BY GARIN FLOWERS

ACCRA, Ghana

Rosemary Senu, 16, a student at Saacky Addo, plans to grow her hair out one day. As for now she cannot. It’s not that she doesn’t want to or that she isn’t capable, but her school says no.

“I think that would be better, because you don’t think of doing your hair, you think of learning,” Rosemary said proudly about her school’s policy.

For as long as many can remember, most state schools, enforce a strict policy of men and women maintaining close-cropped hair.

At La Yahoushua Junior High School, an inspection occurs every Tuesday and Thursday, and students are required to have their hair trimmed prior to, according to school policy.

Lomotey Joseph, 50, of South La and Mensah Fancy, both teachers at La Yahoushua, explained this rule has been in place ever since their grade school days and they agree with it.

“If they are allowed to keep their hair, they would rather concentrate on hair than learning…[it] brings competition among the girls, trying to find hairstyles that are popular,” said Joseph.

“A young girl will look grown up,” said Fancy. “A male teacher will think she’s grown and that could cause child abuse. They see themselves to be mature, whereby they are not…[this] makes them more childish, puts them in their rank. So to themselves they know they belong to this level of life.”

Many express indifference with this rule, however some disagree with it. “I don’t want them to cut their hair,” said Mercy Aku Hammond, whose two daughters have full-grown hair. “It’s [meant] for hair to grow,” she said.

“Some think if you do your hair you look nicer,” Rosemary said about her classmates.

In addition, most private schools, which make up one percent of the schools in Ghana, do not require girls to cut their hair.

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HEAVY METAL ON ROMAN HILL

BY GARIN FLOWERS

KUMASI, Ghana — Treading through the narrow pathway of the crowded marketplace, loud clanks created a beat in the distance. Adjacent to the marketplace, a large structure resembling a junkyard stood tall in the air, from where the noise transcended.

“Roman Hill is very interesting, we do so many things here. [It’s] only here that we do these things,” said Tetteh Christian, 16, of Kumasi.

Roman Hill is a part of the central market located in Kumasi, the capital city of the Ashanti Region of Ghana. The Kumasi Central Market is a vast area where vendors sell anything from African cloth and beads to raw fish and parts of animals.

Rising tall above the market near the back, Roman Hill serves a different purpose from the rest of the shops. Some items sold in the market are actually created here, such as: silvers, metals, canteens, trunks, and japas (pots used for cooking). Men in this area work in an assembly line.

“We borrow the metal, after the metal we make the bucket and sell it small, small, small,” said Mr. Alex Enyeminko. Enyeminko, 47, from the Volta Region, moved to Kumasi in hopes of finding a better job.

Shoemaker Benjamen Ofori, born and raised in Kumasi, said he performs his craft because that’s what he was taught. “We can make 50 in a week, even 70.”

First they drew the imprint of the shoe on the tough material used as the base. From there they cut out all the pieces necessary and compiled them all together. Once all of the shoes are assembled, the trunks fastened and the buckets hammered into place, vendors from the central market come and purchase the items to re-sell to customers. The tedious labor and jarring beats that echoed throughout the market didn’t get in the way of the work at hand.

However, life boils down to one thing here the workers expressed – they work long hours for low pay.

Fast forward we ate, tipped the waiter and headed downstairs to the club, which is usually 30 Cedi’s to get in, but once again we had the hook up. It was now only me, Tre and Phil. The dance floor was empty. So with assistance from the tre jolies, we all hopped in the middle of the dance floor and started setting it out…dancing to some 80′s slash 90′s esque type music. Next thing you know the dance floor started poppin – so we set the party off. After a few hours of hanging out we finally decide to leave. Outside, just Tre and I now because Phil left earlier, we see someone outside drunk, the last person who we thought we would see (and that’s a whole other story that I cant put on here so just ask me later lol). After debating whether to get a cab we just end up walking back to our dorms. On the way back we just held a few conversations with people, saw a friend near another club etc etc.

So we continued to walk and took this shortcut, which shaved about 20 minutes off of our trip home. Both of us pretty drunk were just reminiscing about the night and talking about random stuff about Ghana. Fast forward, we get to a junction where Tre goes left to his dorms and I go right to get to mine. I’m walking and I turn down the street my house is on. Next thing you know I hear a lot of wild and crazy barking blaring out from in front of me. My first reaction was nothing because there are a lot of guard dogs that live in the massive houses we live next to and they always go crazy at night when they hear people walking by. So a couple seconds later I see two full grown dogs – one brown the other black and white – running full speed towards me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I couldn’t believe what was before my eyes and I thought I knew something like this would happen!! So obviously I started to run the other way. Noticing they were gaining on me at a fast pace…I stopped, looked at them, and then started to run towards them. Why? I have no clue, that might have been the liquor thinking for me…anyways there was enough room on the rode to run around them and I did just that. This move actually slowed them down a lot. This gave me the chance to catch stride while they had to stop and turn around. So they still continued to chase me and they once again were gaining, little by little. Eventually I made it to this small curve in the rode and once I reached that point they slowed down and stopped. I was so relieved! But I still ran…at this point my adrenaline went down and I noticed I was as tired as tired can be!! I made it to my dorms, the security guard opened the gate, and I fell to the ground breathing heavily.

One thing I will say that is very hard to become immune to is having children come up to and beg you for money or food. Fortunately, this is a rare occurrence, but nothing can prepare you for a situation like that. The very first week I was here two little boys from Niger grabbed on to me and wouldn’t stop following until we gave them something and this broke our hearts. I ended up giving them some money, but that was my first and last time for kids. There are many from Niger, with the same puppy dog look and routine that will try to get you every time. But like they say, in the long run that really won’t help them by just giving a dollar here or there. It’s hard to say what they go through; where their families are etc etc, but I know that you will never enjoy experiencing encounters like that.

Hello. Phil Molnar here. I’m a friend of Garin, have been in Ghana for the same amount of time as him, and am currently procrastinating writing a story about Elmina Castle. Listed below are common thoughts about Africa. I’ll do my best to clear up any confusion.

1) It’s hot as heck

Oh boy, you are right there! I am constantly covered in sweat and drinking ridiculous amounts of water. Although, that’s probably because I’m from Detroit where it snows all the time. The average temperature in Ghana’s capital, Accra, is 86 degrees. That’s pretty rough for me but doesn’t even warrant sunscreen for a Floridian.

2) Everybody hardly wears any clothes or shoes (probably in relation to #1)

Hmm…not in Ghana. They are really conservative here and seem to suffer a lot because they can’t dress down. We’re in the heart of sub-Saharan Africa and people are wearing full suits at church. It’s weird.

3) Women carry stuff on their heads

Yep, they sure do.

4) Everybody is dark-skin

Not really. A lot of Ghanaians in the west have ancestors that were white slave traders, so that’s one thing. Also, once you start getting far north, like Egypt, people are much lighter.

5) There’s no grass

No way! There is tons of grass. I wouldn’t go taking a nap in it, out of fear of lizards and big frogs, but I admire it from a distance.

6) Everybody lives in huts

Well, not EVERBODY.

7) There are wild animals like Tigers, Leopards, Zebras and Unicorns that run around like Squirrels in the U.S.

There are no tigers in Africa, unfortunately, but there is a lot of monkeys everywhere (See Garin’s post about a suicidal baboon below). The main animals we see around Ghana are crows, frogs, lizards, and dogs. I actually ride a unicorn to work everyday.

8) There are a lot of malnourished people, mainly kids (as seen on TV Ads)

Yeah, it really sucks. Kids will follow you in town and try to hang on to you. The average Ghanaian only spends ten years in school, so kids are hit really hard by the economic conditions. I think a lot of Ghanaians would try and tell you life for kids here is better than most of Africa, but, honestly, I just don’t see it.

9) There’s no currency, everybody trades with food or supplies

Mine as well. Hyperinflation across the continent has destroyed the value of many currencies. So, it’s like going to a store and buying a CD for $21,000,000 – except that amount isn’t really that much.

10) Everybody belongs to a tribe

Pretty much. But that doesn’t mean they are running around chasing elephants and painting their faces. Most businessmen and journalists I’ve met are from the Ashanti tribe. That doesn’t mean they all return to huts at night. They actually live in apartments, drive cars, and watch DVDs.