Broken But Wise
· The communication barrier has now lead to me evidently being broken and wise. Let me explain. The locals do not understand my accent, as I do not understand there. When they say “Dorothy” it sounds like “Dority” to me. Yet if I pronounce it as “Dority” as they do, it is wrong. I must pronounce it “Dorothy”. I have noticed the same issue when I say my own name. I introduce myself as “Brooke Weiss” but they always interpret it as “Broke Wise”. It is now a joke amongst coworkers and myself that I am broken, yet wise. Some of them have even changed my name to Brooklyn White because they believe that is easier to say as well as understand. I never thought I had a challenging name until I came to Ghana. I have met only a handful of people here who correctly say my name on the first try. So from now on, I will have to settle for being broken but wise. I would take that over being called Obruney (white-girl) any day.