Mixed Race Simpsons by fredcamino

Over the almost two years since Godwin and I have entered a relationship we’ve experienced the blunt (or sharp, depending on your sensitivities) side of others’ perceptions regarding our relationship.

Upon meeting us many people automatically assume that he’s a “good for nothing” and must certainly be “uneducated”.

There certainly are men who latch on to foreign women to benefit financially and possibly travel abroad. We describe this in detail under Sex and Dating in our Ghana guide, but there are also others who enter a relationship for genuine love and companionship. They are few, but they exist.

In January we traveled to Accra to visit a hospital about a serious health concern. I was facing the doctor and Godwin sat behind me on the couch as I described my symptoms when the doctor interrupted me, several times, and diagnosed the problem in less than five minutes.

I had just traveled 18 hours from Bolgatanga, costing over 100 Cedis if you factor in the trip each way for both of us, and another 200 if you factor in us having to stay for an extended period of time for tests, and another 250 in tests, and another 50 in the next consultation, and about 50 in drugs, and we paid 80 Cedis for that consultation. For five minutes. To be interrupted. For five minutes listening time. I was less than impressed.

He is not alone. His attitude is a symptom of something much greater: a presumptuousness among professionals, especially in medicine, that they are infallible and above reproach by mere virtue of their qualifications.

I waited until he stopped talking so I could continue. I attempted to describe other symptoms when he interrupted me again. I wondered what kind of university he went to that didn’t teach basic listening skills.

This time he turned to Godwin and asked, “Can you spell ‘best’?”

I think my jaw hit Australia.

“Can you spell ‘best’?” He was serious. In retrospect, I wish I replied, “He can only spell ‘moron’ but what can you do?” It’s not the first time that such blatant assumptions have been made about him in my presence. I didn’t say anything; he didn’t speak.

It’s not the first time we’ve encountered this arrogance in Ghana. Godwin and I had talked about this phenomenon often. And while he experiences arrogance here and I experience the “obruni” treatment everywhere, we’ll probably experience other types of assumptions when we travel home to Australia.

Almost everywhere we go here, in Ghana, though, people make assumptions about one of us. They hand me the bill at restaurants. They assume we smoke weed. Neither of us have ever smoked, full stop, ever. We drink about six bottles of alcohol a year. Our greatest vice is too many cups of tea.

Taxi drivers quote higher than normal prices to Godwin when I’m with him (normal) and but often become verbally aggressive when he tries to negotiate a realistic price. They say to him in Twi or Frafra or Hausa, “Brother, she’s a white, what do you care?” He answers, “She’s my wife.” They say, “So what? She’s white.” And then I say in Twi or Hausa or Frafra, “That’s right.” The assumption is that he’s not educated and we’re not in a genuine partnership and I don’t understand anything they’re saying.

Among paper-educated Ghanaians (of which number a few taxi drivers, by the way) there is a disturbing tendency to believe they are somehow superior to others. Sometimes it feels like the more degrees someone has, the more narrow minded they become.

I truly believe the notion that paper qualifications = superiority retards Ghana’s development. Many truly hard working, smart and intelligent people miss out on opportunities due to that blinkered attitude and many extraordinarily incompetent people hold responsible positions that defy belief when you meet them.

Intelligence encompasses not just book learning, but emotional, spiritual, creative, musical, physical (coordination), and spatial (I fail this one) intelligences. Book learning is but one facet of the gamut of human intelligence. This is another reason why I become frustrated and fed up with teachers beating students for not being able to read or write. It’s a reflection of the teachers’ ignorance more than it is about the students’ ability or intelligence, yet the teachers will either quote the Bible (don’t get me started) or tell you that reading and writing equate with intelligence.

Some of the most truly successful and intelligent people dead and alive don’t possess paper qualifications and some can’t even read and write.

The best example I can think of in Ghana regarding qualifications is Apostle Dr Kojo Safo Katanka. He embodies intelligence. He’s unstoppable. The way the Vice President, John Mahama, humbles himself and doesn’t appear to assume superiority by virtue of his status is a reflection of open-mindedness and intelligence.

The founder of the Virgin empire, of which Virgin Airlines is a subsidiary, cannot read and write—he’s dyslexic. That’s right. He cannot read and write. I wish he, Sir Richard Branson, was sitting beside me when the doctor asked to spell ‘best’. He could have said “no, but I own Virgin Airlines.” Because Sir Richard is white, however, the doctor probably would have made the assumption that he is “educated” as in, he could spell “best”—which is no measure of education, anyway. Ironic.

Yet, because Godwin was a black man with a white woman, he assumed he was “uneducated” and treated him with supreme arrogance.

Will Smith is also dyslexic. Yes, that Will Smith. He can’t read and write. So are Whoopi Goldberg and Tom Cruise.

Will Smith by Alan Light

To quote the website “Xtraordinary People”, in which famous dyslexics talk about their experiences living with this condition, Tom Cruise said, “Being dyslexic, I had to train myself to focus my attention. I became very visual and learned how to create mental images in order to comprehend what I read.”

Here is a quote from Xtraordinary People’s web-site. They’re referring to dyslexia:

“A wealth of famous achievers from both past and present have the X Factor. In fact so many extraordinary people have ‘suffered’ from the ability to look at things differently, it’s faintly ludicrous to still consider it as a sign of ignorance, laziness or inferiority.

So if you’ve got it yourself, don’t be shy about it, you’re in good company. John Lennon, Albert Einstein and Winston Churchill did pretty well, despite this so-called handicap, along with today’s modern achievers like Richard Branson, Jamie Oliver and Robbie Williams.”

Sir Winston Churchill was dyslexic—he failed at school. Einstein was dyslexic. His basic arithmetic doesn’t add up, he failed university exams numerous times, yet he was able to visualize complex theories, such is the “ability” and “intelligence” of dyslexic people. They usually have exceptional visual-spatial abilities often accompanied by strong interpersonal skills—Churchill and Branson’s superior people skills took them to the top of their respective fields. Yet their reading, writing, maths and some other abilities are poor or non existent. Imagine if any of them had grown up in Ghana.

Winston Churchill by JanickG

The problem in Ghana is that many people have been brainwashed into believing that the narrow range of abilities represented by reading, writing and maths—in other words, book learning—form the sum of one’s intelligence and value to society. That would be like defining the totality of the human race as one superior race, as we all know was once believed, where in fact there are many races that comprise the diversity of humanity, like many intelligences comprise a human’s total intelligence potential. We ignore diversity to our detriment and peril.

Sir Richard Branson is quoted on Xtraordinary People as saying, “One of the positive things about being dyslexic is that we look at things differently. We simplify things, we can see things more clearly. This is what’s helped me in business.”

My experience reflects this. I want to point you to someone else who taught me that reading and writing are not the only indicators of intelligence. This is my Dad. My father. He’s profoundly dyslexic.

When I lived in Japan (before email), he sent me a letter, the only hand-written letter I’ve ever received from him. He struggled to write one page. Most of it was indecipherable but I knew he must have laboured over it for hours. It’s one of the most precious letters I’ve ever received and it might be the only letter I ever receive from him. I still have it, even though I can’t read it.

A man who can't read and write built and skippered this yacht

In regards to the man I’m talking about in the photo above, my Dad, he can’t write a one page letter, yet he’s a top community leader. He’s a world record breaking yachtsman. He is mentioned in books for his sailing prowess. TV stations make documentaries about his organisation. He has built three ocean racing yachts with his bare hands—the whole thing, from the shell up.

He can’t read and write. He can’t complete a form at the bank. He can’t read a newspaper. He could never check my homework as a child or help me learn spelling. He has dyslexia.

Many people in Australia still make assumptions about this, such is the brainwashing that reading and writing equals “the smarts”. Nowadays when I receive a card from home (if it’s not pinched by the post office first), he signs it with a picture of a sail boat—his signature.

If I have male children, there’s a strong chance that they could be dyslexic as it’s more predominant in males and tends to skip a generation. I’ve discussed this with Godwin. He’s cool. He understands. Imagine if the doctor asked my father if he could spell “best”.

Dyslexia: letters and numbers appear backwards and upside down

I urge anyone who works in an educational setting in Ghana, or who knows someone who does, to direct them to the website Xtraordinary People. It may shock you to realise that those students, friends and family you believed were stupid, friends you remember struggling through primary or JHS, that they may be among the most intelligent people you’ve known.

Can you remember someone in your class trying hard but not getting any better? For being reprimanded or beaten for being unable to spell or read? Being called lazy? Or stupid?

Were they particularly gifted at sports or drawing, music or computer science—many dyslexics are gifted computer scientists. MIT in the US calls dyslexia the “MIT disease” for the number of dyslexics that are gifted computer networkers.

The doctor might have passed university exams and training to become a medical professional, but he didn’t exhibit much capacity for intelligent thinking. He couldn’t listen for five minutes without interrupting. He made unbelievable assumptions. Many aspire to be him, yet he is only fulfilling a fraction of his capacity for intelligence and growth.

Many great thinkers and philosophers will describe open-mindedness as the greatest intelligence of all. As in, the opposite of jumping to conclusions.

I like this quote:

“If you jump to conclusions, you make terrible landings.”

That’s a line from The Interruption of Everything by Terry McMillan.

Next time you see a Caucasian woman with a Ghanaian man, or vice-versa, instead of asking him or her if they can spell “best,” or if they smoke weed, ask yourself, “What can I do to spread the true nature and understanding of intelligence in my community of friends, family and colleagues today?”

Answer: Spend ten minutes reading the stories at Xtraordinary people and talk to a friend you know who may have struggled at school. I know that everyone knows people like this from school or even in their own family. You could change their life.

Next time you see a child struggling with basic spelling or maths or coordination, recall that they may be the next Einstein, Churchill or Branson—if they’re given a chance. That’s a big if in Ghana, but it doesn’t need to be.

Dyslexic skipper and yacht builder

This yacht was built by my dyslexic, unable-to-read-and-write father. He is also the skipper and founder of Sailors with DisAbilities.

Don’t let a piece of paper make you blind to others’ true gifts and abilities. Don’t assume anything until you understand a situation for yourself. Don’t make a terrible landing.

If you can find a way to let others express the full glory of their talents and gifts, then true intelligence is possible. Diversity rules.

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The image of Will Smith is by Alan Light at Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/alan-light/211282668/

The image of Sir Winston Churchill by Janick G at Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/cel/1351439565/

The Simpsons image is by Fred Camino at Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/fredcamino/771422396/

The dyslexia image is by by Janine at Flickr