6 The Compass Friday. April 26. 1996
Visit to Ghana brings home connection
between African-Americans and Africa
by NaKeisha S. Sylver
If I had ever considered taking the
position that "African-American" is an
inacairate term for Black people bom
in America, I certainly wouldn't now.
EXiring my recent journey to Ghana,
West Africa after ^ing awarded a
scholarship to participate in Delta
Sigma Theta's liabitat for Humanity
International Build project, I fdt the
connection between myself and my
African/Ghanaian sisters and broth
ers that I always knew existed.
I am not siu« what I expected Africa
to feel like. Perhaps I had some roman
ticized notion that it would feel like an
exotic paradise, or that I would feel
some type of electrical charge when
my feet first touched the soil walked
hundreds of years ago by my ances
tors. At any rate, I certainly wasn't pre
pared for what Ghana—a western Af
rican nation juxtap>osed between taU,
majestic mountain ranges, and the
playful waves of the Atlantic Ocean—
actually felt like to me: incredibly and
intensely familiar.
I guess "deja vu" is a good way to
describe what I experienced through
out my nine-day stay in Ghana.
Whether I was standing outside my
hotel talking with new friends, touring
the breathtakingly beautiful, lush, aiKl
in some places tropical vegetation of
the countryside, or working on one of
the forty homes my sorority financed
and came to help complete and then
dedicate, I saw sights, and heard
sounds that seemed familiar to me
somehow.
Watching children play "grown-up"
by imitating their parents, listening to
men approach the women in our group
with the same "lines" men use at home,
and hearing middle-aged parents com
plain to one another about the strange
way their teenagers talk all made me
feel right at home in Ghana.
At fb^t I marveled at this. I had never
before left the continental United States,
much less traveled to Africa. I had cer
tainly never been to Ghana. The land-
scaf>e of the country, the customs, and
the values of the p»eople can in no way
be compared to that of mair\stream
America, yet bits and pieces of every
thing I saw in Ghana began to remind
me of home.
I always kr>ew that African-Ameri
can culture has managed to retain some
cormections with the culture of our Af
rican ancestors, but it was awe-inspir
ing to see some of the subtle similari
ties in action.
On several occasions, I was sitting in
a Ghanaian village enjoying a tradi
tional dance performance, when all of
a sudden one of the yoimg Ghanaian
dancers would break into a dance move
that friends of mit>e in America would
have declared they invented. At times,
I even saw the exact formations aiKl
steps that I have seen used in numer
ous Greek step shows.
When I learned the Ghanaian hand
shake—which is used just as frequently
and in much the sanne way as the hand
shake we use in the United States—my
mouth dropped open. The handshake,
a series of grips and snaps, is much
like the ones we often use in African-
American culture to greet or congratu
late one another.
While standing in the Cape Coast
Slave Castle, however, I felt the con
nection between African people and
myself, an African-American woman,
more completely and intensely than
ever before. As our Ghanaian tour
guide toured us aroimd the Castle he
told us the story of how the ancestors
of African-Americans spent their last
moments on their beloved continent
before being forced off to an imfamil-
iar and undesirable world to toil in
agony as slaves; I wept because I knew
he was telling my story as well as his
own.
by Latisha Edwards
Where will ECSU be in the year 2001?
Although no one knows the answer
to that question. Interim Chancellor Dr.
Mickey L. Bumim and Dr. EVeborah
Fontaine, assistant director of spon
sored programs, are hard at work on a
strategic plan to help ECSU meet the
challenges and demands of the new
century.
The five-year plan will have far-
reaching impact on the University's
academics, communications, organiza
tional structure, and enrollment.
In an announcement to the Univer
sity family on Jan. 16th Bumim de
clared that the objective of the plan is
to "clarify our mission, enhance deci
sion mal^g and commimications, in
crease student enrollment and
strengthen the quality of aU academic
programs and services."
According to Bumim ECSU needs to
develop a "wdl-fociised" strategic plan
that will direct decision n\aking for the
tvextfive years.
"Planning allows you to take a
proactive response to changing drcunv
stances," said Fontaine, ECSU's strate-
I stood atop Cape Coast Castle arvd
looked out at the shore from which
many of my beloved ancestors were
literally pjacked into the bottom of slave
ships and taken off to a country and a
land that meant them only evil and
f)ain. I thought of how they were forced
to leave their families and friends be
hind forever. Those left behind had to
go on with their lives and create futxire
generations in their native Ghana, just
as their brothers and sisters had to do
in a hostile and cruel America. As I
cried, the line separating my American
and my African family members be
came more and more blurred.
Of course, not all of the men and
women brought to Arr^ca as daves
came from Ghana. Ghana is but one of
the western African nations from which
African-Arrvericans descend. Each Af
rican coimtry has its own culture and
history. The connection, however, be
tween all of those who left the Conti-
i\ent by force, the families they left be
hind in their r^ative land, and the i>ew
families they created in America is clear.
Many Black people in America seem
to feel an unjustifiable sense of detach
ment from their asters and brothers
gic planning coordinator. "This insti
tution must acknowledge its
weaknesses and deficiencies as well as
its strengths. That way, we can exploit
our strengths and minimize our weak
nesses."
In an effort to charter the direction of
the University for the next five years
Fontaine will implement the Work Plan
for Strategic Hanning which authorizes
the University to develop its five-year
plan.
To solicit input from faculty, staff and
students, Fontaine has asked all de
partments to submit operational plans
and budgets for the next five years.
Twelve ir«titutional goals have been
established, said Fontaine. They are
designed to:
—offer a high-quality undergradu
ate degree program in all disciplines.
- attract and maintain highly profes
sional faculty
- enhance administration efficiency
and effectiveness,
- offer a master's degree program,
- develop a campus-wide technologi
cal i^etwork
- irvcrease the annual level of exter-
who were bom on the Continent. Be
fore I left for Ghana, nnany people told
n>e how poor the coimtry was and how
"imderdeveloped" I would find it to
be. 'That's nice of your sorority to build
homes for those poor people," many
said to me.
Since they had never visited Ghana,
however, they couldn't tell nve any
thing of the pride with which even the
poorest Gharuian citizens carry them
selves. No one told me how hard work
ing the people are, or tiiat the poverty
they faced is the result of economic
oppression (they don't get fair prices
for their number one export, cocoa).
The ecorK>mic proWen\s I saw in Ghana
are not just Ghanaian problems. Gha-
r\aian/African people are the family
members of African-Americans. That
makes it our problem too. It wasn't just
"ruce of" Delta Sigma Theta to build
hon>es for forty hard working Ghana
ian families who couldn't otherwise
afford them; it was a part of our respon
sibility as a sisterhood of Black, college
educated women. As Black people in
America, we are inextricably bound to
our family members in Africa.
nal funding
- attract a higJJy motivated student
body,
- develop an outstanding academic
sufjport system
- implement a comprehensive pro
gram for academic programs
—improve review and assessrvent
- broaden educational and commu-
ruty outreach
- improve educational experience aiKl
employability of undergr^uates
-enhaiKe the quality of student life.
Dr. Olive Wilson, Director of Testing
& Coimseling Services, will coordirute
the University's student opinion sur
vey.
"The results will affect our decisions
and plans for tiie next five years," said
Fontaine. "It's important to adc our con-
sumers-our students-what tf>ey think."
The survey, which will involve 1,250
students, will ask questions like "What
do you think of residence hall rules
and regulations?"
"The nwre information we have at
our disposal," said Fontaine, the better
decisions we can make.
Burnim's five-year plan to have
far-reaching impact on ECSU