Africa Calling: Classes, Reflections and Portraits of A Fulbright Scholar’s Journey to Ghana

Photograph caption: JOHN FOUNTAIN SPEAKS on the Black Historical past Month celebration held in February 2022 on the W. E. B. DuBois Centre for Pan African Tradition in Accra, Ghana. The photograph seems on the group’s web site. (Photograph: Offered) 

A 2021-22, Fulbright scholar to Ghana, the writer displays on his time in Ghana, now one 12 months after returning to America and in addition shares poetic portraits and images he captured there.

I watched from the shore of Lake Volta in Ghana, the biggest man-made lake on this planet—about 250 miles lengthy and protecting 3,283 sq. miles—as dozens of sweat-washed African males joined collectively as one. They heaved beneath a baking solar, combating in opposition to crashing waves, the wind and sinking sand till lastly that they had pulled the mammoth fishing boat ashore.

With every pull on two taut ropes with no gloves, they chanted in unison phrases I couldn’t perceive. It was if their collective battle cry blended with grunts and willpower, and the cohesion of troopers, emanated from deep inside their spirits, every brother’s power and objective converging on cue and in euphonic rhythm for the laborious job at hand.

Many of the males weren’t fishers on this boat, although most have been certainly fishermen, not less than Voltarians, drawn collectively by a obtrusive and most urgent want. By their battle in frequent, and by the unstated understanding that right this moment I make it easier to and tomorrow you assist me.

It was, for me, a lesson in group. An train in brotherhood. An instance of the facility of many, transferring passionately and purposefully as one for one, with an understanding that particular person achieve throughout the context of group is a victory for all.

“Hey, are you simply going to take photos?” I bear in mind one man yelling to me in his thickly buttered Ghanian accent as I marveled close to trans-like on the cultural magnificence that appeared virtually ethereal. Among the males chuckled heartily.

“I’m not doing nothing, bruh. I’m doing far more than that,” I believed to myself, although selecting to not utter a phrase and persevering with as a substitute to seize the second. “I SEE you. And I hope to permit the world to see you as I do…”

White foam waves crashing. A mammoth blue fishing canoe being pulled ashore by Ghanaian fisherman. A portrait of true brotherhood and group.

Merely stunning.

Classes From Ghana:

No. 1: Discover Your Tribe. For in it, we reside and transfer and are impressed to satisfy our objective. Ghana made me extra tribal within the sense of discovering a deeper appreciation for who and whose I’m: A descendant of enslaved African Individuals upon whose backs, blood, sweat and tears, America was constructed.

In Ghana, the compound phrase “African-American” by no means held extra which means, was by no means for me extra empowering. This turned central to my restoration of cultural satisfaction and belonging as I dwelled in Ghana, the place I typically felt rejected.

As I mirrored on my tribe—the tribe of Frederick Douglass, Ida B. Wells, Mary McCleod Bethune, Rosa Parks, Malcolm X and Dr. King, and the infinite litany of African-American artists, educators, establishment builders and freedom fighters, my soul was invigorated, fortified, revived. As I considered our travail, about our journey as human chattel from Mom Africa to the Center Passage within the pit of hate, urine and feces-filled slave ships that sailed throughout the ocean, which alone proved we have been the strongest amongst our brethren to have survived, my soul was uplifted.

As I engaged with and linked with these Individuals who now reside in Ghana—the African-American Affiliation of Ghana, Mama Bathroom, Gayle, Telie Woods and others—I discovered my tribe, my individuals—these inalterably tied to my historical past, coronary heart and soul. And I declared—to myself greater than to anybody else with satisfaction, renewed power and sagacity: “I’m undeniably African. And I’m unapologetically American.”

No. 2: Transfer Past Your Consolation Zone. Past our personal paradigm is a world full of data, variety and alternative to be taught and in addition share. Subsequently, search to immerse your self within the tradition and expertise of indigenous individuals. Eat the meals, drink the drink (inside cause and (ideally bottled water); and pack Imodium and a Z-Pak, simply in case). Permit your self to be enlightened, to be taught.

No. 3: Count on The Sudden. Our preconceived notions can debilitate and restrict us. And our unpreparedness for unmet expectations can go away us drifting in a sea of disappointment and incapacity. In Ghana, the facility will exit. The water will run out. All the things that works right this moment could not work tomorrow, and even by the top of the day (Strive an Airbnb by a Superhost: It may be a savior!). Not everybody will embrace you, however some will. Holding a wholesome perspective will be gasoline for the journey. And bear in mind: All the things can be all proper.

No. 4: Settle for Actuality. Imagine that it’s what it’s. Don’t attempt to change it: Somebody’s lifestyle. How they see the world or their place in it. Don’t impose your individual morality or Judeo-Christian, capitalistic western worldview. That is Ghana, not America. Our world of contemporary conveniences and expectations which have spoiled us to a point isn’t essentially the best way of the remainder of the world. You’ll survive.

No. 5: Keep linked. Be in contact with household again dwelling and with new buddies and associates (on the college, the U.S. Embassy and past). All can show to be a useful useful resource as you navigate overseas terrain and search to stay centered and inspired. (WhatsApp is a free and nice solution to keep linked to family and friends again dwelling.)

No. 6: Share your fact. Doing so may also help dismantle stereotypes. The extra you share and are prepared to be open and sincere, to be inquisitive and in addition earnest in your need to be taught from others greater than you’re wanting to “train” them, the higher the probability for a useful alternate. Hear greater than you converse. Sharing our fact is usually much less about what we are saying and extra about how we stroll each day in life and the reality that it reveals about who we’re—not solely as an American however as a human being and international citizen.

No. 7: Be Grateful. Understand the chance we possess, which may so simply slip by our fingertips. Maximize it. See all there may be to see. Plan excursions (however be secure). Odor the roses and the espresso! Take within the moments. For they’re fleeting. Pen them in actual time. Take lots video and images. Inform the story. (Making a weblog of your time overseas is a superb journey diary.)

No. 8: Be Humble. Sustaining your swag is one factor. However coming off because the ugly loud American is one other. Realizing that this notion exists is vital to understanding and coping with the generally less-than-warm reception of some native individuals. Courtesy and sort phrases can deflect or disarm. It doesn’t at all times work, nevertheless. And being humble doesn’t imply that you simply by no means deal firmly with points or conditions. (I used to be pushed on not less than two events to the sting of displaying my Chicago Wesssssst Siiiiide roots and vernacular.) However humility, with calmness and charm, I discover, are at all times a greater method.

No. 9: Put together for Reentry Blues. I used to be grossly unprepared for the combination of feelings of leaving Ghana and in addition of returning to america. The truth is, I used to be utterly unaware of the psychological, social, and emotional impression of each departure and reentry. Being conscious that there can be an adjustment to returning dwelling after a number of months to a 12 months of residing out of the country a world away is an effective first step. Having the ability to speak brazenly about my ideas and emotions was second step. And permitting myself the time—nevertheless lengthy it takes—to course of the expertise in its totality, I discovered, was crucial to discovering my method again to stage floor.

No. 10: Simply Get To It. At my worst second, vacillating between emotions of despair and ideas of wholesale abandoning my scholarship—amid catching COVID, and a college lecturers’ strike that threatened to remove the educating part of my Fulbright, somebody mentioned to me: “Simply get to it.” (Thanks, Maya Parker!)

So I did. I simply received to it— volunteering to conduct a collection of webinars for the College of Ghana—Legon, which ultimately started its semester, enabling me to show. I hosted a collection of different webinars for faculties and universities again dwelling in addition to for the African-American Affiliation of Ghana.

I carried out a bunch of interviews throughout Accra for my analysis, visiting church buildings and communities, markets and villages, and capturing a whole lot of images and numerous hours of video. I constructed a web site (www.hearafricacalling.com) to chronicle my journey as a Fulbright scholar, writing poems, tales and commentary and sharing images, video and podcasts.

Earlier than leaving Ghana, I designed and led a three-day capacity-building journalism workshop for greater than 40 Ghana Broadcasting Firm journalists on the invitation of the GBC’s inspector basic. When he contacted me, he mentioned he had come throughout that first webinar and, though unable to attend, determined instantly that he ought to invite me to talk to his employees. All of this by no means would have occurred had I not chosen to “simply get to it.” I’m eternally grateful that I did.

*****

Incomparable

I nonetheless don’t perceive

Have but to understand

Her magnificence

Her maintain upon

The soul

That breathes her in

With heaping inhalations

Her winds

In deep denominations

Of Warmth

And Cool

Her tranquil swimming pools

Alongside rock-laden, sandy ocean shores

The place waves crash and roar

However this one factor I do know:

I miss Ghana

Even when I nonetheless don’t totally comprehend

One thing Particular Referred to as Jazz

Some name her Ghana. I name her Jazz.

Typically jagged and scratching the soul with dissonant chords that rise and fall.

She is the sound of cymbals that come crashing down.

Of generally staccato rhythms.

Of music that builds to a screeching crescendo

then out of the blue disappears into silence.

Jazz. Ghana is jazz. Sister to the Blues.

Descendant of the sacred hymnal.

Born of the drum.

Beckoning African solar to her youngsters throughout the Black Diaspora.

She reaches the soul just like the melancholy wail of Mile Davis’ horn.

Soothing. Lifting. Kissing blissfully.

Therapeutic the soul wearied by racial hate and disgrace,

and the ache of that centuries-old river

that flows with DNA Trauma of the souls of Black people.

By sufferings that gave beginning to the Negro Religious.

 To hymns. To Soul Music, Gospel, the Blues, and Jazz.

I name her Jazz.

And I may by no means rinse my soul of her sassy rhythms and candy melodies

Of the best way she strikes me–grooves me–with psychological and religious surety

of being Black like me, right here on this place that exists on the opposite facet of my world.

Ghana is dwelling away from dwelling, deepening her maintain

 Inflicting me to discover extra intensely the decision that led me right here

on this sojourn to the Motherland.

There’s something in the best way the aura of this land

Washes over me each day when the morning comes.

Like heat rays of golden solar.

That fills my lungs with the style of African breath, freedom & life

that I’ve by no means identified.

That claims to me, “Son, you’re dwelling.”

There’s something about the best way Ghana embraces me at evening

When the wind arrives to chill this ancestral land of melanin-skinned people,

The place brown and coal and shades of espresso with cream

kind a chocolate rainbow of humanity.

One thing about the best way this coastal African metropolis rises

With the hum and buzz of site visitors and hawking avenue retailers

on the Spintex Highway and throughout Accra

Amid the darting motorbikes that snake by site visitors with reckless abandon.

There’s something about this place. One thing…

One thing particular.

I name her Jazz…

*****

Madam Queen

Robust Black sister

Madam Queen

Carrying the load

of the world

Beneath blazing African solar

Head lifted excessive

Again straight

Child in tow

Wrapped in African material

Staring off

Into the haze

Of site visitors

And this urgent crush of humanity

With out vainness

Madam Queen

Walks poised

Neck erect

Sidestepping gracefully

Sandy holes

Earthen souls

& Craters

With runway mannequin precision

I hear

To the beat

of their hearts

To the whispering

Of their souls

That lengthy for properties

For some place

To put their heads

Apart from the streets

At evening

Upon unforgiving beds

With no pillows

For his or her heads

Madams Queen

Mendacity beneath

The celebs

that honor their day-long strenuous labor & sacrifice

That doesn’t yield

Sufficient for sustenance & life

And nonetheless,

They rise

When morning comes

Arising to a brand new African solar

That pales compared to the glory

Of the splendor

I see

Madam Queen

Blissful Individuals

Smoke fish on the wharf

Via the haze

Of sun-blazed Ghanaian days

As wood-burnt warmth

Rises from these nonetheless

stuffed grills

Overflowing

No grass rising

beneath

Busy barren toes

Industrious duties

to finish

Earlier than sunset

Fishermen mend and sew

Their nets

Amid the scent of sea & humanity

In sand and grit

Of plantain

grilled

And huge canoes

now stilled

Stretching for as far

because the eyes can see

At pause

As some right here now

Relaxation or Sleep

Amid this market’s

Pounding

Sweating

Unrelenting

Coronary heart’s beat

Mornin’ catch

roasts golden brown

And the bottom

is laden

With tiny fish

That lie

sun-drying

And throughout

A Individuals

Coal to Brown

With souls of gold

And humble crowns

Illuminate this nook

of West African environment

With sturdy fingers and backs

That don’t break

And unwearied eyes

And satisfaction

You may’t take

And the solar pales as compared

To their smiles

Upon Their Faces

Inside these ancestral faces

Of horror

Of shock

Of anguish

And of ache

Lie historical past’s disgrace

Unforgivable

Virtually unspeakable

Unforgettably enshrined

upon these hallowed grounds

That paint

A transparent

and searing image

Of man’s inhumanity

to the Black physique

Of hidden figures

Disfigured

by shackles

And by chains

by nooses

and by hate

By centuries of that bloody

and inconceivable destiny

known as Slavery:

A “Peculiar Establishment”

Through which the new child of the enslaved

couldn’t be

born free..

And for hundreds of years

There existed

this nice tragedy

Referred to as, “The Maafa”

The reminiscence of which some would now select to have

forgotten

And Black Historical past whitewashed

As if somebody aside from us

Picked their cotton

As if we

didn’t dangle like unusual fruit

From poplar timber

Or face Massa’s whip

And myriad cruelties

Created by his limitless, hateful imaginations

However right here, rotten hate

And brutality

Glare

for all of the world to see

Faces sculpted

In moist African clay

By impressed fingers

Crammed with grace

To inform the story

Of hate

virtually past Creativeness

Of struggling

And the manifestation

Of abomination

Of degradation

That should not now

OR EVER

Be erased

Or denied

Untold

Or rewritten

Or else smoothed over

by White Lies

Thou shalt not

silence these cries!

…I hear

The jagged piercing wail

Of my ancestors dying

Of pregnant girls

Nearing beginning

And likewise demise

Crying

The crashing

Of hearts capsizing

It’s the plain fact etched upon these faces.

On this most sacred of locations

That bears a narrative for the ages

Sealed eternally by blood

And a sculptor’s mud

as a substitute of pages

In these, my ancestor’s faces.

#JusticeForJelaniDay

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