Obruni's tro-tro wisdom

In case you were wondering about the address of this blog, "obruni" is the common word in Ghana to describe a white outsider. I think it basically means "white person." It does not carry the same connotation as the American slang "cracker." It simply means white foreigner as a matter of fact. It's not meant to be offensive or racist -- I think a Ghanian who referred to you as an obruni would feel that they were just pointing out an obvious fact. I get called obruni many times a day, generally by street hawkers or random people on the street who want to say hello. Lots of times somebody will walk up to a cab I'm in and say, "Obruni! Hello! Want to buy Sandra Bullock DVD?" or just shout "Obruni!" and wave. So it's just something to get used to, although it can sometimes feel tiring.

Also, I want to add a feature to my blog: your daily dose of tro-tro wisdom. A tro-tro is basically a vehicle that functions more or less like public transportation. It's generally a large van or small bus that has been converted to hold as many people as possible (usually about 12). It runs for dirt cheap fares along fixed routes, and tro-tros will take you anywhere. They will take you a mile through Accra or eight hours up to the North, depending on where you board them. They are like busses in America but cheaper, more dangerous, and maybe not completely legal. Some of them are owned by private companies but I think plenty of them are just random citizens with a VW van. They are absolutely everywhere and distinguished only by the mottoes and sayings they post in stickers on the back window. Just about every tro-tro has a sticker, and 90 percent of them are religious. Often they just refer to a particular Psalm, but sometimes they are extremely poignant or merely entertaining. Refer to picture below. So, now that you have an idea of what a tro-tro is, here is your Tro-Tro Wisdom of the Day:

"God is God": either a breathtakingly revelatory statement or a case of a missing vowel. You decide.