Ashesi University College Inauguration

Today I went to the Ashesi University College Inauguration, a top class private university outside of Accra.  I went with two fellow coworkers Nana and Jeminatu.

The inauguration was for the new Ashesi campus located in Berekuso, about an hour north of Accra. The drive to Ashesi was absolutely horrible; the roads were filled with potholes and was incredibly narrow. We drove past  one village after another, and the entire time I was thinking to myself, "Where in the hell is this place?!"

After a really, really long drive we arrived at the college. The campus was gorgeous and the facilities top-notch; I think Berkeley's facilities could use an upgrade after this visit! We found our seats for the ceremony, and then we waited, and waited, and waited. After almost two hours, the vice president of Ghana finally arrived so the ceremony could begin. The chiefs from Berekuso made their way across the garden, dancing and playing drums the whole way.

The whole ceremony only lasted an hour and a half. There were a bunch of speeches from important people: a famous reverend, the top chief (he did his speech in Twi), the US ambassador (who made a very amusing speech about Americans and Ghanaians being like the ingredients of fufu), and of course, the VP of Ghana. The whole experience was great, and it was really inspiring to see the people's enthusiasm for the inauguration of a university. The turnout was crazy!

Entrance to campus

Inner courtyard

Nana

Jeminatu and me

Our seats

Some chiefs; are those staffs really gold?

More chiefs

Queen Mothers

The musical group

I don't even...

Fancy shoes!

Final part of the procession

Tail end of the procession; look at that robe!!

My camera photo of the vice president after my camera battery died

Founder of the university (in the yellow-red robes) after Berekuso leader bestowed on him chiefdom