On the Court

"I wish I was a little bit taller.  I wish I was a baller..."

--Skee Lo

Being white in Ghana means I’m always the foreigner. I can learn the language, know all the customs, dress in all the local styles and go to school with them, but the color of my skin is too bright to be overshadowed by any of these. For a long time I felt like this was stopping me from integrating at all; wherever I went, Obruni, the Fante word for foreigner, was shouted around me.

At first, being placed on the basketball team didn’t seem to change any of this. The coaches were excited to have me because I was one of two players on the team who had any previous experience. The other girls were interested, like everyone always is, but that’s where it ended.

As the season went on, we got better and better and we all became more and more comfortable with each other too. Basketball practice was something I looked forward to every weekend. We were winning every game. Other schools started noticing me and I began making friends who were interested in getting to know me for a reason other than my race.

After taking first in Central Region, we had a team meeting. While we waited for the Sports Master (the Ghanaian equivalent of an Athletic Director) to arrive, everyone started talking to each other. The conversation was in Fante, so I didn’t have much to contribute. I turned my head though when I heard “…yɛ obruni.”

Joana, the team captain noticed. “Oh! Did you think we were talking about you? You’re not obruni. You’re Lisa.”

We went on to the National Tournament and took second. Those words were worth more than the prize money or any certificate to me though. I was a part of the team. I was no longer a foreigner.