GHANA

[Guest]

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[Natasha]

GHANA

The Republic of Ghana is a country in West Africa. It borders Côte d'Ivoire (also known as Ivory Coast) to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, Togo to the east, and the Gulf of Guinea to the south. The word "Ghana" means "Warrior King", and was the source of the name "Guinea" (via French Guinoye) used to refer to the West African coast (as in Gulf of Guinea).

Ghana was inhabited in pre-colonial times by a number of ancient kingdoms, including the Ga Adangbes on the eastern coast, inland Empire of Ashanti and various Fante states along the coast and inland. Trade with European states flourished after contact with the Portuguese in the 15th century, and the British established a crown colony, Gold Coast, in 1874.

Upon achieving independence from the United Kingdom in 1957, the name Ghana was chosen for the new nation to reflect the ancient Empire of Ghana that once extended throughout much of western Africa. In the Ashanti language it is spelled Gaana.

The major ethnic groups are Akan 49%, Moshi-Dagomba 16%, Ewe 13%, Ga 8%. European and other: 0.2%. Religious divisions are as follows: Christian 63%, African beliefs 21%, Muslim 16%, More recent estimates indicate that Muslims make up 30% of the population.

More than 100 languages and dialects are spoken in Ghana. English is the country's official language and predominates government and business affairs. It is also the standard language used for educational instruction. Native Ghanaian languages are divided into two linguistic subfamilies of the Niger-Congo language family.

Languages belonging to the Kwa subfamily are found predominantly to the south of the Volta River, while those belonging to the Gur subfamily are found predominantly to the north. The Kwa group, which is spoken by about 75% of the country's population, includes the Akan, Ga-Dangme, and Ewe languages. The Gur group includes the Gurma, Grusi, and Dagbani languages.

Nine languages have the status of government-sponsored languages: Akan, Dagaare/Wale, Dagbani, Dangme, Ewe, Ga, Gonja, Kasem, and Nzema. Though not an official language, Hausa is the lingua-franca spoken among Ghana's Muslims, who comprise about 14% of the population.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghana

[Natasha]

Amnesty International Report 2007: Ghana

Attachment (Word Document 1 page): Amnesty International Report 2007: Ghana

http://www.amnesty.org/

[Natasha]

Mole National Park

Mole National Park is the largest and most frequently visited national park in Ghana. It is reasonably well set up to cater for tourists and although it is more expensive than many other parts of Ghana it is well worth a visit.

It's not everywhere you can get up close and personal with bus-sized elephants. Face-to-face encounters with these beasts, plus roving gangs of baboons, warthogs, water bucks and antelopes - 90 species of mammals in total - are possibilities at this national park, Ghana's largest at 4660 sq km and best as far as wildlife viewing goes.

It consists for the most part of flat savanna, with gallery forests along the rivers and streams.

Mole National Park covers approximately 4,840 km2 and is the largest and most prestigious protected area in Ghana under the aegis of the Wildlife Department. Mole National Park was the first Wildlife Protected Area to be established in Ghana. The Park lies within two physiographic regions - 65% lies within the Voltaian sandstones basin and 35°/0 within the savannah high plains. The topography is generally undulating with flat topped hills which is dominated by the Konkori scarp that runs north-south through the park and reaches up to250m a.m.s.1. The Park forms part of the Volta River catchment and numerous rivers cross or originate in it to drain into the White Volta River.

Mole National Park represents a fairly undisturbed guinea Savannah ecosystem dominated by open savannah woodland. The park has very rich flora and fauna. Over 93 species of mammals, about 400 species of birds, 9 amphiblan, 33 reptilian and several insectivorous species and 5 endemic butterfly species have been recorded.

Species of special interest include Elephant, Buffalo, Kob, Western Hartebeest, Roan Antelope, Defassa Waterbuck, Oribi, Bohor Reedbuck and Red-flanked Duiker. The riverine forests are home to rare and endangered species such as Yellow-backed Duiker and Black and White Colobus monkey. The Lion, Leopard and Hyena are important large carnivores found in the reserve. The baffalo population is of great scientific interest since both black and red colour varieties exist in the Dark.

http://www.lonelyplanet.com/worldguide/ghana/sights/102355?list=true
http://wikitravel.org/en/Mole_National_Park
http://whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/1391/

[Natasha]

Food

Soups are the primary component in Ghanaian cuisine and are eaten with fufu (either pounded plaintain and cassava or yam), kokonte (cassava meal cooked into a paste), banku (fermented corn dough), boiled yam, rice, bread, plantain, or cassava. The most common soups are light soup, palmnut soup, and groundnut (peanut) soup.
Other Ghanaian favorites include gari foto (eggs, onions, dried shrimp, tomatoes and gari), agushie (squash seed sauce, tomatoes and onions), omo tuo (mashed rice balls with groundnut soup), jollof rice, red-red (fried plantain and bean sauce), kenkey (boiled fermented corn dough) and fish, kelewele (deep fried and heavily spiced plantain) and shito (hot pepper sauce).

In general, soups and sauces are prepared with either fish, goat, mutton or chicken.

The Ghanaian version of 'fast food' can be found at the 'chop bars'.

http://www.ghana.co.uk/food/index.htm

[Natasha]

Ashanti Chicken

Ingredients

•   one whole chicken, two to three pounds, de-boned (see below)
•   one pound yams (or potatoes, or sweet potatoes), peeled and cut into quarters
•   one pound chicken meat, white or dark (no bones)
•   cooking oil for frying chicken
•   one small onion, chopped
•   one tomato, chopped (or a spoonful of tomato paste or tomato sauce)
•   a handful of parsley, chopped
•   a few mint leaves, chopped
•   salt and black pepper, to taste

Method

•   Boil the yams (or potatoes, or sweet potatoes) until tender. When tender, remove from water
and mash.
•   While yams are cooking, fry the chicken meat (not the whole chicken) in a few tablespoons of oil. When nearly done add the onion and tomato. Reduce heat and simmer until chicken is fully cooked.

•   Add the chicken-onion-tomato mixture to the mashed yam (or its substitute). Add parsley, mint, salt, and pepper. Mix well.

•   Stuff the de-boned chicken with the yam-chicken mixture. Sew the chicken closed with a needle and cooking string. Rub with butter or oil, salt and pepper.

•   Steam the stuffed chicken for two hours in a large Dutch oven (place the chicken on something to keep it out of the boiling water), then baste it with oil or butter and bake or grill it until it is golden brown. -- Or -- Bake or grill the stuffed chicken until it is browned, then wrap it in foil to allow it to continue to cook until fully done.
Either way, be sure to use a meat thermometer to check for doneness. Make sure to check the temperature of both the whole chicken and the stuffing
•   Serve Ginger Beer or Green Tea with Mint with or after the meal.


http://www.ghana.co.uk/food/recipes/sub_recipes/chicken.htm

[Natasha]

Avocado with Smoked Fish 

Ingredients

•   ½lb firm smoked fish

•   4 eggs, hard-boiled with whites separated from yolks

•   ¼ cup lime juice

•   ¼ tsp sugar

•   ½ tsp salt ? cup cooking oil

•   2 tblspn olive oil

•   2 large ripe avocados

•   1 large red bell pepper


Method

•Remove the skin and bones from the smoked fish and flake the flesh with a fork.

•In a deep bowl, mash the egg yolks with the milk until the form a smooth paste.Add the sugar, salt and 1 tablespoon of the lime juice. Then beat in the olive oil, a teaspoon at a time.

•Chop the egg whites finely and add them to the bowl, along with the fish. Combine thoroughly but gently.

•Just before serving, cut the avocados in half, remove the pits and fill with the fish mixture.

•Garnish with pepper and pass around the remaining lime juice to sprinkle on individual servings.


http://www.ghana.co.uk/food/recipes/sub_recipes/Fish.htm

[Diane R]

I am ready to cook, RIGHT NOW! You have me drooling, Natasha, thanks for continuing to post recipes, I've tried some of them, too!

--Diane.

[Claus-Peter]

Geography
A West African country bordering on the Gulf of Guinea, Ghana is bounded by Côte d'Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, Togo to the east, and the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It compares in size to Oregon, and its largest river is the Volta.

Government

Constitutional democracy.

History

Several major civilizations flourished in the general region of what is now Ghana. The ancient empire of Ghana (located 500 mi northwest of the contemporary state) reigned until the 13th century. The Akan peoples established the next major civilization, beginning in the 13th century, and then the Ashanti empire flourished in the 18th and 19th centuries.

Called the Gold Coast, the area was first seen by Portuguese traders in 1470. They were followed by the English (1553), the Dutch (1595), and the Swedes (1640). British rule over the Gold Coast began in 1820, but it was not until after quelling the severe resistance of the Ashanti in 1901 that it was firmly established. British Togoland, formerly a colony of Germany, was incorporated into Ghana by referendum in 1956. Created as an independent country on March 6, 1957, Ghana, as the result of a plebiscite, became a republic on July 1, 1960.

Premier Kwame Nkrumah attempted to take leadership of the Pan-African Movement, holding the All-African People's Congress in his capital, Accra, in 1958 and organizing the Union of African States with Guinea and Mali in 1961. But he oriented his country toward the Soviet Union and China and built an autocratic rule over all aspects of Ghanaian life. In Feb. 1966, while Nkrumah was visiting Beijing and Hanoi, he was deposed by a military coup led by Gen. Emmanuel K. Kotoka.

A series of military coups followed, and on June 4, 1979, Flight Lt. Jerry Rawlings overthrew Lt. Gen. Frederick Akuffo's military rule. Rawlings permitted the election of a civilian president to go ahead as scheduled the following month, and Hilla Limann, candidate of the People's National Party, took office. Rawlings's three-month rule was one of Ghana's bloodiest periods, with executions of numerous government officials and business leaders. Two years later Rawlings staged another coup, charging the civilian government with corruption. As chairman of the Provisional National Defense Council, Rawlings scrapped the constitution, instituted an austerity program, and reduced budget deficits over the next decade. He then returned the country to civilian rule and won the presidency in multiparty elections in 1992 and again in 1996. Since then, Ghana has been widely viewed as one of Africa's most stable democracies. In Jan. 2001, John Agyekum Kufuor was elected president. In 2002, he set up a National Reconciliation Commission to review human rights abuses during the country's military rule. He was reelected in Dec. 2004.

[Claus-Peter]

Republic of Ghana

President: John Agyekum Kufuor (2001)

Land area: 88,811 sq mi (230,020 sq km); total area: 92,456 sq mi (239,460 sq km)

Population (2007 est.): 22,931,299 (growth rate: 2.0%); birth rate: 29.9/1000; infant mortality rate: 53.6/1000; life expectancy: 59.1; density per sq mi: 258

Capital and largest city (2003 est.): Accra, 2,825,800 (metro. area), 1,661,400 (city proper)

Other large cities: Kumasi, 645,100; Tamale, 279,600

Monetary unit: Cedi

Languages: English (official), African languages (including Akan, Moshi-Dagomba, Ewe, and Ga)

Ethnicity/race: black African 98.5% (major tribes: Akan 44%, Moshi-Dagomba 16%, Ewe 13%, Ga 8%, Gurma 3%, Yoruba 1%), European and other 1.5% (1998)

Religions: Christian 63%, indigenous beliefs 21%, Islam 16%

Literacy rate: 75% (2003 est.)

Economic summary: GDP/PPP (2007 est.): $31.23 billion; per capita $1,400. Real growth rate: 6.2%. Inflation: 11%. Unemployment: 11% (2000 est.). Arable land: 18%. Agriculture: cocoa, rice, coffee, cassava (tapioca), peanuts, corn, shea nuts, bananas; timber. Labor force: 11.29 million (2007 est.); agriculture 60%, industry 15%, services 25% (1999 est.). Industries: mining, lumbering, light manufacturing, aluminum smelting, food processing, cement, small commercial ship building. Natural resources: gold, timber, industrial diamonds, bauxite, manganese, fish, rubber, hydropower, petroleum, silver, salt, limestone. Exports: $4.194 billion f.o.b. (2007 est.): gold, cocoa, timber, tuna, bauxite, aluminum, manganese ore, diamonds. Imports: $8.073 billion f.o.b. (2007 est.): capital equipment, petroleum, foodstuffs. Major trading partners: Netherlands, UK, France, U.S., Belgium, Spain, South Africa, Nigeria, China (2006).

Member of Commonwealth of Nations

Communications: Telephones: main lines in use: 356,400 (2006); mobile cellular: 5.207 million (2006). Radio broadcast stations: AM 0, FM 49, shortwave 3 (2007). Television broadcast stations: 7 (2007). Internet hosts: 2,899 (2007). Internet users: 609,800 (2006).

Transportation: Railways: total: 953 km (2006). Highways: total: 42,623 km; paved: 3,267 km; unpaved: 39,356 km (2004). Waterways: 1,293 km; note: 168 km for launches and lighters on Volta, Ankobra, and Tano rivers; 1,125 km of arterial and feeder waterways on Lake Volta (2003). Ports and harbors: Takoradi, Tema. Airports: 12 (2007).

International disputes: Ghana struggles to accommodate returning nationals who worked in the cocoa plantations and escaped rebel fighting in Côte d'Ivoire.

[P, B and J]

A few days ago I looked up more information on fante kenkey which is something I had seen mentioned in one of the loans from Ghana.  I then came across this extemely interesting and rich (both in information and pictures) website with special focus on the "Kwawu culture and social structure".  The person behind it all is Phil Bartle, PhD.

Studies among the Akan of West Africa; Community, History, Society, Culture
http://www.scn.org/rdi/

"Why Obo?" ~ "Many friends and students have asked me why and how I chose Obo as the subject for doing my PhD research.  The answer is a bit of a story, so I have decided here to relate that tale."
http://www.scn.org/rdi/kw-why.htm

There are even Training Modules (more for someone who is in the field perhaps, but very interesting even if you're not in the field) translated into 17 languages besides English!
http://www.scn.org/cmp/modules/a-mod.htm

It's all very excellent!  On each page there are numerous links to more info (similar to how Wikipedia does it) which forever lead one in a neverending spiral of learning.  Worth checking out in my humble opinion!   

[KEDS]

What a waste of resources for a poor (or for that matter, any) country.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7502716.stm

Ghana spends $1.4m on gold medals
By Will Ross
BBC News, Accra 


The Ghanaian government spent more than $1.4m (£704,000) buying 515 gold medals from a company based in the Channel Islands, officials have confirmed.

Almost half the medals were given out last week to prominent citizens at a colourful national awards ceremony.

The government says the rest will be presented over the next four years.

The medals are intended to reward outstanding contributions to Ghana. But critics say the money would have been better spent alleviating poverty.

Eighteen-carat gold

Recipients included politicians, chiefs, business leaders and even the country's President, John Kufuor, who will step down at the end of the year.


 We are suffering. As of now, some of us cannot even pay our school fees
Accra businessman 

He was given the highest award, the Grand Order of the Star and Eagles of Ghana.

Set in 18-carat gold, it was also the most expensive.

At $65,000 (£32,700), President Kufuor's award cost many times more than an Olympic gold medal.

This prompted one journalist to make a joke comparing Mr Kufuor to the medallion-wearing American rapper, 50 Cent.

Medals 'not extravagant'

As people woke up in Ghana to learn the cost of the medals from newspapers and radios, many were shocked and disappointed.

"We are suffering," one Accra businessman told the BBC. "As of now, some of us cannot even pay our school fees", he said.


 How can the president decorate himself with such expensive jewellery when people are in dire need of basic amenities?
Dr Tony Aidoo
National Democratic Congress (NDC) 

"The medals will not bring anything to the country", said another.

"They are just for individuals so the money has just gone to waste", he added.

The Deputy Information Minister, Frank Agyekum, disagreed.

"You can't put a price tag on an award which is meant to encourage, motivate and congratulate people for making a great contribution to the country," he said. "This was not extravagant."

"The remaining medals will be used for the next three to four years," he added, before noting that even beauty pageant winners are given a whole house these days.

Parliamentary enquiry

In recent years, the awarding of national honours has been a low key affair, but this year the government said it was keen to help unite the politically divided country.


Politicians from rival parties were offered medals, but the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), boycotted the event.

Not surprisingly, the NDC is now making a noise about the cost of the awards

"This was a severe misplacement of priority and an insult to the intelligence of Ghanaians," said Tony Aidoo, a senior member of the party.

"How can the president decorate himself with such expensive jewellery when people are in dire need of basic amenities?" he asked, calling for a parliamentary enquiry, and for evidence that the remaining medals really exist.

Stability 'priceless'

The fact that the head of the Ashanti Kingdom, Asantehene Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, could not collect his award because he was mediating a chieftaincy dispute, shows the need for nation building in Ghana.


 Peace and stability are priceless on the African continent
Bright Simons, Imani Centre for Policy and Education 

"Peace and stability are priceless on the African continent," said Bright Simons, of the Ghanaian think tank, the Imani Centre for Policy and Education.

"If the process had succeeded in building a lot of reconciliation across the political spectrum, it would have been worth it," he added.

Mr Simons said the intention was honourable, but suggested the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP), could have managed the event better - by including members from across the political divide in an independent awards committee.

Ghanaians are also waiting to learn how the proceeds are spent from recently discovered oil in the country, estimated to total 2 billion barrels.

Those worried that Ghana may follow the lead of Angola and Nigeria will seek little comfort from news of how $1.4m has been spent on the medals.

Some Ghanaians are also asking why the medals could not have been produced locally - especially as their country is Africa's second largest producer of gold.

Story from BBC NEWS:

[Karoline]

Ghana will always have a special place in my heart. When you live there, even if it's just for three months, it changes your life. I am hopefully going back in the summer for one month as well. Has anyone else been there?

Man, I love omo tuo.

I was really confused when I didn't see Twi listed anywhere when there were talk about languages. Then Wikipedia told me it was one of the three dialects of the Akan language, so then I understood.

[waywardcats]

Here is an excerpt from an editorial written by Bono published in the New York Times on July 10, 2009 concerning Ghana.

Rebranding Africa

This is a country whose music of choice is jazz; a country that long ago invented a genre called highlife that spread across Africa — and, more recently, hiplife, which is what happens when hip-hop meets reggaetón meets rhythm and blues meets Ghanaian melody, if you’re keeping track (and you really should be). On a visit there, I met the minister for tourism and pitched the idea of marketing the country as the “birthplace of cool.” (Just think, the music of Miles, the conversation of Kofi.) He demurred ... too cool, I guess.

Quietly, modestly — but also heroically — Ghana’s going about the business of rebranding a continent. New face of America, meet the new face of Africa.

Ghana is well governed. After a close election, power changed hands peacefully. Civil society is becoming stronger. The country’s economy was growing at a good clip even before oil was found off the coast a few years ago. Though it has been a little battered by the global economic meltdown, Ghana appears to be weathering the storm. I don’t normally give investment tips — sound the alarm at Times headquarters — but here is one: buy Ghanaian.

So it’s not a coincidence that Ghana’s making steady progress toward achieving the Millennium Development Goals. Right now it’s one of the few African nations that has a shot at getting there by 2015.

No one’s leaked me a copy of the president’s speech in Ghana, but it’s pretty clear he’s going to focus not on the problems that afflict the continent but on the opportunities of an Africa on the rise. If that’s what he does, the biggest cheers will come from members of the growing African middle class, who are fed up with being patronized and hearing the song of their majestic continent in a minor key.

I’ve played that tune. I’ve talked of tragedy, of emergency. And it is an emergency when almost 2,000 children in Africa a day die of a mosquito bite; this kind of hemorrhaging of human capital is not something we can accept as normal.

But as the example of Ghana makes clear, that’s only one chord. Amid poverty and disease are opportunities for investment and growth — investment and growth that won’t eliminate overnight the need for assistance, much as we and Africans yearn for it to end, but that in time can build roads, schools and power grids and propel commerce to the point where aid is replaced by trade pacts, business deals and home-grown income.

[charity]

I really like that.  Thanks for posting it! 

[Amy-in-PHX]

Here is a link to a blog post by the Kiva Fellow currently serving with Field Partner CRAN, in Ghana, concerning the Field Partner's methods for collecting on past-due loans.  They are still trying to collect some amounts that were due as long ago as 2008.

http://fellowsblog.kiva.org/2011/03/29/owe-money-pay-money/