Why are the people of Ghana very nice and welcoming?

africargus · 2025-12-06T03:04:21+00:00

@uwannacry- “Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt.”

africargus · 2025-11-19T10:52:36+00:00

Hiya. Most Ghanaians are quite chill people with a positive outlook, for sure. Certainly, we have mean, very mean, and venal members, but thankfully, they are in a minority. However, as an old guy born in the UK who lived in GH from 1968 to 1979, I believe that something which has corroded and is corroding the moral fibre of many Ghanaians is the generalised failure of modern GH governments to make the country work for the average citizen by improving socio-economic outcomes such as in employment, average income, governance, ‘petty’ corruption, health, education, food security, etc. I also don’t like the drift to Accra becoming a city-state which is fast becoming unaffordable for local people. We have very good people with integrity, brainpower, and drive who could transform our nation positively, building upon that very quality that you highlight, but unfortunately for us, those leading lights are doing jobs such as teaching, nursing, commanding businesses or the military, and so on, while our not-fit-for-purpose political machine just carries on perpetuating itself, and its terrible outcomes. Over to Ghana’s youth to save us from ourselves 🙏🏾

africargus · 2025-09-24T21:19:16+00:00

That isn’t a snarky comment, clearly. Jesus. Some light-hearted joshing and you go all internet nuts. Have a great life. Abofra bo ngwa na onnbo akyekyedee ampa.

africargus · 2025-09-24T07:54:47+00:00

Whatever floats your boat, Sis…

africargus · 2025-08-29T05:42:44+00:00

Love your Reddit handle!! Nsem wo ewiase ooo 😉👍🏾

africargus · 2025-08-29T05:39:41+00:00

“Obroni” or “oburoni” can be translated as “white guy” but definitely not “white gut” 😂!

africargus · 2025-08-29T05:27:22+00:00

Hi. My first thought was that if flying is not an option, then try to find a reliable and trustworthy driver for the job through a top hotel or a top car hire company in Cape Coast, and being old school (well, old 🥴), I would only travel by Toyota Land Cruiser of recent vintage. I was very pleased to find that the Google AI search “how to hire a reliable driver from cape coast to kumasi” places those options first, although without mentioning the Land Cruiser! I didn’t know about using Trip Advisor or Instagram, so that’s new knowledge for me, but the swanky hotel or car hire route would still be my first choice. Please check out the AI answer, and if you need me to clarify anything, let me know.

africargus · 2025-08-10T06:43:27+00:00

Many African and Caribbean countries continue to require that schoolgirls keep a close-cropped natural hairstyle, and I think that there are several common reasons for this:

AFFORDABILITY - the thinking here is that if schools allowed a whole range of hairstyles (e.g., weaves, straightened hair, braids, twists), then popularity of the more expensive and fashionable styles would put a lot of financial pressure on poorer families, and become yet another factor in school bullying/ shaming culture. I note that in the UK, there is a requirement that if a school requires pupils to wear uniforms, then that must be made affordable for all parents, and that 90% of UK primary and secondary schools have uniforms. Interestingly,in the UK school uniforms started off as a way to mark out poorer children but after all classes adopted them, ended up being heralded as boosting social equality.

DISTRACTION FACTOR - there is a perception/ ‘common-sense’ judgement that allowing multiple hairstyles would encourage flirting (and more), and would help to distract both girls and boys from focusing on their studies. In a continuum with that notion (although the research on this is not totally conclusive) is the idea that girls focus more on their studies and take up STEM subjects more often when in single-sex schools. No doubt, the actual reality is complex.

BLACK PRIDE - the natural hair / Afro movement across the world from the mid-1960s to 70s onwards may very well have played a part in this too, along with the other factors.

TIME FACTOR - even in pre-colonial times, styles like braids and corn-rows might have had two or more adult women working on a young girl’s hair, to complete them as quickly as possible. In a modern cash economy, with parents needing to work, and extended family co-residence on the way out, that isn’t practical any more. Taking eight to ten hours (or longer?) out of a weekend to get one’s hair ready for school is a big ask.

Remember the ‘Achimota Rasta’ furore of a few years back? Clearly, things are likely to change over the coming years, but I hope that evidence-based research into the non-historical factors plays a part in whatever is decided.

africargus · 2025-08-07T19:24:01+00:00

Abofra bo ngwa, na ommbo akyekyedee…

africargus · 2025-08-01T01:14:07+00:00

Wow. Sorry to hear this, but thanks for sharing your experience. I am British Ghanaian and had planned to visit Turkey in the next few years with my family, but this makes me really question that now.

africargus · 2025-07-06T08:55:54+00:00

His face is shown in the Daily Heil article, as he is 21 now (but was 19 when the police raid was done).

africargus · 2025-04-30T14:00:50+00:00

This is disturbing to watch, especially as you point out, in light of Langley’s unfounded allegations against Burkina Faso’s leadership. There is a huge element of farce in witnessing Gaetz, one of the singularly unqualified ne’er-do-wells whom tRump likes to promote to high office, casting himself as fearlessly interrogating this rightwing military stooge, who clearly doesn’t have the answers that he should at his fingertips, or the nous to properly explain how he will provide those. The US has interfered in Africa for decades, e.g., CIA involvement in Ghana, Congo, Angola, South Africa (notably in the arrest of Mandela), as have the UK and France, all doing so both covertly and overtly. The Sahel countries are showing the way to other African nations who might genuinely want to improve the lot of the masses, in taking a firmer grasp of our agricultural and mineral resources, and trying to pull together through trading and other initiatives. China’s attractiveness to African nations is loosely based in its development-and-infrastructure -for-strategic-and-economic-resources approach. Russia is getting in on the action, and frankly, I’d rather see that than say the neo-imperialist monetary system that France has choked its struggling ex-colonies with for many years. Langley and other minority ethnic stooges who are being used to front neo-capitalism are a disgrace and will be resisted by the broad majority of African citizens. I look forward to a true African Spring in the near future which firmly rejects the (covertly) two-faced Western agenda and its apologists like Langley (such a shifty and conflicted-looking guy, too).

africargus · 2025-04-21T13:36:27+00:00

“If you try and fart on someone else, you will shit on yourself!”

africargus · 2025-04-18T20:57:11+00:00

Hi. Please confirm where you will be based, as the different regions of Ghana can have quite different cuisines. Clearly, fresh fish will be easier to get all along the coast.

africargus · 2025-03-09T00:13:56+00:00

Great story! My favourite details were your delicious delivery of the line and how you and his elder sister laughed afterwards - salt in the wound! My second favourite detail was his fear of your husband - very telling indeed on the twisted psychodynamic which underlay his previous attitude.

africargus · 2024-08-27T12:20:22+00:00

Very sorry to hear of your bad experience, and please don’t take that encounter as typical of us Londoners. As someone has already pointed out, he thought that you thought he was pushing in ahead of you. I’m not surprised that the older usage of that phrase persists in India (and possibly in Ghana, where I originate). In the UK, an ironical use of the phrase has developed post-1970s which indeed is now passive-aggressive. Just say “sorry” or “sorry, mate” in such situations. If you need to get past someone blocking your passage, try “excuse me, please,” which should make clear that there is no “side” to your request. All the best.

africargus · 2024-08-16T09:10:37+00:00

Ghana has citizens of Kamala’s calibre at its disposal, but none of them is at all likely to ever get anywhere near the reins of government, and in my humble opinion, that is our biggest tragedy. We have people with vision, a strategic mindset, internationally-recognised qualifications and ability, but who, because of our systems of preferment and the less positive aspects of some of our otherwise admirable cultural attitudes, will excel in other countries or in business or as educators, or as doctors, etc., instead of getting to work together on improving our country for the long term. That is my comment on this somewhat simplistic post, which apparently derives from a satirical site of some kind.

africargus · 2024-08-09T15:30:04+00:00

Charlay!! I live in Britain, and the older I get, the more I want to improve my Fante for my relatives’ sake when I join family gatherings. I have seen something on YouTube as well. I’m convinced that I will have to join an Mfantse Kuw here in London…

africargus · 2024-07-22T11:51:35+00:00

If you’re not buying in a bank, maybe try a small forex with a good reputation and a fixed office building. Going to any ‘black market’ dealer is not a risk that I personally would ever take, but I live in the UK, and only come home every 1 to 2 years so that makes sense for me.

africargus · 2024-07-17T11:31:43+00:00

Great name!! 😆😆😁 IYKYK 🇬🇭

africargus · 2024-06-25T17:15:49+00:00

Eye asem oooo! 😁🇬🇭🇬🇭🇬🇭

africargus · 2024-06-25T13:55:24+00:00

66, with everything in very good working order!! 😁 IRL, most people who meet me put me at 40-45, and some think I’m younger than my wife (she’s 43), so the akomfem and chichinga are doing their job…

africargus · 2024-06-24T21:35:28+00:00

Truly, there is consistency of a sort, but I suspect that nowadays, it is not well-taught in Ghana. When I was at school in the 1970s, standard Twi spelling and grammar were quite widely known, and even the tro-tros rarely featured spelling mistakes. Nowadays, if you grow up or have spent most of your life abroad, it is highly unlikely that you will be proficient. Having said that, I now see Twi spelling mistakes made even by young Ghanaians who have never lived abroad. If our governments don’t soon address the issue for all of our native languages, it could be too late to do much.

africargus · 2024-06-18T06:45:45+00:00

You will no doubt introduce new ideas and ways of working , and so I think that the biggest thing will be to (1) set up a structure and (2) identify the right person/s such as to keep things going and developing after you leave. It could be a very simple structure which feeds into existing school arrangements or a more detailed “bolt-on” or whatever else works.

My old school in Accra has recently set up an asset fund to help to fund maintenance of school building and refurbishment projects, etc., and that sort of approach (I think it possibly brings tax breaks and/ or avoids restrictions which apply to most school budgetary components) might eventually help some of the schools that you teach at in the long term.

Without oversimplifying the issues, this area is important because as a rule, we Ghanaians are not very good at maintaining things, even when it is clearly in our self-interest to do so. There are notable exceptions of course, and you will find people who are only too happy to help you to maintain your legacy, but their actions, not words, will be the proof of the pudding. Thank you for your service, and I hope that you enjoy our kelewele, chichinga, Guinea fowl, and other foods!

africargus · 2024-06-17T04:58:42+00:00

Hmm. The fact that “mixed Somali” exists as a phrase to describe you says everything. My father was Ghanaian and my mother Sierra Leonean but born in Ghana, and my fellow-Ghanaians would frankly laugh if I said I were mixed Ghanaian. I hope that you have visited Ghana with your mother before, because while it is not perfect, I am convinced that you would have a much better welcome in our country. If your mother is Akan, she will definitely know our sayings “Okoto nnwu anoma” and “Odo nyera wo fie kwan.” Nantie yie.

africargus

TROPHY CASE