UG International Programmes

Ghana, You make me happy, You make me strong, You push me through the heat, Through the sticky moments To the waterfalls, To the front of the class, To the table, To sit and eat with strangers, Who are my family. Who are raising me here. Ghana, I am learning from you, I am growing because of you, You are a part of my creation, Of me. The me that I am today May not appear different May not always act different May not even seem changed But it’s inside, And it’s still changing. The everyday challenges, Some are not challenging anymore, What happens to challenge us changes, And thus we change with the challenges we face. Trying to put into one word All that has happened, Eight weeks, Isn’t simple, It’s life. ( Re-posted from  http://www.ghanainspireclaire.blogspot.com/ )

By Claire Barry Today is the 6 th of March, Ghana’s Independence Day. On this day fifty-five years ago, Ghana celebrated the end of colonial rule under Britain. At this time Dr. Kwame Nkrumah became the first prime minister, and later first president, of Ghana. In Independence Square this morning, 900 officers from security agencies and 1200 teachers and pupils from the Greater Accra area, paraded in front of (what I was told by a Ghanaian friend) over 2 million people. In my mind I pictured a parade like we have back in the U.S. where people stand on the sidewalks and the parade moves down the road. I was imagining lots of traffic and not being able to navigate the crowd because of how large it would be. For this reason, I decided not to take my camera, which I regret now because my imagination was a little off. There were stands full of people surrounding Independence Square which appeared more like a giant arena of sorts. In the arena area the parade took p

H ello friends and colleagues. I arrived back in the U.S. last week and have been slowly catching up on my sleep and my correspondence. Last night I attempted a dish I first tasted in Abuja a couple of weeks ago: "oatmeal."  Not your every day breakfast cereal, though. It was interesting to see William Penn's face greeting me on boxes of Quaker Oats in the grocery shops in Abuja, but even more interesting to know that Nigerians have appropriated the oats to make a contemporary version of a starchy accompaniment to soup, similar to fufu . I was first treated to this dish in the home of Godwin and Felicia Chukwu. When I asked for the name, I was told, simply "oatmeal." "No other Nigerian name?" I asked and was assured there is not. Unfortunately, I had no time for Felicia to demonstrate its preparation to me, but she did show me the heavy duty grinder she uses to grind the oats to flour, and she explained the basic proces