..What do you know about Gambia?

[Derek]

Re: ..What do you know about Gambia?

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: CyberPhobic</div><div class="ubbcode-body"><div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: pleXxed</div><div class="ubbcode-body">What do you know about Gambia? curious </div></div>

Mi went dere for two weeks dere a few years aguh and did poas a chrip repowt. Mi nuh kno if it still dey bout doe. I went back in 2009 but stayed only 5 days. Love that place and might set up roots dere one day. It is calm and nice and di people dem (for the most part) are very welcoming and friendly. The primary religion is Muslim and if you visit during Ramadan, it is a different place. It is close enuff to Senegal dat peeple guh ova dere tuh shop daily.

Mi and mi &quot;fren&quot; did adopt an elementary school where we still send a box of school supplies every Sept.

It remine mi a lot of original/authentic back in di days Jamaica. Nuff peeple fayva peeple mi did kno back home. Di food good, di music good and dem love fi laff and welcome you tuh dem &quot;compound&quot;.

Whenever mi tell dem sey mi a Jamaican, rhatid, is like mi tell dem sey mi is a direct decendant of dem religious leader to raxtone. Mi juss get immediately elevated to sainthood, nuh matta if a yung or ole person mi talking to. Dem love Jamaica like cook food. Dem also love reggae and worship Bob Marley. </div></div>


They even have a Reggae radio programme called <span style="font-weight: bold"><span style="font-size: 11pt">Fi We Music</span></span>

[X]

Re: ..What do you know about Gambia?

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: MsPeaches</div><div class="ubbcode-body">

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: pleXxed</div><div class="ubbcode-body">MSPeaches - regarding Ghana, is it true that land there is very expensive, however if a Jamaican or any Afro-American/Canadian go back to Ghana and is able to PROVE that they are of Ghanian decent, they would be eligible to receive free land from the government??
Any truth to this?</div></div>

pleXxed, in the 1970s, I believe it was, or maybe 1980s, there was a campaign called HOMECOMING for what they call 'The Diaspora' here. This was indeed a drive to bring back to Ghana 'members of the Diaspora' , who are the people you mentioned. The government was hoping that the 'Diasporans' would bring with them money to invest in Ghana and the ideas to go with it, thus helping to rejuvenate the Ghanaian economy without selling it out to European, Asian and other 'foreigners'.

In theory it was a great idea. But I think that what they forgot to factor into the equation was the fact that - as in most West Africa countries - there are already people living on virtually all the land here, and they would have to be displaced from their own ancestral lands in order for this to happen. If you take into consideration the fact that Ghana has a population about half of that of Canada and size-wise you could drop the entire country into Manitoba and have plenty of room to spare, you get the picture.

So it seems that the idea fell by the wayside somewhere along the way. When I first arrived in Ghana it was still referred to occasionally in the media, but one scarcely hears it mentioned these days.

The price of land in Accra has been escalating rapidly during the past several years and it's unlikely you would find a plot in Accra or other large cities for anything like $3000 now. It would more than likely be upwards of $10-15,000 now, or even much more depending on the location.

There are other problems associated with land acquisition here. Foreigners are officially not allowed to own land in Ghana. People have been known to work around this in some cases, but they are always in danger of losing their shirts. Then there are problems with respect to valid titles, obtaining consent from the local chiefs, etc etc. And there is a lot of swindling and land fraud perpetrated on unsuspecting foreigners (and even Ghanaians!) by shysters of all descriptions. I myself was taken in by such a scam and it took 2 1/2 years to get through a court case that got my money back for me. It is more the norm for land to be leased for up to 99 years than for it to be sold.

Land in the villages would be a lot less expensive but very difficult to come by, and you might not have water or electricity. A lot of small towns and villages have one 'borehole' - sometimes 'mechanized' and sometimes not - for the entire village. Of course, if you could afford to install solar and dig your own borehole or well, that might not be as much of a problem as the roads getting in and out which are every bit as bad as the equivalent in Jamaica.

Then there's the problem of MONEY. There's only one branch of one bank in Ghana, for instance, that will cash a Government of Canada cheque - ask me how I found out! And Ghanaian Visa or debit cards or cheques can't be used to pay for anything from outside the country or on the internet - a real pain!
So as we say here, &quot;It's not easy..&quot;

So you'd have to 'know people' and be more than cautious in order to do it successfully. I'm not saying it's impossible, I'm just saying WATCH OUT!
But DO come and visit. It's a great place to be.

I hope this has been helpful.
</div></div>
Thanks MsPeaches
This has been VERY informative.

The land issue sounds like what one would expect under the conditions you describe.. trust me, (aside from the opportunities provided by this economic “deep-session”) deals that seemed too-good-to-be-true, are 101% of the time, just that.. too good to be true..

On the cultural side, I see it would be great if our school would teach more about the positive economic side of the continent.. The Ghana and Gambia for example.. In (Jamaican) high school, we more learn of Africa as a forsaken continent.. We are seeing more and more that Africa has much progress and a lot to offer Jamaicans in particular.,.
It would be nice if the truth could be told..

[MsPeaches]

Re: ..What do you know about Gambia?



You're more than welcome, pleXxed!
I didn't realize you're in Jamaica. I gather from a chat with a young lady on Facebook that the rains have lessened but the heat is intense there. Hope it cools down a bit for you soon!
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: pleXxed</div><div class="ubbcode-body">On the cultural side, I see it would be great if our school would teach more about the positive economic side of the continent.. The Ghana and Gambia for example.. In (Jamaican) high school, we more learn of Africa as a forsaken continent.. We are seeing more and more that Africa has much progress and a lot to offer Jamaicans in particular.,.
<span style="font-weight: bold">It would be nice if the truth could be told.</span></div></div>

Africa in general and Ghana in particular, have suffered much less from the Global economic downturn of recent years than have some other parts of the world. Our current and beloved President, Professor John Evans Atta Mills, is a straight-arrow kind of guy who has a very solid background in economics, accounting and finance, has served 2 terms as a Vice-President and is a Law Professor to boot! I think that we here have done much better since 2009 than might have otherwise been expected. But of course, the judgment of the people on this topic is similar to that on censorship: it's very difficult within a country to be aware of what's going on and how it compares to the broader picture.. Those of us who know are praying that he is re-elected come Dec. 2012, but unfortunately there are no guarantees.

There are some absolutely huge investment opportunities in this country for some very large-scale investors, and 'it is to dream' that they will ever be taken advantage of. The biggest bees in my bonnet are the Timber Market area in downtown Accra and the Old Town as well. They both have a wealth of colonial-style architecture and historic buildings which have been left to deteriorate for a very long time. If somebody decided to spruce up these areas and give them an attractive paint job they could be an incredibly attractive tourist draw and result in a lot of increased tourism to Accra. The Accra Metropolitan Assembly has made rumblings from time too time about this, but so far they remain in their decrepit condition. The problems with garbage collection and sanitation alone in a city of about 6,5000,000 people is not to be sneezed at!

As for getting the news out - that's why some of us come here to post on Jamaicans.com The Internet is the best tool available at the moment to counteract the standard media bias, not only about Africa but also, as you know only too well. about Jamaica.

Walk gud and keep Jamaica proud! With students like you she can hardly go wrong!

[X]

Re: ..What do you know about Gambia?

thanks again MsPeaches..
<span style="font-style: italic"><span style="font-weight: bold">Was </span></span>in Jamaica..
Now in America's #1 frenemy - Canada...

[jah_yout]

Re: ..What do you know about Gambia?

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">In (Jamaican) high school, we more learn of Africa as a forsaken continent.. We are seeing more and more that Africa has much progress and a lot to offer Jamaicans in particular.,.
It would be nice if the truth could be told..</div></div>


the so-called leaders made it this way...
legacy of slavery &amp; colonialism &amp; brainwash;
we were taught that africa is something to be ashamed of (even as the rest of the world a rush africa)...
you will rarely even hear a j'can refer to themself as african the way they would refer to an indo-jamaican as indian or a chino-jamaican as chiney...

the big elephant in the room is that we are an african people...
garvey showed that it was imperative that we establish stronger links &amp; cooperation with the continent

[Leddih]

Re: ..What do you know about Gambia?



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