Disability Culture in Ghana

This week my class discussed disability culture in Ghana.  Reading and talking about what people with disabilities are up against in Ghana: stigma, physical barriers, lack of rehab infrastructure, made me appreciate the system in the U.S., as imperfect as it may be.  At my old job in D.C. a man with deafness worked in my branch.  A woman with an intellectual disability worked in the mail room.  There were several regular commuters on my metro route that were in wheelchairs.  While I don't doubt the many obstacles they face daily (the daily metro elevator outages come to mind!), just the fact that they are independent and active participants in society is a testament to how far disability rights have come in the U.S.  It is hard to believe that it took until 1990 for the American with Disabilities Act (ADA) to be enacted - that is not even 25 years ago.  Thus it shouldn't be that surprising that Ghana didn't pass a similar bill until 2006.  Even with their Disabilities Rights Bill with lofty goals of ensuring adequate services and employment opportunities to all people with disabilities by 2016, without funding or societal support, there has been little improvement in the lives of the disabled.

Our group going to Ghana is not going to change the world.  Our presence in the country for two weeks is not going to suddenly spur outcry about the treatment of people with disabilities.  However, hopefully we can improve the lives of the people with disabilities that we meet by providing them tools and education to help them be more independent and active.  Hopefully we can spark a new idea in the people without disabilities that we encounter, show them that people with disabilities are still people with the same hopes and dreams as everyone else.  In my opinion, the biggest challenge that Ghanians face in terms of disability rights is the stigma against people with disabilities.  Until there is a societal shift in how people with disabilities are seen, disabled people will never be fully included in society.  So while nothing will be fixed in just two short weeks, I hope that the accumulation of the efforts of my group and the many others doing similar things, will slowly start changing minds and attitudes.  By planting the idea in even one person's mind that the disabled are not to be feared (many believe that disability is the result of a curse or ancestral wrong-doing), and that the disabled can/should be contributing members of society, that person may talk to their friend about disability and that person talks to another, and on and on, until eventually the stigma against the disabled is diminished and the country can truly work toward rights for the disabled.

Just call me Adwoa

This week, Randi Burlein, a social work professor from VCU, came to talk to our group about cultural norms and expectations in Ghana.  Randi has been going to Ghana for many many years.  Among other projects, she was instrumental in the building of Grace International School (http://www.sgmghana.org/#!grace-home-international-school), one of the facilities we will be visiting during our trip.

Randi provided us with lots of interesting tidbits about Ghanian culture.  For example, the typical naming convention in Ghana is that first name will be an important/respected family name (e.g. grandma's name), and the middle name will be a name derived from the day of the week you were born.  For example, we know that Kofi Annan (former UN Secretary General) was born on a Friday because Kofi is the male name for Friday birthdays.  She explained that the day of the week you were born is very important to Ghanians and that people will ask us about it so we should know our day before we go.  It turns out, I was born on a Monday, thus my Ghanian name would be Adwoa.

What is your Ghanian name?

We also learned about the Ghanian handshake. When shaking hands in Ghana, you end with a snap of the fingers!  Even in formal business, this is how it's done.  Randi assured us that the kids we meet will be happy to teach us how to do it.  I can't wait to try it out. Here is a video I found showing the Ghanian handshake:

Some of the cultural norms Randi told us about were already familiar to me as other countries I've visited have similar customs.  For example, it is considered offensive to use your left hand for anything (eating, handing change to sometime).  Since it is the "toilet" hand, it is seen as unclean.  Turkey had the same right-hand preference custom.  Fortunately I am right-handed so it was never an issue for me.  We have a couple left-handers going on the trip so they were advised to start practicing using their right hand more!

Wastefulness is also frowned upon.  Everything gets reused: plastic bags, pieces of paper, etc.  It's funny, I think back twenty years ago and it seems that the U.S. went through a "green" phase when everyone was very conscious of using only reusable and recyclable things.  But now a-days we seem to have drifted back to a culture of waste: single use K-Cups for coffee, all the packaging that goes into single-serving snacks, page after page of copy paper that gets thrown away in offices every day, etc.  I am as guilty as everyone else so I hope that my time in Ghana will raise my awareness of waste and help me be more conscious of my own habits when I return.

The custom that may be the hardest for me to adjust to is the lack of meaning of "time."  In  Ghana a 10am meeting may not start until 11:30.  In our punctual American society, we are taught that being ten minutes early is on-time, and being on-time is late! I think this trip will provide a good opportunity for me to work on my patience...Maybe I should start practicing now?  I wonder if I can start going to class late and just tell my professors that I'm prepping for the Ghana trip?  Sounds like a valid excuse to me :)

Taking shots...

.... but not those kind of shots! My trip to Ghana is requiring a lot more preparation than my previous travels did. I spent yesterday afternoon at a travel clinic getting immunization shots and medications required to safely visit Ghana.  I have to admit I was a little bit excited to get the yellow fever vaccination and the accompanying certificate that I have to keep in my passport - I feel like a real traveler now!  Yellow fever is a nasty virus found in parts of Africa and South America that is spread through mosquito bites and there is no cure for it.  Many countries, including Ghana, require yellow fever vaccination to enter the country.  The vaccination has to be given by approved provider and you get a nifty vaccination certificate to carry with you as proof.

In addition to the yellow fever vaccine, I also got a shot for Hepatitis A and an oral vaccine for typhoid.  Apparently these are vaccines I should have already had based on my previous travels but never got. I guess I got lucky because I have never had any travel related health problems. I decided it was best not to risk it for this trip as the diseases are endemic in Ghana and a much higher risk than other places I've visited.

Hepatitis A is a virus spread fecal-orally, often through contaminated food or water. It affects the liver, but is not a chronic disease as the body's immune system will fight it off (it just makes you feel yucky as it takes its course - usually two to six weeks).  It is found throughout the developing world (Central/South America, Africa, Asia), and in Eastern Europe.  Most people living in those countries are exposed to it at an early age and develop immunity to it.

Typhoid is a bacterial infection also spread fecal-orally through contaminated food and water. It is generally found in the same regions that Hepatitis A is.  It causes high fever, diarrhea and stomach problems.  It is treated with antibiotics, but if left untreated, it usually takes about a month to run its course. The vaccination consists of four pills that I take every other day.  It doesn't provide complete immunity so the doctor also prescribed some antibiotics to take with me in case I have any severe stomach problems while I'm there.

Lastly, I was prescribed malaria pills.  This is the first country I have been to where Malaria is endemic.   Malaria is a  parasitic disease spread by mosquitoes.  There are various strains of the disease and Ghana has one of the worst: Plasmodium falciparum.  There is not yet a vaccine to prevent malaria so instead medication must be taken which essentially kills the parasite if/when it gets into your system.  I have heard stories about malaria pills causing weird dreams and nightmares so I was kind of nervous, but fortunately I am able to use doxycycline as a preventative and it has fewer/no side affect compared to other malaria drugs (eg malarone or chloroquine).  The down side is that not only do I have to take the medicine two days before the trip and every day during the trip, but I also have to keep taking it for a month after I return!

So that is all the prescription stuff I needed for the trip.  The doctor also sent me home with a list of non-prescription things I'll need to bring with me such as Imodium, pedialyte, and deet mosquito repellent.   The trip is still four months away but I'm glad to be getting started on some of the logistics early as I'm sure time will fly by and I'll be on that airplane to Ghana sooner than I know it!