Ghana: the place I will be living in for 8 months!

In 74 days I will be leaving the wonderful country of Canada and moving to the awesome country of Ghana in Western Africa. From now on I am going to try and increase the amount of blog posts I have about my placement to a) make it more real b) become more educated about the place I am going to be living in!

One important thing to note about Ghana is that it is a peaceful and stable country. Hopefully that comment calms down some people. I’m not going to die, I’ll be fine. The political environment is also quite stable (which hopefully won’t change with the upcoming elections this year). It will be quite interesting to see how elections are done in another country and how media plays an important role. Ghana also has a fast growing economy; increasing about 6 percent every year (CIDA, 2012). A challenge that they face is the increasing global food and gas prices. Although, recently there has been the discovery of oil, so perhaps things will soon change.

Even though Ghana could soon become a middle income country, there are still many issues that the country faces. About 30% of Ghanaians live on US$1.25/day, 2 million people have limited access to food, specifically in the north where food shortages are recurring (CIDA, 2012). According to the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), Ghana’s main challenges are:

•  Weak public sector institutions; poor delivery of basic services in areas such as agriculture, health, and education

•  Persistent food insecurity in the northern regions

• Limited access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation

• Inequality between men and women (CIDA, 2012)

Personally, I think these main challenges are lacking at least one other issue; the whole idea of “environmental sustainability”. Everyone I have talked to that has been/is from Ghana has mentioned the lack of solid waste disposal, on top of many other environmental issues. Even the organization I am working with is interested in the impacts of deforestation on local communities. Not focusing on such issues can make Ghana’s other challenges much worse, which is why I believe they are important. 

I am looking forward to going to Ghana and seeing the state of the country through my own eyes. It is one thing to read about it in the newspaper or on the internet, but getting to experience the country first hand will be personally fulfilling.