The Life & Times of Samuel Duckett

Essay

Sorry I’ve been lagging on posting new stuff.  Semester At Sea is nonstop these days like you wouldn’t believe. I just wrote an essay that’s sort of like a blog post so I figured it’d be fitting to throw up here.  Check it out:

Polarized Development in Decolonized Countries

            I stepped off of the shuttle bus shortly after arriving in Ghana and I came to the quick realization that I would not be left alone.  In the blistering one hundred degree heat with humidity sweltering, the last thing that I wanted was to be pestered.  Only a mere 30 seconds had passed before I ran into a man named Christian who showered me in attention, compliments, and more.  He was a young man like myself with an enthusiastic smile and a good grasp on English.  “Hey man, I like your style, what’s your name?”  What started as seemingly genuine interest turned into an incessant need for me to buy what he had.  “SAM IN GHANA”, read the red, green, yellow and black bracelet that he wove with surprising skill and efficiency.  “A way to remember your trip” said Christian.  To my naïve surprise, his plea for my name was only a sly trick to begin making me a colorfully inscribed souvenir in an attempted guilt-trip.  This man was a professional guilt-tripper, so good that it made me think to myself if he had anything else in the world that required his time.  In the 5 minutes it took to walk down this dusty paved road past shack after shack of souvenirs and soccer balls to an ATM, he had bested every excuse I could muster.  How could a man with such skill be living off of individual sales of handmade bracelets to tourists like myself?  Since I lived in Singapore for the fall semester of this academic year I found myself comparing it to Ghana, as both are recently decolonized yet go about providing for their people in two completely different ways.  I began to wonder why Singapore supplies its people with paved avenues of success while Ghanaians are left to forge their own paths.             

 As I sat in the dormitory TV room with the fan on me and the air conditioning as high as it would go, I talked with Ling Wa Son about what life is really like living in Singapore.  I did my best to zone out the constant buzz of cicadas coming from the jungle ecosystem that surrounded our dorms.  Because Singaporean college students view American college students with intrigue and reverence, I knew this one on one conversation would be a genuine insight into a completely different and unique culture.  I tried to draw as much information as I could out of Gavin because just as much as questions led to answers, answers led to more questions.  The conversation jumped around from home life to family to school to job opportunities and prospective internships.  Every detail he gave, I would compare it to my life and see where the stark contrasts (USA’s trademark reputation of “ideal” freedom versus Singapore’s lack of personal freedom) as well as the similarities (USA and Singapore both being the opportunity and economic hubs of their respective regions) lay.  The generic leather couches along with the tropical heat and humidity provided inadequate comfort for the long conversation that was steadily unfolding.  What I could manage to piece together in my mind was that Singapore, although young, had set up such an efficient system of governance that any of its citizens who chose to do so, could go to school, graduate with a degree and work a life-long career.

            What Singapore could offer its citizens in the way of opportunity, Ghana could not.  This strikes me as odd given the similarities that the two countries share.  They had both been colonized for the entirety of their modern past with Singapore being granted self-governance in 1959 and Ghana achieving independence two years earlier in 1957.  The reasons that contribute to this anomaly lie in each country’s ability to integrate into the world system.  Singapore has faired very well in its progression since decolonization 53 years ago.  It was able to establish a strong government that provides Asia with one of the five busiest ports in the world, most notable for being the busiest transshipment port in the world.  This factor alone provides Singapore with an opportunity for establishing strong ties with all major countries and developing trust for the handling of their country’s goods in transit.  Such commitment to the world system can only be done with the cooperation of the people.  As Gavin could attest, Singapore’s idea of cooperation is more like a heavily incentivized culture that is guided down a rigid path.  Ghana, on the other hand, was much more difficult to understand.  Christian ended up winning the battle, sold me the bracelet and it got me thinking.  Why are these dusty, cracked and potholed streets filled with men and women, both young and old, each with a random item to sell? Some with floor mats, some with replicated paintings, some with bags of water.  Driving through these streets, the vast majority of the people you’d pass were salesmen and women just trying to make a living off each sale.  I wondered where the sales infrastructure was, where the jobs were, where the opportunity lay.  Sure, tourists provide an opportunity as potential buyers of miscellaneous goods, but where were the government-assisted opportunities?