White Like Me

I've only been in Ghana for a week and a half now, but one thing that I know I will have to get used to for the duration of my stay here is the fact that I am white and that I stand out like... well, a white guy in a sea of black students. Off campus, the difference is even more pronounced because while students may be used to seeing you and the other international students, everywhere else you are quite the novelty.

The world for "white person" in Twi is "Obruni" and for some reason, Ghanaians use the word liberally. It isn't necessarily that they are trying to degrade you or mock you, (although sometimes that's the case) but it's an easier way of getting your attention in a crowd rather than saying "sir" or "madam", or the tarditional Ghanaian "PSSST!" After a while, you learn to laugh it off and not take it personally. For example when I got my cell phone, I set my welcome message so that whenever I switch it on, it says, "Akwaaba, Obruni!" (or "Welcome, white man!")

Adults warm up to you quickly because you are perceived as being rich and when somebody says "Hello" they usually mean, "How may I extract money from you, white person?" Usually someone who wants to actually be your friend doesn't call you Obruni and is more polite and conversational and less forward about finding out where you live and how they can contact you.

For women, it's even more difficult. However, for you lovelorn ladies in the developed world who just can't find a man, try coming to Accra, because the men here for some reason want to marry every white girl they see. Usually they start with a "Hello", followed by "I like you. You are very pretty. Where are you from?" and maybe less than a minute later comes, "Can I have your phone number? I would like to marry you and you can take me to America." (Even if you say you are from Canada, they won't care) My friends Adrienne and Meghan, who have bright red and blondish hair respectively, sometimes get multiple proposals in a day!

This practice is quite peculiar because we still can't figure out the motive for all of these men. Are they serious and want to leave their homeland for the proverbial land of milk and honey that is America? Or are they just showing off to their friends for a laugh? Sometimes it's both. Godwin the cabbie believes that it really is a desire to bring oneself out of poverty, but I've also seen instances where one guy gets out of a group and everyone's watching as he does it, so there must be a certain element of machismo inherent.


Sometimes it can be downright frustrating. Here's a prime example:

In my first Elementary Arabic class, which is about 120 people, (three of us white) our professor was trying to designate a "class captain" (or something to that effect) to help with various odd jobs. He said it would be run like a democracy, so someone could nominate a candidate, they would make a 1 minute speech and then the class would vote. Anyways, someone voted for his friend and that was cool. Then someone from behind yells out, "I nominate Obruni!" and points directly at me. Well, the class was howling at that point and I was probably too astounded to be offended. The prof asked me to make a speech, so I decided to be a good sport and ad-libbed some crap about being there for the class if it needed me (and threw in a campaign style "I will be a river to my people" and blown kiss to the crowd) and had them in stitches. Someone after me nominated himself and since he was actually interested in the job and understood some Arabic, they (and I) voted for him.

The point is, even though I played along with it (and am now practically a celebrity in the class), I've been quite uncomfortable with the extra attention. Apparently people think that I am this studious, exemplary white model of a student, when really I just am really excited to learn Arabic. I'm going to tell the professor that while I'm flattered, I don't appreciate the extra attention, since it doesn't help my social or academic life.

The next day, while walking by two male students, I heard them grumble "...obruni, obruni...", like I didn't understand them. I almost turned around and let them have it, but I decided to hold my tongue and walk away. I also walked by a well-dressed man who walked by and said in a similar tone "Eh-ti-say?" ("How are you?") So I turned around and yelled out "Ai-yea!" ("Very well!") He was pleasantly surprised.

Clearly the obruni issue (and white privilege in general) is bigger than a few isolate examples - it's an entire culture that subscribes to these ideas, so I'm finding the best way to counter it is to keep a quick wit, roll with the punches, and try and change a few hearts and minds on the way.

Peace, Love and Understanding,
Mr. Obruni