Nana Crentsil was six years old when she immigrated from Ghana to the United States in 2004. Her and her mother immigrated together for “better opportunity” here in the United States. They originally came to Providence, Rhode Island and stayed for three years before settling down in Laurel, Maryland. Nana is now a junior at Towson University in Maryland pursuing a pharmaceutical medicine degree. She is very enthusiastic and light-hearted at all times.
[Justice Abbott] interviewed Nana Crentsil on March 6th, 2019 in Laurel, Maryland.
Justice: [00:00:00] This is justice Abbott and I’m here today with..
Nana: [00:00:03] Nana Crentsil
Justice: [00:00:04] And I’m 19 years old and Nana is 20 years old and today we’re going to be talking about how she immigrated from Ghana to the United States with her mom.
Justice: [00:00:13] So, how old (laughing) how old were you when you first moved?
Nana: [00:00:20] When I first came to the states I was six years old. Me and my mom immigrated here when I was young.
Nana: [00:00:34] So I immigrated here when I was young. My mom played the lottery for us to get over here. So in Ghana like the lottery works different. Instead of winning money you can actually like when the chance to come over to the states so you can get like a visa to come over and um luckily one day after work..She went to go play it and she usually plays it every Saturday after work hoping that we get to win. So one day in June of 2004 she played the lottery and we actually won. And so we got the visa and I was so excited. I remember her crying. I was confused becauseyou know I was small I was only 6 so I couldn’t really understand what was going on but she was just so happy so I was happy too.
Justice: [00:01:23] So were a lot of people that you knew trying to get the lottery too?
Nana: [00:01:27] Yes. Almost everybody I knew played the lottery. It was like tradition. Everybody played in order to win a chance to come over to the states.
Justice: [00:01:36] So was life there like that bad? Why didn’t anybody want to stay in Ghana?
Nana: [00:01:42] Don’t get me wrong. Ghana’s a beautiful place but it’s really hard to find a job after school like even after going to college and getting like a doctor’s degree it’s really hard finding a place to work and so people are really aiming to come to the states to get better opportunities for education and living styles as well.
Justice: [00:02:03] OK. So what did your mom do [for work]?
Nana: [00:02:06] She was a teacher for secondary school. At that time I just started primary school because you start primary school when you’re six.
Justice: [00:02:20] And how long do you stay in primary school?
Nana: [00:02:24] You say in primary school for six years and then you move on to secondary [school] which my mom teaches.
Justice: [00:02:30] So did your mom go to college in Ghana?
Nana: [00:02:34] No she didn’t go to college in Ghana. Going to a school in Ghana is really expensive because even for primary and secondary school you still have to pay for education like they have mandatory school fees whether it’s public or private you still have to pay and she didn’t have the money afterwards.
Justice: [00:02:54] So when you actually like were ready to make the trip how do you guys actually like get to the United States.
Nana: [00:03:02] So we took a plane from Ghana and we.. I know we stopped at like multiple locations… Probably in Europe and then we came to the states and all I member is having a long car ride to Providence, Rhode Island.
Justice: [00:03:20] Okay. And so how were you feeling like going throughout this whole process like what did your mom tell you like to let you know that you guys were about to just leave like where you were born?
Nana: [00:03:32] She let me know that we were going somewhere better in order for us to have a better living style. And for us to get a better education and more opportunity.
Justice: [00:03:46] Were you scared or happy or… ?
Nana: [00:03:49] I was anxious and nervous at the same time because at the same time I was leaving all my friends, all my childhood friends back home and I was coming to a whole different country. Like this is not moving from like a different state, It’s moving from a whole different country a whole new environment everything looks different from the roads to the houses. It was just a different experience that I’ve never been through.
Justice: [00:04:13] Okay. And when you first got to Rhode Island, where did you guys stay? Did you have family there? Did you like get a house or something or where did you guys stay when you first got to Rhode Island?
Nana: [00:04:28] We had an uncle in Providence so he was nice enough to… We had an uncle in Providence and he owned a nice townhome. So we stayed there for some time.
Justice: [00:04:40] Okay. Do you know why your mom chose to go to Rhode Island as opposed to any other place?
Nana: [00:04:53] Um her and my uncle are really close and so she chose our location in order for us to stay with him for a while until we get on our feet and there was actually a lot of Ghanaians in our area so I wasn’t as bad as to move into like California where like there’s more Hispanics (laughing because that fact had nothing to do with anything).
Justice: [00:05:15] So when you first got to Rhode Island did you like pick up in school or how did that work?
Nana: [00:05:22] So we arrived in the summer.. So before we started school because I know we started school in um September. So we had to get all my paperwork all together and my mom’s stuff situated and all that before I could enroll the school.
Justice: [00:05:38] So since the schooling system is a lot different like from in Ghana to how it is here where you like it’s not in the same grade. So where you like did you start in kindergarten or did they let you start in first grade at 6 usually we start in first grade. So did they like make you stay back and do kindergarten or how did that work?
Nana: [00:06:00] I started in first grade but then I was also put into esol
Nana: [00:06:09] So they made me start in first grade. But I had to be in esol because I had a heavy accent and my English was kind of different from like there is like in Ghana it’s more British English than American English so they wanted me to be… (paused because she didn’t know what to say)
Nana: [00:06:29] They wanted me to be in sync with the other kids.
Justice: [00:06:32] So was it hard for you like in school being new and like trying to make friends and fitting in or It was like easy.
Nana: [00:06:41] It was really hard fitting end because I had like a really short [hair] cut compared to the other kids because in primary school and gone you have to cut your hair short because they think like hair is a distraction to like when you’re learning. I always got bullied for my accent.
Justice: [00:06:59] So I know that you live in Maryland now. So how long were you living in Rhode Island before you moved?
Nana: [00:07:07] I lived in Rhode Island until I was about to start middle school. That’s when I moved to Maryland. My mom got a substitute teacher gig over there. I moved to Laurel because my mom got a good two teacher job over there.
Justice: [00:07:22] So when you moved to Maryland where you guys also staying with family or how was that situation.
Nana: [00:07:31] No, by the time we moved to Maryland we were on our feet so we had our own thing going on. It was just me and my mom moved into an apartment in Laurel [MD].
Justice: [00:07:41] Okay so how is that going to school in Laurel? What was the difference from Rhode Island to now being in a new state in a new school?
Nana: [00:07:51] There was definitely different race change less Ghanains in Laurel. There was a lot more African-Americans. It wasn’t as bad.
Justice: [00:08:03] So, how would you compare what you remember from living in Ghana to now living in the United States?
Nana: [00:08:13] I mean, Ghana I feel like it’s more free.. Like I didn’t really have to like be home during a certain time. I feel like. In the U.S. there’s a lot of like kidnappings. Like a lot of shootings like in Ghana. I know I didn’t have to worry about that going inside different locations but I feel like it’s really different over here.
Justice: [00:08:38] So do you think that it’s like different, better? Or would you… Like how do you think your life would be if you never moved here.
Nana: [00:08:46] I think I’ll be in the same position… Going to school probably being somebody’s nanny or working as a teacher like my mom being in the same finance.. financial position as I was before. But moving to the U.S.we’re definently doing a lot better.
Justice: [00:09:09] So now where do you go to school?
Nana: [00:09:14] I go to Towson University and my major is pharmaceutical medicine. I chose our major because in Ghana it’s really hard to get the medications for when you’re sick or like good quality medications like how we have here. I want to know… (couldn’t put in words reason for major choice)
Justice: [00:09:33] How does your mom feel about like watching you grow up and go to college now you’re a junior, you’re getting ready to graduate soon. How does your mom feel about all of this?
Nana: [00:09:46] She’s so proud of me… How I grew up and what I’m majoring in. She really thinks I’m doing great in my studies.
Interview Process
This interview was conducted in person. The audio does not have the best quality because I had to use my phone to record the interview. I simply used the “Voice memos” app on the iPhone XR then downloaded it to my computer and used Garage Band for editing. I did not have to edit much, I just let the interview flow as a normal conversation. There were some laughs and jokes while conducting the interview which really lets her personality and feelings on the topic show. We looked for the quietest spot we could find to conduct the interview but there was some background noise that was able to slip in. Nana was very relaxed and comfortable during the interview.
Research
To further understand the reasoning behind Nana and her mother leaving Ghana, I researched the economic status and conditions of Ghana during the early 2000s. I found that Ghana was financially stable. Ghana was recognized as an economic frontrunner in the economic reform process in Africa. According to “Economic Growth in Ghana,” (an academic journal) lots of the citizens were not grateful for this economic success because they still faced significant costs of social adjustment and they felt the economy was fragile. With this information, I cannot say it is atypical that Nana and her mother left the country for a more stable economy. To understand being six years old in Ghana in 2004, I looked at the World of Education News and Reviews. I found that at six years old, Nana was just beginning her six years of primary school. After completing these six years, students then go on to complete junior secondary school. Nana left Ghana after just one month of primary school, so it is hard to say if the schooling system is what encouraged their immigration. Nana does not remember much about being in school in Ghana. When Nana and her mother first came to the U.S., they lived in Rhode Island. The Ghanaian Diaspora in the United States indicates that Massachusetts is the U.S. state that is home to the most Ghanians. This explains why they came to Rhode Island because that is a bordering state of Massachusetts, so it is fairly close and can be ruled as a typical trend.
Sources
“The. Ghanaian Diaspora in the United States.” Rockefeller Foundation-Aspen Institute Diaspora Program,May 2015, accessed 14 March, 201
Sedgwick, Robert. “Education in Ghana.” WENR, March/April 2000, https://wenr.wes.org/2000/03/ewenr-marchapril-2000-education-in-ghana, accessed 14 March, 2019
Areyeety, Ernest and Augustin K. Fosu. “Economic Growth in Ghaha: 1960-2000.” Ghana, Vol.2, ch. 9, pp. 1-3.