Final Project

Interview Process

In preparing for and conducting the interview, there were many steps and processes to go through. These steps may include but are not limited to:

1.               Determine objectives of interview

2.                 Determine questions for interview

3.               Find interviewees to interview

4.               Set up time for interview

5.               Conduct and record interview

6.               Thank interviewee for interview

7.               Transcribe interview

8.               Research country

9.               Write outlines for interview report and country report

10.            Write interview report and country report

11.            Post to blog and go to class

I prepared for the interview by determining the objectives for the interview and determining the questions for the interview in class. I found my interviewee from a referral from my last interview. I set up a time and conducted the interview by meeting my interviewee in a public, yet secluded and quiet place. I gave him the questions ahead of time so he could look them over before the interview to help the interview run smoothly. We began conversing; only small talk, and then I pulled out my phone and asked if it would be alright if I recorded the conversation. After he agreed to this I started recording and again asked him if I could record the conversation (this time on tape). After conducting the interview, I thanked my interviewee multiple times. Next came the transcribing. I had plenty of time for this process but ended up doing it all in one sitting, which took a while. Thankfully this interview was a little shorter than the last one. Next came researching for the country report. I checked out some online resources. I then wrote the remaining two parts to my paper I still needed and then I posted it.

Country Report

My interviewee was from Liberia. I’ve never been to Liberia and it seems like a place very different to where I am from. I learned many things in my research. I learned things about Liberia’s physical characteristics, its people, its government, its economy and other strange facts.

Did you know that Liberia is located in Western Africa, bordering the Atlantic Ocean, between Cote d'Ivoire and Sierra Leone? It’s a little bigger in size than the state of Tennessee. Bordering countries include Guinea, Cote d'Ivoire and Sierra Leone. Liberia has over 550 kilometers along the Atlantic Ocean. Liberia has a range of different climates. The highest point in Liberia is called Mount Wuteve, which is about 1,380 meters above sea level. Liberia has lots of natural resources; some of which include: gold, iron ore, timber, diamonds, and hydropower. Liberia is a hard place to live in with all the environmental issues it has. Liberia suffers from deforestation, soil erosion, water pollution from oil residue and raw sewage, and a loss of biodiversity. Liberia, facing the Atlantic Ocean, has a coastline that is characterized by lagoons, mangrove swamps, and river-deposited sandbars

Liberia doesn’t have anywhere near as many people as larger, more popular countries. It has fewer than 4,000,000 according to a 2011 estimate. That few of people will make it less than the 120^th most populated country in the world. Out of all those people, less than three percent will be sixty-five years of age or older. That makes Liberia a pretty young country. According to a 2010 estimate the average age is just over 18 years old. A similar estimate states that over 44 percent of the people are fourteen or younger.

Unfortunately Liberia has a few things working against it. Liberia also has a migration rate of zero. That means the same number of people are coming and going. The infant mortality rate is very high and is estimated to be about 18^th out of all the countries in the world. This mean Liberia has quite a few babies that die right after being born. Liberia suffers from lots of major infectious diseases with a very high degree of risk. In 2008 the country only spend 2.7 percent of the GDP on education, and as of a 2003 estimate less than 50 percent of girls could read. Liberia also has an unemployment rate around 85 percent and about 80 percent of the population is in poverty. Luckily Liberia doesn’t really have any issues with a high HIV percentage.

I also found out that Liberia has quite a few ethnic groups and about 20 languages in use. Luckily English is the national language so one does not have to learn all of these other languages to buy and sell goods, because not all of them can be written or used in correspondence. Surprisingly, over 95 percent of these people belong in just two religious groups, Muslim and Christian, over 85 percent being Christian.

I found that Liberia’s exported products include: “rubber, cocoa, timber, coffee, diamonds, and iron.” (https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/li.html) Their imports include: “fuels, chemicals, machinery, transportation equipment, manufactured goods; foodstuffs.” (https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/li.html)

I found out some random things which interested me as well. I found out that Liberia has only 29 airports as of last year and 27 of those have unpaved runways. I also calculated that out of Liberia’s 10,600 Kilometers of roads less than 7 percent are paved. Liberia only has 8 internet hosts and around 20,000 internet users. I also found out that Liberia is pretty big in the illegal drug and diamond trade.

I have learned much about Liberia since I started my research. I’ve used sources from online and from a book. I am glad I was able to find another person from Africa to interview because the facts you find from this area are really shocking and interesting.

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/li.html Visited on 4/27/11

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberia Visited on 4/27/11

Long Story Bit By Bit Liberia Retold, Tim Hetherington, Umbrage Editions, New York, 2009

Transcription (click for transcript)

Interview Personal Review

Looking back at my interview and wondering how things went, starts off with recalling where I wanted them to go. In my interview I wanted to accomplish a few predetermined objectives. These objectives were:

1.                   During the interview process I would like to learn things from a new culture.

2.                   I would also like to learn how moving to America has affected their life.

3.                   I would like to achieve a higher understanding of different perspectives which can in turn open incite to my own life.

4.                   I would also like the interview to be more informal, so that it seems to be more of a conversation than question and answer session. This way, the person I will be interviewing may answer questions I didn't think of in my brainstorming process.

Looking at my first objective, I would have to say I accomplished this well. I didn’t know very many things about Rundell or Liberia. I learned about things he likes to do, favorite foods, family ties, and a little about the country and its differences from here.

Looking at my second objective, I would have to say I also accomplished this well. I learned how his thoughts of America have changed since coming here. I also learned about how his ideals of racism have changed since coming here. I learned how coming here and getting an education is going to help Rundell more than an education there would help.

Once again my third objective, I feel, wasn’t accomplished very well. I accomplished this goal to a certain extent, but again I feel as though I learned more about how understanding different perspectives affected my interviewee’s life and not so much my own. But I am certain with more time I will understand some things which I wouldn’t without this interview.

Looking at my fourth objective, I would have to say I accomplished this very well. We ended up talking about things very fluidly. My interviewee relaxed and opened up very well, even though he was in a bit of a hurry, which helped very much with this objective.

I also managed to alter the few things I wanted to since this was going to be my final interview. I brought my interviewee more food and drank and showed him the book I checked out from the library to get his thought on some of the things in it (after the recorder was put away). I changed the order of my questions to:

1. How long have you been here? How long are you planning on staying?

2. What do you miss from your native country? What don't you miss?

3. What are some cultural differences between your country and here?

4. What was the hardest thing about transitioning to the U.S.? (Culture shock)

5. How does the climate in your home country compare to here?

6. How is living here similar/different to where you are from?

7. What is something unique to where you are from?

8. Why did you decide to come to SCSU instead of studying or working in your own country?

9. What was the education system like in your native country?

10. What are your personal experiences with racism since coming to the US?

11. Is religion more open where you’re from?

12. Who takes care of the finances in your family?

13. At what age do men and women spend private time and at what age do they consider marriage?

14. What is your favorite food/meal that you wouldn't commonly find in America?

15. What kind of foods do you eat where you’re from?

16. What were your thoughts about the U.S. before you came here and how have they changed since coming here?

This really helped shave a few minutes off. Lastly, meeting my interviewee where he wanted to meet also helped him open up a lot.

Overall I would say that this interview much better than the ones before. I learned a great deal in this whole process. I learned about a culture that was pretty new to me, a country I didn’t know much about and I learned about the personal experiences of another individual. If I had to do it all again, I think I wouldn’t change a thing from my interview.

Final Project: Interview Transcription

Shortened/edited version of interview with Rundell Darlington

Kyle Louks: Is it okay if I record this?

Rundell Darlington: Yes.

Kyle Louks:  okay, I just needed to get that on record. So how long have you been here? How long are you planning on staying?

Rundell Darlington: Really long, I can’t remember I was really little. I’m planning on staying here pretty much my entire life every once in a while I’ll go back to visit family and friends.

Kyle Louks: And how do you spell your full name?

Rundell Darlington: R-u-n-d-e-l-l D-a-r-l-i-n-g-t-o-n.

Kyle Louks: and you’re a freshman this year right?

Rundell Darlington: yupp.

Kyle Louks:  What do you miss from your native country? What don't you miss?

Rundell Darlington: Food. I miss the food and a lot of stuff to do. You don’t need a car there it’s a small area in the city so. The cities are small so everyone wants to stay in the city so you’re close to everything. You can move around easily without having to drive anywhere you can just walk places. And there’s a lot of stores.

Kyle Louks:  What are some cultural differences between your country and here?

Rundell Darlington: Cultural differences um, food, clothes, the way we act, um… parents act totally different, they tend to be more strict than U.S. a lot more rules that you need to follow and kids get whoopings. You go outside and pick your switch and then you get beat with that switch.

Kyle Louks: Can any adult discipline you?

Rundell Darlington: Parents’ friends discipline you and then tell your parents and you get disciplined again.

Kyle Louks:  What was the hardest thing about transitioning to the U.S.? (Culture shock)

Rundell Darlington: Culture its somehow similar and somehow different, we speak broken English so coming here we had to learn a new language but since I came in elementary school so it was an easy transition.

Kyle Louks:  How does the climate in your home country compare to here?

Rundell Darlington: Really hot humidity is off the wall, two seasons; rainy and dry. It rains a lot for like months. Some houses have iron roofs with holes in it so you have to put buckets out to catch water. Clean water is hard to come by.

(I accidentally skipped number six)

Kyle Louks:  What is something unique to where you are from?

Rundell Darlington: Pretty much, this is a free country; everyone looks out for themselves there. Cops are corrupt put there. If you get in a car accident you can buy out a cop, if you pay a cop moneu he’ll be on your side and will tell the judge your innocent.

Kyle Louks: Why did you decide to come to SCSU instead of studying or working in your own country?

Rundell Darlington: It’s close to home first of all, I didn’t wanna go far away and my parent wanted me to come here. I wanted to be away from home but still go back.

Kyle Louks:  What was the education system like in your native country?

Rundell Darlington: It’s not up to U.S. standards. Every year you have to take an exam and if you don’t pass you get held back. No tests on computers you have to write out your answers there’s no A, B, or C. You can’t cheat off your neighbor. You have to sit down and study and take notes.

Kyle Louks: Is there special education?

Rundell Darlington: No special education, either you go through it or you don’t. 

Kyle Louks: What are your personal experiences with racism since coming to the US?

Rundell Darlington: I had a lot of personal experiences. I was called a lot of names, or you don’t belong here. Which I feel I have overcome; I hang out with any type of race not much racism now. It made me stronger. There’s little racism in St. Cloud here too.

Kyle Louks: Is religion more open where you’re from?

Rundell Darlington: Um… yeah, there’s Muslims and Christians. My great grand aunt or great aunt, people on my mother’s side, were Muslims and now they are Christians which is pretty interesting to me. Pretty much two religions. They don’t think about it, it’s not a big deal.

Kyle Louks: Who takes care of the finances in your family?

Rundell Darlington: My dad. My mom just works; she doesn’t know how to pay bills my dad pays bills and teaches me when I go home. He gives me money and tells me to go pay bills.

Kyle Louks: At what age do men and women spend private time and at what age do they consider marriage?

Rundell Darlington: Anywhere from 20 up. Its not specific time just when you find someone and if you have the resources that’s in the city. In the country there are arranged marriages, he could see her, and go ask her parents and they talk to elders, and then he’s buying stuff for her family to get married to her, women have more choices in city.

Kyle Louks: What is your favorite food/meal that you wouldn't commonly find in America?

Rundell Darlington: Potatoe greens. They are creamy leafy, you grind up and made like soup.

Kyle Louks: What kind of foods do you eat where you’re from?

Rundell Darlington: A lot of vegetables, everything we eat is with vegetables. Farming is bug that’s a good thing about it, theres always fresh food at the market.

Rundell Darlington: For livestock theres chicken, goat, cow. Chicken, goat and cow are big. If you buy cow you basically have money to spend. They kill livestock fresh and take to the market every day.

Kyle Louks: What were your thoughts about the U.S. before you came here and how have they changed since coming here?

Rundell Darlington: I was little so I wasn’t thinking. Now that I’ve been here…. I like it here ‘cuz I’ve grown up here. I don’t know anywhere else, my parents say they want to take me back but I have yet to go back yet. Kwaku wants to go back next year. Probly take a trip, and I’ll probly take a trip with him. Cuz and Ghana and Liberia are not that far from each other so...

Kyle Louks: Is crossing borders easier there?

Rundell Darlington: Yeah, it’s pretty easy like going from here to Chicago or Texas or Wisconsin.

Kyle Louks: So do you just show them your passport?

Rundell Darlington: You don’t really show them anything.

Kyle Louks: So you just cross freely?

Rundell Darlington: You can cross freely even though there’s like checkpoints, checking for like drugs and all that other stuff. But you don’t need a passport or anything like that.

Kyle Louks: So you don’t need an I.D. or anything?

Rundell Darlington: Not really. ‘Cuz the roads are really bad between countries so you have to be patient. It takes like almost a day or so to get from Liberia to Ghana.

Kyle Louks: Alright well, were getting towards the end of the interview so if you have any questions for me, you can ask me some questions.

Rundell Darlington: I don’t have questions for you Kyle.

Final Project Outline

Since I am going to conduct a fourth interview for my final project, there are a couple of thing in my interviewing process which I would like to change.

 First off, I would like to change where we meet. Since all of my interviewees have been from Shoemaker Hall, I feel like meeting at the library is out of the way for most. This also makes sense because my final interviewee is also from Shoemaker Hall. I will meet my final interviewee on his floor’s lounge when he has some free time to give me.

Secondly, I am going to change the order of my questions to group the related topics to try to shorten the interview a little. In two of my last three interviews it seemed as though the same topics came up multiple times and lengthened the interviews in an unnecessary way. this will also shorten the transcription process hopefully.

Lastly, I feel that if I bring more food and drink than just a can of pop for my interviewees, they will open up more. This will aid the interview process greatly. The interviewee will share more, feel more comfortable and confident, and I will get those heartfelt stories that make you understand someone better and make the interview process worth the time and effort.

My interview will also contain the four necessary parts which include: Transcription, Country Report, Interview Process, and the Interview Personal Review. I will also touch on my changes that I will make in my Personal Review of the interview.

Library Book(s)
Long Story Bit By Bit Liberia Retold, Tim Hetherington, Umbrage Editions, New York, 2009

Score Card 3

Click here for scores

My Winners

1. Nan, YingYing Interview -19
2. Vo, Thao T Interview -18
3. Hussain, Asif Interview -17

Third Interview

Interview Process

In preparing for and conducting the interview, there were many steps and processes to go through. These steps may include but are not limited to:

1.               Determine objectives of interview

2.                 Determine questions for interview

3.               Find interviewees to interview

4.               Set up time for interview

5.               Conduct and record interview

6.               Thank interviewee for interview

7.               Transcribe interview

8.               Research country

9.               Write outlines for interview report and country report

10.            Write interview report and country report

11.            Post to blog and go to class

I prepared for the interview by determining the objectives for the interview and determining the questions for the interview in class. I found my interviewee in my dorm building. I set up a time and conducted the interview by meeting my interviewee in a public, quiet place. I gave him the questions ahead of time so he could look them over before the interview to help the interview run smoothly. We began conversing, only small talk, and then I pulled out my phone and asked if it would be alright if I recorded the conversation. After he agreed to this I started recording and again asked him if I could record the conversation (this time on tape). After conducting the interview, I thanked my interviewee multiple times. Next came the transcribing. I was rushed in this process and ended up doing it all in one sitting which took a very long time. Next came researching for the country report. I checked out some online resources. I then wrote the remaining two parts to my paper I still needed and then I posted it and got ready for class.

Country Report

My interviewee was from Ghana. I’ve never been to Ghana and it seemed like a place very different to where I am from. I learned many things in my research. I learned things about Ghana’s physical characteristics, its people, its government, its economy and other strange facts.

Did you know that Ghana is located in Western Africa, bordering the Gulf of Guinea, between Cote d'Ivoire and Togo? It’s a little smaller in size than the state of Oregon. Bordering countries include Burkina Faso, Cote d'Ivoire and Togo. Ghana has over 500 kilometers along the Atlantic Ocean. Ghana has three climates. The highest point in Ghana is called Mount Afadjato, which is about 885 meters above sea level. Ghana has lots of natural resources; some of which include: gold, timber, industrial diamonds, bauxite, manganese, fish, rubber, hydropower, petroleum, silver, salt, limestone. Ghana is a hard place to live in with all the environmental issues it has. Ghana suffers from droughts, deforestation, overgrazing, soil erosion, poaching, habitat destruction, water pollution, and inadequate supplies of potable water. Ghana is home to the largest artificial lake, Lake Volta.

Ghana doesn’t have anywhere near as many people as larger, more popular countries. It has fewer than 25,000,000 according to a 2011 estimate. That few of people will make it less than the 45^th most populated country in the world. Out of all those people, less than four percent will be sixty-five years of age or older. That makes Ghana a pretty young country. According to a 2010 estimate the average age is just over 21 years old. A similar estimate states that over 35 percent of the people are fourteen or younger.

Unfortunately Ghana has a few things working against it. Ghana has a pretty low birth rate. Ghana also has a negative migration rate. The infant mortality rate is estimated to be about 50^th out of all the countries in the world. This mean Ghana has quite a few babies that die right after being born. Luckily Ghana doesn’t really have any major issues like a high HIV percentage or anything like that.

I also found out that Ghana has more than quite a few ethnic groups and over 75 languages in use. Luckily English is the national language so one does not have to learn all of these languages to buy and sell goods. Surprisingly, over 80 percent of these people belong in just two religious groups, Muslim and Christian.

I found that Ghana’s Exported products include: “gold, cocoa, timber, tuna, bauxite, aluminum, manganese ore, diamonds, horticulture.” (https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/gh.html) Their industries include: “mining, lumbering, light manufacturing, aluminum smelting, food processing, cement, small commercial ship building.” (https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/gh.html)

I found out some random things which interested me as well. I found out that Ghana has only 11 airports as of last year and 4 of those have unpaved runways. I also calculated that out of Ghana’s 62,221 Kilometers of roads less than 16 percent are paved. I also found out that Ghana is pretty big in the illegal drug trade. I also learned about how the government has kings and queens that rule over cites and how politicians will ask them for advice because they are usually more involved in the region they rule over. I also found out that it is not well documented that these kings and queens rule over cities and regions. 

I have learned much about Ghana since I started my research. I’ve used sources from online. I am glad I was able to find another person from Africa to interview because the facts you find from this area are really shocking and interesting.

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/gh.html Visited on 4/3/11

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghana Visited on 4/3/11

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akan_Chieftaincy Visited on 4/3/11

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Languages_of_Ghana Visited on 4/3/11

Transcription (click for transcript)

Interview Personal Review

Looking back at my interview and wondering how things went, starts off with recalling where I wanted them to go. In my interview I wanted to accomplish a few predetermined objectives. These objectives were:

1.                   During the interview process I would like to learn things from a new culture.

2.                   I would also like to learn how moving to America has affected their life.

3.                   I would like to achieve a higher understanding of different perspectives which can in turn open incite to my own life.

4.                   I would also like the interview to be more informal, so that it seems to be more of a conversation than question and answer session. This way, the person I will be interviewing may answer questions I didn't think of in my brainstorming process.

Looking at my first objective, I would have to say I accomplished this well. I didn’t know very many things about Kwaku or Ghana. I learned about things he likes to do, favorite foods, family ties, and a little about the government and how it works.

Looking at my second objective, I would have to say I also accomplished this well. I learned how his thoughts of America have changed since coming here. I also learned about how his ideals of racism have changed since coming here. I learned how coming here and getting an education is going to help Kwaku return to his people and help them.

My third objective, I feel, wasn’t accomplished very well. I accomplished this goal to a certain extent, but I feel as though I learned more about how understanding different perspectives affected my interviewee’s life and not so much my own. Perhaps with more time I will understand some things which I wouldn’t without this interview.

Looking at my fourth objective, I would have to say I accomplished this very well. We ended up talking about things very fluidly. My interviewee relaxed and opened up very well, which helped very much with this objective.

Overall I would say that this interview much better than the last one. I learned a great deal in this whole process. I learned about a culture that was pretty new to me, and I learned about the personal experiences of another individual. If I had to do it all again, I think I wouldn’t change a thing from my interview.

Transcription

 Edited version

(There was some small talk before I began recording)
Kyle: Is it okay if I record this?

Kwaku: Oh yeah, no problem.

Kyle: So where are you from?

Kwaku: Ghana in West Africa. Ah Ghana is a small country about the size of North Dakota. But were very rich, well were luck that way

Kyle: small but populated

Kwaku: very very very

Kyle: and how do you spell your full name

Kwaku: K-W-A-K-A A-M-O-A-H

Kyle: Okay, to get started with the questions here; what do you miss from your native country? What don’t you miss?

Kwaku: Uh, I definitely miss my family of course and I definitely miss bonding with friends and playing soccer and just growing up there. You know I lived with my grandparents and they took me farming every weekend. So I kinda miss those experiences and I just miss causing trouble.

Kyle: What don’t you miss?

Kwaku: What don’t I miss? I definitely don’t miss poverty. Just health wise and just growing up there as a young kid it’s very difficult because you don’t get the best water or food. And I’m very fortunate to be in America to get the opportunity to get the best of everything.

Kyle: Did you ever get sick from the water?

Kwaku: It affected me, but not so much. Parents try to get the best water for you before they get whats good for themselves but at the same time it wasn’t. It was the best of the best but compared to here it’s not even close.

Kyle: What was the hardest thing about transitioning to the U.S.?

Kwaku: The hardest thing um… overall the hardest thing is defiantly being away from my parents. My dad is still at home and my grandparents as well. and just climate wise, environment wise its all beneficial but it’s something you have to get adjusted to. I just feel fortunate; it wasn’t easy at first, different weather, different culture. I had to learn English, I didn’t know any English. If anything I would say learning English because yeah.

Kyle: Why did you decide to come to SCSU instead of studying or working in your own country?

Kwaku: I came to SCSU because they have a great business program as far as school. And eventually I’d like to get a business degree and eventually go back to home and open some type of business to help my people and help them out that way. So I feel like SCSU gives me the best opportunity for that. And I just love the campus I love the environment it’s not too big or too small. So it’s the best place for me. And it’s affordable so that’s the reason why I’m here.

Kyle: What is something unique to where you are from?

Kwaku: Specifically where I come from people literally make their own clothes. You hardly see people going and buying clothes. They weave it themselves; I thought that was pretty cool. There’s culture clothes people make that from scratch and that’s pretty cool to me. That’s just one thing that sticks out, I’m sure there’s many. I mean something unique, obviously soccer is big back there and people are huge soccer fans, so that’s unique how everyone loved the same game and I know it’s not so popular here in the U.S.

Kyle: How does the climate in your home country compare to here?

Kwaku: The climate here is very different. I know here we have winter, summer, spring and fall. In Ghana we have two seasons there’s dry season and there’s rainy season. I mean its defiantly hot back there. The average temperature is about 98 every day. But it’s not hot to a point where it’s humid and sticky. Its 98 buts its cool enough where you won’t die by any means but it defiantly gets hot. In your home everyone pretty much has a fan or an air conditioner at all times. Here, I defiantly like the weather here just because of the different seasons and also just different opportunities. In Minnesota in general you can go out and do winter activities. And it’s just unique to see the different colors as far as when its fall you can see the nice trees and the trees change colors and such and when its winter there’s snow and ice. I love snow but not too much of it, I think it makes the day look very nice as far as image wise I just like it.

Kyle: Which would you prefer?

Kwaku: I defiantly prefer Minnesota weather just because it’s good to get used to all types of weathers. When it’s hot all the time, like here it’s been snowing a while and people are sick of it, back home when it’s hot most of the year at some point you get sick of it. We all like changes sometimes and I’m no exception.

Kyle: What are some cultural differences between your country and here?

Kwaku: uh.. back home I’ll say there’s a lot of cultural differences. First of all if you want to talk about marriage there’s a lot of cultural differences it’s almost like India where a lot of the marriages are arranged. It’s not as strict but a mom will introduce you to a nice young lady, for example, and they will encourage you, they will almost marry her for you just because they feel like that family is a good family and every parent wants the best for their son or daughter. Most people have the opportunity to choose who they want to get married to and then marry who they truly love instead of parents picking it out. Uh, obviously the food we eat is different. We eat a lot of rice, a lot of spicy food. Uh I’ll say, we have kings and queens in every city, we have a president but every city has a king or queen and they’re kind of like the governor of that city, they control that certain city and everyone respects them in that aspect. But that’s something that we don’t have here. No one really worships here, we have a right to vote for who we want in office and it’s not really like that. With kings and queens it’s like a family business where one might be a king and when they get to old they’ll give it to a son or a cousin and vice versa with girls so I’d say that’s a cultural difference.

Kyle: Who takes care of finances in your family?

Kwaku: well obviously the man is always responsible for looking over the family the kids and wife is always looking up to the man to go out and find work and work hard and at the end of the day come home with something. So I would say my dad was in charge of the family I mean he worked the hardest and he always wants what’s best for the family and he’s willing to do what it takes to feed the family weather its washing cars and getting paid very minimum but defiantly my dad. But if you say here, I live with my aunt and uncle here because my parents are not here, as you know how the American system works the wife and husband both work to support the family and so I’d defiantly say that’s different because back home women are more stay at home moms and the husband always advise the women to stay home and take care of the kids so he can go out and support the family because he feel that that’s his job and so here its different because both work and just because you gotta pay your rent and it’s not like that back home.

Kyle: At what age do men and women spend private time and at what age do they consider marriage?

Kwaku: well I’ll say anytime from 20, 23 going that’s when most parents are comfortable letting their kids go out experiencing as far as relationships, especially the women, a lot of families try to keep the women at home. They just want them to feel secure and there just pretty much scared.  Just like any dad they don’t want their little girl to go out and get hurt. So at 23 going that’s when parents feel comfortable letting their daughter go out and experience other people. And at that age parents are already looking for a girl or guy to marry their son or daughter. And its defiantly different from here because at 18 you’re off on your own, your off to college, your independent and its defiantly not like that back at home, your parents want to keep your forever because their scared of the real world because their suffering and they don’t want their kids to go through the same thing.

Kyle: What are your personal experiences with racism since coming to the US?

Kwaku: well uh, I went to middle school here and the first school I went to was about 98% Caucasian and it was very difficult because I experienced things such as eating by myself at lunch or playing alone in gym class or no one wanting to play basketball with me because they were scared of me because they’ve never seen a black person before or simply accusing me of something I haven’t done. That continued throughout middle school and a little in high school. In high school people ignore you just little things like that, I’ve been called the n-word before. That same person didn’t like me because I was a better athlete and the same person said, you nigger you should go back to your country, we don’t want you here.  So it was hard but, I don’t regret coming here. I’ve experienced racism and it’s defiantly made me a better person.

Kyle: What were your preconceptions about the U.S. before coming here and how have they changed?

Kwaku: You hear people talk about the U.S. as if it was heaven just because it was a rich country and it’s a land of opportunity and defiantly just coming here I didn’t expect racism with it being a free country I thought maybe you were accepted regardless skin color or where you’re from but that defiantly changed and I realized that’s not necessarily true when I came here. Um, as far as simple things just food wise, everything that’s not the same, weather wise that’s not the same and just getting accustomed to different cultures. And honestly I’d never seen a Caucasian person until I came here so I thought that was pretty cool.

Kyle: is religion more open where you’re from?

Kwaku: oh yeah, it’s allowed in school. Kids are allowed to bring bibles in school and in their down time they can read their bibles. Teachers put emphasize on being a Christian and teachers talk about god being the only one that can solve all your problems. The country its self is very religious. I’d say 90% of the country are Christians and the other are Muslim or whatever. Yeah, they’re more open.

Kyle: How long have you been here? How long are you planning on staying?

Kwaku: well let’s see, I came here when I was nine and now I’m nineteen so ten years. Uh I plan on graduating from college and hopefully go to graduate school; I just want to finish all of my whole education here before going back home and when I say go back home I mean eventually I want to go back for good but at the same time when I’m done with college I want to travel to other African countries and just travel back and forth. I just plan on going back home and coming back because I also plan on having a family here and raising kids here and I don’t plan on taking all my kids home. I came here for education so what sense would it make to bring my kids back there to go to school there.

Kyle: What is the education system like in your native country?

Kwaku: It was similar to here, there’s elementary, middle school and high school. There’s not really pre-school. The requirements for classes, like what you need to graduate, it’s just like here. You have to take a test to graduate. So it’s similar to here but we don’t have the same technology and the same resources to teach our kids as America here so that’s a disadvantage. There’s a University, Ghana University but there’s no such thing as financial aid. So you have to pay your whole way through college so that’s different than here.

Kyle: what is your favorite food/mean that you wouldn’t commonly find in America?

Kwaku: fufu, sounds funny right? But it’s like mashed potato and you eat it with soup and just like any culture we have different foods, I can list them off but what I like about this country is you find a lot of cultural grocery stores so you can enjoy your food from home but you won’t find it in Americanized grocery stores because most of the population will not buy it. But fufu is the main dish, it’s like hot dog and pizza here. It’s never the same here because it’s not homemade its secondary here.

Kyle: How is living here similar/different to where you are from?

Kwaku: Ghana as a whole isn’t that different if you have money, there are hotels, pools, there are restaurants. You know people think of Africa they get the idea of animals like tigers or whatever but Ghana specifically isn’t that different if you take out the food and music and obvious cultural stuff it’s not that much different in living standards if you have money to spend.  

Kyle: what kind of foods do you eat where you’re from?

Kwaku: Rice, a lot of rice and chicken really. There’s apple, bananas and strawberries and what not but um, rice is different and fufu is different because people grow that stuff, like corn. There’s a lot of farms back home people farm a lot. Yeah I know there’s stuff here that were from farms but there’s a lot of secondary stuff that’s not homemade.

Kyle:  Well were getting to the end of the interview, do you have any questions for me?

Kwaku: Would you ever want to go visit in African countries?

Kyle: Yeah I’d be very interested in it, I’m big on seeing the differences in culture and food and stuff.  I’d defiantly like to taste the world.

Kwaku: yeah I’d definitely advise that and I’d advise Ghana, although I share negatives there are many positives, were a rich county in the whole of Africa. We just recently found oil. And I don’t know if you remember but when Obama first became president Ghana was the first county he visited. It’s known as the gold coast, because there’s a lot of gold in the country. If you get the chance, maybe not just Ghana but I’d defiantly travel to different countries in Africa.

Kyle: Yeah, alright well thank you for the interview and I’ll see you around.

Kwaku: Alright Kyle.


Audio Evidence 


Part 1


Part 2

Part 3

Part 4