Ghanaian Schoolchildren Going Home

Note the different colours they are wearing (brown/yellow; blue/white) Each coloured uniform connotes a different school. It is generally the private schools that have very different colours--blue or otherwise--from the usual brown bottom (skirt/shorts for girls/boys) and yellow top.

I didn't quite get the sharpness of the pictures--next time--but for sure, they seem to be happy going home around 3pm, when schools close!

Lunch in Accra, anyone?

In what one can call a stark contrast to the working lunch I had a couple of months ago here, this is one of the more typically lunch foods I like to eat off-late.

Nothing beats nicely-fried sweet potatoe, with some fish.

Sweet potatoe, as the link above maintains is:

(Ipomoea batatas), food plant, native to tropical America, cultivated for its edible tuberous root, and particularly in Africa, for its leaves which are eaten as greens. Sweet potatoes have been called "yams" for centuries in the Americas, beginning when enslaved Africans applied their West African word "nyami" to the American sweet potato that resembled their African yam.

"Nyami" (or "nyana") became "yam" in English, "igname" in French and "ñame" in Spanish.Yams and sweet potatoes cannot always be used interchangeably.

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Let me just finish off by saying a big "thank you" to all those who visit here regularly. I apologise for not reciprocating as often as I would like to. I am sure you can tell that the oft-infrequent postings in themselves point to areas that can be improved.

Promise to make a better effort from August. I'll be on fire then, for it will be exactly four years on Saturday since I came back home from Belgium from a working experience in Brussels to one right here in Accra.

Of Goats & Men, or A Typical Accra Scene...

...is a car waiting for goats or sheep to cross. I don't think that is necessarily a reflection of the patience that Ghanaians are supposed to have, but certainly a good measure of some of it?

I've met a number of taxi drivers, however, who have revved the engine, attempting not just to scare them off, but really to knock them down! I guess there are homicidal tendencies everywhere!

I guess ultimately, it depends on the type of person you are. As a dog lover and dog-owner, I cannot stomach any dog being maltreated. I really wish middle-class Ghanaians would take better care of them as a starter! (That's for another day!)

Enjoy your weekend...

Accra-Tema Motorway: Is this the Extent of our Bilingualism (Vitesse / Speed)?

Less an indictment about Ghana's bilingual policy (we are bordered by francophone Togo to the east of Ghana and Cote d'Ivoire to the West)and more an excuse to reveal some information about the Accra-Tema motorway, I could only cull this from another source:

When the Accra-Tema Motorway was opened to traffic in 1964, it was mainly to link two major cities — Accra, the national capital, and Tema, the emerging industrial and port city.

At that time, Dr Kwame Nkrumah, the visionary, foresaw heavy vehicular traffic building between the two cities, reaching its peak when his dream of transforming Tema into the industrial hub of the newly-independent Ghana began to materialise.

Those who were old enough will recollect that in those days once one exited Accra, the only place of call was Tema, unless, of course, one was continuing towards Ho and beyond or Aflao, the country’s eastern gateway.

Today, 43 years later, the Accra-Tema Motorway cannot be said to be playing the same role envisaged at its inauguration.

The Motorway now carries heavy traffic destined for not only Tema and its numerous satellite settlements on the east but also for new communities that have sprung up on the western side...

It may interest you to know that the motorway is a few years younger than Britain's M1 motorway...

A Veritably West African weekend...

What does it take to have a truly West African weekend? A meal at Tante Marie in Accra Mall, or a Sunday evening with Blood Diamond? How about seeing a close relative off to the neighbouring West African country of Benin, by way of Accra.?

I might not have been sufficiently privileged to eat at Tante Marie, but I most definitely got my good share of West Africa.

It all started with Saturday morning, when up very early, my Mum and I accompanied my Dad off to Nigerian-based ABC Transport, near Caprice. At the time of morning we woke up--circa 4.00am, traffic was bound to be quiet and slow.

Some twenty minutes later, we were there at ABC Transport premises, curious, yet pleasantly surprised about how the Black Man can manage his own affairs. I felt especially proud when, after departure formalities (checking-in of passports at a till labelled "Lome-Benin-Lagos", weighing of suitcases to ensure when they passed the standard 25kg, a small yet reasonable fine would be paid; and finally lining up in not-so-single file to the buses to board (all against a backdrop of DStV) ) I spotted a Westerner, who looked rather confused at this kind of organised chaos.

But if to the Westerner, it looks like chaos, to the average ECOWAS-ian, it looks like a very decent attempt to travel West Africa at a reasonable rate. The trip from Ghana to Cotonou and back goes for around GHC100. For now, it is only four countries--Togo; Benin; Nigeria and Ghana--the ABC transport plies. I live to see the day when it can go westwards towards Cote d’Ivoire and maybe Senegal?...

How are You Feeling Today? Can Ghana Health Service Help?

It's become second nature for me to plug things I take a shining to, or feel may be of use to others. As regards this blog, writing about hotels is one of them. That I have just discovered this Accra blog being referred to on GhanaWeb for those interested in reading more about one hotel I "reviewed" is I guess a testament of where this blog can go.

Last February, I wrote a short brief of my perspective on the hotel that is two minutes walk away from the office--Miklin Hotel.

I was passing there last week, and noticed that they were [finally!] advertising the website of the Ghana Health Service. Ghana Health insurance is something which billboards I have featured here before.

It's too early for me to provide an assessment of the site, except to say that here's a snapshot of the main page here:



Enjoy your weekend and dare-I-say-it: keep healthy!;-)

Check out the Huge SHOPRITE Fish!

You could say that I'm being lazy by featuring and showcasing Shoprite stories. Perhaps I am. That said, I think the place offers a wide mosaique of emerging stories (especially on the types of food), which might not always make frontpage-news.

This big fish on the left is one of them. Just to show you that this is Ghanaian fish. At least that was the consensus among the Shoprite people I spoke to; I see no reason why they would lie.

I wouldn't want to imagine what that fish might look like at night!!

Those Shoprite Cartons (of Chicken) are From South Africa!

Ok, so it was never any real secret that a retailer like Shoprite was going to retail only Ghanaian goods. A good number of goods were always going to be flown in from South Africa.

This picture I took says little except when you check the narrative, which is very simple. After taking the picture of this guy offloading cartons to go prepare the very delicious chicken that many Ghanaians from all walks of life like to come to Shoprite to buy, I asked him where so many of these are coming from.

I guess you know the answer by now.

Frozen South African chicken flown to Ghana when there is a vibrant, albeit dying, poultry industry here!

Go figure!

PS. It's deeply ironic that in looking for a link about Ghanaian poultry, I should come across an article, entitled The Chilling Effect of Frozen Poultry Imports, written today, that looks at how much of a big business the poultry industry is in Ghana. There's an interesting quote that is great food for thought:

According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation, Ghana spends more than 1.2 billion dollars annually on rice imports, which rose from 121,000 metric tonnes in 1993 to 507,600 in 2002...

Ghana imported 26,000 tonnes of chicken in 2002, mostly from the European Union, where farmers receive generous subsidies. Two years later this figure had almost doubled, to about 40,000 tonnes. The annual import bill currently hovers around 30 million dollars.

Fruit & Veg, Accra-Style

An article of great living in Accra is being able to buy fruit and veg to suit your whims. Why not take advantage of food that's so healthy and affordable? Stalls like these are typical on the Accra thoroughfare circuit--so-to speak--and I ensure I enjoy to the max...

...like here, where it's clear I'm enjoying my (daily) dose of banana.

Usually, don't question too much the salubriousness of the stall; if it's sufficiently neat and the fruit well-arranged, I'm good!;-) As regards affordability, this banana was going for GHC0.20 (twenty ghana pesewas), or roughly $0.18

The State of Ghana's Payphones

Well, yesterday was Republic Day and, as such, it was a holiday. It was odd coming to work on a Monday only to rest on Tuesday and get back today--but, hell, better than none at all!;-)

Back to the State of the payphones...well, they still exist in the country--like this one by the state-owned Ghana Telecom. It's a delicious irony I should be using this picture, for just today, heard that the British-based Vodafone has just bought 66.67% of Ghana Telecom(GT) for some $960million.

Results are what matters, so let's see what they will bring, though I cannot understand why Ghanaian polcy-makers have to consistently divest state-owned enterprises to attract investment. We've had horror stories from the Malaysians and Norwegians who did a bad job and left us. We're now going to the British...

Time will tell...