University of Ghana and the National Museum

On Saturday morning I went to the mall, which is full of Western products and is evidently a haven for expats. I stocked up on branflakes – I’m doing my best to try the local cuisine, but not at 7 in the morning.  In the afternoon I went with Ben (who works at the house where I am staying) for a very refreshing swim at the Erata hotel and to visit the University of Ghana.

The university is set in a beautiful campus in Legon, Accra.  The library is a much more inviting place to study than the rather forbidding UL at Cambridge:

Even the roundabouts feature inspiring statues:

The university also has lovely and very interesting botanical gardens (featured is Ben, sporting his latest footballing injury):

But I can’t deny that the highlight for me was making the acquaintance of this monkey:

I would describe my stance as “poised for flight” - I wasn’t quite sure of the length of the rope which tied the monkey to the tree.

Today (Sunday) I visited the National Museum.  This is a really fascinating collection of artefacts, displays, and photographs of Ghanaian cultural life.  It includes weaponry, cooking equipment, ritual objects, textiles, and musical instruments.  I certainly learnt a great deal on my visit, but was slightly disappointed by the unquestioning attitude taken by the museum towards the slightly more problematic aspects of Ghanaian culture.  For example, the information on the display of puberty initiation rites stated simply that “it is...a great source of pride, honour and joy [to] a family to have their girl initiated”.  In fact, these initiation rites are sometimes contentious, as breach of them can lead to a girl being harshly punished: there have been cases in the Ghanaian courts challenging these rituals as a violation of human rights.  In my opinion, one of the facets of Ghanaian culture which is most to be celebrated is the ability and willingness of that culture to challenge itself, as I saw this week at the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice.  It's a shame this is not reflected in an otherwise fantastic collection.