This spree begins on March 21, and ends on April 20. Exactly 30 days. The first stop was the Tripoli airport, exciting. However, no need to over reacting (if your solo purpose is checking where am about), I was only at the airport for a transit. The airline company - Afriqiyah Airways is a Libyan company; it offers flight deals from Europe to Africa with way too tempting prices. For instance, my flight ticket from Paris to Accra costs 347 euro in lieu of more than 800 euro with any European companies. My assumption, for a Libyan company operating in Europe, is that the normalization between the West and Colonel Ghadafi is taking progressive steps. And of cause, as Confucius said, one has to be on the terrain to see things.

 

• Airport personals in Tripoli laughed at me because I asked them whether I could take a picture of the great leader Colonel Moammar al-Ghadafi’s poster.

 

• The staffs/security personals at the Tripoli airport waiting room were all male, aged between 25 to 50; all wear cheap suits, no one had uniform and almost all smokers. There were as many airport personals as waiting passengers, typical socialist country with full employment policy.

 

Flying over Accra in the evening, I said “man, what a poor city,” I can hardly see lights, no streets lights, car lights or house lights. In Accra, I stayed in Amomomo, a hostel owned by a former British volunteer and her Ghanaian Rasta husband. I had a pleasant ocean view and a view to Accra’s shantytown; they have three lovely kids. The first night was a nightmare, impossible to sleep, too humid and hot.

 

• I have studied the social structure of shantytown, but never saw any previously. Subsequently, I toured the shantytown frequently, mainly in search of food such as fried fish and grilled cow meat and other goods. In one occasion, I was buying a pack of cigarette in a store, the girl refused to sell it to me for she doesn’t know the price of the item.

Also at the Amomomo, I met one senior Ghanaian military man who told me that during WWII, Europe was fighting against Japanese in Japan. Japanese defeated the Europeans, so the latter brought in Western African Frontier Force (including Ghanaians) into Burma. Of cause the Western African Frontier Force fought well.

I also heard people saying stuff about Bush, such as he is the brother of Kerry...
 

Eating in Ghana

As a Chinese growing up in France, gastronomy has to be the first topic, and this is a problem, not for Ghanaians but for tourists. I haven’t met any one who appreciated the local dish - fufu / bangu, all based on cassava, and yam. I suspect it is due to its’ strong sour taste. Although I start eating some local food after my second week in Ghana, I mainly ate fresh fish, meat, omelet, sweet bread, and many fruits (eating real organic fruits for almost nothing, isn’t it wonderful?). As a result, how lucky, I lost around 10 kilo or 20 Lb in a month. To meet my daily protein requirement, I was actively seeking opportunities for bushmeat.

 

• I found out to order an antelope on the road side cost $15, a field rat is $2, and a fruit bat is about $1, and an old man in the Kumasi market tried to sell me a dry python for $12. Of cause, he didn’t allow me to take any picture of his store or merchandise.

 

• Of cause they all say to you: “plenty bushmeat,” but at the end, it is really just goat meat, un-chewable cow meat, or imported bad quality chicken legs or pig’s feet from Europe.

 

• I observed that Ghanaians have an overwhelming nutrition problem. Partly because the poor diet such as lack of vegetable. Yet, they insist and proudly say to you that they eat “plenty” local vegetables, including cassava, yam, onion, tomato, and even Chinese cabbage. Other than that, some farmers with entrepreneurship start indoor farming, producing cucumbers, garlic, green onion, and pepper.

• An old street kebab vendor said to me: “me Muslim, me no chop-chop sneak.”

• Ghana has many sea and fresh water fish, but the people really don’t know how to cook fish except to fry or smoke it.

 

• In Ghanaian restaurant, Chinese style fried Rice or beef is often on the menu.

 

Religious phenomenon in Ghana
 

Anne Kruger of Stanford University has a theory called rent seeking. A controversial theory that argues for instance, in stead of sending kids to school, the parents should invest the capital into economic productivity, because once the kid becomes educated, he/she will seek a stable government job, which is not economically productive. Well in Ghana, people invested savings into church building; literally all over the country, there are millions of all sorts of churches of all imaginable affiliations. Yet, I often noticed that roads leading to salvation are poor dirt bumpy roads.

 

• The practice of Christianity is at such extreme level that people are in church on Tuesday night. Many are signing, others are shouting, or crying.

• When Ghanaian dudes are high, they sing gospel songs, thanking the lord.

• I asked them to sing me a Ghanaian song; they sang gospel songs in indigenous language.

• At 6 Am, walking out of hotel in Cape Cost in search of food, I suddenly lost my restrain and said “f … me,” I saw a young Mormon walking on the street in the middle of Afrika with his usual uniform. Must be a great sign of providence.

• In a fishing village talking to a fisherman who happens being the Imam (the person who leads prayers in a mosque) of his group, he reads and cites verses from both the bible and Koran.

• In Tamole – in the northern region, a great Irish Catholic priest who resides in the country for the last 30 years, “father John” from Yendi, informed me that Saudi Arabia has financed about 25 mosques in Yendi and its surrounding.

• Once entered into northern regions, some road signs indicate projects of economic development and cooperation between the Islamic Republic of Iran and that particular village. Others indicate European Union or, the Peace Corp.

• On a tro-tro trip from Tamale, a local teacher told me that he is learning Arabic from Arab koranic scholars so he can read better the Koran. However, he sent his 4 years old son to a Jesuit school; this schoolteacher also acknowledged me the presence of few visiting Arab koranic scholars in Tamale and surrounding, and there are limited competitive scholarships for studying Koran, engineering and other subjects in some Muslim countries.

• A young man of a “playboy” style in Tamale was surprised that I am not a Muslim or Christian, but a “freethinker.” While drinking beer overlooking the city’s Mosque, he told me that there are some Arabs in Tamale, many during business, others are teaching koran. When I asked what he thinsk of them, “Arabs are wicked people, problems in America, problem in Europe, problems,” he replied.

• Again, my discussions with Ghanaian Muslims validate the assertion that African Muslims are more passive and tolerant than their Muslim or Christian Africans brothers.

• Ashanti kids who are serving prison time in the king’s palace told me that they were not baptized after birth, however, once gown up, they were free to choose their religious affiliation, some chose Christianity other Islam.

Economy in Ghana
 

The high oil price, as in the two precedent oil crisis, is hurting severely the developing countries. In Ghana, the gasoline price costs more than in the US. A gallon is about 4 dollars in April 2006. I told many farmers and taxi drivers to be ready for the price to go much higher in the near future, but I doubted they understood the meaning. I suspect the price can go higher than $80 and even around $100, if so, the economy in a healthy developing nation such as Ghana will inevitably collapse.

Stagnation of economic development and high unemployment is what I heard from Ghanaian people. I saw a free market economy at a very low scale with no sign of inflation; but people are complaining about the lack of cash and employment. A young farmer told me that perhaps there was a high inflation in the past, but there was money circulating, “today, there is no money.” As a result of lacking cash flow, he is unable to invest into his dream, building a modern indoor vegetable farm.
 

• The local grass is cheaper than cigarettes.

• A bottle of mineral water is almost as expensive as a bottle of beer.

• Many imported luxury cars including BMW, Mercedes Benz, Lexus, or Porsche Cayenne are on the road, while the majority earn less than $80/month; an obvious problem of distribution of wealth.

In many instances, I felt like being the economic development adviser to Ghanaians who lack fresh ideas. They often demonstrate delightfulness when I told them some simple schemes, such as if you modify A, you have the possibility to produce B and C.

Many Ghanaian have intellectual thirst but have no access to information resources. When I ask about if there are volunteers such as the Peace Corp around; many said they want the help but there is none in the region.

 

A young farmer at Baobeng Monkey Sanctuary village demonstrated a much higher intellectual capacity; he too, was born in 1975, and is eager to learn new farming techniques. He is investing into a fresh water fishpond, hoping locals will eat more freshwater fish. His nephew, who traveled to Equator Guinea working as a guard for a South Korean timber company (speaking adequate English, French, and Spanish) told me that this is because his uncle finished the secondary school. However, in comparison, the nephew’s nephew, who presumably never went to school, refused to sell me omelet for dinner because he cannot understand why he should.

People of Ghana
 

I think the best part about this country is the people, truly genuine, gentle, warm, peaceful, nonchalant, and simple.
 

For instance, if you dropped cash on the floor they will tell you. Ghanaians are so nice, that if you can’t understand the directions they will actually walk with you for a while to show you.

• It is a peace-loving nation. Often in front of a TV set while watching news, including from VOA - Africa, they would tell you they are glad to be Ghanaian and living in peace. An old woman at the Cape Cost Bus (STC) station asked me if “China peace?” I replied, no “China no Peace,” “America Peace?” “nop, America no peace,” I replied. “America no Peace, Europe no Peace, Africa no peace, why everywhere no peace” she asked me.

By the way, I eyewitness few instances where the wife is beating the husband, not the other way around.

• A Ghanaian security guard of Americo-Liberian descent (refugee) sees himself as Ghanaian. He adapted a traditional Ghanaian name to make himself a full Ghanaian. He was born in August 75 as well. The family arrived at the refugee camp too late, so couldn’t be lifted to the US.

• A Restaurant server in Kumasi (the capital of the Ashanti Kingdom) adopted an accent that is close to L.A. Persian English accent (of cause, he didn’t know). For many youths, it is cool to have a more American like accent.

• A street vending woman refused to sell me a small bag of pineapple for 10 cents, but in stead, a whole pineapple for $ 0.40 cents. When I asked for some salt for the pineapple, her daughter sent her home to get some, so the daughter would have more time to talk to me. The next day, the mother refused to sell me any pineapple for less then $ 0.60 cents.

• At the Bus (STC) station in Accra, a security guard in his 40’s asked me if I could help him in his Chinese lesson. He is learning counting in Chinese because he wanted to go to China one day.

 

In Tamole, I eye witnessed African democracy in action at a locale level. The former President Rollings arrived in Tamale. People were running around brandishing machetes while dancing and chanting. I was surprised no one was killed at the end, but a local elder man assured me that showing weapons is just a local tradition, never would they hurt anyone - show of force, intimidation or manifestation of joy?

• A young Ghanaian in his family “restaurant” showed me some pictures of him visiting the Guangzhou trade show. He believes that China is more powerful than the US, “because everything is from China,” he said.

However, although extremely gentle, when you ask Ghanaians questions they often reply with “yes.” Or, often they unconsciously would give you wrong information about something they in fact don’t know. Because of that, I had actually traveled 1/6 of the country in search of an ATM.

• I was running out of money, with only about 6 euro worth of Ghanaian cedis left in pocket. Some people assured me there is an ATM in Keta, the region that host the biggest lagoon in Ghana. Of cause, once arriving in Keta, some lady in the tro-tro said Keta has none. The ATM in Aflao, the boarder town next to Togo “has a new ATM,” assured me the owner of the most expensive hotel in that region. Of cause he was right, the brand new Ghana Commercial Bank has an ATM, but it doesn’t take Visa! With now only $2 left in my pocket, I had no place to go but to Accra, at 7pm after traveling 10h in tro-tro.

Subsequently, I understood the true magic about ATM; it gives you money when you need it and “for free!”
 

Final Thoughts
 

After traveling in inland Ghana for few weeks, I realized how beautiful and developed the capital Accra is. It has large streets, roads, shining lights, and big buildings. As a matter of fact, some roads in downtown Accra are much better than in Washington DC, solid road with no potholes.

But deeply, I am impressed by the Ghanaian way of life, democratic and harmonious. The power is shared in accordance to political equilibrium, between the modern and traditional power structures, and even between genders. It has to do with its historical political tradition. For instance, in the Ashanti Kingdom, the power and duties are shared between a king and a Queen. The Queen is not necessarily the wife or the mother of the king, but any woman in the royal linage. The position of  Ashanti Queen is so eminent that it was the Queen who raged the war against the Brits in the 1870s, this Queen fought to the end, after being captured, after her last bullet, she was sent to exile at the age of 67.

 

 

I am also impressed by the level of education. Primary and secondary schools can be seen everywhere while traveling inland. In one instance, in a village in the middle of nowhere, a 13 years old kid, Racid told me he wants to know more about the geography of the world, and another speaks some Japanese.
 

 

In a more boasting or pretentious approach: I was in Wli Falls, the ‘biggest fall’ of West Africa. In the evening, I was setting under the hotel bungalow contemplating the beautiful mountain range that boarders Togo and its cool climate. While drinking Ghana made dark Castle Beer, I shook my head thinking “man, maybe I don’t have a career, but I am having way too much fun, and thank God, I am not sitting in an office dreaming right now when instead I am taking a trip to see this beautiful paysage.”

 

 

 

May be it is a trade off, but at the end, according to an economic theory, considering all social economic factors within one short human existence, it is all the same.
 

 

Leaving Accra, setting in the taxi thinking, dude, finally you've got your dose of Africa.

 

Flying over Accra again, I said, “man, this city is huge, with “plenty” city lights, it is almost like flying over New York.”