Goats and Soda : NPR

On my first Fourth of July in america, I awoke within the morning, stretched and realized that my spouse was nonetheless in mattress.

I requested if she was going to work. She stated, “Oh, do not you already know right now is July Fourth?”

I regarded via our window. Nearly all people in Fernley, Nevada, the city the place we lived, was on their solution to Fundamental Road with chairs, umbrellas, drinks and snacks.

I used to be confused. What have been they going to have fun? I used to be curious, too, so I received our camp chairs and headed out to hitch our neighbors. That is when my spouse advised me what was happening: “July Fourth is America’s Independence Day.”

I jumped out of my seat! This could not be true. Who may have colonized an ideal nation like America?

I believed colonization solely occurred in Africa, the place I grew up. I did not imagine her.

That was in 2014 — the 12 months I discovered that America was as soon as a British colony, identical to my native Ghana.

I’ve had the privilege of seeing two methods of celebrating independence — and alongside the way in which have given numerous thought to what independence actually means.

America’s fireworks: thoughts blown!

In Nevada, throughout my first Independence Day, we sat on the sidewalk, listened to drummers set the beat and watched the parade of bizarre residents, veterans, Native People in conventional garb, college students. They marched and waved the American flag. Some have been on horses, others in slow-moving automobiles and others on foot.

Later that night I watched the fireworks broadcast on TV from Washington D.C. It was mind-blowing. I had by no means seen something like this!

As I regarded on the crowd gathered within the nation’s capital, I noticed not solely America but in addition the world. Each race, each ethnicity was current. Certainly, America is house to the world, and to me, its biggest magnificence lies in its range.

Ghana’s celebration: Stress and soda

In Ghana, independence was, no less than for us youngsters, a traumatic time but in addition a time for enjoyable. Our independence got here not that way back – on March 6, 1957. The three weeks previous to the celebration, college students at my faculty — and at faculties throughout the nation — would observe our marching. A drummer performed the drums loudly to set the marching rhythm, and we youngsters would line as much as begin marching, repeating the phrases “left,” “proper,” “benkum,” “nifa,” [in the local Twi language].

Lecturers made certain all of us raised our left and proper legs on the identical time so we marched in unison – and yelled at us and typically caned us if we did not. This coaching would go on for about 3 weeks; the most effective scholar marchers have been chosen to symbolize the college within the Independence Day marching competitors within the district capital, Kwame Danso.

In 2002, after I was 14, I used to be chosen to symbolize my faculty within the march however provided that I may get a college uniform. My household could not afford to purchase me one. Fortunately, a buddy lent me his. With pleasure, I washed the uniform, and the night earlier than the march, joined my different pals on the marching workforce. Sharing one iron, we pressed our college uniforms. I couldn’t sleep for the anticipation I felt.

By 6 a.m. college students from all the world faculties had gathered on the massive soccer discipline at Kwame Danso, the district capital. Below scorching solar and humid climate, we sweated and waited. After a number of hours, the district chief government (DCE) and his entourage arrived. One after the other, groups from every faculty marched. As we strategy the DCE, our scholar chief shouts, “saaaaaalute!”

Every faculty group had 5 to 10 minutes to point out their abilities. Authorities officers judged us on how nicely we marched (and dressed). I hoped we’d be among the many winners. We gained second place and acquired a brand new wall clock for our college.

After which got here the most effective a part of the day for my pals and me: We every got a bottle of Coca-Cola.

For a few of us this was one of many few instances within the 12 months that we received to style soda aside from Christmas and Easter.

Within the night, we gathered on the pastor’s home to look at the one TV within the village — a small black and white set powered by a automobile battery. We might watch the marching competitors within the capital metropolis of Accra and see the recorded speech by our “osagyefo” – our savior — Kwame Nkrumah, who had helped lead Ghana to independence in 1957.

In his Independence Day speech Nkrumah acknowledged that the independence of Ghana is meaningless “until it’s linked up with the full liberation of Africa.”

Ghana’s unbiased … but dependent

Nkrumah was criticized for his authoritarian fashion and financial misfires; he was ultimately ousted as president. However I feel again to his phrases and ponder whether Ghana — and Africa — are actually unbiased. Many initiatives in Ghana, starting from the development of roads and faculties to the supply of vaccines and fertilizer, depend upon international support. The place is our independence after we depend upon international support for our primary requirements? We have to begin considering of independence as a continuous wrestle. In some methods, we’re not but actually unbiased.

And after I take into consideration that assertion from Nkrumah, I take into consideration the nation the place I now reside. I have been struck by the offended phrases and bodily assaults aimed toward folks due to their race, their gender, their spiritual affiliation. I ponder if all People right now share the ideology within the Declaration of Independence: “…that all males are created equal, that they’re endowed by their Creator with sure unalienable Rights, that amongst these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

However on July 4, I want to be an optimist. Regardless that independence takes numerous work – and is a piece in progress for nations each previous and new — it’s a second to savor. In order I watch the spectacular fireworks and marvel on the range of America’s crowds, I additionally bear in mind how independence may be present in small pleasures — like marching for my nation as a boy and consuming that cherished bottle of soda.

George Mwinnyaa grew up in Ghana and now lives in Alaska along with his spouse and two sons. In Might, he graduated with a Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins College, Bloomberg Faculty of Public Well being. He at the moment works for UNICEF and lives in Alaska along with his household.