Currently on board during our week-and-a-half stretch across the Atlantic Ocean is a magnificent musician by the name of Sheriff Ghale. He is most well known as a reggae artist from the Northern region of Ghana who is basically likened to Bob Marley. He has graced us with nightly concerts of music from Marley's, and his own, repertoire. His wailing voice over the mellow strumming of his acoustic guitar has a beautifully jarring sound that is a perfect pair to his music which often is very critical of society and the government. Of course, coming from a strong traditional musical background, he is also well versed in many of the musics from the many tribal groups of Ghana; he is pursuing graduate-level study in music at the University of Ghana at Legon, which if you know me well, is where I was actually planning to study for an entire year. Other than his evening concerts and jam sessions, he sits in on classes and provides his input on what we are learning about from his perspective.
One of his most recent accomplishments was in conjunction with the national health ministry of Ghana to help eradicate guinea worm. Guinea worm is a parasite which lays eggs in water sources. If ingested, those eggs hatch inside the body after about nine months, and those hatched worms find ways to escape. To do so, they eat their way out to the surface of the skin. It's not a fatal, but you can imagine that it is very painful and quite gruesome.
Ghale was hired to write music about awareness and prevention of this water-borne disease, and because of his popularity as a Ghanaian superstar, these songs were broadcast throughout the country through a variety of media sources. More importantly, he was also able to tour the country to perform in more remote areas of northern rural Ghana, where he is originally from and where there is less access to modern media outlets. These local concerts mobilized people, in terms of both physical distance and social action, for they gathered people together from neighboring villages to enjoy his music as well as they incited social change amongst these people. His main focus was to entertain but also to spread a valuable message. This message was simple: this disease is easily preventable by filtering and boiling water before drinking it and refraining from walking into potable water sources such as ponds or dams to decrease the incidence of infection.
As of right now, partly due to Ghale's musical efforts, Ghana has been free of any new cases of guinea worm for a year and a half. Because the life cycle of guinea worm is nine months, this means that the entire species has ceased to procreate, and the country is awaiting certification from the World Health Organization that the parasite has been completely eradicated within its boundaries.
This story blew my mind. We all know my whole schtick about the power of the arts and its possible uses for public health initiatives, so I was in awe. You have no idea how excited I am to have met Sheriff, and I hope to continue talking to him and learning from him in the upcoming few days until we reach Ghana. Though he's tried to teach me and a few other voyagers some drumming (and let me tell you, I'm a lousy drummer, but I'm getting a djembe in hopes of actually practicing with it), I've gained so more from examining his demeanor and his attitude on life. He is such a laid-back, humble man with so much knowledge that I can't imagine can fit into his dread-locked head. When he talks to you in his slow drawl that I find distinctly Ghanaian, you can't help but smile. There is so much hope and joy in his spirit, and I find that mesmerizing.
People like Sheriff Ghale are what makes this experience completely worth it. It's a shame to me that some people on board treat this so much more like a booze cruise than a once-in-a-lifetime educational experience, especially when such insightful people like Sheriff, who is such a valuable resource of cultural knowledge, is right at our fingertips. I guess I really shouldn't care about those people all too much because I figure I should be happy that I'm taking advantage of the things like this that will help me learn, grow, and develop into a well-informed global citizen. On the other hand, I tend to question the typical American college student, and I begin to worry about education in my country, but that's a different topic altogether (about which a blog post will be written soon). In the meantime, I'll continue to be in awe of Sheriff and anxiously wait until my arrival in Ghana in a couple of days.
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