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Final observations

One of the first things that really struck me in Ghana were the roads although I'm yet to mention these. In the car I got physically struck by the horrendous bumps however the thing that caught my attention were the fumes. In the EU we have very strict regulations on automotive emissions with a very current conscious effort being put into reducing them. It seems so pointless though when you see what goes into the air from the vehicles here. The world would be far less polluted if they worked on reducing emissions here and all over Africa/South America. Let's say they made cars for poorer people, with reduced emissions and sold them well.  I'm confident that this would make a much more significant impact than the incremental change we have from the current cars in the EU. However this isn't nearly as profitable so I don't expect to see any change soon.
Also the only cars that are here are Japanese or German. I haven't seen a single French car - I won't be working for Renault in the future.
Also related to oil is plastic. The plastic pollution here is awful. Everywhere is a bag, bottle or wrapper. Even in the sea. I mentioned last time the quality of life and how it could be seen as a higher standard but the litter could really impact this. If I were to pick one change in the Ghanian way of life, it would be with regard to their rubbish. If the government had the funds to have regular rubbish trucks it could be so beneficial. However they don't have the funds, nor do they think it's a priority. My speculation then, is more or less pointless. It would also take a significant change in societal behaviour. A slightly far fetched thought.

Today (Saturday) we visited and toured a slave castle dating back from the Portuguese occupation of Ghana. We walked through the awful dungeons and were shown the process of picking slaves. Such a horrible process that relatively, was quite a recent procedure. It is interesting to see how far society has come since then, although I think it still has some way to go. While both of these things made me feel genuinely ill, a quote peaked my interest from the museum. Marcus Garvey said:
"No one knows when the hour of Africa's Redemption cometh. It is in the wind. It is coming. One day, like a storm, it will be here. When that day comes all Africa will stand together."
Having been to a part of Africa that isn't Nairobi and having learnt about Chinese investment in geography I can genuinely see this as a possibility in the upcoming future. There could be so many small incremental changes made to the way they live like throwing plastic, working on emissions and checking the time that could make such a big difference despite the small apparent change. You simply can't claim that water and healthcare will hold these people back as many have water filters and healthcare continues to get better and slightly more affordable.
One day we went to school there was this boy who was always asleep, had a swollen mouth and glazed over eyes. We took him to the hospital to get him checked out and it turned out he had an infection and malaria. The medication cost 24 GHC. That's less than a fiver, which two of the girls chipped in for. In school today and his swelling had already gone down and he was far less drowsy.
We also did a 'canopy walk' which involved walking up a mountain and on rope suspended planks above the canopy, as the name suggests. The views and sounds were amazing. It was my multiple years of geography in real life. Of course I'd think that's cool...
I'm doing my last two days of teaching which is sad for me as I've truly, really enjoyed it and I feel like I have much more to give. The teaching alone has made me want to come back. I have got on with all the other volunteers in my house and I wish I could stay for longer with them. The food has been amazing and surprisingly vegetarian lots of the time, I have been eating Jolloff and plantain which is like spicy rice and chips. I'm tempted now to find that indie stall in London that sells the dish.
Furthermore I came to Ghana knowing that they'd be football crazy, I'm leaving Ghana knowing that football means much more to most of them than most of the armchair United fans in London. This makes me happy. I'm slightly tempted to whip out multiple football clichés although I can hear mum inwardly groaning, so I'll spare you.
Finally I'd like to finish on an observation I thought was pretty cool. Everywhere we went, we caught lots of attention. Everyone wants some sort of reaction from you, on the street or in a taxi due to our skin colour. If I flashed smile and a nodded my head, this received a reply of a similar fashion 9 times out of 10. Amazing when you consider that me and the guy on the street have nothing in common initially, yet a smile is universal. All primates know a smile is a positive sign. Oh no, here goes the engineering student again, off on another biology tangent. It is always easy to smile, especially when you're this happy. I felt like I was dishing out some secret currency that you definitely can't spend on the Tube.
I thought I'd publish this on the day (Saturday) however I'm currently sitting in the airport lounge waiting for my flight to take off and I thought I'd add some final words. On the way here, my taxi broke down which was eventful to say the least. Picture me helping this man replace his hub bearing as he doesn't really know how to take off the brake calliper. And omg I thought the driving in Ghana left a lot to be desired. Well, when you're late for your flight, it leaves a lot more to be desired. Furthermore there were no other flights landing in time for my results if I had missed this one. Colour me scared...
I have really enjoyed this trip, I wish I could stay for longer as I've had so much fun and actually felt like I've made a small difference. Oh well, there's always a next time.
I'll be home soon and see you all then,
Rohin xx
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Location: Mpraeso, Ghana

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