My wife and two daughters shared my Fulbright year with me in Ghana. Upon arrival in Accra, Ghana, we were met at the airport by Bill Lawrence, United States Information Service and a representative from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) located in Kumasi. We were taken to the University’s guest house in Accra for a rest before flying to Kumasi where we would be living in a house in the residential area on the University campus. The University provided a house keeper, cook and gardener to help service our needs.

My teaching assignment included courses in bacteriology and general zoology. The students were very respectful, eager to learn and assist in cleaning and setting up the laboratory. In additional to teaching, I engaged in research by studying parasites of the pied crow, a relative of the American eastern crow that was the host bird for my dissertation studies. I also gave a seminar about life in the United States. A few years later, at least three students from KNUST came to America for graduate studies. In addition to teaching, I was a guest participant in administrative council meetings and also read a paper about bird parasites at a meeting of the Science Association.

During the Fulbright year, my family and I visited historic sites in Ghana and neighboring countries. We went to Elmina castle where slaves were housed prior to being sent to the United States; we visited the birth place of Kwame Nkrumah, the first prime minister of Ghana, and met the Asantehene, the monarch and ruler of the Asante people. To gain a broad perspective on the cultural aspects of west Africa, during holiday periods, we drove to Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso, Togo, Benin and Nigeria. In Togo, we were pleasantly surprised to stay overnight in a motel operated by a Black American couple. At the end of my Fulbright year, my family and I visited several countries in Europe while returning to the United States.

Dr. Joseph Jones Jr – Fulbright to Ghana 1973