Ranting and Raving

Due to better judgment, I took down this blog. However, I have no problem with emailing it to you! Just ask.

The Accra Apartment Tour

For those of you who want to take a peak at my new diggs...





Maya Angelou said, "You know you're the funniest damn person you know." I think she's right.

Soccer Balls

On our way to Bojo Beach, we bought a small soccer ball (or foot ball as they may be called). In Accra, as most busy cities in Ghana, there are tons of people selling all kinds of different items on the street. I often see fruit, toilet paper, power strips and adapters, newspapers, magazines, belts, socks, trousers, peanuts, phone cards, books, candy, maps, briefcases, ice cream, souvenirs, water bottles, pet fish, among many, many other things. We signaled to a man selling the soccer balls that he should come over to the car, but the traffic started to move. Traffic in Accra is atrocious – worse than any traffic I have ever encountered, which includes DC, LA, New York, and India. We had been standing in traffic for five or ten minutes and, of course, as soon as we decide to talk to the guy, we start to move. Luckily, we only moved about 200 feet so soccer guy came running after us carrying is big bag of balls. He told us that a regular sized soccer ball was 25 cedis ($18) which entirely too much. We haggled over a small one for a little bit, with the final decision of 5 cedis ($3.50). Mission accomplished.

This is when someone in the car mentioned that she felt sorry for the man. First of all, he doesn’t have a better job so he is forced to stand out in the sun on a busy road and just hope that someone needs a soccer ball. He’s forced to run after anyone interested. Then he has to haggle with the buyer and try to get the largest sum of money that he can get. Every sale is very important and he can’t afford to let one go.

Personally, I don’t throw pity around lightly. Everything this person said is absolutely true and it would be much better for him if he had a higher paying job that were under better conditions and paid better. There are hundreds of these sellers in Accra doing all that they can in order to make a few bucks every day. But then I think: at least he has a job. We pass people who have been subjected to unkind conditions and are now crippled and have to beg for the money. There are hundreds of farmers whose family is hungry because his crop failed or didn’t produce enough. So do I feel sorry for him? I don’t know. I know I wouldn’t want his job, but there are a lot of other jobs I wouldn’t want to do. How long has he been doing this? Does he or has he ever had other options? Does he like it? Does he only do this once a week to supplement his other, better salary? I need more information before I feel sorry for him.

Maybe I’m naïve. Maybe I’m clueless. Maybe I’m hopeful. I don’t know.

The beach was great though!