This may seem insignificant or silly to some, but for me, it was something like I had never experienced.
Last week, I made a call-out on the adjoainghana instagram asking what topics you would like adjoainghana to cover.
This week we are covering one of the suggested topics and that is “culture shock”. Specifically, the culture shock I experienced living in Ghana and how it compares with living in Australia.
For those who don’t know, I grew up in Australia, a country with a legacy of settler colonialism.
So when I talk about my experiences in Australia below, I want to be clear that I am talking about my experiences in a country with a colonial history that continues to this day.
The lands upon which Australia has been built belong to First Nations Peoples who were violently dispossessed of their ancestral lands when the First Fleet arrived from England in 1788.
First Nations Peoples have rich cultures that have existed from time immemorial and I would like to emphasise this to differentiate what I talk about below from the cultures of First Nations Peoples.
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As a person with Ghanaian heritage, I grew up physically but not spiritually far from my Ghanaian roots.
At 19, I visited Ghana for the first time. A homecoming after the arduous adolescent years of asking the common but important questions like:
who am I?
where do I belong?
As the plane was descending and Ghana came into my view for the first time, I have to say it was love at first sight.
As I got to see more and more of the country, I fell deeper and deeper in love. Not because everything was perfect but because it felt both new and familiar.
For me, Ghana was new in the sense that I had spent my whole life growing up in a society that is culturally different from Ghana and so I had to adjust.
But Ghana also felt familiar in the sense that I felt connected to who I really was.
I have to say that the “culture shock” I experienced in Ghana was a shock in the best possible way.
Good or “bad”, it shaped me.
So let’s dive in. We’re talking flexibility, community, identity, time, customisation and religion & spirituality.
🌊 Flexibility
In my experience in Ghana, I found people to be flexible. I wasn’t really used to people having the time or patience to help me beyond what their job requires.
For example, when I wanted to buy food by the roadside or run into a shop, the rideshare drivers would happily stop or help me carry my shopping into the car.
I wasn’t used to this kind of flexibility which made completing everyday errands easier and more pleasant.
🧡 Community
Don’t you feel more alive when someone smiles at you or initiates a short hello?
Aside from the usual places where these encounters happen for me in Australia (at work, at the supermarket, or on a weekend walk etc), I could go days without exchanging a smile or short greeting with strangers in passing. I would say this is considered normal.
But in Ghana, I quickly learned how important greetings are and how it is actually quite normal to greet strangers on the street as you pass by.
I think greetings affirm our humanity and so in Ghana, I found it so refreshing for people to actually greet each other.
🌍 Identity
I grew up in environments where I didn’t see myself represented and I also grew up with my extended family scattered in faraway corners of the world.
Australia is quite far from everywhere and is an entire continent on its own. This caused an identity crisis and I always felt like something was missing.
I remember going to Ghana for the first time and in the car ride from the airport, I looked out of the window and the billboards showed faces that looked like my family members and the voices and sounds on the radio were those of my people.
This may seem insignificant or silly to some, but for me, it was something like I had never experienced.
Everywhere I looked - from the drivers on the road, to the sales assistants in the shops, to the professionals in the offices, to the food options available at restaurants, to the outfits people were wearing- I was reminded of my Ghanaian identity.
🕐 Time
Living in Australia, I was used to 1 pm meaning 1 pm.
I was used to systems being so predictable that I could easily schedule my day without having to factor in too many buffers.
There are many benefits to this but what happens when delays occur and the thing you wanted to be done can no longer happen on your timeline?
I feel like the concept of time in Ghana is shaped by not just the clock, but other realities like traffic or important events or other activities that can override any timeline you had in mind.
In Australia, I was used to feeling like the world had ended when there was any kind of delay. But in Ghana, I observed how people adapted to delays and responded with resourcefulness in such situations.
I think there is also just something different about the concept of time in Ghana and how time is experienced. This is for a deeper conversation but I just wanted to note this down.
✄ Customisation
In Australia, I wasn’t used to having clothing made to my exact measurements.
It was a novelty for me in Ghana to go and have my measurements taken by a dressmaker/designer and then a beautiful dress made to fit.
The custom-made dress in Ghana is just so impressive and showcases the design skills of the dressmaker, also accentuating a person’s unique style through the shape, fabric and length chosen.
This whole experience is quite fun.
🌱 Religion & Spirituality
In my experience in Australia, I have observed that religion is something that is not freely displayed or spoken about. But when I went to Ghana, I didn’t feel that same tension in the air.
In my experience in Ghana, people openly lived their religion and in most places, you would find religious buildings and posters.
I didn’t know how big the 31st of December was for people of the Christian faith in Ghana. This was until I found myself at an Aunt’s church the entire night of the 31st of December 2019 to bring in the new year with prayer and singing. I learned that this was tradition, referred to as 31st night or crossover in Ghana.
In Ghana, I felt more of a connection to something greater than myself in a spiritual sense.
I think this is because in Ghana, many things hold deeper meanings and significance and this made me feel connected to the people and environments around me.
I think this is part of the collective consciousness.
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The “culture shock” I experienced between Ghana and Australia is based upon my own experiences and observations and so they may or may not be similar to your own.
Regardless, these “culture shocks” represent to me the value in immersing ourselves in different environments.
There isn’t just one way of being and doing in the world and there is so much to be learned through culture ✨.
There is so so much to this topic and I certainly haven’t covered everything. So let’s keep the conversation going!
What “culture shock” have you experienced in Ghana or elsewhere? ⬇️:
Ask the adjoainghana community anonymously series 💬
If you are a paid member of the community, the link to send in your responses for August’s episode will close this Friday 25 August. Be sure to send in your questions, dilemmas or general thoughts through the link emailed to you 🫶🏽.
Keep in touch
Look out for this week’s weekly discussion thread if you want to chat further & follow the @adjoainghana Instagram for more content and Ghana adventures.
If you would like to swap notes, thoughts or experiences, you are welcome to get in touch.
Thank you for reading!
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✨✨✨ time is really interesting here. You described it perfectly along with the others. Lovely post!
I 100% agree with everything here! Ghana really opened my eyes, especially when it came to faith and spirituality. As you say, everyone lived and spoke of their faith so publicly without shame, something that I don’t think I could do as freely in Australia.
Also agree and resonate with the time and flexibility. Although there are instances you find people’s delay as “annoying” because of how we grew up in Australia, I loved the idea of not having a concrete time schedule to my day. Things happen and sometimes is opens way for such great memories.