Feeling not so young in Ghana

It’s one thing to glance at a population pyramid to understand the nature of rapid growth in the developing world. Wide bottom, skinny top, high birth rate, high infant mortality, low life expectancy: check. For decades geographers have explored the pathways taken by nations who’ve managed to flip their rapid growth pyramids upside down, reducing births and extending lives. These structures give a snapshot of the raw population data and are like tasty chocolate morsels for the sweet-toothed geo-geeks of the world.

But it’s a whole different ballgame to actually see the youthfulness of a nation in the flesh, with scores of children in flip-flops scuffing through the dirt streets, in seaside neighborhoods like Gamashie or in urban slums fringing Accra. In Gamashie, the average fertility rate is a whopping 10, higher than the national average of four. And though many speak of Ghana as a kind of southern Africa in miniature, easy, breezy, peaceful Ghana has its own unique story to tell.

There are so many wonderful kids in Ghana that it’s tempting to smuggle a few of them home. The field portion of our project focuses on a few neighborhoods in Accra and Kumasi, where a collection of NGOs are working to improve water and sanitation, increase family planning, and provide basic supplies for the smattering of educational institutions found in the shanties.



Schools exist - education was made free and compulsory in recent decades- but basic supplies (pencils, pens, books) are a real problem, not to mention the fact that kids work daily in the informal economy hawking plantains and boiled eggs in order to supplement incomes. Some kids, when they do make it to class, battle to sit at the front of the class, a true inspiration for a jaded stateside educator like myself. I curse myself for packing more sunscreen and shampoo than paper and pens.




The causes of poverty here, in this particular place, are both global and local. Global in the sense that the government has allowed commercial fishermen to strip mine the coastal reefs to the point of depletion, and Gamashie fishermen have been left high and dry with the remaining dregs. Inflation is high. Goofy post-colonial policies have led Ghana to export its own rich natural resources – gold, cocoa, rice - allowing other nations to process the goods and steal away with the big money. Ghana then struggles to buy back the finished products, but by then the price of a jumbo chocolate bar equals two days’ Ghanaian pay.



But I like it here. Two weeks without hot water? Who cares. The world has bigger fish to fry, Barton.

PS - Wadi (seen in green t-shirt) really broke my heart. He was the only kid not smiling and hung onto my index finger for most of the day. David (army t-shirt) outside Kumasi asked if he could "flash me", meaning he eventually got his hands on the camera so he could frame his own shots.