I love my country. It may not be the best place in the world to live, nevertheless, I love my country.
As we celebrate 55 years of independence from British colonial rule, I’ve been reflecting on God's goodness to us as a nation and to me as a Ghanaian.
I’m grateful for the peace we have as a nation. I’m thankful for the leaders who have served us in times past. I didn’t get to meet Kwame Nkrumah, but I’m grateful for some of the policies he initiated and the institutions that he helped establish. I’m living under those blessings. The Tema Harbour, the Tema motorway, the Akosombo dam were all built under his rule. For a long time, the Akosombo dam was the only hydro-electric source of power for the entire nation and Tema Harbour serves as a major trading port for the country.
Other leaders have come and gone and have contributed to the growth of this nation, including those who were kicked out earlier through bloodless coups.
I’m thankful for my fellow Ghanaians. It’s easy to strike up a conversation with a stranger in a trotro (public transport mini-vans) and laugh as if you were siblings although you’re unlikely to ever meet this person again. In my experience in a few other countries I was told, “You don’t talk to strangers in this country.” One of the best topics to raise with a fellow Ghanaian you're meeting for the first time is football. Yes, football.
I appreciate that I’ve been able to experience and observe the changes over the decades. Yep, I'm very old! For example, before 1992, there was only one television station in Ghana but now there are many. Media is booming.
And I quite remember that we didn’t have commercial breaks within television shows, but rather in between two different shows. So if you wanted to pee, you made sure to do so before you sit down for 30mins, 45mins, 1 hour straight otherwise you might miss an important or funny scene while you’re in the washroom. Today, companies are massively advertising and television companies are generating huge sums of money from this business. I’m often amazed at how much a company has to pay for an advertising slot per minute in the electronic media or for space in the print media.
And it’s amazing that private enterprises and banks have sprung up all over the place. We have moved from the socialist way of managing our country to embracing capitalism.
There are new roads and yes, some with potholes, haha! While they are not enough, there have been new hospitals, schools and other new facilities that weren’t there in the 80s or in the 90s.
This nation, Ghana, could be better than it is now. I pray that Ghanaians will be grateful for what they have now, work and believe God for more. That’s the way to go.
Happy Independence Day!
Lady Akofa.
As we celebrate 55 years of independence from British colonial rule, I’ve been reflecting on God's goodness to us as a nation and to me as a Ghanaian.
I’m grateful for the peace we have as a nation. I’m thankful for the leaders who have served us in times past. I didn’t get to meet Kwame Nkrumah, but I’m grateful for some of the policies he initiated and the institutions that he helped establish. I’m living under those blessings. The Tema Harbour, the Tema motorway, the Akosombo dam were all built under his rule. For a long time, the Akosombo dam was the only hydro-electric source of power for the entire nation and Tema Harbour serves as a major trading port for the country.
Other leaders have come and gone and have contributed to the growth of this nation, including those who were kicked out earlier through bloodless coups.
I’m thankful for my fellow Ghanaians. It’s easy to strike up a conversation with a stranger in a trotro (public transport mini-vans) and laugh as if you were siblings although you’re unlikely to ever meet this person again. In my experience in a few other countries I was told, “You don’t talk to strangers in this country.” One of the best topics to raise with a fellow Ghanaian you're meeting for the first time is football. Yes, football.
I appreciate that I’ve been able to experience and observe the changes over the decades. Yep, I'm very old! For example, before 1992, there was only one television station in Ghana but now there are many. Media is booming.
And I quite remember that we didn’t have commercial breaks within television shows, but rather in between two different shows. So if you wanted to pee, you made sure to do so before you sit down for 30mins, 45mins, 1 hour straight otherwise you might miss an important or funny scene while you’re in the washroom. Today, companies are massively advertising and television companies are generating huge sums of money from this business. I’m often amazed at how much a company has to pay for an advertising slot per minute in the electronic media or for space in the print media.
And it’s amazing that private enterprises and banks have sprung up all over the place. We have moved from the socialist way of managing our country to embracing capitalism.
There are new roads and yes, some with potholes, haha! While they are not enough, there have been new hospitals, schools and other new facilities that weren’t there in the 80s or in the 90s.
This nation, Ghana, could be better than it is now. I pray that Ghanaians will be grateful for what they have now, work and believe God for more. That’s the way to go.
Happy Independence Day!
Lady Akofa.
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