Ghana's Gone Wild

One consequence of waiting so long to update my blog is that my prospective post headings have changed drastically. “Desperately seeking exercise” has morphed into “Bought jump rope; now learn tricks from host sisters.” “Unhappy stomach prevents eating” was exchanged for “Possibly gaining weight due to potato and palm oil consumption.” And – finally! - “Epic search for internet modem” has been replaced by “Found internet modem; immediately became obsessively conscious of data usage.”

The original title for this post has also changed. Last Wednesday marked the one-month anniversary of my arrival in Ghana, and since then I've both settled down and crisscrossed the country literally from one border to the other. I intended to write about the days I spent traveling to Ghana's northern regions, but that deserving topic was eclipsed by the events of last Friday – namely, Ghana beating Brazil in the FIFA Under-20 World Cup.

For those who don't follow soccer (or football, as it is known everywhere else), next year South Africa will host the World Cup. (It seems crazy that anyone wouldn't know this already, but I believe I'm biased by the thousands of commercials and radio advertisements that deafeningly remind listeners every 2.6 seconds.) The Cup, which is being hailed by sportscasters and citizens alike as “Africa's Cup,” brings with it a number of smaller precursor events, such as the Confederations Cup, also held on African soil. The Under-20 Cup (meaning the team is limited to players 20 years or younger) was the last major event before the big show next summer, and some think it serves as a preview for which teams will be successful in the forseeable future, even though only a few of the Under-20 members will play for their countries in 2010.

After a suspenseful and high-scoring run to the finals, Ghana met Brazil for the second time in 20 years. Just before halftime, one of Ghana's players went out on a red card, and so Ghana spent much of the second half deflecting Brazil's shots on goal. They did so successfully, however and the game went to penalty kicks, with Brazil nearly taking the trophy before Ghana's Emmanuel Agyemang-Badu won the game with a low corner shot.

I live next to a “spot,” or bar, so the noise when Agyemang-Badu's ball hit the net was deafening. I probably would have been able to hear the celebrations even if I weren't so close to the action – the street was filled with revelers waving the Ghanaian flag, dancing, drinking, and beating on improvised plastic-tub drums. We faced a near impasse driving home to the house where I sleep, and were able to move through only after the dancers had jostled the car and (jokingly) made sure that I wasn't Brazilian. I think I'll have to buy a Ghanaian jersey to guarantee my safety in the future...

Though things have calmed down considerably since then, any mention of "Ghana vs. Brazil" to taxi drivers, store owners, or water vendors will still spark a huge grin and a reply of "2010!" Ghana's hopes for a rosy football season only add to expectations for an optimistic future; next year will also see the first oil revenues from the recently-discovered Jubilee Field, and potentially other developments like new roads and additional broadband capacity from a new fiber optic internet cable. As one of my favorite Ghana-bloggers, Ethan Zuckerman, put it on Monday morning, "things are looking good for Ghana."