Old and New Ghana

Oasis International Training Centre in Ghana is located in Prampram, that used to be just a small village 44 km east from the capital Accra, now it is a part of Greater Accra region. It is developing fast and now it is a small town, not a village anymore. New beautiful houses are growing up fast  on the Atlantic shore. One afternoon we drove to the shore. We arrived to the beautiful Coconut Pointe Villa & Beach Resort

Then Sue and Ambrose took me to a real country side, on the road, that tourists never take. The scenery there looked like a prairie:

Driving further north from the ocean the scenery gets greener. Plantain and banana trees grow all over and even really tall trees appear.

In the mountainous parts of Ghana grow really huge trees that are used for canoe carving. They are being brought down to the ocean shore, and we visited a site where men were carving canoes:

In a coastal area owning a canoe may be more important and more useful than owning a car because it provides living. Fishing is a big business in coastal regions and even inland, where there are big lakes. World’s largest artificial lake, Lake Volta, is located in Ghana.

Driving is not easy in Ghana. In rural areas roads are not paved, in towns and cities the traffic is very heavy and we tried to avoid rush hours but still few times got into traffic jams. In small towns there are no paved sidewalks for pedestrians and they walk just on a road side. Also in small towns road sides are  filled with stands where local people sell everything.

Seller’s stands where you can buy everything:

I was surprised by sellers walking  close up to the cars in traffic jams trying to sell everything:

Ghana is one of the fastest developing countries in Africa. Our civilized world is coming fast and bringing good and bad, bringing improvements and problems. These are few photos of a new Ghana:

I loved seeing  REAL Ghana. Local people were very friendly and sweet. Many times we were the only white people and out of the respect to their privacy I didn’t take photos when visiting primary school or even market. I took mental photos that will stay with me forever.

I wouldn’t want to finish on a sad note but what shocked me and left me concerned was pollution. We must do something about plastic ruining our world! It was mind blowing to see so much plastic trash. I don’t blame just local people, they have no means to deal with that. We all MUST do something!

It is getting too long I didn’t get to the textiles yet. There will be one more post soon, just about textiles and crafts. Come back!