6/9 – Sunday
Today is
my last day at Joy before I head off on another adventure. I was woken up promptly at 7; the wedding
that took place yesterday at the church across from the Joy Family Lodge
resumed a special Sunday service (Gospel) at 6:30! I think I’ll head to Ho in the Volta region
tomorrow, and just spend a few days checking it out, maybe completing 2-3
interviews. Today I had an interesting
morning chatting to the folks here.
First, Kofi asked me to come to Wele falls on Saturday just to check it
out. Of course!
More importantly, however, was my
conversation with Eric here. We chatted
and compared political structures (I explained liberals, conservatives,
democrats, republicans, the house of reps, senate, federal/state laws, and a
whole lot more), as well as education and wages. From what I gather here, the minimum wage in
Ghana is 5 Cidis a day ($2.50), going to 150 Cidis a month ($75). However, because unemployment is so high, business
owners often pay their employees less.
If the employees complain, there are plenty of eager Ghanaians to take
their place. In addition, Eric, a
university graduate with a degree in Business, tells me it’s difficult to get
work around the country even holding one degree. He and the staff are all highly educated, yet
are stuck at a 200 Cidi a month ($100) hotel bellboy job, because no one is
hiring. He hopes to go back to school
and get a degree in higher education, so he can have a stable government job
that pays him and sets aside money for retirement (here, the social security
money is only valid if you stay at a job until you retire, and most business
owners don’t even pay into that for their employees). Tomorrow I’ll take a car into Accra and then
take a car to Ho and explore that city.
Today, I hope to finish my book and upload this to a blogging site!
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