Life in Ghana continues to challenge

My head feels like it's spinning non-stop these days. There are so many issues I am grappling with; with everything that I learn it seems like more and more questions arise. Okay so one of the big issues I am working on is related to child-trafficking in West Africa. It is so prevalent and it seems that most Africans are satisfied to just sweep it under the rug and forget about it. I'm not going to go into too much detail about what I'm learning because I could be sitting here for hours writing you. But one of the ways I am getting involved is to visit an organization called La Conscience in Togo. I spent most of last week in Togo and traveled there with a young Ghanaian named Philip. It was my hope that Philip could be my eyes and ears to help me ascertain whether or not La Conscience is a legitimate organization or not. Now the child trafficking thing is definitely an issue that has left me with a lot to think about but looking at the legitimacy of African non-profits has become a topic that has left me reeling backwards. Richela, there is so much corruption, deceit, and abuse in this industry here in Africa!!! It's mind-boggling. I met an American retiree here in Accra a few weeks ago and he is currently trying to mount a case against a deceitful organization and this man has one heck of an uphill battle in front of him. I've reviewed some of the documents and it just makes me sick. Meeting this American is actually how I came to know Philip. Philip was one of many kids being used by this organization to deceitfully gain support from Western donors with most of this money ending up in the pockets of the director and his staff. Now another way I am finding out how prevalent this problem is is through many of my friends who are studying abroad here from the States and Europe. Several of my friends have already been duped to give money to some of these deceitful organizations and we keep finding more and more of the same. It is so difficult to tell who is being honest and who is just looking out for "numero uno".

As far as your questions go from your last email, yes, I am definitely seeing things from a new perspective. I am being challenged almost daily trying to come to grips with many difficult questions. As far as friends go, I have a lot of friends from various study abroad programs and universities from the States. I try to mix it up who I spend time with. I also spend time with students from Germany, Austria, Norway, Czech Republic, and other countries in Africa. It has definitely been an international experience.And of course, most everyone over here loves Obama. They actually have an African song about Obama that plays on the radio regularly.

As for classes, the only one that is really noteworthy is the one on politics in Ghana. I put together a time-line the other day to get my facts straight about the politics in this country and I was astonished to see it all laid out. From what I could put together, Ghana has had 10 different regimes (we are currently in the 4th Republic), 5 successful coups, 8 constitutions, and countless political parties and affiliations. They will be holding elections a month after ours and it is shaping up to be a very tight race. The three big contenders are Atta-Mills with the NDC, Akuofo-Addo with the NPP, and Ndoum with the CPP. The NPP has been in power for the last 8 years and Atta-Mills used to be the vice-president under the last military regime that was in power. As far as I can tell it should be a peaceful election here in Accra but there are concerns of violence in the North. I'll keep you posted on the situation.