Ghana
In Ghana, as elsewhere around the world, students from low-income families depend on school food programs that help them learn better by participating on a full stomach. These kindergartners provide their own bowls and cups–or in a pinch, plastic bags—as they line up for the midday meal funded by the Ghanaian government. Meals prepared by parent volunteers or hired caterers might be the ever-popular jollof rice, rice and beans, fufu, banku with sauce, or a porridge of a nutritional blend of ground corn and soybeans. It’s traditional to eat with one’s hands, making for easy clean-up.
Mary Crave © 2016
Republic of Ghana
Western Africa
Area 92K mi2; 239K km2
Arable 21%
Population 3.8 (368/mi²; 142/km²)
Gov’t Presidential republic
Capital Accra (2.7M)
GCP/Capita $5,400
Unemployment 5%
In Poverty 23%
Infant Mortality 3/1K live births (46th)
Life expectancy 70 yrs
Median Age 21 yrs
Literacy 79%
Languages English (official), Asante, Ewe, Fante, Boron, Dagomba, Dangme, Dagarte, Kokomba, Akyem, Ga, other
Religions Christian 71% (Pentecostal/Charismatic, Protestant, Catholic, other), Muslim 20%, traditional 3%, other/none 6%
Health 4% of GDP
Education 4% of GDP (120th)
Military 0.5% of GDP (159th)
Labor Force Agriculture 45%, industry 14%, services 41%
PCVs 1961–present CURRENT: Yes, TTD: 4,826
Adult Books
By John Dramani Mahama
Genre: Nonfiction, autobiography
Publisher: Bloomsbury (2012)
ISBN-10: 1608198871
ISBN-13: 978-1608198870
Summary:
Ghanaian Vice-President Mahama was soon to become his country’s president when he published this intimate memoir of a childhood and youth marked by both great privilege and devastating loss during Ghana’s early decades of independence. His schoolboy’s world was suddenly upended when his father, a prominent government minister, was imprisoned following the 1966 coup that overthrew Ghana’s founding president, Kwame Nkrumah—an episode Mahama recalls as sparking his then seven-year-old self’s earliest stirrings of political and historical consciousness.
“… he intertwines memories and history, offering a political yet emotional perspective on the post-independence period […] after the heady days of success in overthrowing colonial powers. Mahama evokes fear, horror, and hope as he recalls a turbulent period in Ghana's history. (Booklist, July 1, 2012)
A wonderfully intimate look at the convulsive changes, and deep scarring, in post-colonial Africa.” (Kirkus Reviews, July 14, 2012)
”In fluid, unpretentious style, Mahama unspools Ghana's recent history via entertaining and enlightening personal anecdotes […]. As he writes: ‘The key to Africa's survival has always been... in the story of its people, the paradoxical simplicity and complexity of our lives.’” (Publishers Weekly, March 26, 2012)
"…he uses [the term “lost decade”] to describe the mammoth cultural changes that were taking place in Ghana as old tribal ways died out. [He] is at his best in describing this vanished world. He does so with the eye of a historian and the flair of a novelist.” (Melanie Kirkpatrick, The Wall Street Journal, July 10, 2012)
“In a collection of remarkable vignettes that blend a historian’s sensibility with a novelist’s prose, Mahama captures the evolution of that consciousness and, with it, glimpses of a nation’s recovered soul.” (James McAuley, Washington Post, August 17, 2012)
“A much welcome work of immense relevance” (Chinua Achebe)
Kids' Books
By Mamle Wolo
Format: HC, 336 pp, map
ISBN-10: 0316703931
ISBN-13: 978-0-316-70393-2
Age Range: 8–12 yrs / Grades 3–7
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company, NY, 2022
Summary:
When Faiza, a Muslim migrant girl from northern Ghana, and Abena, a wealthy doctor's daughter from the south, meet by chance in Accra's largest market, where Faiza works as a porter or kaya girl, they strike up an unlikely and powerful friendship that transcends their social inequities and opens up new worlds to them both.
Editorial Reviews
"...will transport readers to Ghana."―Booklist
"Readers...will also recognize that moving beyond bias can be an act of individual courage and choice."―BCCB
"Middle graders will enjoy being transported to the sights, sounds, smells, and flavors of the Makola Market in Accra, Ghana, which set the stage for Adena’s summer."―School Library Journal, starred review
"Employing realistic dialogue and lush descriptions of the sights, smells, and tastes of Ghana, this smart exploration of friendship’s lasting power centers two teens expanding and exploring their worlds."―Publishers Weekly, starred review
About the Author:
MAMLE WOLO is an award-winning Ghanaian-German author who studied at the University of Cambridge and the University of Lancaster in the UK, and is an Honorary Fellow in Writing of the University of Iowa. She writes fiction, poetry, and screenplays and lives with her family in Accra, Ghana.
Films
Genre: Drama
Director:
Country: Ghana
Release Date: 2020
Language: English, Akan
Color: Color
Run Time: 91 minutes
Synopsis:
Drops of Happiness tells the story of the struggles that young graduates face in their search for gainful employment and the lengths they are willing to go to make things work. The movie follows Nii Lantey, a hardworking family man who will do anything to ensure his family is comfortable. After graduating with first-class honours from the university, his search for a job has proved futile due to Ghana’s high unemployment rate. Things get worse when his wife Abena also loses her job, and it becomes impossible to fend for their family. His best option in life is to travel to another country to seek for greener pastures but the means of traveling end up being the beginning of their woes as a family.
Recipes
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