On The Market

So we took a trip to a local market. I've never seen anything like it, but it pretty much exceeded my expectations. We parked the vans a few blocks away and walked for about a half a mile or so through the streets. There were vendors and people all along the road selling mostly fresh fruit, vegetables, meat, jewelry etc. We entered what looks like it could have been a large warehouse at one point but has since been turned into a makeshift indoor marketplace. What would be the parking lot area was full of vendors, a small path led us into the building. It was surprisingly organized. The first floor was like all foods and stuff. The second floor was plastics. And the third was textiles. We roamed and explored. People mostly bought hair (to get braids later) and cloth to get dresses and stuff tailored.

A girl in our group said that while she tried to take a picture (minus the flash) of like a general area in the market place, an older man approached her screaming, "Why you take picture?!" Obviously shocked and afraid, she kind of froze up, but a few of the women who were vending around the area stepped in and told her to keep it moving and ignore him. She was visibly shaken up and disturbed by the whole ordeal because she was still talking about it when we all met up in the van. What's funny is just a few seconds before that, I was thinking to myself, "I wonder how these people really feel about us coming here?" I know they want us there because they want our money, but how do they really feel?

We were parked in a lot and like 15 little neighborhood kids come up to us ECSTATIC that we were there. They loooved having their pictures taken; doing all types of poses and tricks for the cameras. A few students got off the bus to kind of play with them and stuff. There were some adults sitting across the street watching us from afar. The whole time I'm thinking about how I would feel if strangers came into my neighborhood like this... Maybe it's pessimistic or cynical of me, but I think it's a valid argument to bring up. Let's be honest, not everyone does everything for the right reasons. I can't help but wonder if some people come on trips like NYU in Ghana to feel better about themselves and less guilty about their privilege. And how, if at all, is someone with good or innocent intentions supposed to set themselves apart from this type of person?

For the most part, people are really happy to see us. They say "akwaaba!" "you are welcome!" "welcome to Ghana!" We are obviously in the vast minority, but we are not the only foreigners here. So there's a balance between them being accustomed to seeing foreigners and very aware that we are foreigners. I've given up on any attempt at not looking like a foreigner. It's a lost cause.

Anyway so back to the market, I don't know why but the whole thing kind of bothered me. A friend of mine who is also Black turned to me and made a similar evaluation of the little kids ... it was kind of like they were performing for the tourists :-/ I just don't know if I would be so willing to jump up and down for "rich" tourists who came into my country. I know how Americans are perceived in the media and whatnot so I know the little kids were really excited to see us for that reason, but as far as the older people... i don't know if the sentiment would be the same.

We heard that some of the local students here would try to be standoffish and distance themselves from the international students because of the stigma that if they were to befriend us, they would be perceived as trying to get something from us - which I wouldn't automatically assume, but I guess it's an issue. We've come in contact with different types of people our age. Some of the students act like we're regular people (what we really want), some give us the usual foreigner stare (not so much), and a few have actually been pretty stank. Again, I wonder if they take up issue with foreign students being in their country? School? Neighborhood? Or if they would rather not seem predatory. It's only the beginning of the semester, we'll see what happens.

We've gone out a few times and of course the Ghanaian guys usually give American girls a lot of attention and the Ghanaian women usually stand on the sideline with the mean screwface on. Another observation.

So what do I take from all of this? Sigh... not really sure. It makes me think about what we buy into though. When we take trips to countries like Ghana, a journey to the "motherland" costs more than the airfare. And when you arrive, what are you really buying? What's for sale? Are people always willing to sell?

[I know I use a lot of questions in my writing but 1. this is my blog, I'll do what I want and 2. that's how my thought process works.]

obruni = foreign person, white person

We get called obruni at least twice a day... And not just the white kids in our group.