Day 13 - The Ghanaian "Walmart"

Quite often we have client meetings in Accra first thing in the morning.  Our drivers pick us up at 7:00 AM for the 2 hour trek into the office.  As much as I hate these early mornings, it gives us time to enjoy the sights and sounds of our host country.

"Hawking" is a way of life in Ghana.  This must be one of the toughest jobs there is - is must be very demanding work.  It is very hot in Ghana - consistently over 30 degrees each day - and the hawkers walk each day in this heat with heavy baskets on their head.  Those who sell their wares on the street are "officially" unemployed (both educated and uneducated) and this is a way for them to make ends meet in a very difficult economy.  There is no minimum wage for this job category and you are at the mercy of not only the heat and sun but what ever products might be available that day at the distribution center.  We see young mom's with babies strapped to their backs and large baskets on their heads walking up and down the street.  I'm sure ,most days it's a struggle to take home enough income to get by on

Anywhere there is a traffic jam, you see these street vendors walking between the cars to sell their wares.  There's quite a variety of items for sale each and every day.  It is common to see vendors selling food, drinks, newspapers and cell phone pre-paid cards, but in Accra, where the traffic is notoriously bad, the drive into work is sometimes like walking up and down the aisles of Walmart. 

The gestures of Ghanaian people tend to be subtle and I often miss them as I watch the vendors.  We find it entertaining to watch the action on the street as people in their cars buy loaves of bread, bottled water, fresh fruit etc.  The speed with which the goods and cash are exchanged is amazing and if traffic starts to move the vendor is often forced to run along side the car to complete the exchange.

"Hawking" in Accra traffic

We started to notice that many items for sale were outside the food and convenience items and as we identified more interesting products we started to keep a list of all the items we saw on our trips.  In Accra, it seems like you can buy pretty much get anything you need without ever leaving your car.

One day we compiled a list of the items we saw for sale.  The list is a bit lengthy but worth a peruse to see what's there.
 

Newspapers

Phone cards

Sugar cane (cut up in pieces and eaten as candy)

Yams

Toiletries (make-up, deodorant, soap, shampoo, razors, combs, tooth paste, tooth brushes, etc)

Pillows

Pens

Brooms

Air freshener

Skipping ropes

DVD's

Sunglasses (see picture @ right with large wooden flat of sunglasses)

Chocolate bars (and they don’t melt!)

Onions

Mops

Pails

Scrabble

Pringles chips

Plantain chips

Kleenex

TV aerials

Toilette paper

Fruit of all kinds

Tiger nuts (grow in the ground but not with a hard shell…you clean them in salt water before you eat them)

Ceramic bowls

Cake bread (very sweet)

Donuts

Mirror

Plungers

Jellyfish ball (a toy)

Ground nuts

Orange juice

Towels (made from 2^nd hand clothing that is cut into wash cloth sizes and used for car dusters)

Bread

Socks

Ties

handkerchiefs

Grapes

Cookies

Clocks (digital and analogue)

Iron with ironing board

Atlas

Mathematics  Textbook(called “First Aid in Mathematics”)

Bibles

Fabrics for making clothes

Massage apparatus

Plantain Chips

Watches, necklaces and jewelry

Framed artwork (24 x 36 and larger)

Posters (maps of Ghana, alphabet charts)

Sachet Water (small clear packs of water)

Shoes

Belts

Car Phone charger

Phone cases

Yogurt drinks (not sure how they keep them cold)

Blackberries (Yoryi - you peel off the outside to eat the brown fruit inside)

Small tables

Weight machine (an entire free weight set including the bench...while the guy selling this wasn't walking with it, he was demonstrating the product)

Globe (world atlas)

Tummy trimmer (exercise apparatus)

Clothing catalog/Style magazine

Fabric for dress making

Limes

Mango

Oranges

Insulated lunch bag

Canes

Power converters

Power bards

Head phones

Desk lamps

Cuff links

Broaches

Popcorn

Scouring pad for cleaning

Reflective car stickers

Super Glue

Gaming system

Hand held vacuum

Samosas

Oven Cleaner

Camping lantern

Flash light

Camouflage sheets

Keyboard

Hats including cowboy hats (have yet to see a cowboy, nor has our driver ever seen one...see picture @ right)

Dishes

Lanyards

Swimming caps

White board

Crosses (with and without chains)

Wind shield wipers (one size fits all I think ;-))

Wardrobe bags

Dog collars

Magazines

Lip balm

Hair brushes

And…the best one of all.....Puppies!  Can you believe it!

Picture of Puppies below in man's hands

                                                                                                                                   


How is that for another day in Ghana?