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As we leave these are our reflections on Ghana:-
It's a country with industrious hard working people even if many are working hard just to subsist.
The fruit particularly the pineapple and mangoes we bought in the south were the best we have ever tasted.
Religion plays a big role in the country and dominates billboards - advertising prayer events and other religious gatherings. The south has an eclectic mix of religions catholic, apostolic, presbyterian, Jehovah's Witness, Seventh Day Adventists, who had the most modern church I saw, and probably many more religious orders besides. We often passed church doors with people overflowing outside listening to preachers. There were mosques in the south but the further north we went towards Burkino Faso Islam became the dominant religion. Religious phrases were often entwined in the names of shops eg ' For the love of God Chop House' and the 'God is Good carpentry shop'. Saturday's were funeral days we saw lots when we travelled on Saturdays - mourners wore red and black if they were family, black if they weren't and they wore black and white if the deceased was a well respected individual. There were also quite often, particularly in the south big billboards celebrating the individual achievements of deceased men and women with their picture, age and accomplishments for everyone to see.
The main roads going east/west and north/ south were generally very good with sections of dual carriage way near Accra, but off the main route pot holes abounded. Tolls were at regular intervals 1 cedi for a minibus or half that for a car - the tolls provided opportunities for ladies, predominantly, to sell water, fruit, plantain chips and sometimes doughnuts (our favourites), with all their wares balanced on their heads and visible to slowing motorists.
Police check points were equally numerous but without the sellers - we never had to stop - a pleasure for locals and lorry drivers.
On the roads there were enormous overloaded lorries especially around Kumasi which acts as an inland port - not sure what the numerous weigh bridges, at the check points, thresholds were, if they were working of course, but it far exceeded our view of safe! We were also struck by the large number of petrol stations, often the best buildings on the road, numerous taxis of variable quality, a number of motorbikes and interestingly I noted large lorry loads of bicycles going north - near Mole National park we saw lots of children riding to school on bikes - great to see and must have cut their journey time by three quarters.
Education was strong -we saw lots of schools both primary and secondary and on the billboards or sign posts educational courses were frequently advertised in colleges. Indeed we met a woman from the USA who runs an NGO giving scholarships to girls to attend secondary school - she also epitomised the ignorance re: ebola - she had been due to come in September but was too scared. What's more difficult is that she knows Ghana and they have not had one case whereas the US has had several which I pointed out to her!
The clash of old and new is everywhere with wattle and daub and mud brick houses sporting satellite dishes and people sitting outside using mobile phones.
We saw some solar powered street lights but even though they have an energy crisis, with only 12 hours power in every 36, they under exploit solar preferring hydro electricity -apparently they don't think they have the skills to maintain solar - I am sure they could learn.
Many of the road side shops looked as if they were once shipping containers otherwise they were wooden structures.
Every village seemed to have a water pump which was very positive but the pollution on the River Pre from the gold mining was a real concern.
Another concern was the bush meat trade - we saw teenagers holding up a palm civet for sale and also passed a bush meat chop house. Similarly the trade in live pangolins for pets was disturbing as was the removal of wood for charcoal - the predominant fuel. Perhaps with emerging oil industry there will be some relief on the environment.
The cost of living is very cheap but that's comparatively speaking. When I asked how much the lorry load of builders we passed, going home at the end of a day's work (8am-6pm), were paid for building the new lodge at Mole I was told 15 cedis a day (£3) and they get paid every 10 days (£30) I could see why it needed to be.
Football is immense, every village seemed to have a football pitch of sorts with goal posts (no nets) and most supported Chelsea or Arsenal; I met one Barcelona fan but saw several sporting other European club shirts. I actually saw a sign for the Manchester United v Cambridge United match which hadn't been updated as it was at least 10 days previously. Football is definitely the language of travel if you want to break down barriers and find common ground!
I was and remain amazed at what people carried on their heads - anything and everything - you rarely saw anything big carried in their arms - babies were normally tied to their backs in swathes of material tied at the front.
My heart also went out to the many young girls, in the villages who seemed to be mothers rather than sisters.
Overall I found Ghana to be a country of contrasts which would value investment and support in developing its many and varied assets- not least it's industrious people.
(Today's photo is of a young woman and probably her husband who passed us on their motorbike on one of the forest roads near Kakum heading towards the town. She is carrying the obligatory aluminum bowl which we saw many people with!)
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