From Ghana, Akwaaba.

I would like to take a slight shift from the usual. Therefore instead of addressing questions I have been approached with and issues worth of attention, this week, I would like to begin talking about the beautiful features of some African countries (Africa is a really big continent, so not all of them).

Since I am from Ghana, one of the most popular countries in Africa, known mostly of its peacefulness, I will begin with Ghana. Ghana is a country filled with many different people with different cultures and languages. Yes, within one country, there are many languages, different tribes, yet same people. Pretty cool right? This is the same for many other African countries.  

As English being its official language, Ghana has a great history and most importantly, a wonderful landscape and infrastructure, which I wish to shed more light on. To begin, in this link is a video of ex-president Kufour, showing a guest around some of the most popular landscapes and cultures in the beautiful country of Ghana.

Caves and Cavemen? Uhmm No.

In high school, I sat in class with about 19 other students. It was a very small school. Little did I know that not only one but at least half of the class did not know people in Africa do not live in caves nor on trees. During my third week in the school, one of my mates gathered enough courage and said " Patience, back home in Africa where did you live? Did you live in caves?" No I said. "Then did you must have lived on trees?", he continued. At this point more than half of the class were eagerly waiting to hear a response from me. I could not believe my ears neither could I believe my eyes.

The buildings in this image are located in
 East Legon in Accra, Ghana.

I calmed down, recovered from my shock, and calmly answered that we do not live in caves, neither do we live on tress. "We live in houses just like everyone else. Some people live in huts others live n regular houses, but neither of use live in trees nor caves." I went ahead to say. Now, they were more surprised than I had been when the question was asked earlier. They were indeed very surprised, but someone had to tell them, and I am glad they finally knew. The weirdest thing however was that I understood their ignorance and did not take too much offense to it. 

To anyone who did not know that all people on the African continent do not live in cave or in trees, it is okay. Well, not really. You should probably not make judgments or create ideas about a place, people, or a culture based on one thing the media tells you. The joy is that you now know that we live in houses so, a toast to that.

The Africa They Show

            This video is of an example of  how Africa has been reprieved to be for a very long time. Just like how advertisements have silently impacted people's ideas about what beauty is, this video has impacted people's understanding of what an African looks like. Believe me there are many many many many other videos like this. There are some that are even worse than than this. Yes, that is how bad it gets. I feel  extremely insulted just looking at the cover of this video; an obese Caucasian on one side and a sad starving African child on the other. Seriously?!!! If  you have seen this video or any other that looks like this and you are wondering if all African children are suffering from starvation, I am sorry, but you have been deceived.

             No!!! Glory be to God, this is not true. There are many people in my country in Africa, who are FAT! Yes!!! Even children. I am not kidding you, there are chubby children in Africa too. It might sound crazy if you did not know, but it really is not.  It is very heartbreaking that this is all that some people see of Africa. However, it is no fault of theirs. This is all what the media shows them about Africans and the continent itself. It therefore doesn't surprise me too much when somebody asks "is it poor where you grew up?"  

A Continent NOT a Country

 I have been approached by many different surprising and sometimes appalling images and ideas some people have about Africa. Perhaps the most surprising of them all was when someone had mentioned to me that they never knew Africa was a continent not a country. I was so surprised; no, shocked rather. I almost walked into a bar. This is what happened: a friend asked me about the language I spoke and if it was called "African". I giggled slightly and told her that there are many languages in the countries in Africa, and out of those languages I spoke only one. She turned her head sharply in disbelief. Confused, she argued that Africa was a country.

I honestly could not believe what I was hearing; "Africa, a country?" I said to myself. Unfortunately she wasn't the only one who thought Africa was not a continent. After that incident, I have come across many other people who thought Africa was a country, and I believe there are still many people out there. So just to clear the confusion, AFRICA IS NOT A COUNTRY, IT IS A CONTINENT(A RICH ONE) WITH MANY COUNTRIES IN IT!!!
On this note, I would like to welcome you to My Dear Africa. Akwaaba oo!!