| I didn't want to comment about this, but this post was extremely hard to read.
Kumasi is the heart of what remains of the old Ashanti empire that once ruled West Africa. If you had spoken about some village in the Ashanti Region, i'd believe you outright but this is the second most important city in Ghana, and even 10 years ago wasn't this bad. * The Electricity problem isn't a part of life and definitely doesn't affect Kumasi as much as it affected other parts in the past. The country is powered by a couple of hydroelectric dams(and even supply power to a few other west African countries). The water levels were low due to low rainful and that's why these blackout began 10 years ago but it didn't really get bad till 2012...The Ashanti are a proud people, the infrastructure situatuion is not as dire as you state it. * Air quality? Kumasi dusty? The entire city was tarred even as of 10 years ago. I'd still like to believe you spent your time in a village in the Ashanti Region but not Kumasi itself * Literacy? Ha you based that on your two week trip to one school? * Poverty is subjective i believe. 10 years ago, the Ghanaian cedi was pegged evenly with the dollar, and $1 usd was more than enough to feed an entire family. Food was cheap(Still largely is) and the Ashanti Region produces a massive amount of food crops. Your understanding of poverty is flawed if you're going to base it off economic theory. Most people in Africa are able to provide for their families and don't see the need past that. A lot of people are just comfortable staying in mud huts in villages, farming and going about their daily businesses. They don't really care about foreign healthcare because there's a thriving alternative medicine industry in Ghana(herbal) and most people just generally don't care. It's more about the culture, not the ignorance * Internet 10 years ago? C'mon I'm ashamed to admit it but Ghana was on full blast for internet fraud 10 years ago. This is where the Nigerian princes picked up their skills from. Till today, Ghana is still blocked from using paypal. There was internet all over ten years ago and very cheap. We had large communities of MMO players, especially runescape and kids just go home or to an internet cafe after school to play. *Typing skills... I don't even get this one I know the conditions are not as bright as i've seen while travelling the globe, but this was too much like the regular "Africa is a poster child for poverty" theme that it hurt to read it Disclaimer: I was born and bred in Ghana, and live in several cities for several years. |