US students laud proverbial Ghanaian hospitality

Accra, July 3, GNA - Students from Richland One South Carolina's Capital Schools (ROSETA), South Carolina in the US, have hailed a two-week study tour of Ghana as "life changing experience".

The visit, which was dubbed: ROSETA 2006, Exchange Programme, took the 16-member team including lecturers of the school to the home of the legendary Asante Female war General; Yaa Asantewaa; the Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Park; W.E.B. Dubois Centre, the forts and castles and the historic James Town in the Greater Accra Region, among other areas. The mainly Black-American team took part in a traditional naming ceremony at Nii Badu Ansah We (family house) at La in Accra during which they were given indigenous names like: Atswei, Gogoe, Amoah, Dede and Kwame.

The Principal of the School, Mr Russel Perkins said the two-week tour had transformed his life and that of the students. "It was really emotional."

He lauded the proverbial, "Ghanaian hospitality", and the opportunity to sample fresh fruits.

"I am coming back to Ghana next year with more students," he said. Dr Jasper Salmond, a member of ROSETA Board, said the tour gave the students a better view of the Trans Atlantic Slave Trade and the true image of Africa.

"I am going home with full of memories. We are coming back next year. I really enjoyed the trip," she said.

Miss Della Teresa Brisbone, a teacher, expressed appreciation about the aggressiveness of street hawkers in Kumasi and the richness of the Ghanaian culture.