When I got to Cape Coast and went up to campus on Tuesday, June 20 it was so wonderful to be embraced by so many colleagues. Even the ones who I only had peripheral interactions with when I was here were so welcoming and warm. Everyone came up to me and gave me a hug and told me “Akwaaba” (welcome) throughout the three weeks I was here. I had lots of conversations with lots of folks, many of them unexpected. It really did feel good to feel like to some degree, folks think of me as part of the department.
Currently, they are working on a musical production that my friend Delali is the director of, but all of the Department of Music and Dance colleagues are working together on it (I can’t even imagine how that works!). It’s the story of Kwame Nkrumah, Ghana’s first president, who was also the one who led them out of colonialism and into independence. He has a major and lasting legacy in Ghana and is the best president they have ever had. I am not going to be around to see the production unfortunately, but it was really wonderful to be able to go to so many rehearsals and to be able to see the creative process unfold during rehearsals. I think it’s going to be a stellar performance. At least all of the ideas that I’ve seen are coming together in a really cool way. (This is not a pre-planned musical performance. The HOD wrote a script that is about Nkrumah’s life, and otherwise, they are creating the show as they go. It’s really amazing to watch. I’ve never seen anyone do something like this. It’s rather a remarkable process.) It’s pretty demanding on the students because there’s only a few weeks before performance and there’s a lot of rehearsals. They have been struggling with attendance because students are becoming tired of going to so many extra rehearsals. I hope that stops because if everyone is there, obviously, it’ll make the performance better.
They did a small performance while I was there so I was able to see a small snippet of it. It’s really cool to see how Delali‘s ideas and vision are coming through. Because she is a dance professor, much of what they’re doing is dance-focused, which makes it really fun and interesting to watch. And it’s educational for me to categorize the different types of dances and the songs that go with it as they perform them.
I was able to have drinks with Dr. Eric Otchere, the Head of Department, who is the guy who I originally established contact with over two years ago to make the Ghana part of my sabbatical happen. It’s so cool to come back now and feel like we are colleagues and friends. There’s a wonderful comfortability and respect there, which is so great. He’s such a great guy. John-Doe was there for drinks as well, because, well, we always enjoy having drinks together. And I think that John-Doe might be the next HOD – we should find out in the next month or so!
Anyway, I do feel like I have some people here and Ghana now as well as some ongoing work, both personally and professionally. So I’m really excited to continue to come back year after year to see my friends and colleagues as well as the students. I can’t tell you how much better it felt the second time around to come here. I just feel so welcomed and part of a community now.
These are a few pics I got, but there are so many more people I talked to that I just did not get photos with this time.
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