My Impressions
of Ghana
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Ghana.co.uk has asked me for my impressions
of Ghana after returning at the end of July from my second visit
to the country. But what can I say as a white middle aged and middle
class Brit about a country you all know so much better than I? All
I can do is to offer some observations in humility as one who has
grown to love Ghana, and who has a real affection for its wonderful
people. My impression is that they deserve better than they are
getting. My feeling on visiting Ghana for the first time in July
of last year were ones of fear and trepidation. How could I as a
rank outsider have the courage, the temerity even to venture 3,000
miles into the "dark continent" as we used to call Africa? Would
the place be infested with head-hunters? Would I find cars and houses
like we have in the West? Would there be streets and shops? My ignorance
was total, but typical of the average Brit who if he has heard about
Ghana at all may imagine it to be situated somewhere in the West
Indies. Perhaps I was not to blame for my ignorance.
I can remember precisely three occasions in the past ten years on
which I have seen TV programmes or newspaper articles about Ghana
(Queens' visit, elections, and stadium disaster). With such coverage
is there any wonder we are so ignorant? After a second month-long
visit this July, the picture in my mind is much clearer. I now know
that Ghana has all the trappings of a fast developing modern nation.
But one thing still remains from my first days in the country; a
sense of shock, outrage even at the merciless contrast you see at
every turn between luxury and grinding poverty. I will never forget
the traumatic experience on my second day in Ghana of emerging from
a deluxe international hotel only to find on the other side of the
road a scene of such squalor as to leave me speechless and in a
trance-like state for days. This extreme contrast between wealth
thrown carelessly against such poverty leaves a lasting impression.
My fear is that over familiarity may lead to a lazy acquiescence
in this unnatural and unnecessary divide between rich and poor;
nothing could be more dangerous for Ghana. The mindless acceptance
of inequality of any kind is fatal to a country's economic and political
progress.
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