Everyday Life in Ghana | Kajsa HA

“Dumsor-Dumsor”: Electricity and Productivity in Ghana

July 5, 2013 2 Comments

Last year, Ghana was among the fastest growing economies in the world. That was while supply of electricity or “light” as we say here, was patchy at best, but often cut off according to a “load shedding schedule” every other or every two days for 6-12 hours (dumsor-dumsor refers to the sound when light go off in an entire area).

I have a “tag” here on my blog for power problems (16 posts so far, 17 with this one!), set up in 2007, the year I moved to Ghana. Then load shedding was every other day. I remember it vividly as we used to go to a movie place, pay 50 pesewas to sit in a room with fans, pay no attention to whatever movie was on and go home when the dark had made the temperature drop slightly.

This week, the World Bank came out with a report “Energizing Economic Growth in Ghana” on how we could avoid being here again in 5 years time. There is nothing really new in the report, actually on radio the World Bank guy said it was 90% the same report presented in 2010! However, it made me think:

Where would Ghana be in terms of politics, creativity, productivity, growth and well being if Dumsor-Dumsor was a thing of the past?

The only sector partially thriving from dumsor-dumsor or dumso-dumso is the music industry churning out songs on the topic, one is embedded at the top!

Political

The Ashaiman Spring, BBC Africa Debate and African New Middle Class

June 27, 2013 No Comments

On Monday, drivers in the town of Ashaiman started a protest against the horrible state of the roads in the community. Daily Graphic reports that as early as 5 am, protesters had blocked the roads and by 6 am they had reahed the Tema motorway, taking over toll booths and blocking traffic to and fro Accra.

What is Ashaiman? It is a residential town where many workers of Tema (the industrial city) and Accra (the capital of Ghana) live. Although rent is cheaper here than in the neighbouring cities, many of Ashaiman’s inhabitants have to endure long hours of commuting. Although its population is twice that of Tema, it was only 5 years ago it got its own municipal district and local assembly.

Every day on my way home to Tema, I have to cross the traffic queues leading to Ashaiaman that is situated on the other side of the Tema motorway from where I live. Only crossing Ashaiman traffic many times takes upwards 20-30 minutes. As I later breeze in the opposite direction, I see people walking towards Ashaiman moving faster than the traffic all the way to the central part of Tema.

The MP of the area, Alfred Agbesi and the Municipal Chief Executive, Numo Adinortey Addison were accused by the demonstrators of not doing their jobs – providing better roads! – but could, according to the same newspaper, “not be reached for their comments”. However, the newspaper also reported “policemen and soldiers managed to bring the situation under control after 4 hours of violent protest…[and] would offer 24-hour patrol to residents and commuters”.

***

Today, I took part in the internationally broadcast BBC Africa Debate together with a delegation from Ashesi University College. The background of the debate “Can the middle class drive growth?” was both Obama’s travel to the continent, supposedly to augment trade, and the African Development Bank’s report on the New African Middle Class (PDF). Interestingly, the AfDB’s definition is people who spend 2-20 USD/day per capita. That means, just after the poverty level (less than 2 USD/day) comes now “middle-income”. This was debated along with what government needs to do and what we as individuals can do.

During the debate, the recent Ashaiman demonstration, called “the Ashaiman Spring” by some, was not mentioned, but maybe it should have been? Here we have people who have jobs, pay taxes, dutifully go to work everyday even when it means hours in traffic morning and evening – but not benefitting much.

All public amenities in Ghana need back-ups: water (buckets and poly tanks), education (private school if you can afford), health (herbal traditional medicine or private health insurance), electricity (candles, batteries and generators), waste collection (burning in your backyard), but poor roads are difficult to create your own private alternative for…

The representative from the AfDB concluded the debate by graciously admitting their definition of middle-class only talks about spending, but does not include living costs. We are many who know by experience that living a middle-class life in Ghana demands much more than a middle-class income and plenty of patience…

Listen to Ghana Connect on JOY FM Friday 28 June at 6.30- 7.00 PM for more on the “Ashaiman Spring” and BBC, 7 PM GMT for the full debate!

Ghana

Utility Tariffs to Go Up: Ghana Connect Debate on Joy FM

June 14, 2013 No Comments

In the news the last couple of days, we could read that the Public Utility Regulatory Commission (PURC) is having talks with government, initiated by the Volta River Authority (VRA) the biggest power producer in Ghana, on increasing tariffs for electricity and water. See this Joy FM report for instance.

I have been invited to share my views on JoyFMs new program Ghana Connect – a program that allows regular Ghanaians – and myself – to voice our opinions together with stakeholders. Tonight VRA has been invited.

The producer/host sent me this blurb:

“Utility tariffs are set to go up. The only question now remains when and not if. You must be prepared to pay as much as 166 per cent more for electricity and water than you are paying now. The expert consultations have already started but on Ghana Connect this Friday, we connect the Ghanaian consumer in Ghana and beyond to interrogate the proposed tariff increases. Are you ready to pay more and how much is enough?”

My argument in brief is:

At some point we need to pay what utilities actually cost in order for the service to be sustainable.
Utility subsidies favor middle and upper class people more than the poor as generators and poly tanks use more than dumso-dumso and buckets.
Electricity production is complicated, but there is NO REASON why Ghana should not be able to provide potable water for its population.
Increasing prices by more than 100% is not advisable as ripple effects are huge and people need to plan expenses. What is the plan for the next five years?
On the other hand, private solutions (batteries/generators and pure/bottled water cost much much more) and from a Swedish perspective we have a lot to win from solving these issues together rather than apart.

As I sent out an email to BloggingGhana about this radio program, many of our members provided their two pesewas – so this issue is HOT! Someone called the increase “draconian” another person said “I would prefer to pay, than to pretend to be paying bills as they also pretend to be giving me a service.”

Tune in at 6.30 PM if you want to hear me voice my views.

Ghana, Promoting

Hipsters in Ghana: Part 1

June 3, 2013 3 Comments

So, a Swedish friend of mine wrote an article about how politicians can learn from hipsters. For those of you who do not read Swedish, his argument was basically that even though hipsters might look silly and obsess over city farms, homemade bread and vintage clothing – they offer insights into sustainable living of the future. As I complimented hom on the interesting frame (learning from hipsters), he responded with a question: How is it with hipsters in Ghana?

Well, let’s back track and fist find a definition for hipsters. Urban Dictionary thinks it is:

a subculture of men and women typically in their 20’s and 30’s that value independent thinking, counter-culture, progressive politics, an appreciation of art and indie-rock, creativity, intelligence, and witty banter.

So, are there hipsters in Ghana?

Hipster collage

I guess that depends on who you ask. Candance (who recently moved to Ghana from the US) for instance recently commented that on Instagram that she was at a Ghanaian farmers’ market with NO HIPSTERS!

Screen Shot 2013-06-03 at 12.54.59 PM

But that might just have been due to language. That market likely wasn’t called a “farmers’ market”. And how will then hipsters know it’s a place for them?

But when used clothes are called “Vintage” as well as when social media is discussed, hipsters do show up, also in Ghana. The indie scene in Ghana, in my humble opinion, is flourishing with TEDx events (read about TEDxOsu here from just this past weekend), AccraDotAlt’s TalkPartis (and check out these great hipster photos!) and Jungle Music Festival Asabaako where the Ghanaian hipster community discuss art, listen to local DJs play indie music and eat local foods. However, the best place to spot hipsters in Accra is at The Republic Bar, where local spirits blended into great cocktails meet nostalgic decor. Does it get more hipsterish?

Yes, the hipster scene in Ghana might be small, foreign inspired and sometimes elitist, but I think – just like my Swedish friend – we can learn a thing or two from hipsters and their obsessions (for instance The Republic Bar manages to have the best AND cheapest cocktails in town as they use local ingredients).

What did I forget about the hipster scene in Ghana? I will gather your comments and write a follow up post as soon as my homemade bread has risen.

Photo collage trying to prove my point with photos from Facebook groups for Vintage Gh and BloggingGhana.

Personal

The Power of a Thank You Note

May 14, 2013 1 Comment

Today I had a busy day that was marred with the everyday difficulties of professional life in Ghana – first AC not working, then light off and AC and Internet not working and the battery slowly dying on my laptop…and finally – light is back! – but now Internet is not working! I wanted to cry. But instead I opened this envelope my colleague Kobina had given to me earlier in the day.

It contained a beautiful card with a little bird on it and inside a thank you note.

Immediately, my mood changed from deeply sour to quite happy – after all something I had done had influenced another person to the point of writing me a note to say thank you!

It reminded me of the wonderful story told by my new boss Dr. Marcia Grant as part of giving a commencement speech at her Alma Mater, Swarthmore College, in 2007:

“It began in the spring of 1999. I was asked to visit Princess Lolwah al Faisal in Jeddah, as part of a team of senior academic administrators, to see how we could help start a liberal arts college for women, the first institution of its kind in Saudi Arabia. After our visit, we submitted a 20-page proposal, with important-sounding recommendations, and a five-year implementation time-line – and it was rejected!

I felt disconsolate, as I knew intuitively that I had the skill-set that the Faisal Family needed to establish Effat College. So I did what my mother had always taught me: I wrote a thank you note. In a single page I drew up my vision of the college. What I learned later was that there was no one in Jeddah qualified to interpret the jargon in our first official proposal, but that my simple thank you note showed my willingness to help the Princess.”

Fittingly, Grant ended her speech with encouraging the graduates to remember to write their thank you notes. That is excellent advice. However, in addition to that, I’d hereby like to encourage my readers to respond to the thank you notes you get and tell the writers of those notes how your day was turned around because of their thoughtfulness. Or as my mother-in-law often says:

“Thank you for thanking me!”

Ghana, Political, Pregnancy

Ghana’s Most Important Issue via The Maternal Health Channel

May 9, 2013 1 Comment

A wonderful initiative by Creative Storm is the Maternal Health Channel on GTV on Thursdays at 8PM and on TV3 on Fridays at 8.30 PM. The program sheds light on maternal health in Ghana, or rather the lack of it.

The series started with the story of Charity, a woman who did not survive giving birth.

Maternal Health Channel host Ivy in front of the government clinic in Kute Buem.

MHC write on their very active Facebook page:

“Every maternal death is an intensely personal tragedy and it is essential to hear the stories of those who have suffered in order to illuminate an issue that is both immediate and far more complex than it seems on the surface.
We can change; Ghana can achieve Millennium Development Goal #5, the reduction of maternal mortality by 75% in the year 2015. The first step is EVERYONE having a discussion about an epidemic that is far too often overlooked. The first step is with YOU.”

As a mother and a daughter and a citizen of the world, it angers me terribly that women should have to give up their life when giving life. We know it takes 9 months, we know you need vitamins and clean water, we know giving birth is a risk and a hard job, we know how to create the best possible chances for both mother and baby to survive – still women are dying for no good reason at all.

This week, they go to Kute Buem in the Volta region, see pic.

Personally, I think The Maternal Health Channel is one of the most important media initiatives in Ghana I have ever seen. It is massive, well thought out and quite digital (facebook, vimeo, tumblr, on Twitter use hashtag #mhcghana). If you agree with my sentiments or, better yet, with their mission to save more mothers and babies in Ghana, please spread this information to your networks, discuss online, blog on it and watch the program!

I have written on this topic before Why Are Mothers Still Dying? and When I Donated Blood and Ganyobinaa also wrote about MHC.

Political

Labor Day in Ghana with Doctors’ Strike

May 1, 2013 2 Comments

Labor day in Ghana had a strange feel to it with the theme of the day being “Pensions: Your Right and Responsibility”, and at the same time large scale strikes are ongoing on what I believe is the same topic! Medical doctors in public hospitals and pharmacists have been striking for four weeks and relationships are seemingly frosty between the parties of the conflict. For instance, National Labor Commission is suing the Ghana Medical Association, the President is suggesting workers should increase their productivity and “not with strikes and agitations” and the Ghana Medical Association last week said the President should stop begging and meet demands!

Personally, I have been very upset about the doctors strike now entering a month! I find it hard to gauge if the strike is well grounded. On the one side, earlier discussions on doctors and the work situation have haunted me; doctors fresh from university waiting more than a year for their first pay check, doctors in the rural hospitals working day and night in poor conditions with no extra pay and frankly just the statistics suggest we have an impossible situation on our hands, Ghana with 25 million inhabitants has 2,843 medical doctors. That is about 1 doctor per 10 000 inhabitants! To compare, Ivory Coast, Zimbabwe, Cameroon and Nepal are doing better! (according to WHO) and Sweden has 38 physicians per 10 000 citizens (says Global Health Facts)…

On the other hand, if you have sworn the Hippocratic oath, how can you go on strike and let innocent people suffer?

Ghana

Wednesday in Ghana

March 20, 2013 4 Comments

6.01 I wake up, shower and get dressed.

6.20 The lights go off, but I am ok because I had already prepared for work! I make coffee on the gas stove (only crazy folks rely on electricity for cooking!)

7.00 I leave with my coffee cup and some sandwiches in my car which I will eat in the traffic jam I am foreseeing closer to Accra.

8.04 I get stopped at a police barrier to show my licence. As the policeman is holding it, he tells me that he once wanted to marry a white lady. Any white lady – blonde, brown hair, even red! he says and glances above my eyes. Now he is married to a Ghanaian. He asks when I will be back before he waves me off.

8.15 I fill my car with petrol at the regular gas station and is greeted with a smile, “Hi Mrs Adu!”

8.27 I pick up a nurse who is going in the same direction on the gravel road that is the last leg of my trip. She proceeds to tell me her life story.

8.34 I drop the nurse off (“God bless you!” she says as she steps out onto the dusty road) and arrive at work (yes, my commute is 1,5 hours)

9.25 I still haven’t gotten Internet to work at work and I open the window as the AC also does not work. Light off?

10.00 I go to my first class of the day. We talk about the election case currently in the Supreme Court (can there be any winners?) and discuss President Mahama’s autobiography and we conclude we can learn much from history.

11.45 I have office hours and console some students who did not do well in their recent exam. I also have a short meeting with my new coworker.

12.45 I go for lunch. I have fried rice, chicken and yam balls. The side order of avocado is today twice as expensive as yesterday.

13.30 My next class. ACs still not working, I wipe my forehead many times as a panel presentation and discussions proceed. A wild debate breaks out on weather or not Achimota school is an “elite” school.

16.00 The secondary school girl I sponsor has still not come. She said she’d come an hour ago. I leave some money with the receptionist and take off.

16.25 I stop on the roadside to buy fruits. I buy a bag of sun warm mangoes and a bag of avocados for 10 GHC (5 USD)

17.40 I come home, but immediately leave again to buy “sachet water”, 500ml drinking water in plastic bags packed in bags of 30. I buy four packs at 1.50 GHC each (75 US cents).

17.45 I return a call to a colleague, she is standing there with a school girl who is looking for me…?

18.00 Electricity is still not back.

18.20 Electricity comes back! I make dinner and eat.

19.00 I play with my daughter and call my parents in Sweden on Skype. We discuss the upcoming summer holiday.

20.30 After having tried to write this blog post two times, my daughter finally is tired enough to let me.

20.52 I watch the latest episode of Girls with our nanny.

21.20 I go to bed. I might read a few minutes before I fall a sleep.

This is a very ordinary day for me. It has electricity, water and infrastructure challenges, but also human warmth (sometimes a tad too much for my taste), good food and surprises. Always surprises.

Political

Ghana, a Country of Perpetual Power Problems?

February 5, 2013 No Comments

In Monday’s newspaper, new schedules for “lightoff” or power sharing were announced (Unfortunately not yet on LightOffGH). Again? Before the election, we were told that shortages were due to a cut in the gaspipeline from Nigeria, but although that has been fixed apparently power is currently scarce and scheduled to going off every other day, all day or evening! Now, that’s is worse than ever!

The implications of this situation is devastating for growth, business and – face it – sleep in a country that keeps to a cosy 30 degrees also at night and offers a darkness full of malaria mosquitoes. Without a fan, life is difficult!

You toss and turn

Then try to lie still as to not work up a sweat

You look over at your window

The curtain hangs as still as was it made from stone

No breeze tonight

You sigh

You close your eyes and think of the beach

Wind in your hair, waves hitting the shore…

…wait, what is that sound…bzz…. a mosquito?

I am still to hear about a plan for how Ghana will get out of this energy crisis. The vision offered on the Ministry of Energy’s website seems overtly ambitious: “To enable Ghana become a net exporter of fuel and power”. What is the medium term or even short term plan?

Dear Minister of Energy (do we even have one?), will we continue to live in darkness in 2013?

Ghana

Back in Ghana and NIA’s Registration of Foreigners

January 28, 2013 1 Comment

I’m finally back in the warm weather! Although vacation in Sweden was great, I felt a deep contentment spread through my body already when entering the “Ghanaian gate” at Shiphol Airport. Again I was surrounded by Ghanaians, babies on backs and loud CHALE, LOOONG TIME’s. I was happy. But not for long.

I had barely gotten off the plane, when I was informed that the National Identification Authority, NIA, is registering foreigners staying longer than 3 months in Ghana (ok, fine) for the fee of $ 120 (what? Foreigners in Ghana make money in GHC too!) to be renewed yearly ( heh! Ad3n?!)

In addition to yearly Visas, work permits ( yes, for spouses and children of Ghanaians too despite what is written in the law) and other fees it is really expensive to be a foreigner in Ghana.

Why, Mother Ghana, do you treat me like an unwanted child? Medo wo!

Ghana, Kajsa HA's Social Media, Personal

Accra the Alphabetic Journey: Video Poetry

December 21, 2012 3 Comments

Someone who left Ghana just sent me this video on Facebook and reported “feeling blue” after watching the two minutes and forty-two seconds of imagery from Accra and hearing a voice over matter-of-factedly reading out what we see: “Kelewele”, “Osu” and “Woodin” over a faint classical music piece in the background.

I rather felt happy that someone took the time to in video poetry (isn’t that the best description?) chronicle the Accra of today (except for an pre 2007 Cedi bill) and put it together for all of us to realize we are sharing something, maybe at times kind of flawed, dusty and oily, but it is ours!

What did you think of the video?

Ghana, Personal

This is Personal Business: Customer Service Lessons from Ghana

December 14, 2012 3 Comments

I sometimes struggle with describing what everyday life in Ghana is like to people who live elsewhere (I try though, see my posts on everyday life in Ghana here). This week, however I had several experiences that all describe very well the warmth and cordiality of human interaction and how it seamlessly blends with business. I think the term “personal business” could be used for what I want to discuss in this post and that Ghana could teach the world!

I say this since I believe “personal business” has several positive results, like repeat business, customer satisfaction and lower sensitivity for price hikes and the likes. Here it’s been discovered – tadaa – the we are not the “economic man” when we make purchase decisions, we are “social man”.

I have four examples of “personal business” in Ghana happening to me just in the last week:

1. At Hairdresser’s

My hairdresser put the finishing touches to my hair and as I was getting up from my chair, her mother walked in. This is my hairdresser since about a year and I have met her mother some few times there. I said thank you to my hairdresser and turned to her mother and after some chitchat said “Merry Christmas if I do not see you before the holidays” and she reached out to embrace me!

If you live outside of Ghana: When were you last hugged by the mother of your hairdresser?

2. At the Gas station

I have been taking a new road to work and there is a newly opened gasstation on my new route. The first time I was there, I chatted with the attendants as my tanked was filled up (a luxury of the Ghanaian everyday life, you do not pump your own gas!). The next time I came, one of the attendants happily greeted me: “Mrs Adu, welcome!”

If you live outside of Ghana: When were you last addressed by name as you went to buy gas?

3. Knock, Knock, Seamstress here

Sunday night, there’s a knock on the door, outside is the young woman who used to be my seamstresses’ assistant years ago, but now is a seamstress in her own right. She says she has been thinking of me and want to sow something for me for christmas. Very well, I had meant to get that done, so I invite her in to take my measurements and collect a cloth I was given as a gift and have at home.

If you live outside of Ghana: When was the last time a craftswoman knocked on your door and asked if she could be of help?

4. At the Car Shop

My car has been having problems and Thursday, I went to my mechanic. He puts on a wide smile as he sees me and teasingly addresses me in Twi – to test the limit of my language knowledge. Another customer is there and is surprised by this and we all laugh about it. I leave feeling entertained (and with new break pads)!

If you live outside of Ghana: When was the last time you had a hearty laugh together with your mechanic?

I am sure this is not just me who is experiencing “personal business”, rather in Ghana this is commonplace. I love that people know who I am, what I like and try to return to the same place for my clothes/haircut/car service and “my” service person. I shudder when remembering how even at your local supermarket or cafe in Europe you would ofte not be even recognized, let alone receive any type of personalised attention.

In Ghana, although we often complain of slow and at times indifferent customer service is – and sometimes it is both – but maybe they don’t now you just yet? We should also remember that many times customer service in Ghana is fused with friendship – which means it is highly personalized and what seems to be effortlessly cordial to the benefit of the company and the customer!

What great “personal business” have you recently had/provided in Ghana?

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