Learning Ghana by Tro Tro: An Alum's Reflection in Honor of CIEE's Anniversary
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Reflection originally published on LinkedIn. Republished with permission.
I recently wrote this reflection about my 1995 exchange student experience at the University of Ghana in honor of CIEE's 79th Birthday.
I was incredibly fortunate to receive the CIEE Bailey and Bowman scholarships. That funding made it financially possible for me to study abroad.
My time as a CIEE exchange student still stays with me. Living in Legon Hall with other Ghanaian students meant waking to thick, humid Accra air by 7am. Sleeping later than that wasn’t an option; the heat pressed in, insistent and inescapable.
Morning and night, prayers from students and the surrounding communities rose like the ripple of highlife guitars, as the whole university humming with sound.
Bucket showers became ritual. Water was turned off daily without warning, so I kept buckets filled in corners of my room, scooping water over my sun-warmed skin before dressing for lectures. The experience wasn’t for the faint of heart — and yet it was a rich, unfiltered, a complete full college experience, that I would do over again!
Some of my fondest memories were at Dr. Michael Williams’ house. He was our exchange director, but also our anchor. My cohort would trickle into his living room each evening, exhausted and exhilarated, sharing plates of steaming jollof while the ceiling fan churned the heavy air.
We’d debate African politics one minute and American pop culture the next, laughter rolling through the room as loud as the music outside.
We learned Ghana by tro tro. We packed ourselves like sardines into those dazzling, hand-painted mini vans — market women with baskets balanced on their laps, students clutching notebooks, sometimes a small goat or chicken tucked under our seat catching a ride. Windows down, gospel and hiplife pulsing from blown speakers, we flew down red-dirt roads.
Vendors thrust sachets of ice water, plantain, and sweets through the windows at every stop, their voices weaving into the journey as our bodies pressed in and out of the speeding vans, passing our crumpled money hand-to-hand to the fare collector.
But what changed me most was volunteering at a Liberian refugee village. Twice a week I rode tro tros for about 40 minutes each way to reach an open-air classroom — just a patch of packed earth and a makeshift chalkboard.
There were never enough chairs for the 20 or so kids who came, but the learning never stopped. They showed up anyway — bright-eyed, quick-witted, beautiful smiles flashing as they cracked jokes mid-lesson. Their resilience didn’t just move me; it rewrote everything I thought I knew about hardship and hope.
My experience wasn’t just a typical semester abroad. It was heat and dust in my sandals, laughter that hurt my ribs, and questions about lack of resources that kept me awake at night. It was friendships that fused into family. It was, in the most literal way, life changing.
Thank you for making my exchange possible, CIEE.
Happy Birthday!