Happy Turkey Day!

Well I guess I should update this blog after my 21st birthday and Thanksgiving, not to mention a few weeks of silence on my part. My Independent Study Project is almost done, and I must say researching the movement for Pan-African Unity in the 1950s and 1960s has been a very educational experience. What happened here was remarkable, especially considering the first president of Ghana, Kwame Nkrumah, was the leader on the more militant side of the Pan-African movement, and was probably the biggest thorn in the side of the US foreign policy hawks. I would love to write more about this, but I'll just try to upload my finalized version to the blog so all can read what happened. All I'll say is I have a much better idea of why the continent that is possibly the richest in natural resources is also arguably the poorest continent in the world, and to tell the reader to look up what happened to Patrice Lumumba of the Congo, so you can see what happens when you start fucking with Westerners' money.

But it's the holiday season and for once I want to talk about the good in the world. Rest assured everyone that I had a wonderful Thanksgiving with a family that has taken a few of us students in and really treated us kindly. Every day or other day we've been going to their house to learn about Africa's true history (for the way we talk about it you'd think it began with colonialism and that Egypt were in the Middle East, not Africa), as well as playing some basketball, something rare in Ghana. This particular family is mostly from New Jersey, and the patriarch who moved the family has come to believe that America is in fact a police state and that all this modern technology and education is doing more harm and programming than we realize. Now there's an entire family here of Americans and Ghanaians, for they also take in local children who are at risk, and they take travelers such as myself and my fellow students periodically to teach us some real history.

So I spent my birthday/Thanksgiving with this family after taking a bus from Accra to Cape Coast in the morning. I had spent the previous night with my homestay family, who have also come to treat me like a part of their family as well. In fact, they gave me an amazing present, which was a traditional Nigerian robe, though I'm not sure if its originally Igbo or Yoruba or both. If Thanksgiving is about being with family and friends and being thankful for what you have, then I missed nothing this year, and for that I am truly grateful. Luckily, I learned when I left for Ghana just how amazing my family and friends are. Those who read my very first blog post might recall my bittersweet declaration that I am doomed to forget what I have in my family and friends and remember it, only to forget it again. But I can honestly say that I have not forgotten it, and this Thanksgiving was only a day to say it out loud. Yet I remember vividly how lucky I am.

Thanksgiving has always been my favorite holiday. Yes, part of it is that it means my birthday is nearby, but I also love the meaning of Thanksgiving more so than any other holiday, especially the materialist undertones of Christmas. Thanksgiving isn't religious nor patriotic, for neither themes have ever been very attractive to me. It's holiday where you come to appreciate relationships and people, particularly the people close to you who have been there throughout, and you demonstrate that love by eating a shitload of great food and watching sports and napping. I am no believer in fate (though I do believe in meaning), but I almost believe it predestined that I would born around Thanksgiving, and that sometimes my birthday in fact would fall on Thanksgiving. That truly is a privilege.

I'll try to have more on Africa next time, though my mind is already turning towards my return to America after a nice, long break.