The Cup of Nations and the nation-less

Impressions of Ghana

Accra is a lot more ordered than Lagos - there are sealed roads, traffic lights, shopping malls and constant electricity. I still couldn’t get any cash out here, but this time because my debit card didn’t work in the ATM, rather than there being no ATM’s in the first place. Religion is just as prominent here as it was in Lagos and once again Christians and Muslims exist side-by-side without any reduction of their religious practices. There is still no sign of tension between the two groups, which I was definitely on the look out for given how many people back home seem to think the public exercise of religion will bring the downfall of western civilization. I went to church twice here and the thing I was most struck by, apart from the fact that each service went for around three hours, was the feeling that people were more than happy to stay for as long as it took. This was their time - with each other and with God - and because of that, it was a treasured time. The Ghanaians also match the Nigerians in their passion for football. Hosting the African Cup of Nations is a massive deal for them and there are flags, jerseys, banners and horns everywhere. I was fortunate enough to watch Ivory Coast play Mali in Accra Stadium in a group match of the Cup. It was a great atmosphere and for 4 Ghana cedi ($4US) a definite bargain. On my second night in Accra, Ghana beat Morocco and the street parties were awesome to watch! There are football pitches (i.e. patches of dirt with goals at each end) everywhere in Ghana and you can’t drive anywhere without seeing a bunch of kids playing on them.

A definite highlight of my time in Ghana was the quarter-final match between Ghana and Nigeria. We weren't able to get tickets into the stadium but I was really keen to experience the atmosphere anyway so Irvine (my cameraman-friend) and I went to the stadium. From about a kilometre out, the streets were awash with red, yellow, green and black. There were flags everywhere, people had painted themselves in the colours of the flag, and just about every t-shirt and jersey was Ghana-related (except for the two Nigerians we came across, that is!). The noise was immense too - horns and whistles blared non-stop and for some reason people delighted in walking up behind people and blasting them with the horn. I was the victim of this on a number of occasions as they seemed to find it even funnier to see a white man jump with fright.

We ended watching the game itself in the Fan’s Village, which was directly opposite the stadium. This turned out to be a masterstroke. The enclosed area was packed with a few thousand Ghanaian supporters and one Nigerian supporter, who lasted about 20 minutes before realising this probably wasn’t the best place for him to be. For the first time since I arrived in Accra, being in the village gave me the opportunity to actually make friends with some local Ghanaians. I’m sure the novelty factor of me being a white guy wearing Ghana wrist and headbands had something to do with it, but it was really cool just talking to people in there and feeling part of their community, if only for a short while. I wasn’t quite sure how they would take an Australian trying to be a Ghanian, but I was blown away by their friendliness.

When Ghana scored their first goal, the place erupted. It was just before half-time so the celebrations continued for about 15-minutes - all the way though the break. It was an awesome feeling dancing and cheering and hugging and high-fiving everyone around me. At one point, for a reason I am still not quite sure of, a group of them hoisted me up on their shoulders and carried me around. And did I mention dancing? We danced a lot! I don’t think they’d ever celebrated a Ghanain goal with a white guy before, so I danced with a lot of people; and at various points I would be surrounded with people taking photos and recording videos on their mobile phones. It was a surreal experience. On an already hot day, and with the temperature in the village jumping about 10 degrees as soon as Ghana scored, I was soon exhausted.

The game continued and when Ghana eventually scored the winner with five minutes to go the party resumed. I had my energy back by then, so we danced and hugged some more. One really cool thing was that people I’d met earlier on in the night would come and find me to celebrate with me. It was a great feeling. When the game finished a DJ came on stage and everyone set in for a long night of partying. Irvine and I had to get back to meet the others though, so we only stayed about half an hour more. During that time though, quite a few people assured me I was a real “Ghana man” now and to top it all off, one woman about my age told me “you dance very well”, without even adding “for a white man”! With that my night was complete, so we walked for about an hour through the crowds and found the rest of the group, who had watched the game at a restaurant nearby. (Note: subsequent viewing of the footage has revealed the woman was being very gracious in her assessment of my dancing!)

It was a big night for Ghana. Nigeria are possibly their biggest rivals and Ghana had beaten them only once in the past 15 meetings. More than that though, there is an incredible sense of pride here about hosting the African Cup of Nations and the success of the team reinforces that. The hosting of the Cup represents for Ghana the strength, not only of their football, but of their economy and society and of each individual person. You can’t help but notice the massive boost this tournament is having on the self-belief of the average Ghanaian and the sense of unity in the community. It really is incredible to see.

Buduburam Refugee Settlement

While in Ghana I joined up with a touring soccer team from Ambassadors in Sport, which was made up of guys from England, South Africa, Nigeria and America. It was awesome to meet up with old friends, make new ones and be part of a team - travelling solo can get pretty lonely, particularly when there's so much stuff to process and no one to process it with. Being part of the Ambassadors team also allowed me to play some matches and coach at soccer clinics in various places in and around Accra.

Probably the most impacting place we went to was a Liberian refugee settlement at Buduburam, in the Gomoa District in Central Ghana. The camp is home to just under 40,000 refugees from Liberia, some of whom have been there for almost twenty years. As we travelled towards the camp I was expecting to arrive at something like the detention centres back home, with high barbed-wire fences all around and guards patrolling it; but it was nothing like that. It was just like another village, except this one was set aside just for Liberians. In some ways the camp was no different to anywhere else in Accra or West Africa - the dwellings were small shacks, there were open sewers running alongside the “roads” and paths, and there were small shops and street sellers everywhere - but there was one very important difference: the people were displaced. The refugees had been forced to leave their country due to the civil wars which began in 1989, and had arrived in Ghana mainly because other neighbouring countries, such as Nigeria, had refused to accept them.

With the civil war over, the UNHCR, who oversee the camp, are encouraging the refugees to return to their homes in Liberia. The Ghanaian government are also keen for the refugees to return home. The difficulty with this, as one refugee, Peter, explained to me, was that most of them no longer have a “home” to return to - their land has been taken, their friends and family have either been killed or moved away, and the country they left is very different to the one they are being asked to return to. Peter informed me that the UN were offering the refugees transport to Liberia and $5 towards the cost of resettlement. According to the UNHCR the figure is actually $100 but even so, it is no wonder few refugees are willing to return home, no matter how much they may want to.

The refugees have little contact with life outside the camp - they have their own mini-economy, social and religious structures. It is a thoroughly inadequate word and a significant understatement, but when asked about life in the camp a few of the refugees replied that life was “difficult”. There is a lack of education, sanitation, food, water and other basic necessities. In purely physical terms, conditions at the camp are not much different from parts of the rest of the country, but the important difference is that the refugees are trapped in a place that isn’t their home.

We went to the camp to run a football clinic with the youth there. Approximately sixty kids participated in the clinic - some of whom were very good footballers. For many of them, becoming a professional footballer is their dream of a way out of the camp. The harsh reality is that few, if any, of them will see this dream realised. Nevertheless, football provides a purpose and focus to their lives. A league system has been set-up in the camp and this is something the broader community, not just the players, can involve themselves in. Football gives hope to the refugees in the camp, particularly the children, and not just a false hope of fame and success either, but a real hope of significance and humanity.

As we left, exhausted, at the end of the day the huge need of the refugees hit home. Every single one of us was asked for money by at least one person and many children asked us for our football boots, socks, jerseys … water. We had been instructed at the start of the day not to give anything to them, because on a number of occasions in the past the gift of one item - a jersey, t-shirt, whatever - has resulted in fights and ongoing tension in the community. It was really difficult to say no and heart-breaking to say goodbye to the children, feeling like we had done nothing to help their situation. In reality we had done something - I believe our visit reminded them that they are not forgotten, that they are loved and significant - but in the scheme of things it didn't seem like a lot. Their greatest needs of home, family, security and freedom are yet to be met.

In the mean time though, some remarkable examples of community can be found in the camp. When we arrived at the camp we came across a man who was walking around with faeces all over the back of his shirt and pants. He smelt terrible and flies were all around him. When one other member of the community noticed this though, she went to find the man’s brother and a short while later he was back amongst us having been washed and wearing clean clothes. The community isn’t helpless or without their humanity - they love, support and honour each other perhaps more than people in the independent West - but they are the victims of an injustice that is bigger than their community. Interestingly, when I asked the coordinator of sports in the settlement what he needed the most he replied, "Not money. Money will just be wasted here. What we need is people to come over and train us - in sports coaching, in life skills, in business - so that we can help ourselves."

As an aside, I should mention that I struggled throughout the day to come to terms with what relevance being a Christian has in situations like these. One particular story from the Bible kept going round and round in my head, which was when a crippled man asked Peter and John for money and Peter replied, “Silver and gold I do not have, but what I have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.” The story ends with the man jumping around praising God. As I thought about this story I realised that nothing short of this would satisfy me. Playing football with them does something, but it's not enough. The same applies for just telling them about Jesus and his love for them. For Christianity to have any significance here it must involve a wholehearted commitment to meeting the spiritual, physical and emotional needs of each person in the settlement and not being satisfied until this is done. Realising this, not just for here in Ghana but for everywhere around the world where situations like these exist, is not an answer but a window to more questions.

Update: On March 26 the UNHCR released the following briefing note.

Ghana: deportation to Liberia

This is a summary of what was said by UNHCR spokesperson Jennifer Pagonis - to whom quoted text may be attributed - at the press briefing, on 25 March 2008, at the Palais des Nations in Geneva.

Following a deportation on Sunday 23 March of 16 Liberians by the Ghanaian authorities - 13 of them registered with UNHCR as refugees - we have urged Ghana to cease any further forcible removals.

The deportation followed a five-week sit-in demonstration by a group of Liberians which started last month on 19 February at the Buduburam refugee settlement, some 35 km west of the country's capital city Accra. Refugees were demanding to be resettled to third countries or, if they were to return to Liberia, for the return grant, currently $100, to be increased to $1,000. Despite our extensive efforts to promote dialogue and convince the demonstrators to express themselves within the confines of Ghanaian law, the group engaged in increasingly threatening and disruptive action.

After having shown restraint for over a month, the Ghanaian authorities arrested some 630 demonstrators on March 17. The group was taken to a youth training facility at Kordiabe in the east of the country, where they were visited and assisted by UNHCR. On the evening of 21 March 2008, UNHCR negotiated the release of 90 of the most vulnerable of the group, including separated children and pregnant women.

However, the following day on March 22, we were informed of the arrest of some 70 Liberians from Buduburam. We immediately requested the authorities to be granted access to the group. This request was still pending when we learned that 16 people from the group had been deported to Liberia early in the morning on March 23. Thirteen of them - 10 men and 3 women - were refugees.

We regret the deportation of this group of refugees and hope that our ongoing negotiations with the Ghanaian authorities will help resolve the situation of the refugees still in detention.

The demonstration stopped on Monday. We are continuing to try and persuade the refugee community to use existing channels to address their issues as well as reminding them of their obligation to obey the laws and regulations of their country of asylum.

There are 26,967 Liberians officially registered as refugees in Ghana - most live in Buduburam refugee camp. From October 2004 to June 2007 UNHCR ran a major repatriation programme for Liberian refugees who has fled to various West African countries during a brutal civil war. Some 105,000 Liberian refugees returned home under the programme.

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