Having high hopes and excitement to see another country in an entirely different continent, I excitedly came out of the Ghana airport. The scene outside looked familiar. The hustle-bustle of the traffic, taxi drivers almost grabbing your hand to take you to their taxis, the strange smell of petrol and dust mixed in the air. The street hawkers carrying neatly stacked corns on their heads, pursuing customers sitting in the vehicles at traffic lights and quickly going back on the sidewalk when the lights turned green.
I had experienced this before…
Being an Indian student studying at UO, getting chosen for Media in Ghana study abroad program instilled a lot of curiosities and expectations. Travelling in Accra during the first few days made me realize the close similarity between Ghana and India. The similarity is not just in terms of the atmosphere and the chaos but also the cultural practices. Ghanaians are warm, outgoing, super-friendly, love music and dance.
Also it makes me wonder whether all developing societies have some common characteristics just by the virtue of them being in the same stage of development. Or can both of them fit in the same definition of development at all? I am sure that I have seen just the tip of the iceberg and there are more similarities, contradictions and answers lying deeper.
Stay tuned to know more…
Comments by jaclynr