Observations in Ghana

We reported yesterday on our visit to the two slave castles indicating that there was lots more to tell about what we have observed on our travels to and from the places to which we've gone.  Yesterday, our trip took us from Tema, the port city 20 miles east of Accra, through Accra, and then another hour and half further west.   Today, we visited a school in Accra and took a different route into the capital.

Barry has said several times that he didn't really know what he was expecting, but what we have seen has been completely surprising.  We are seeing the first widespread poverty of the voyage, but that's not what has made such an impression.  Indeed, what we have seen has not been what would be called abject poverty, certainly no signs of malnourishment.  (Though one student has told us that when he was negotiating cab fare, the driver asked for food rather than money!)

What has amazed us, rather, way Tema and Accra are absolutely teeming with people and activity.   As Jayne has commented, there seems to be no privacy, the people shop and live right on the road and on top of each other. There seems to is no space for quiet.  People are up and moving all the time – selling and shopping or building or driving. We did see some plots for lease for small gardening and there were people working in those.  The number of people selling goods from the center of the highway is incredible – but the number of metal, block, wood or bamboo stalls on the sides of the streets or in huge markets is amazing.  The sell everything – from food to handmade clothes to caskets!   

We have heard that the economy is booming and surely, as we drove through the port today we were overwhelmed by the activity and the chaos of it all.

Pictures are worth a thousand words, but aren't necessarily adequate to the reality.

This is a typical street scene out our bus window.

  

We have heard that every car ever on the road in Ghana is STILL on the road.  I think that may be too extreme.  Every car is along the road, being scavenged for parts. Here's a used parts store.

Near the port we saw people selling appliances along the road.

And, of course food!!!!

There is construction everywhere, but often you see large buildings that seem to have been abandoned without every being completed.

And we see people jammed into vans, apparently going to and from work, and people lined up for transportation.

The traffic is horrendous.  There seems to be no mass transit so the streets are clogged beyond belief.  There are small 20 plus passenger buses that look as though they are used to move people to and from work.  It seems like everyone has a car – but there are thousands walking – we know it makes no sense!!  Both days we have been here we have been on a SAS trip and both days we have had police escorts to get us through the worst of the congestion.  It is crazy how the policeman on a motorcycle darts in and out of traffic to part the two lanes of cars to the shoulders for our buses to fly though the middle of the road or to race though stoplights.   The kids in the front of the bus tonight started filming it tonight, after about 20 minutes of filming they got more action than we had seen.  The motorcycle driving chased a small car out of the lane and onto the shoulder where the car driver lost control and went off the shoulder and over - corrected into the bus in front of us.  Our bus, the second in the caravan, came to a shrieking stop as we all held our breath as we watched the first bus slid off the road and onto two wheels for a time.  Thankfully the bus did not flip and none were injured!  After about 30 minutes we were back on the road following behind our escorts!  I asked our guide yesterday about how the local drivers feel when they are forced off the road for tour buses.  I was surprised at his reply, it doesn't bother them – they know it will only be for a short time and they will be on their way!  We feel like we look like big bullies!!  

There are billboards everywhere and churches everywhere and billboards or buses or businesses related to churches or bearing religious names.  This picture of a Methodist Church bus will illustrate.

Finally, tonight we we leave you with this.  A critter we saw in a little roadside restaurant we stopped at.  Barry's thinks he's a Wahoo.