Mathias Ayinezieme Amoah, a Senior at New Ulm High School, was born in Bolgatanga, Ghana. There, he was a 12-hour plane ride away from experiencing a completely different world. Mathias Amoah was born on September 8, 1997. His father, an artist and conductor of a fit (exercise) club, was the first of their family to move to the United States. His father, soon along with the rest of the family, came to the United States for better jobs and better opportunities. Amoah and his sister came to the U.S. four years ago. They were the oldest two of the five siblings and were able to come because they were capable of taking care of themselves while their father was at work. His mother, who worked with a fire department, stayed in Ghana with the other three brothers who are all younger. Amoah explained he has an extended family, meaning a lot of his relatives outside of his immediate family are very connected and do many things together. Amoah still has friends, cousins, grandparents, aunts and uncles in Ghana today. He plans to visit them alone this upcoming summer upon graduation. Amoah first moved to California and spent a month there. Afterwards, he moved to New Ulm, Minnesota. Amoah liked coming to America, he was able to experience completely new culture and education while meeting many new people. Coming from Ghana to a country like the United States can be challenging, and there were many things that took some getting used to. Amoah mentioned that one of the largest challenges was trying to get caught up with the rest of the students in schools. Before, he had experienced different levels of education and the schools he came to were more advanced than he had expected. Another challenge he faced was fitting in. He greatly missed the people who were involved in his life in Ghana. He wasn’t able to see his brothers and mother for four years until they moved to the United States this past year. Most of his friends and family he had throughout his life were 6,140 miles away, so adjusting to a new culture while trying to make new friends was hard, however, he seems to have transitioned smoothly as he is a well-liked student to many teachers and students here in New Ulm.

Amoah explained the two major differences between life in Ghana vs. the U.S. is the weather and food. As we all know, weather in Minnesota can be tremendously cold. This became a brutal awakening for someone who has never experienced winter, especially not in Minnesota. In Ghana there are three seasons, Rainy, Dry, and Harmattan, which is a time where it’s really windy and dry and nothing grows. He also mentioned the food in Ghana includes more “solid food and soup.” Restaurants like McDonalds and Burger King were foreign to him as there are no similar fast food restaurants in Ghana.

Life in Ghana is also very different for more reasons. Amoah mentioned some religious differences had to do with time spent in church, which is a big part of his family’s life. Amoah and the rest of his family are Catholic and Christian. At his church in Ghana, there is a lot of dancing and music is played by a band that involves using the drums. On Christmas Eve they light fireworks on the church’s grounds and spend time celebrating. Amoah believes church in the U.S. is “more boring” than in Ghana. Because his family is christian, they celebrate many of the same holidays as we do in the U.S. However, they do not have Halloween or Thanksgiving.

School life in Ghana is another aspect of Amoah’s lifestyle that quickly changed. School in Ghana starts at 7 am and goes until 3 pm. In the U.S., most students switch rooms when changing to different classes. In Ghana, the students stay in the same room the entire day and the teachers move room to room. At Amoah’s previous school, inspections of uniforms are given to the students. They are all expected to keep their uniforms clean, tucked in, and with a badge. There uniforms are blue and white and they wear a special polo on Fridays. Every Monday and Friday the students gather for an assembly. Rules in schools are also very different there. Students are allowed to eat in class and bring their backpacks to class. There is no air conditioning in the building and students eat lunch outside, soccer is a common sport they play. If it rains, they eat under trees.

The Class of 2017 is lucky to have someone like Mathias as a classmate and friend. Many of us have enjoyed learning of his past lifestyles and adventures. He also mentioned that “education and opportunities are very important things we should not to take for granted.” In the U.S., it is easy to dislike school and get very tired of it. Many of us should do our best to look at the bigger picture and realize how lucky we are.