GHANA: Love It or Leave It

This article was written in response to incessant complians about the weather from Ghanaians who live in developed countries whenever they visit home or plan to settle there for good. Fellow Abrokyire Ghanaian:

Yes, Ghana is hot so what? Why didn't you complain about how hot Ghana was when you lived there all these years before coming to America. Please give us a break and stop making unnecessary noise about the weather. Nobody is asking you to go and live in Ghana. Our ancestors lived there for centuries before the whiteman brought his air conditioning system. I have not heard of anybody in Ghana who died from heat stroke. Malaria and disease causing bacteria kill more people in Ghana than the bad weather you are complaining about. You are exhibiting the typical "abrokyire"(foreign) mentality, thinking that everything should be built and made to suit your foreign acquired taste. Yes, the economic system in Ghana is broken and drastic changes are needed to restore some semblance of sanity in terms of sustainable economic growth. The weather, however, is the least of my worries when I am in Ghana.

Let's spend more time thinking about what we can actually do to make Ghana a better place to live than the trivial absence of air conditioning, a fact which nobody can deny but is absurd to be preaching about it every day. When we live in the comfort of developed countries, we often forget where we came from. We insist that our native lands accord us the same comfortable necessities of everyday living when in reality what we demand may be unaffordable in the immediate future. The weather in Ghana has not changed since we left for America a long time ago.

The weather in Ghana won't ever change to suit us. Ghana, LOVE it or LEAVE it. Nobody is forcing us to go and live there. Kwabena Osei-Dadzie, Burlington, NC