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Jînrtlanh © bscruer
luly 13. 2005
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Students from Crown Prince Academy in Ghana, West Africa join their teacher (in gray slacks near door) for an after school photo with visiting Portland student Nana Opoku third from right and her
mother, Victoria Cook.
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5 >.,
Local Student Discovers Africa
Trip confronts many
misconceptions
N ana O poku
F or the P ortland O bserver
by
you were a foreigner, and America
was portrayed in such an ugly man­
ner, would you not also have the
When people turn on their tele­ wrong conception about America?
vision or search through a maga­ Just as there is a bad side to some­
zine or book, there is often an ad­ thing there is also a good side.
vertisement on saving children or
I recently had the chance to visit
families in Africa due to the fast Africa and see for myself what it is
growing AIDS epidemic or lack of really like. And because of my prior
food, clothing and housing.
misconceptions, due to all the televi­
Seeing such images is bound to sion ads, I was in for an awakening!
give the conception that Africa is a
When I arrived at the airport in
country in complete poverty. But if Ghana, West Africa, I was impressed
different schools. One that I liked in
particular was Crown Prince Acad­
emy. Over 500 children ages 2
through 13 have to wear proper
attire to attend this prestigious
school. The school has a waiting
list for admission.
I had the privilege to attend an 8th
grade class where the children were
taught college level math. For a
student to attend this school, it
costs 1 million cedis, which is
equivalent to $100 U.S. dollars. If
Africa is so poor and malfunctioned
how can so many parents can af­
ford to put their children in a school
like this?
I visited many museums during
Fourth grade students at Crown Prince Academy in Ghana, W est
my stay in Ghana. One o f those was
Africa are about to begin their computer class.
a small town in Cape Coast, where
white men in prior centuries kept
to see such beautiful people. The Africans as slaves until the ships
Ghanaians treated me with great hos­ came to transport them to America.
pitality. People were fully dressed. I Another museum I visited was lo­
saw or met no HIV positive or mal­ cated in Kumasi, called The N a­
nourished people.
tional Cultural Center where pat­
While in Africa, I visited many terns and colors for different types
o f fabric are designed. I also visited
the zoo were I saw lions, monkeys,
elephants and more! I even learned
that most o f the wild animals didn’t
originate from Ghana but were
brought in from other countries.
There were beautiful beaches, fruit
trees and elegant restaurants.
Solguessw hen people say don ’ t
believe everything you hear or see
unless you experience it for your­
self is really true!
W ithout going to Africa and
seeing and experience the country
for myself, I would still have the
wrong conception o f the continent.
I was truly amazed to see and expe­
rience where my ancestors origi­
nated and I look forward to going
back some time soon.
Nana Opoku is a summer stu­
dent intern at The Portland Ob­
server. She attends City Christian
High School in northeast Port­
land. Her parents are from Ghana,
West Africa.
Student Achieves at Local School
____ _
As a mechanic in the Army National
Guard you can tune up your skills on
?,
state-of-the-art equipment and earn
money for college while helping to keep the
nation combat ready.
1-8OO-GO-GUARD
www.1-800-G0-GUARD.com/mechanic. htmi
To be awarded be­
fore an audience for an
achievement is an honor
in itself, especially when
the person has worked
hard for it. T hat’s the
case for our Portland
Observer summer i n tern
Nana Opoku who wrote
about her experiences
visiting Africa in the
sidebar story in this
w eek’s edition.
One o fthe few A fri­
can A m ericans at City
C hristian High School
in northeast Portland,
O poku m a n a g e d to
win her way to the top
o f h erjuniorclass. Her
te a c h e r s p r e s e n te d
her with a Special Rec­
ognition Award for her
efforts.
“I had to give up cer­
tain things to stay fo­ Nana Opoku is honored for her achievement at City
cused on my school Christian High School in northeast Portland.
work,” she said, react­
ing to the ho n o r.
“W hether it was bas­
ketball, cheerleading or
music, it had to be sec­
ondary because if you
put academics first, ev­
erything else will fall in
its place.”
Opoku has advice to
o th e r s tu d e n ts w ho
want to succeed. She
suggests doing some­
thing that no one else
does, setting goals and
going after them.
“ D o n ’t c o u n t on
anyone to help you,”
she said. “You must be
a hardw orking, inde­
pendent individual and
be willing to persevere.
Also, don’t allow fear to
slow down or hinder
your goals in life. If you
fall, get back up and try
again.”
Decoy Drinkers
on the experience.
W hat M iller looks for in a po­
tential decoy is som eone that
tion.
Because o f liability concerns, appears to be under the age o f 26
the decoy that goes into a bar on who has good com m unications
a mission for A ssured C om pli­ skills and show s the best ability
ance is not allow ed to drink the to make judgm ents.
“You have to have a public ser­
alcoholic beverages. The decoy
vice-oriented
mind,” M iller said.
often will mask his or her m otives
Even
though
M iller views his
by dum ping part o f the beverage
com
pany
as
a
preventative
and
in the restroom . V enturing into a
econom
ical
service,
he
has
a
hard
bar as a decoy usually takes less
than 10 m inutes after which the tim e getting bar ow ners to see the
decoy calls M iller to debrief him relevance. M aybe once they get
continued
from Front
hit with a hefty violation they will
see the value o f A ssured C om pli­
ance.
“I’m one-tenth o f the cost o f a
ticket. E conom ically it’s b etter,”
said M iller.
W orking independently also
has its benefits for M iller person­
ally.
“ I get to decide what clients
and where to w ork,” M iller said.
“R etiring at the age o f 53 after
working for the OLCC for 30 years
was w elcom ing.”
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