Monday, August 29, 2005
Accra, Ghana
During our first week in Accra, we slowly take over Anselme's house, snails and all because he works obscenely long hours and only returns home to sleep. The visas that we are acquiring will take a longer time than we planned to process; it seems our stay here may be extended by a few weeks. None of us have a problem with this as there is lots of work and play here. This week, we are hard at work doing research for our first articles on Ghana. We visit many organizations that are doing impressive work and I was introduced to a wonderful lady who was a participant of an AIDS awareness bus campaign through East Africa earlier this year. A friend of mine, Senyo, managed to get us a spot on the radio to talk about our project. We are busy.
However, as our stay becomes more and more extended, I grow concerned about imposing on our host, Anselme. His house is already overrun with extended family, people drop by all the time and the man never gets any rest. One night after he came home late, he fell asleep on the couch as we were talking without even taking off his shoes. When I look at Anselme, I see the drive of the people that are pushing this country forward ahead of many of those in the region. People here are hardworking and industrious. Probably because and due to this drive, Ghana as a country has always been a shining star politically and economically. In fact, in the fifties at the dawn of independence, Ghana was supplying its neighbors with loans, bringing electricity to the sub-region through hydroelectric (and even nuclear) power, and three cedis was equivalent to one dollar. However, "developments" of the last few decades have taken a toll. While Ghana remains a leader in the sub-region, it has been reduced to a shadow of its former self. Today, Ghana is a highly impoverished poor country (HIPC) which recently had part of its debt reduced by the World Bank, the nuclear power plant sits vacant and rotting away, and the cedi is at 9100 to the dollar. What happened? The results is that today, hardworking people like Anselme have to push themselves to the limit just to make ends meet.
During our first week in Accra, we slowly take over Anselme's house, snails and all because he works obscenely long hours and only returns home to sleep. The visas that we are acquiring will take a longer time than we planned to process; it seems our stay here may be extended by a few weeks. None of us have a problem with this as there is lots of work and play here. This week, we are hard at work doing research for our first articles on Ghana. We visit many organizations that are doing impressive work and I was introduced to a wonderful lady who was a participant of an AIDS awareness bus campaign through East Africa earlier this year. A friend of mine, Senyo, managed to get us a spot on the radio to talk about our project. We are busy.
However, as our stay becomes more and more extended, I grow concerned about imposing on our host, Anselme. His house is already overrun with extended family, people drop by all the time and the man never gets any rest. One night after he came home late, he fell asleep on the couch as we were talking without even taking off his shoes. When I look at Anselme, I see the drive of the people that are pushing this country forward ahead of many of those in the region. People here are hardworking and industrious. Probably because and due to this drive, Ghana as a country has always been a shining star politically and economically. In fact, in the fifties at the dawn of independence, Ghana was supplying its neighbors with loans, bringing electricity to the sub-region through hydroelectric (and even nuclear) power, and three cedis was equivalent to one dollar. However, "developments" of the last few decades have taken a toll. While Ghana remains a leader in the sub-region, it has been reduced to a shadow of its former self. Today, Ghana is a highly impoverished poor country (HIPC) which recently had part of its debt reduced by the World Bank, the nuclear power plant sits vacant and rotting away, and the cedi is at 9100 to the dollar. What happened? The results is that today, hardworking people like Anselme have to push themselves to the limit just to make ends meet.
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