This is a miscellaneous entry. These are all things that I have been meaning to mention at some point but haven’t included anywhere yet. Here is a brief list of things I find puzzling about Ghanaian life.
1. Couples - It was while we were at that Ghanaian wedding a few weekends ago that Nicole and I realized that you never seen couples walking around town, or anywhere, together. This is particularly odd because it is pretty common to see two men walking down the street holding hands. They aren’t gay; they seem to do it because it’s crowded in town and they don’t want to lose track of each other. I wonder what heterosexual relationships are like here. Are arranged marriages common? Considering the devout religious community, are relationships more clandestine?
2. Technology - I feel like civilization here has skipped a few steps. How is it that a third world country cannot conquer problems with personal hygiene, sanitation, food, and treatable/preventable diseases yet they somehow have access to luxuries such as DVD players and cell phones? I think DVD players and cell phones can still be considered a luxury at home – certainly they are things that are purchased only after all other necessities have been covered. I suppose we have been living in a city here where there is a market for such luxuries; I know a rural community would be a much different experience. Still, it’s strange.
3. Abnormal Gaits – It could be my imagination, but it seems to me that many people here have very strange limps or simply incorrectly assembled lower limbs. We’ve seen several people who have to crawl around town because their legs are so under-developed. Many children hobble around on crutches with horribly deformed legs and a lot of adults seem to walk with a slight limp. It could be that abnormal gaits occur with the same frequency back home but that we just have better management and assistance for those with disabilities.
4. Re-denomination of the Cedi
At the beginning of July, the Bank of Ghana is going to change its currency. The value of the cedi won’t change, but the bills and the coins are going to be different. Basically, they are knocking four zeros off the old cedi to make new cedi bills (the new 1 cedi bill will be the same as the old 10 000 cedi bill) and knocking two zeros off the cedi to make new coins in Ghana pesowas (Gp). The old denominations of the cedi include 1000, 2000, 5000, 10 000, and 20 000 bills as well as 100, 200, and 500 cedi coins.
As a rough idea of the value of things, here’s a brief list:
Taxi into town – 2 000 old cedis (0.2 new cedis; 20 Gp)
Corn on the cob – 1 000 old cedis (0.1 new cedis; 10 Gp)
Ice cream – 3 000 old cedis (0.3 new cedis; 30 Gp)
Bottle of pop – 5 000 old cedis (0.5 new cedis; 50 Gp)
Water sachet – 400 old cedis (0.04 new cedis; 4 Gp)
Rice and chicken – 10 000 old cedis (1 new cedis; 100 Gp)
New cell phone – 400 000 old cedis (40 new cedis; 4 000 Gp)
The new denominations will include 1, 5, 10, 20, and 50 cedi bills. So, the new bills are equal to 10 000, 50 000, 100 000, 200 000, and 500 000 old cedis. These are HUGE denominations. Few things in town would require a 100 000 cedi note, not to mention a 200 000 or 500 000 cedi bill. In fact, we like to have our money all in 5 000 notes to make general transactions faster. It’s true that handing over a huge wad of 5 000 notes is a bit annoying if you buy something more expensive, but this is really rare; most exchanges involve less than 5 000 cedis. The taxi drivers are going to be awful to deal with. Can you imagine handing someone a 50 cedi note for a 0.2 cedi taxi ride?
This is also going to create a lot of general confusion in converting old money to new bills. Whose brilliant idea was it to create two new forms of the cedi and to knock off four zeros and two zeros? Why not have one type of cedi and just take off just three zeros? Then the 10 000 note could simply become a 10 cedi bill. A huge advertising campaign has been launched to help people understand this change in currency (with an irritatingly catchy jingle: “There’s no change in value, the value is the same”) but I think there are going to be a lot of problems. It’s lucky for me that I won’t be here for that!! Good luck to Nicole and everyone else.
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Good observations, Mags. I know little about Ghana other than what I have read on your site, but I can make some guesses about your interesting observations.
1) Odd gaits; every year about 85% of the population of Ghana is infected or re-infected with Malaria. As you know, malaria is a common cause of death in children under 5 and causes anemia and other problems in those who survive. When malaria affects the brain (cerebral malaria), limb weakness, speech and hearing problems can occur. I expect therefore, that a significant number of the abnormal gait problems in Ghana are the results of cerebral malaria.
2) Currency revaluation; the advertising campaigns are spreading half-truths. While it is strictly correct that there is no change in value with the new currency as it is introduced, rampaging inflation over the last many years in Ghana is the reason that thousands of notes are required to buy anything. Inflation in Ghana in the last 5 years has ranged from a low of 10% to almost 30% as compared to under 3% a year in many developed countries. As you know, Ghana is a relative success story in Africa with twice the per capita income of the poorest countries, but it has struggled in the 50 years since independence. South Korea had a similar economy and far fewer natural resources than Ghana 50 years ago, but now has grown to enjoy a much better standard of living with 10 times the per capita GDP of Ghana and 1/10th the infant mortality rate.
Enjoy your final week in Ghana. Lots of love,
Pops
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