by Joe Jackson,
OU journalism student
in Accra, Ghana
One of the first and most
interesting things I have noticed on this trip to Ghana is how the majority of
skyscraper like buildings are only halfway completed with construction. It’s
actually a rarity to see a big office building that is fully finished. When
observing the skyline of buildings in Ghana from the fourth floor of a
restaurant we ate at, nearly every building was under construction with the
concrete shell being the only thing that is finished. The question to ask isn’t
how long these buildings have been under construction, but weather or not they
are still being constructed.
I
used to think that these huge construction projects were just limited to the
capital city of Accra, but once we were able to venture out into the countryside
of Ghana, it was apparent that that wasn’t the case. Every small town in Ghana
that we drove through had a staggering number of big buildings, and even small
homes, that were in the middle of being constructed. One of my colleagues,
Carol Hector-Harris, suggested to me that a family would construct a building
only when they have earned enough money to construct a single floor of the
building. For example, we saw a huge number of small homes with only one floor
complete that had long metal poles jetting from the roof. This meant that the
family was intending to add on a second floor to the existing building once
they earned enough money to do so. The idea of paying off a mortgage on a
building does not exist in Ghana. The word debt is nowhere to be found in the
Ghanaian dictionary.
Although
some might view this scene of unconstructed buildings as being a major eye sore
for the country of Ghana, I believe that it is a beautify scene. These huge
unconstructed buildings tell me that Ghana is not giving up. They resemble a dream
and an aspiration as to what Ghana should be. Although I fear that these
projects may take years upon years to complete, at least the country of Ghana
is able to dream big. Ghana is striving to great. Ghana is striving to be
powerful beyond measure.
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