in America lacks support because the best American athletes don't play soccer. Imagine if this starting 11 starting the world cup:in front we have Steve nash, Reggie Bush., Adrian Peterson upfront. In the middle we have T.O., LeBron, Kobe (prior soccer experience), DWade. Back we have Patrick Willis, Ron Artest, Bob Sanders....and then of course Dwight Howard in goal.
These players would undoubtedly play soccer if they grew up in a place where soccer was the most popular sport growing up. Yes I realized it is a mash up of two different sports so I cheated and these egos could never coexist, but its theoretical. If these players had soccer in their neighborhoods growing up they would be the best soccer players to ever play.
So that's where my point lies. I exclude basketball becasue most Ghanaians are short but I think if these guys were to be around American football or even baseball for that matter I think exponential things may happen.Obviously the money is not comparable to the MLB but it could be if there was demand. Soccer is the most watched sport i nthe world and only America is missing out This is just a fairytail I envision but I think it would help a lot of these people escape their circumstances. And we could tailgate.

///MinorityReport//

It is pretty easy to be repetitive when blogging on a trip about how "I did this today" or "I saw this" which to an extent is what a blog is useful for, a way to update and communicate with my world. But that's too easy. Nobody wants to read what I'm doing they want to read what I am experiencing.
After I was accepted in to this program in February we met every Friday for two hours preparing and discussing what we were to encounter during our 6 weeks here. If I didn't attend these weekly meetings I would have had to leave once I got here (which someone from our group has done already). But nothing you can read or talk about in Eugene, Oregon can prepare you mentally for what you're going to see or do 6,000 miles away from your comfort zone. I've seen people defecating in the street, a slum literally relocated because its pollution was causing the water purification process of the city to fail. When i was walking to work on my first day it was pouring rain and I was lost and couldnt find my office. Then I passed a man who was shivering, being poured on naked in the middle of the road. All my frustration turned to sympathy. It just makes you know that no matter how bad you have it one day, someone has it worse. I'm not trying to compare my directional mishap to this man's poverty because in no wya do they connect, however it put everything in perspective for me. These people work twice as hard to have half of what we have.
But then comes the dilemna. What are you gunna do about it? Someone in our group who works for a newspaper was put on an assignment to cover child prostitution and she was put out to follow a reporter tracking this story who had all these encounters with 10-11 year old girls begging for money and sex. She was shook. Obviously that will have quite the effect but I think it was less due to her not being able to handle the situation than her wanting to take these girls back and show them a different life. These children were doomed from the beginning and as sad as it is, they will be next to nothing for their entire lives becasue of their lack of education and physical abuse. So what are you gunna do? Everytime someone comes up to you are you going to give them change in hopes that that becomes the start to their fortune? Or does that just prove that they can get money when they need it from the Obruni by begging?
It is somehting I can avoid in the U.S.....but not here, no chance. It the U.S. I am generally unsympathetic to the homeless unless they happen to have a physical or mental disablement, because if you really wanted to, you could get a job. I'm not gunna donate money so you can get a 40oz., I'll get myself a 40 thanks. But here in Ghana the poor don't drink alcohol, they can't,and any money you give them will make a difference in that person's week or month. So is it my social responsibility to flip a 20 cent piece to someone if I have it on me? You can see the hopelessness in their eyes...but I still don't know.
But then who am I to say, if this person is not a begger, that they want me to pity them. There are many very poor and homeless people who are too busy to give a fuck what I think and for me to judge them. But i have definitely put in perspective that the richest can make the poorest moral decision and vice versa. These are good poeple they are jsut misunderstood. Just because they don't an ipod or new kicks doesn't mean you are better than them, or anyone for that matter. Ghanainas are simple but full of life. Yes it sucks to have to be on all the time and always listening or observing but I think I am just surprised thatI'm surprised. It's really not that different. I think I was going in to the situation like I was going here to save something, as a humanitarian doing something to become cultured and bring back stories, as a wiser adult comming in to the real world. But its not like that anymore. I've stopped being the tourist. I eat the food, take the public transportation, interact,conversate, bargain, and argue just like I am one of them. Whether they think so or not remains to be seen haha but it really doesn't matter. I'm trying. This is what subconsciously I was looking for out of this trip. Where, if i really engage this, they will really engage me, and I think they finally have. It is not about comming home and sharing my knowledge or somehting cliche (well maybe a little) but it is about living in the moment [shout out to Paul] now and being thankful for what you have. But I don't think this in unbearable my any means. I mean, if you were born into somehting like this and its all you know, you make every day better the best way you can. These people didnt do this to themselves, they inherited it.
I guess I'll have to take a picture to make it last longer.


we forget the unfortunate
sure i ponied up a bill, but i didnt give my time
so in reality I didnt give a dime, or a damn
i just put my monies in the hands of the same people that left these people stranded
nothin' but a bandit
left them folks abandoned
damn, that money that we gave was just a band aid
can't say we better off then then we were before
in synopsis, this is my minority report.

- JAY-Z

///Compare&Contrast///

Things I miss about the United States
Mexican food
Ranch dressing
My car
fast internet
air conditioning
dryer
toaster
microwave
gym
ESPN
family
clean beaches
paved roads

Things I love about Ghana
45 minute taxi rides for 3$
bars and clubs open until 8 a.m.
the culture
the dancing
the curiosity about America
Bounce (my cell phone game, so addicting can't get past level 7!)
my coworkers
my roomates
only cost 20 cents to get to work everyday
the funny things they sell on the street
used clothing
the banter bullshit
our security guards
my house
the fact that nobody is ever on time
Reggae night
how radio and newspaper are the leading mediums)where in America they are the fastest dying
DJ's
the Michael Jackson obsession by everyone
Leslie

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