Small and larger challenges in Ghana Part I

I was aware from the start that life here is completely different than in Germany. However, one or two peculiarities here challenge me every day. I have put together a few smaller and larger challenges for myself personally.

Transport:

Let's start with a topic that I've mentioned several times before. The incredibly bad road conditions make every car journey a very unpleasant experience. Above all, it inhibits you from taking longer trips, as even short distances are very time-consuming and tiring.

Added to this are the completely dilapidated taxis, which are the only means of transport in many parts of Ghana. No air conditioning works here, the door handles are broken and there are no seat belts anyway. What makes matters worse is that taxis only carry as many passengers as they can fit in, NOT how many seats they can fit. Our personal record is 11 people in a Nissan Micra. Things are similar in the Trotros, i.e. the minibuses, for longer routes. You have to pay extra for air conditioning, there are rarely headrests, and all luggage is packed inside the car or on the roof.

In addition, the drivers tend to charge us white people far too high a price. It takes a while until you get a feeling for how much each route is actually worth. Taxis are actually very cheap here, but it depends on the driver, the car and the number of passengers.

Water and electricity:

As we are in the dry season, water is becoming increasingly scarce. The tap water cannot be drunk anyway, but sometimes there is not enough even for showering and cooking. I've already had two days where we didn't have running water. Luckily we have large rain barrels and we can get buckets of water from there for the most necessary things. Additional water must be purchased to fill our cistern. However, since this is located at a lower point than the house, the water must also be pumped into large tanks above. Luckily we have a very large supply of sachets for drinking. These are plastic bags filled with drinking water. It takes a while to get the hang of drinking from them without making a big mess.

In addition, there are regular power outages that can last a whole night or day. Luckily we cook with gas and everything works with headlamps for lighting, but the fact that the ceiling fans don't work is really stupid.

Unpunctuality:

Africans generally don't have it like that over time, but I've never experienced it as extreme as here. Taxi drivers are on average 30 minutes late, invitations to dinner are often accepted 1.5-2 hours later and even the start of events is delayed by 2-3 hours. Nobody can be stressed here, which is a good thing on the one hand, but efficient is an absolute foreign word here. For someone like me who is usually over-punctual and hates waiting for others, this is by far the most annoying habit here.

But to quote Ernst Ferstl: “New challenges are wonderful opportunities to learn new things about yourself.”

And that’s how I want to end this year. 2023 was a very stressful year for me and I'm sure the next one will bring many more challenges.

I wish everyone a good start into the new year and hope that you can look back on this year in a mostly positive way.

Best regards

Veronica