Accra With No Fuel - What A Shame.

On Thursday, June 26th, I made the mistake of driving to Kwame Nkrumah Circle at about 11:30am. It took about an hour to get through the traffic: there was a long, I mean long, queue of cars leading to the petrol station along the road. I took a picture through my passenger window (sorry it was raining - see attached image).

The following day, I noticed there were very few cars on the road to work in the morning and on my way home in the evening.

One simple question: Is this how the governement wants to see the country? In 2014? When Ghana is supposedly a middle income nation now?

No comment.

The Power Of Poverty...In Africa.

I've been having a series of conversations with people about the economic crisis in Ghana, specifically the cedi depreciation and crazy unexpected hikes in fuel prices almost every quarter or so.

The conversation diverted to the story of a young man who called a number, thinking it was that of an advertised witch doctor, and was ready to sacrifice his mother's life to become wealthy. Fortunately, the stranger intercepted quickly by involving the police who apprehended the young man when he actually brought his mom to be killed.

The point of the story is, poverty can make anyone do the unthinkable to survive and some of our leaders are proof of that: the corruption, poor policies that hurt the economy and people and only benefit those in power, the never-ending witness of leaders becoming more and more wealthy by the day and the average Ghanaian still wondering where the next meal will be coming from or how to manage that GHC400 monthly salary with a wife and two kids.

This is serious business.

What we all agreed on was that poverty has a lot of influence in the actions we tend to see in our leaders, unfortunately. The propensity to be greedy and keep it all to yourself - as displayed by many of our leaders.

What does the country Ghana need at this point in time? There are numerous ideas floating in my head; I just don't think I can scribble them here now.

Fashionista GH Launches Shopping Festival

Oh, you've gotta love Fashionista GH! They launch their exciting three-day shopping festival today at The Event Haven inside the Trade Fair Centre, La, Accra from 10:00am – 8:00pm.

Check out my brief feature here: 

This Week on Obaasema.com

So, once again, I come with apologies for abandoning this platform for so long! I come with no promises, though, but I definitely want to start feeding some great content on here with some of the fabulous happenings at Obaasema!

So, a new addition to the team, Akua Chachu, wrote about skin bleaching in her first article drawing comparisons between a woman who bleaches, one who gets a boob job and one who wears 5 inch heels to increase in height. Are they all the same? I've posted a bit of the article below:

Skin Lightening, Identity Crisis: Are These Really The Issues?

I am a black-skinned girl. No, not the brown-skinned girl you’ve heard about in songs and poems. This girl is black. Or so my mother says. She’d watch me from a distance and say, “ei Nana Akua, as for you, you’re too dark.” And then I’d tell her I like being the beautiful black-skinned girl. Believe me it took quite a while to arrive at this mentality, but how many other women are there yet?

Before I go on let me explain something to you. My father was kind of like the United Nations, you know, bringing various nations and tribes together so that I have siblings of various descents and therefore, various skin colors. Among my siblings, especially those I grew up with, I may have been one of the darkest.

As a child, I remember mommy scolding me whenever she found me standing in the sun: “You continue to stand in the sun; your skin will become the color of charcoal,” she’d tell me, “Go and have a quick bath.” Continue reading...

Trip Down Memory Lane Brings Me Back To Blogging!

So today I decided to go through boxes of documents shipped to me from the US. I had initially dreaded the task of sifting through books and papers and having to "perform" the task of deciding what to do with what. To my surpise, however, I loved the exercise. I was taken through years of personal development/growth, moving from high school documents stamped with the text BAYARD RUSTIN HIGH SCHOOL FOR THE HUMANITES, 351 W. 18 ST, NY NY .... , the infamous NYC Board of Education/ U.A.P.C. Report of Absences card (though I always provided reason! lol), high school class projects and year book. My emotions heightened at the sight of the letter every recent high school grad dreads but looks forward to receiving...

"Dear Ms. Annan,

Congratulations! On behalf of our faculty and administration, I am pleased to offer you an opportunity to study at Baruch College for the fall 2001 semester... "

How incredible that moment was! I didn't realize how great it was to re-live those moments. The exercise brought me into close contact with some of my passions, i.e. art and writing, hence my sudden interest in reviving this blog, once again. 

I thought it would be nice to break my one-year hiatus with something inspiring I stumbled upon during the exercise today. Here you go...

THERE IS A REASON FOR EVERYTHING

By Helen Steiner Rice

 

Our Father knows what’s best for us, so why should we complain

We always want the sunshine, but He knows there must be rain

We love the sound of laughter and the merriment of cheer,

But our hearts would lose their tenderness if we never shed a tear

Our Father tests us often with suffering and with sorrow.

He tests us, not to punish us, but to help us meet tomorrow

For growing trees and strengthened when they withstand the storm,

And the sharp cut of the chisel gives the marble grace and form

God never hurts us needlessly, and He never wastes our pain,

For every loss he sends us, is followed by rich gain …

And when we count the blessings that God has so freely sent,

We will find no cause for murmuring and no time to lament

For our Father loves His children, and to Him all things are plain,

So He never sends us pleasures when the soul’s deep need is pain…

So whenever we are troubled and when everything goes wrong

It is just God working in us, to make our spirit strong

 

Bank of Ghana Governor, Dr. Kwasi Amissah-Arthur Named Vice President of Ghana

So on the day Ghana honors President Mills' "One Week" national mourning, a Vice President is announced and he is none other than the Governor of Bank of Ghana, Dr. Kwasi Amissah-Arthur. The Daily Guide has a bit of something about the story here.

Ghana Honors President Mills' Death With "One Week" National Mourning

The world has grieved with Ghana this past week after our sitting President was pronounced dead at the 37 Military hospital in Accra on July 24, 2012. It's not clear what killed him as no official reports have surfaced but it is of common knowledge, though never publicly admitted, that the president was suffering from throat cancer. And today, according to tradition with mourning of the dead, Ghana will honor John Evans Atta Mills on his "one week."

This has all been an experience for me. The excitement that came with voting for the first time in Ghana was something else. The process of really studying each political party to carefully align with or identify with one that speaks to my political ideologies has been exciting. I've been patiently waiting, while itching for December 7th, to cast my vote for whomever deserves it and is able to win it - I'm not affiliated with any one party. I guess I can be labeled as a swinger/independent. But, I must say, the death of the president has really shaken me and somehow I'm grateful I could be home, in Ghana, to experience it for myself. You can read my coverage of it for Global Voices here. 

I'll be updating this post throughout the day to reflect what's happening on this "One Week" day of mourning for the nation. This morning, Accra residents are visibly mourning. Some have tied their heads or wrists with red strips of cloth symbolic of a mourning state in the Ghanaian culture. Some commercial vehicles and private ones have tied these strips of cloth to their cars to indicate bereavement. See image below.

A taxi driver on the Avenor road leading to the Kwame Nkrumah Circle in Accra ties his red strip of cloth on his side mirror in honor of President Mills' "One Week" national mourning.

 And some private homes are showing support to the president's family with the display below.
 

A private house displays an image of the ex-president and cloths in traditional mourning colors to mark the national "One Week" mourning.