Turning 21 with Football, Goat, and Church

Ghanaians sure know how to throw a birthday party. My 21st was one to remember: I sang a solo in a Ghanaian church, watched the US come within a few minutes of beating the world's best football team, ate a goat that was killed for the birthday festivities, and capped it off with a taste of the local drink.

Church was a pleasant surprise. I was thrilled to receive an invitation to attend the small Apostolic congregation's worship service in Marfokrom while walking home with eggs and bread for breakfast. One of the ladies on the street stopped me in my tracks - "Kwabena (my Ghana name) - you should come to church with me." I handed off the eggs to my 'sister' and walked to the place of worship. Along the way, my guide noticed my shirt - dirty from the well water - was turned inside out. "Turn it around Kwabena." So then and there - on Marfo's Main Street - I smartly took off my shirt and turned it around. And off we went.

The church service was elegant, filled with energy, passion, and enthusiasm. Upon entering I was asked to introduce myself to the congregation of about 25 people. In the local language, I told them my name, home, 'mission' in Ghana, and thanked them for welcoming me. Even still, I wasn't truly welcomed until I led the small congregation in a terribly off-pitched rendition of "Holy, Holy, Holy." The approvals came in the form of claps, head nods, and a few chants. I took my seat, and enjoyed a beautiful sermon, delivered in English and the tribe's language.

Six hours later I again found myself praying. This time, it was for the fate of the United States v Brazil pairing in the finals of the Confederation Cup soccer tournament. I was invited to watch with the local school's headmaster, Arthur, and his son. As anyone who watched the game knows, my prayers were answered for the first 45 minutes, as the US played brilliantly to enter halftime with a 2-0 lead. In the end, Brazil proved again why they are the best, and won 3-2. More memorable than the final score, however, was the dancing around the room that ensued following the US goals. Hands clasped with my fellow football fans, we did what must have looked like a rain dance as we yelled our approval. It was quite the birthday tv-viewing.

Did I mention the goat? Three of our nine team members had birthdays this past weekend. As part of the celebrations, we killed a goat - thanking our ancestors and God for the blessing first, of course - to barbecue. Without going into too much detail (the vegetarian girls in our group struggled with the cultural practice), it will suffice to say that goat meat is spectacular, and a terrific birthday meal!


Table tennis on a wooden table made by the local teenagers (wind and hills add a dimension to the sport...), a sip of the local drinks to celebrate my 21st, and some great time spent with the other members of our team capped off what was a fantastic birthday celebration here in Marfokrom.

As a closing note: thanks to the Central Michigan fan who chose to give away their "Fire Up Chips - GO CMU!" t-shirt. Seeing that it was a medium, I bought it for about 70 cents (in dollars) off a table last week at a market near this internet cafe. It fits me very well.

Culture Day in Marfokrom

Friday was Culture Day in Marfokrom, a day where once every two years all of the schoolchildren from the nearby villages travel to 'Marfo' to share dances, songs, and poems from their respective local villages.

I was able to attend the festivities after teaching a 1st grade class a lesson in the primary school. We worked on language together. With the small amount of twi - the local language - that I know, I helped them translate a few basic phrases from twi to English. Along the way, they taught me more twi. I've found that - in addition to smiles and laughter - a few words transcend the language barrier quite easily: water, football, and 'bye bye.'

Culture Day consisted of a number of phenomenal acts. Girls and boys from the high school dressed in their local formal attire sang tribal songs and danced around the circle formed by over 1,000 students. Most of the village came alive to watch the show, too.

The kids love us - the "obrunis" (white people). Walking down the road we hear the calls: "ey - obruni!" (hello white man!), to which we respond with a smile "obibini!" (black man!). Far from offensive, these observatory remarks are typical on a daily basis here. Referring to someone as fat, skinny, tall, or short are used practically, in order to win attention.

While the singing and dancing were great to watch, what I'll remember most about this day is the plate of "wayche" that I shared with the school's headmaster as we set up for the event. We ate the dish of noodles, beans, rice, and spices as we sat holding our satchels of pure water and talked football, life, and school. The meal, bread, and water came to a whopping 1 Ghana Cedi - 70 American cents. The conversation and cultural exchange, of course, were priceless.

Time to head back to the village now. This weekend we're killing/eating a goat (to celebrate my 21st birthday), climbing a mountain that overlooks the village, and hopefully playing a few more pick up football games after we fix the goalposts from last night's storm. Enjoy the pictures!

Late Arrival / First Impressions

TIA. "This is Africa." I thought it was an acronym made up by Leonardo DiCaprio in the movie Blood Diamond. As it turns out, it's a phrase said commonly by many of the English speakers in Ghana. Though in the movie it is often expressed with an eye-roll or a smirk, I've found myself repeating the phrase frequently since my arrival - more out of amazement, awe, and curiosity.

Despite some flight issues (explained below), our team arrived in Accra, Ghana on Saturday evening. We spent the first night at the University of Ghana, where we shared a section of the dorms with clergymen attending a conference. A strange start. Sunday morning we received cultural training from our hosts/counterparts, and then loaded up the "tro-tros" (Astro-like vans used as a form of public transportation... more on these adventurous vehicles at another time) to head toward our village, Marfokrom, 2 hours northwest of the capital.

Don't bother looking for Marfo on a Google map - it won't be on it (I tried). Its population is half as large as my high school, and a good sprinter could make it down the village's main road - start to finish - in less than a minute. That said, it's a beautiful community where life is very public, the people are very hospitable, and the locals are thrilled to host us to help at the local schools.

I have much, much more to write about. Unfortunately it must end here today, as my time is quickly elapsing at the local internet cafe from which I type this. Probably for the best, though: I need to fetch well water and build a screen door for the women's room by dark (6pm).

Mosquitoes feed at night! TIA.

The school we are working on building (and currently are living in) in the village of Marfokrom. My room is the second door of the back building.

After a 24 hour delay in Lagos, Nigeria, one of the more dangerous African cities, I was thrilled to make it to Ghana.

Ghana: Operation Crossroads Africa

"Make a difference for others, see the difference in yourself." This is the motto for Operation Crossroads Africa, the organization sponsoring my seven week humanitarian mission to Ghana this summer.

While in Ghana, I'll work as a member of a team of nine college-age students from the US on a mission in a rural village focused on community development through education. Though our mission is slightly unclear, the other "Crossroaders" and I will work specifically on constructing parts of the school and its furniture, as well as working with teachers and the children in the village.

Since early Tuesday morning our team has worked on team-building and cultural training at Adelphi University on Long Island in New York that will prepare us for what is sure to be tremendous culture shock. We've heard a number of briefings on medical precautions, the importance of communication and selflessness on teams, and the importance of flexibility and patience when entering another culture. Our team is extremely optimistic about the journey we're about to embark on together.

Though our mission has nothing whatsoever to do with military affairs, I've found the similarities between my military training at West Point and our group's preparations over the course of the last 48 hours to be striking. Mission focus is paramount. Planning is essential. And team-building - especially trust-building - is mission-critical. With these in mind, I feel that our team is on track for a successful summer, as we learn more about Ghana/Africa, and along the way build lasting friendships.

While in Ghana, I hope to stay in touch through e-mails home, a couple of articles for the Midland Daily News, and semi-regular updates of this blog. All of this will be technology-dependent. I'm crossing my fingers that I'll get internet access at some points along the way. "Snail mail" to Ghana is unreliable, but I would love to keep in touch and hear responses to what I write through e-mail to tylergmatthews@gmail.com.

Find out more about the organization that President Kennedy called the "progenitor of the Peace Corps" by visiting the Operation Crossroads Africa website.

SGR: "Holding Down the Fort"

What happens during the summer months at West Point, when the cadets are off doing summer training? A lot more than you might think.

My West Point leadership detail involved three weeks as a staff officer assigned to Summer Garrison Regiment (SGR). The detail began the week prior to graduation for the class of 2009, and technically ends this Thursday. Because of my team's orientation for Operation Crossroads Africa, I'll be able to slip away Tuesday to head to New York City.

SGR was a good learning experience. I worked alongside a few very impressive, driven friends of mine, as we "held down the fort" at West Point while the rest of the Corps participated in various summer training events.

My specific job involved long days and nights at Central Guard Room - the academy's help center/key-control room/de facto police precinct. As the cadet in charge of the room, I helped to provide command and control coordination for our cadet commander, Ali Ihusaan, his XO, Liz Betterbed, and my direct superior, Bruno Lucivero. All three were great to work with.

The picture above is of Bruno, Liz and I, showing off the Summer Term Academic Program t-shirt (STAP: "graduation comes one class at a time") and flowers we gave to Deb Hanrahan, the lady who deserves the credit for the great summer training that cadets receive.

Overall, the detail provided a plethora of opportunities for me to grow as a leader, but what I'll remember most are the relationships I made with the other cadets who participated. It was a surprisingly pleasant experience.

West Point Model UN Public Affairs

The West Point Model United Nations Team recently named me its '09-'10 public affairs officer. For starters, let me recap the team's recent successes. The team represented the academy tremendously in a number of conferences during the '08-'09 school year, taking first place at conferences at Georgetown University, the University of Pennsylvania, Princeton, Yale, and McGill University in Canada.

During the second semester the team won first place at Harvard Nationals in Boston, and won a number of individual awards at the World Model United Nations conference in The Hague, Netherlands. My friend George LeMeur and I won a diplomacy award in the World Trade Organization commmittee at the Worlds conference, representing South Africa. The team who travelled to the Netherlands is pictured above.

For those unfamiliar with the program, Model United Nations competitions allow students (and cadets...) from colleges across the world to debate international issues while representing foreign countries in simulated UN committee sessions.

UJSS Second Issue

On May 1st, the Undergraduate Journal of Social Sciences published its second annual issue. As the journal's editor-in-chief, I had a fast-paced second semester overseeing the young journal's progress, which culminated in the publishing of our second main issue.

The journal's staff, pictured above, is stacked with a plethora of talented writers, editors, and publishers. Major TS Sowers and Major Fernando Lujan serve as the project's advisors. In addition to the main issues, our team publishes the transcripts of interviews with prominent visitors to West Point in the UJSS Interview Series. We're looking forward to expanding our content base in the 2010 academic year.

Check out the UJSS online at www.soshjournal.org.

Logan's Graduation

It's official: my younger brother Logan is a high school graduate. Not that this was ever really in doubt. I was proud to watch him graduate and deliver the closing remarks of his graduation ceremony last Friday as Class President.

The only small stain on the awesome event was the school district's choice not to publicly recognize Logan as his class's Valedictorian. Logan was Valedictorian of his class of over 400 students. Unfortunately for Logan, he was number one academically in the first class in Midland High School history that would not recognize the Valedictory honors during the ceremony (not even in the program)! It's a shame that Logan's success went largely unnoticed.

Midland High's new cum laude system can - and should - coexist with recognition of the peak performers. As long as high school track meets are giving out golds and silvers, and as long as sports teams and leagues still award MVPs, Valedictorians and Salutatorians should still be recognized for their exceptional academic success.

So here's to my brother Logan - the first Valedictorian in Midland High history not to be formally recognized as such. Logan will be at Michigan State University next year studying Chemical Engineering as an Alumni Distinguished Scholar.