The past couple of weeks I have been learning a lot about life and hierarchies on campus. Each dorm on campus has its own rules and leaders. Commonwealth Hall even has a chief, this chief doesn’t have to go to class he has other people go to class for him. While fraternities and sororities do not technically exist in the Ghana University system they still exist in the social make up of the campus. They even have their own punishment systems for thieves. The person in question is pulled around campus in a cart with a banner around his neck that tells everyone who he is and what he studies. Then he is tossed in a puddle and forced to carry the cart back to commonwealth hall. The thief has the choice of undergoing this punishment or being reported to the school authorities. The school’s punishment for thieves is expulsion. Ghana traditionally has a shame system of criminal justice. Two weeks ago there was an incident that brought this system into a reality. Apparently there was a robbery of a laptop in one of the dorms, the lady that stole left her cell phone by accident and came to retrieve it. The students decided to take the situation under their control and punish her themselves by striping her naked, beating her, and sexually assaulting her….and they video taped it and posted it on YouTube. They thought that this was ok because she was dressed like a prostitute. I will say that not all Ghanaians are ok with this form of punishment however, those that did participate in it were not punished for their actions.
I don’t want this whole post to be depressing so I will leave you with a table to determine your Ghanaian name. There are numerous tribes in Ghana and each tribe will traditionally name their children according to what day of the week they are born on. The following table correlates the day of the week with the Akan language name.
Day Male Female
Mon. Kwadwo Adwoa
Tue. Kwabena Abena
Wed. Kwaku Akua
Thur. Yaw Yaa
Fri. Kofi Afua
Sat. Kwame Ama
Sun. Kwasi Akosua
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