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Created by a grant from the McGregor Fund.
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Being a Tourist in Your Own Country... Christabel Dadzie, Ambassador from Ghana

I landed at the Kotoka International Airport in Accra on the 2nd of July for my three and a half week long 'tourist' visit. I thought it would be lots of fun and a breeze finding all the information that I needed for the Ambassadors program. BOY! WAS I WRONG!!! The first two days I spent catching up on lost time with my family and friends and then I set off to work on the third day. My first encounter with this strange task was when I tried to take pictures on the streets to show everyday Ghanaian life. At the first snap of my camera, A man came by and said, "I don't appreciate you acting like an 'obroni' (white man/tourist) when you really aren't one." I just laughed and asked him what his problem was. Well, he said he was disgusted with Ghanaians who went abroad for a little bit and then decided that they were foreigners. Wow! I'd never thought of myself as a foreigner before! I was just trying to take pictures for the Ambassadors program. That was the end of my photography for that day, I had to gather courage to start this task all over again.... The next week I was trying to gather data on Human Rights issues in Ghana. It was easy to do in the Commission on Human Rights because my mother worked there but I had problems gathering data from other offices because people looked at me and would wonder who was this 'small girl' who wanted everything in her time. You see, I had forgotten was that I was back in Ghana and time zones had switched from GMT (Greenwich Mean Time) to GMT (Ghana Made Time)! Information I needed took forever! But with time I just realized that I had to relax and enjoy being home where I could find all the meals that I had been craving for all year long. Lesson to Ghanaians who might try to be tourists at home: Always speak the local dialect when you want something done for you asap. I learnt the hard way. Don't get me wrong - being a tourist in my own country was fun!!! Just a different kind of experience. A thank you to the McGregor Fund... Christabel Dadzie, Ambassador from Ghana I would like to express my sincere gratitude to the McGregor Fund for giving us the opportunity to partake in the Ambassador's program. This year has been one of my best years at the College of Wooster mainly because of my involvement in the Ambassador's Program. I enjoyed every single one of my presentations - from talking about Human Rights issues in Ghana to College students to telling 8 year old kids about Ghanaian culture. My public speaking skills have definitely improved through the many presentations I made especially because I had the opportunity to speak to people of differing age groups. I am definite that many more people in the Wooster community know where Ghana is located on a map now that I have had a year to present my country to them. The reception that I recieved at every presentation was simply wonderful and it was very rewarding to have people come up to me and say "thank you" for sharing my culture. This opportunity has been very rewarding and has been an experience that I would love to live once more. I can't thank you enough. Sincerely, Christabel Dadzie (Ghana)


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	updated: June 1 2004