We stayed at a very nice resort last night along the Atlantic Ocean. We arrived late at night so we could not take pictures of the shore line, but we met a female security guard who was kind enough to give us a tour of the grounds. It was fascinating to see the golf course, swimming pool, beach front, horses, basketball courts, and beautiful palm trees, coconut trees, and the list goes on and on. It was interesting that we had to go through roads of towns to get to this oasis of a property that is tucked away along the Atlantic Ocean. Now, let me make this clear, I was not planning to go along the shore line, but I knew Michael was somewhere out there admiring the ocean, so I had to go make sure he was OK …. Then we started on our journey with the Security Guard, an unexpected present for us last evening. She had worked at the resort for about three months because she needed a job—and this was a decent one that could help her stay productive.

I'll take a moment to talk about the Ghanaian work ethic. We see them with shops on the corners, walking up to cars at intersections or traffic stops offering goods, and selling anything from toilet tissue to prepaid telephone cards, food, clothes, jewelry, and water. At first, we thought this was the same as our USA street corner peddlers who are selling items, but several questions later Beatrice (our wonderful tour coordinator) said, "Mr. Dewayne, do you have another question for me?" And of course I did! I wondered about the constant selling on the streets and why it seemed normal to them. Beatrice explained that Ghanaians are proud, industrious, and self-supporting people, and they do not like not earning their own way. She pointed out that the selling on the streets were what people needed generally and the people selling the items were meeting neighborhood and community needs while also earning their own way. When a few of the people approached the car and begged for money, she noted that she only contributes to help a person to support the blind or other disabled who simply could not do work and needed assistance to get around. She felt that able-bodied people should be the ones on the corners and in strip malls selling. All of this conversation was intriguing because a misinterpretation could have cast the Ghanian people in a false way that did not represent their real sense of honor, work ethic, and pride in taking care of themselves. Beatrice helped me understand that every man and woman in Ghana who can work will work; this is a way of life for them.

To add to this aspect of work ethic, a visit to a professor's classroom today at the University of Cape Coast provided an additional layer of understanding of work ethic: leisure time and laziness. Beatrice arranged for us to visit with faculty in the Tourism and Travel program at the University; they asked us candid questions about how US diaspora blacks felt about Africans—pointing out that many experiences seemed to have a "cool" feeling in regard to the appreciation of each other. I commented on the topic and pointed out that I had heard similar but also had heard of the same sentiment of Africans toward US blacks—saying that some Africans discounted the African connection that US diaspora blacks had with Africa. I told them that I was grateful that we could have such a frank discussion because it was one that was of concern, but I also explained that all the students we have encountered in Tulsa have been excited about the idea of coming to Tulsa and harbored no discounted perspectives of their African brothers and sisters, but we are aware that some people possess those ideas—on both sides of the Atlantic toward their ancestors. It allowed us to address that clear "monkey in the room" concern that the faculty were wondering about when it came to exchanging students between institutions or hosting visits. On to the work ethic part of the visit, after the faculty interaction we were blessed to attend a lecture of one of the faculty members who was teaching Psychology of Tourism. She discussed the five parts of holiday decision-making process used for leisure travel:

(1) Problem/Need Recognition

(2) Information Search

(3) Evaluation of Alternatives

(4) Purchase Decision

(5) Post-Purchase Behavior

In the class lecture Hall of about 50, a relatively small class for them, she walked between tables, called on students, engaged them through questions and humor, and walked them through the five parts.

In one part of her lecture, she asked them about the Problem/Need Recognition aspect of Leisure Travel, and she addressed how many Ghanaians have no paid vacation or have two weeks of vacation that leave little time for leisure travel. She continued that this concept of leisure time is foreign to most Ghanaians since leisure time is often associated with "laziness," since most Ghanaians believe in work and see leisure time as wasting their money, time, and plans to make a living. The class laughed in agreement with them as she pointed out this distinction for leisure travel and laziness. Again, we see the differences of Ghanian work ethics coming together like the peeling of an onion to understand more about those we see selling on street intersections and sidewalks.

And then the professor reminded them that a quiz was coming in the second half of the class—after they had time to hear from their guests from the USA. She had walked over to us and asked if we wanted to address the class by asking questions or commenting on topics. So I went to the front of the room and asked students if they had questions or thoughts they wanted to present about the USA. At first, the students seemed a bit shy, but then they started in with questions about President Obama, such as what I liked about him, what I disagreed with him about his policies—allowing me to talk about the differences in the USA being a united grouping of states politically but also having the distinction of not being united in values, thinking, or political viewpoints. I pointed out that I could vote for a person, be proud of a person, but at the same time not agree with every decision made by the person—and still be able to call myself a supporter of the person. I simply allowed them to see that great groups have team members who support the team decisions even when the outcomes were not the desired conclusion on a personal level. This generated helpful and interesting dialogue.

The final student question was one that revealed another level of work ethic that is part of the Ghanian education experience. Lewis, one of the students in the room, asked if US professors give their students lots of quizzes, homework, papers on weekends, and a workload that seemed impossible to maintain, and a looming threat of being kicked out of their institutions if they did not perform at the level they should. I recognized this question for what it was: the student was frustrated because the teacher was having a quiz for the day, one of many, and gave lots of work over the course of the class, and the students were fatigued. I responded first that students should treat higher education like a job, set aside time to do work just as they would any full-time position of living. I then added that while we don't specifically threaten to kick students out in general, we do have standards that must be maintained by students; my statement to all of my students is that I do not fail any students—instead, students who do not perform at the level of expectation are failing to earn the appropriate grade and thus fail to do what is required. The result is that they fail to meet the standard and are no longer eligible to attend classes since they are hurting the education of others who are dedicated to meeting those standards and need the attention of the faculty members who are present to help them gain the most success through education. I added a final note that their teacher—I was certain—gave them the quizzes and work because she genuinely cared about their success. They all agreed with nodding gestures that she cared for them, but they also agreed that they would love fewer exams and papers. I pointed out that their educations were items no one could ever take from them and that such valuable, solid educations were a global commodity that they will appreciate after her class. This was an eye-opening international classroom experience that reveals the common experiences of students in the USA and Ghana (and the world). I felt like I was talking to my students and was glad to speak on behalf of the teacher to my new student—Lewis from Ghana—and his fellow peers.

The final item I want to discuss is the visit to the Cape Coast Castle, the Slave fort where they placed captive Africans before walking them through the Door of No Return to the slave ships that took them to the Americas. The Portuguese built the castle because of the geographical support of rocks that were the foundation of the land. The rocks provided a great defense fortress for the castle and allowed them better security in protecting the gold and other commodities they had taken from the African interior. We walked through the caves, viewing the darkened cells, with carved out running lines that were along the floors of the rooms of stone—some in the middle and others along the side. The carved lines were like water tunnels for running water. However, the lines were not quite for water; instead, the lines were for urination and feces. Captive slaves were to go to the middle of rooms to urinate, and the carved out lines were to carry the urine from the confined rooms to a collecting area of the fort to attempt to drain the rooms of the human waste. If a person had to defecate, the slave had to crouch on the side walls and release; this would either be collected later by servants or eventually be moved over time or maybe just remain and leave the stench in the poorly ventilated rooms. While this seemed a system that at least allowed for the semblance of cleaning, one important note was that since the slaves were normally packed like sardines in the rooms and had standing room situations for some 2-3 months, many of the slaves could not reach the center lines of the room or the sidewalls to release themselves in the prescribed manner that had been set aside for the cells. This often created floors filled with human waste that led to dreadful smells, diseases, and no way of survival for many of the captive Africans.

To top this experience off is what brings me to the thought that stands out to me most for the Day 3 experience. In each of the castles, the slave holding areas were underground. In the castles, however, were nice quarters for the Captain, the officers, and more importantly for me—a church for holding regular services for the various Christian religions and other faiths who came to Africa to strip the land of human and natural resources. The church worship areas were built on top of the dungeons. While the church members prayed, sang, read their Bibles, and worshipped their god, the smells and cries below of the enslaved Africans being prepared for a journey to the Americas was beneath them. The church members used the Bible to justify their treatment of the Africans. This is the same Bible we use today to dismantle positions on abortion, murder, theft, and all sorts of other social considerations. The Bible has been used to perpetuate human trafficking of millions. This is not the Bible I know. It is the Bible many have used to perpetuate evil against their fellow humans. The feeling forces us to confront how we use any religious text to perpetuate what ultimately ends up being our self-interests. When do we learn that the Bible, the Torah, the Koran, and any other religious text are not about self-interest; instead, these religious texts are about self-respect, self-appreciation, mutual love, and redemption? How do we get to these "truths"? How do we enter again to the "Doors of Return" when the course of our inhumanity to one another has stained our past, our present, and ever-changed our lives in ways that threaten our future co-existence in ways that make it difficult to move forward to achieve the great potential we have to be our best in a diverse society? This question is part of the journey conscience-raising efforts to go through our common "Door of Return" and rectify what certainly is not how we want to define ourselves as fellow humans.