Ghana is like a painting.
One of those paintings where you can’t
quite figure out what it’s supposed to be, but you like it anyway… its many
colours, textures and fabulous patterns draw you in and make you forget that you’re
supposed to be figuring it out in the first place.
Just a brief walk along the dusty streets
is an experience in itself here in the country’s capital.
Buses whiz past packed with people
squeezing their bodies out of the windows to catch the breeze.
Women in bright, patterned clothes carry
everything and anything on their
heads and talk / chat / run / argue / carry children at the same time.
Stalls selling barbequed plantain serve up
this delicious cross between potato and banana and wrap it in pages torn from a jotter, so you don’t burn your fingers…
People laugh loudly, talk loudly, and love
to make jokes.
People make things, make music, make fun…
It really is a jolly place from where I’m
standing. But then that’s perhaps a silly statement, as most places seem pretty
jolly from where I’m standing in my little red hat, with my manicured nails as
The Trolley Dolly!
I was reading a pro-tourism publication
here in Accra, Ghana and I was inspired by what was said of the nation’s
unfailing belief that ‘tomorrow will be better than today’. I like love
this hopeful, resilient sentiment.
As you pass all the brightness of the
city’s building success, you see the real meaning of this statement when your
pretty picture is scratched by the image of real poverty. One man leads his
blind mother amongst the heaving smoky traffic, another sits in a wheelchair at
a traffic signal, with a big smile, missing his legs. And children with no
shoes come to the windows of your car, putting their hands to their mouths,
asking for any spare Cedis (Ghanaian currency).
As I walked amongst this bizarre network,
it didn’t really cross my mind that this might pose as a backdrop for one of my
World Catwalk features. Even if I wanted to take a few pictures, most of the
women here are suspicious of the camera and I’m not about to start a row in the
middle of downtown Accra. Would you?!
To my surprise, as I
went in search of a restaurant, two stylish ladies walked onto my World Catwalk
radar.
Without thinking, I casually walked ran over and introduced The
Trolley Dolly, explaining that their cool style had caught my eye. To my
further surprise, they were from London, and yes, they wouldn’t mind me
featuring their outfits in World Catwalk… job done.
Natalie was keeping up with the bright
theme that skips through Accra by teaming a multicoloured print tee with super
fresh turquoise skinny jeans, rolled up to reveal a bright beaded anklet. Top
marks for the Raybans and sweet pink lipstick. And the holiday hat is the cherry
on the cake!
