Die Hard

Africa “was” pretty far from me and finally I was invited to His land by “the God of Ghana”. However it would be “still” faraway, as I was feeling, from most of you in actual distance and psychological recognition. Thus I’ll talk about basic information and understanding of this country.

Ghana is located in West Africa where she enjoys the Gulf of Guinea with neighboring countries, Togo and Côte d’Ivoire, and an inland country, Burkina Faso, covers them up like a cap. It used to be said that this region was the place of diseases such as Malaria, Cholera, Yellow fever, diarrhea, etc., but today it’s safe and hygiene enough for Ghanaians and foreigners to live life in peace, though we, outsiders, need anti-Malaria medicine. And AIDS seems one of medical issues but I hardly hear about it in everyday life; in my impression, it isn’t that bad as statistics and reputation say.

And speaking of statistics, the population of Ghana is estimated 24.2 million in 2010; it is said that there are 79 languages spoken (2 sign languages used) and that 52 ethnic groups live in their own tradition, which is totally a multi-cultural society. Actually in my school, some teachers can’t speak the local language, Dagbani, and English and “Twi”, the major ethnic language, are spoken as common languages. Some tribes, mainly ones living in north, have a custom that they make their own scars by cutting baby’s cheek to distinguish themselves from other tribes. Some people might think that it is “barbarism”, but it would be dangerous for us to judge other culture thoughtlessly by our norms. The custom “Eating meat” is completely barbarism from the viewpoint of vegetarians. Differences are something that we respect and our world is fruitful thanks to differences of people.   

And Ghana has a relatively good electricity supply in Africa; although there are power outages frequently, especially in dry season, it doesn’t last for a long time, half day at maximum. The power is mainly, 70%, generated by the Akosombo Dam forming “Lake Volta” in southeastern Ghana, which is the biggest artificial lake by surface area in the world. This dam was completed in 1965 under the president, Nkrumah. Today people enjoy night with light throughout Ghana thanks to it.

Ghana has got its independence in 1957 from British imperialism under the leader, Kwame Nkrumah, who is the first president of Ghana. His job was very meaningful for Africans because it was the first independence in the African Continent; Africa was silently sleeping in dark until the Black Star start shining in the night sky of Africa. It was the dawn of independence. He gave a very meaningful speech on January 8, 1960, Accra: “We believe that the independence of Ghana is meaningless, unless it is linked up with the total liberation of the African Continent”. There is something that you should not forget in life. Today we know whether his job was meaningless or meaningful, but is that true? He also stated in the same speech: “(…) the enemy is intangible, invisible and impersonal, (…) Imperialism and colonialism die hard, and what they fail to achieve in one form they try in another. We must therefore, be on our constant and vigilant guard against any form of subtle domination by whosoever and from wheresoever”. So what does it mean?

 According to Wikipedia, 20% of Akosombo Dam’s electric output is provided to Ghanaians and the remaining 80% is used for the American-owned Volta Aluminium Company. The things is, Ghana  paid, by contract, for over 50% of the cost of its construction and can use only 20% of it. Some people regard it as “Neo-colonialism”. In truth, this word was made up by Nkrumah himself. So what does it mean? Did he know what the contract meant when he signed it? Or was he tricked by “them”?