Happy Anniversary!

Today marks Ghana’s 53^rd year of independence from British rule, and my two-month anniversary of being here. In honor of Ghana’s liberation the National stadium hosted a celebratory Reggae concert last night, which I of course had to attend. Not surprisingly, this place was filled to the brim with Rastas. I’ve never seen so much weed in my life! The arena was literally filled with smoke. There was absolutely no security and everyone was free to smoke their ganja out in the open; which is crazy because technically weed is not only illegal here, but according to the rule books you get a ten year sentence in prison if caught in possession… clearly this law is not enforced.

My favorite part of the night was meeting my new friend “Shepherd.” We met because I couldn’t stop staring at his large plate of weed balanced precariously on his lap as he rolled some joints and bounced along to the beat. We hit it off instantly, better than my new friend “Bush Doctor,” and yes that is his name. “Bush Doctor” is an herbalist, and a self proclaimed Nazir, that I managed to thoroughly scare. After a brief conversation about my own proclivity to homeopathic, holistic, and herbal medicine, I somehow mentioned my interest in voodoo and palmistry, and a million other things that are seen as very dangerous by devout Christians like “Bush Doctor.” As if I hadn’t already scared him enough, we started discussing the biblical story of Samson (the most famous Nazir), and the feminist that I am, I defended Delilah, the character in the story that like many other biblical tales is portrayed as a wicked being that uses her sexuality to seduce Samson into breaking his pact with God. Needless to say, he steered clear of me the rest of the night.

I’m hoping to celebrate the holiday tonight at one of the many raves happening around Accra. I’ve never actually been to a rave before, but it could be pretty hilarious here, especially considering the fact that ecstasy and techno (the two key ingredients for a rave) are basically nonexistent here from what I can tell, so this should be interesting!