15 minutes with two African students attending Bluffton University
By Caitlin Nearhood
Bluffton Icon intern
Daniel Mushangwe and Appiah Adubofour, two sophomore international students attending Bluffton University, recently sat down and discussed how their Bluffton lives compared to their lives in Africa.

Mushangwe, an accounting and economics major from Harare, Zimbabwe, and Adubofour, an accounting and business major from Kumasi, Ghana, talked about their families, favorite foods, how they came across Bluffton, and more.

VIEW FAMILY PHOTOS AT THE BOTTOM OF THIS STORY.

Here is our conversation:

How did you find Bluffton University?
Daniel: I have a brother in Dayton, so I looked up colleges in Ohio. I saw that Bluffton gives out half scholarships to international students, too.
Appiah: A friend of a friend of mine graduated from Bluffton. I also considered it because of the small town and small campus population.

When was the last time you went home?
Daniel: We’ve never been home.

Tell me about your immediate families.
D: My parents are alive and still together. My sister, Ratidzai, is 29, and her name means “to show.” My oldest brother, Mugove, is 28, and his name means “talent.” My next older brother is Tererai, who is 25. His name means “listen.” My younger brother Mischeck is 19 and his name is from the Bible, like mine. My mom’s name is Thokozani, and my dad’s name is Muchengeti.
A: My parents are alive, but they are separated. My mom’s name is Susanna, and my dad’s name is Asante. I have six siblings other than myself and three step-siblings. I don’t know the ages of two of my step-siblings, but one, Eric, is 31. Three of my real siblings are older than me, and three are younger than me. My real siblings have my last name. My last name means “ten angels” in my native language, and I have there are 10 children in my family, combined. It was a coincidence!

Does everyone have a special meaning to their name in Africa? 
Appiah: Not everyone has a special meaning with their name, but everyone is named after someone in their family. For example, my brother Asante was named after my father, and my father was named after his father. Only one of my siblings has a name that means something—my brother Agyemang means “great warrior.”

What do your parents do?
D: My mom is a homemaker, and my dad is retired. He worked at the national airport directing the planes.
A: My mom is a timber contracter, so she helps export trees and deals with government land. My dad is a publisher and an author, and has published eight books of his own.

How do you communicate with your family? How often?
D: We communicate through Skype, Facebook, telephone, texting and email. I talk with my siblings 2-3 hours every day, and my parents once a month on the telephone.
A: I talk with my siblings every day too. I talk to my mom every week for more than 45 minutes on the telephone, and I call my dad twice a month.

What are your favorite foods from home?
D: My favorite food is called sadza. It goes with beef or chicken stew and cooked vegetables. It’s thicker than mashed potatoes and made from grinded corn. It’s cooked until it’s thick and served hot.
A: Mine is fufu, and it’s eaten with any kind of soup. It’s made from plantain and casaba. We eat it every day in Ghana since it has made my tribe big and strong.
D: We have normal breakfasts in Africa, like bread, eggs, and waffles, but they are expensive.

How many languages and dialects do you speak?
D: I speak two languages, English and Shona, which is my native language. I understand Ndebele (clicking language), but I can’t speak it very well.
A: I speak three languages—English, some French, and Twi, my native language which is a combination of 25 languages.

Tell me about your winter experience here in Bluffton.
D: It’s cold! To people in Africa, snow is amazing. My first experience with snow wasn’t as exciting as I thought it would be. People would say ‘Do you see the snow’ and I said ‘yes I’m standing in it’. I love the snow, but not the negative temperatures.
A: We don’t have a spring or fall in Africa. We just have a rainy season that runs from May to August that is like summer that’s still hot, and a dry season that is like our winter.

What’s the biggest culture shock living in Bluffton?
D: I came from a city of three million people, so the size of Bluffton was different. The food change huge too. I ate a huge plate of sadza before I left home. Also, with school, I was surprised that we could call our professors by their first names! Back home in Africa, we’re used to being so formal and calling adults by mister or misses.
A: I expected Bluffton to be small, but not this small! I come from a city that is about the size of Columbus, so about 4 million people. I felt like I was in the wrong place for a little bit.

What were your impressions of Americans before and after your move to the U.S.?
D: I had the impression that Americans are helpful because there were some that helped my brother. I also like how Americans have high self-esteem.
A: Before moving here, I thought that Americans were nice people, ready to help, so smart, and had high immorality.
D: After, though, we’ve seen that not everyone is helpful and that immorality is not in everyone; there are a lot of upright Christians here.
A: I love it here!

What are your plans after graduating from Bluffton?
D: I want to go to grad school, get a couple of years of corporate experience, and return to serve my home country.
A: I also want to go to grad school, work for awhile, and then go back home.