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So I’ve been to Kumasi before. Take this with a grain of salt - this was over 10 years ago and I was there on a two week voluntourism trip. Here are some of the

• fyfy18 9y ago
  Regarding the first few points, I’ve heard of remote villages in the Himalayas having schools with Raspberry Pis and 12V monitors. The whole system was powered by solar. They then have an offline dump of Wikipedia for students to use for research.
  • pbhjpbhj 9y ago
    There was a segment on the BBC Click TV programme on such a project recently. They also featured installation of Solar grids in small mountain villages.
  • aero-002 9y ago
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet-in-a-Box https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet-in-a-Box
• Hydraulix989 9y ago
  Most laptops and tablets run off of battery.
  • sova 9y ago
    Yes, and most batteries require electricity. I'm glad you're in the discussion but you can do a lot better than that.
    • wutbrodo 9y ago
      I assume that his point was that blackouts and brownouts have limited impact on battery powered devices vs devices plugged directly into the grid, since you can smooth over patchy electricity access by running on battery during blackouts and charging during availability periods. This is why a lot of places with unreliable infra use UPSs with their computers, but if course that means an even higher capital cost to get your system up and running.
    • candiodari 9y ago
      You'd be surprised a) how common solar panels are (and how easy it is to partially repair broken solar panels) b) how simple they are to make if efficiency doesn't matter (optional glas + conductive grid + any black isolator + aluminum foil will result in power delivered between the grid and the aluminum. Paper (even white laser printer paper frankly) will do fine as isolator, also I heard balloon plastic works very well. Of course a transparent conductor works way better than a grid (which is where 80% of the efficiency comes from), but it works at like 5-10% efficiency with a grid) (the optional glass is to keep it clean, you can of course also just clean it regularly) c) how long batteries last if you only ever use 5% of their capability
      • sova 9y ago
        Sounds like he could be teaching his class how to make solar panels.
      • y4mi 9y ago
        > c) how long batteries last if you only ever use 5% of their capability not very long if they're alkaline. And its doubtful anything but their phones got li-on batteries in ghana, the markup probably isn't worth it. And there probably are hardly any phones. so mostly no li-on batteries anywhere. but i've never been there, just economically speaking.
• pavanred 9y ago
  > The medical clinic I was volunteering at... This is off topic. How can one get into that line of work/volunteering? Any particular organizations? Any particular skills ? How can one get started with this kind of work/volunteering?
  • hkmurakami 9y ago
    Contact rotary international or the peace corps.
  • teej 9y ago
    What I did was volun-tourism and is generally looked down upon. I did not help anyone. Ghana was not better off for me having gone there. I personally benefitted from it but to pretend that my “volunteering” had an impact is silly. There are lots of volun-tourism groups. They are for white people who want to go to Africa and look like they are making a difference. I can’t help answer your question, just to ask that you do your diligence and join a legit aid organization.
    • jzebedee 9y ago
      I appreciate the frank response. This is a topic that I don't usually see addressed.
    • alangibson 9y ago
      Voluntourism has become so popular since I started backpacking ~15 years ago that it's become very common that you have to pay to to volunteer. Especially at really 'desirable' gigs like animal conservancies and places that have lots of kids.
  • kaybe 9y ago
    If you have actual skills look into doctors without borders or engineers without borders. If you don't, I agree with the sibling comment.
• rangibaby 9y ago
  I appreciate the insight, but 10 years is a LONG time, especially in developing countries.
  • ekianjo 9y ago
    Especially since a lot of people there have now mobile phone instead of computers and do about everything they need with them.
  • teej 9y ago
    Totally. Literacy in Ghana is way up. Solar panel prices are way down. Smartphones are cheaper than ever. But despite all that, progress can still be slow in poor, underfunded areas of developing countries.
• factsaresacred 9y ago
  > I tried to show them the loop button but they did not want it. Ah, the African way. Imagine that 'this is fine' meme as a cultural trait. Or Japan's 'Shikata ga nai' without the corresponding work ethic. West Africa could be so much more prosperous if only they would will their way towards it. There's so much low hanging fruit. This being one example. 30 minutes drawing this everyday, yikes. But that's Africa. Too chill for its own good. Before the accusations of prejudice, I've from this region. I complain about this to my aunties every visit. Ghana is a shining star of the region (the UK seeded some useful institutions during their exploitation) but still its best and brightest are lured away by better opportunities in London and beyond and its leadership needs more vision. Still, it's moving in the right direction. The future looks bright.
  • grecy 9y ago
    > West Africa could be so much more prosperous if only they would will their way towards it. I have just spent a year and a half driving through 20 countries in West Africa. [1] At times I would have agreed with your comments, though lately I have been taking another tact. The developed world has stress, heart disease, cancer and hundreds of millions of people going to jobs every day they hate with a passion. People have little or no time for family. People have crushing debt. Life expectancy is going down in the USA. Obviously West Africa is far from perfect, but I think it's very important to realize the Developed World is also far from perfect, and it would be a shame to have West Africa "Develop" into exactly what we have built with all our failings. Maybe not working 40+ hours a week is OK. [1] theroadchoseme.com
    • factsaresacred 9y ago
      I'm with you on the absurdity of the West. The isolation, sterility and atomisation of life in large cities (self service checkouts, lack of street life/physicality, laws wrapped in regulations wrapped in rules) is soul destroying. But we live until 80, our institutions work, we want for little (materially), and trust is higher. So depends on what you value. Africa doesn't have to emulate anybody. It can move up the human development index any way it pleases, but, for the sake of its people, it must move up.
• schmookeeg 9y ago
  My wife and I were just in Kumasi with our Subaru a few months ago -- amazing people. I was able to find a gentleman to run all over the markets in search of the peculiar Japanese lugnuts that I had lost one of. He came back in an hour with 5 examples, and was stoked to get $2 from me. He helped me re-install and re-torque all of my lugnuts. I enjoyed nearly complete cell and data at 4G speed throughout Ghana, both on T-Mobile and Project Fi, who I assume use the same carrier. Phone top-up cards are sold everywhere, and I mean EVERYWHERE. The guy who sells airtime in a small village will also have a bank of power strips and will charge the villager's phones for them. I assume there is a small fee for this service. Many of the ones I saw had clever battery systems. There was a system to use your phone to pay with cell credits for merchandise, so it acts as a second currency. This was pretty common all over West Africa. They're not as far behind as you think, and they enjoy skipping over landline POTS infrastructure costs and just get to hoist a few towers all over their countries. Ghana's a great place. The optimism and nationalism make a great combo -- everyone's excited to see where they're headed next. It was one of our favorite stops on our road trip. $0.02 (or 0.09 Cedi :) ) - Mike
  • sah2ed 9y ago
    Are you also circumnavigating Africa like HN user @grecy ?
    • schmookeeg 9y ago
      We beat him home, I think our paths diverged at the Congo (we said nope and boated around, he went through I believe) -- we were in touch briefly last year and contemplated tackling the congo in a group. I think he's doing Asia also, and we chose to "first world" Asia instead of trekking through. We sent our car back to Portland from Cape Town and did Asia/Aus/NZ like proper tourists with rented cars. :)
  • SimbaOnSteroids 9y ago
    >The optimism and nationalism make a great combo... What do you mean when you say nationalism? That's just a word that conjures up so many negative implications for me, even though I'm sure it's healthy to some degree. I guess can you describe what you mean in more detail.
• csomar 9y ago
  $4.500 GDP per capita is pretty high for what you are describing. Ghana GDP per capita is only $1500 and was actually less than $400 10 years ago.
  • IkmoIkmo 9y ago
    The $1500 figure is indeed the correct nominal figure, but it's just a number, it's meaningless without context (prices). If you take that into account you get a sense of purchasing power that's comparable between countries, the PPP figure. That's $4500 in Ghana and it's likely what he's quoting. That having been said, the nominal figure is typically more useful when it comes to manufactured imported goods like computers, or energy prices, as they aren't actually cheaper in developing countries (and sadly, often the opposite). So both figures are going to be useful in getting a sense of affordability here.
    • csomar 9y ago
      I actually think otherwise. PPP can be very high in countries with high inflation and masked real costs (ie: The products are subsidized but not available, so people have to pay the real/full price). The real one is, well, real.
      • IkmoIkmo 9y ago
        I don't really see the point. PPP is typically measured by looking at actual prices for a basket of goods (e.g. prices in stores for various grains, flour, rice, legumes, cooking oil etc), and then using that to extrapolate for aggregate prices for types of goods (e.g. food), and then correcting income figures for price differences. I agree that high inflation and temporarily-subsidised goods make measurement difficult, because it creates a highly volatile price, but that's true whether you want to measure nominal prices or real prices just the same. Stating a nominal price for food in Venezuela in March 2018 is difficult because sometimes it's available, sometimes not, sometimes it's subsidised via government channels, sometimes you need to buy it through market channels, and prices fluctuate due to inflation and currency swings. Nominal price measures have the same difficulties. That having been said, there are only a few countries suffering these circumstances. Ghana has a relatively stable inflation around 10% to 20%, which sounds high (and it is), but is not much higher than inflation in the 60s-80s in the US or Europe (reaching 15%+) and is quite predictable and workable (unlike inflation of literally billions of percent in Zimbabwe in 2009).
• mcfrankline 9y ago
  I didn't want to comment about this, but this post was extremely hard to read. Kumasi is the heart of what remains of the old Ashanti empire that once ruled West Africa. If you had spoken about some village in the Ashanti Region, i'd believe you outright but this is the second most important city in Ghana, and even 10 years ago wasn't this bad. * The Electricity problem isn't a part of life and definitely doesn't affect Kumasi as much as it affected other parts in the past. The country is powered by a couple of hydroelectric dams(and even supply power to a few other west African countries). The water levels were low due to low rainful and that's why these blackout began 10 years ago but it didn't really get bad till 2012...The Ashanti are a proud people, the infrastructure situatuion is not as dire as you state it. * Air quality? Kumasi dusty? The entire city was tarred even as of 10 years ago. I'd still like to believe you spent your time in a village in the Ashanti Region but not Kumasi itself * Literacy? Ha you based that on your two week trip to one school? * Poverty is subjective i believe. 10 years ago, the Ghanaian cedi was pegged evenly with the dollar, and $1 usd was more than enough to feed an entire family. Food was cheap(Still largely is) and the Ashanti Region produces a massive amount of food crops. Your understanding of poverty is flawed if you're going to base it off economic theory. Most people in Africa are able to provide for their families and don't see the need past that. A lot of people are just comfortable staying in mud huts in villages, farming and going about their daily businesses. They don't really care about foreign healthcare because there's a thriving alternative medicine industry in Ghana(herbal) and most people just generally don't care. It's more about the culture, not the ignorance * Internet 10 years ago? C'mon I'm ashamed to admit it but Ghana was on full blast for internet fraud 10 years ago. This is where the Nigerian princes picked up their skills from. Till today, Ghana is still blocked from using paypal. There was internet all over ten years ago and very cheap. We had large communities of MMO players, especially runescape and kids just go home or to an internet cafe after school to play. *Typing skills... I don't even get this one I know the conditions are not as bright as i've seen while travelling the globe, but this was too much like the regular "Africa is a poster child for poverty" theme that it hurt to read it Disclaimer: I was born and bred in Ghana, and live in several cities for several years.
  • teej 9y ago
    To be honest, you could be totally right. I went back to look at my records of the trip and my memories of the trip before writing my comment. I also spent a bunch of time looking at a map trying to remember. I definitely spent time in Kumasi but the majority of my time was likely in an Ashanti region village. Sorry if you feel that I’ve misrepresented Kumasi.
• misakwa 9y ago
  The power/electricity problems still exist, but the access to internet is getting better - some universities have free WiFi access points for their students. Most of the changes that will help make a difference are all predicated on having computers and electricity available at the very least. I wish there'd be a bit more focus at the Junior High School level instead of all the way up at the university level since not all the students are able to make it there for several other reasons. It is improving though, but ever so slowly.