About Us and Ghana

LEGASSI GARDENS

SERVICED APARTMENTS

ITAL VEGETARIAN CAFÉ

ARTS & CRAFTS

About Us and Ghana

Ethos

We believe that there is unique beauty to be found everywhere in Ghana: in the perfect male-female harmony of nature, in the flowers, the mountains, the faces, the music, the crafts and the people! This beauty must be protected, honoured and treated always with respect.

Goals

· To showcase, however possible, Ghana’s beauty

· To allow our guests to be enriched by their experience of Ghana

· To Give Back and Give Thanks.

Nana & Family Team

We are family-run, so are always friendly and ready to help.

It is our pride to pay attention to the details that matter to you.

We want you to feel secure and welcome.

OUR RESPONSIBILITY

We try, and actively encourage you to also try, to have a positive impact on the social, economic and environmental life of Ghana. We believe that in doing so you will enjoy the ‘real’ Ghana, and have a genuine experience. There is ALWAYS something new to learn.

Please know something about the country- its history, people and culture- before you come; and think about the impact of your actions while you are here. Relax: it’s what we call “Serious Fun”!

Overview of Ghana:

Ghana was the first country in Africa to gain post-colonial independence!

Ghana is located at the very centre of the Earth!

Ghana is a peaceful and democratic country!

Ghana is found on the southern coast of the west of Africa, on the Atlantic Ocean and is surrounded by Francophone countries: to the north and northwest by Burkina Faso, to the east by Togo, and to the west by the Ivory Coast.

Ghana’s culture and attractions:

¨ Ghana is located AT THE CENTRE OF THE EARTH!!!

¨ Numerous Places of Interest in Accra and other bordering regions:

*Centre for National Culture

*Kwame Nkrumah Mausoleum & Memorial Park

*James Fort, Usher Fort, Brazil House

*Osu Castle

*WEB Dubois Centre

*University of Legon

* Aburi Botanical Gardens

*Boti falls

*Akosombo Dam and Volta Lake

*Wli Falls

*Tafi Monkey Sanctuary

*Cape Coast and Elmina Castles

Some History

Ghana was formerly known by Europeans as ‘The Gold Coast’ because of the abundance of this natural resource found here. The Portuguese were the first Europeans to come to Ghana to trade in gold and ivory. They built Elmina castle in 1482, and other forts later. Other Europeans followed and challenged the Portuguese for this gold and ivory trade: the Dutch, who built forts from 1598, and also the English, the Danish and the Germans.

Sadly, once the Europeans had established sugar plantations in the Caribbean, the trade in gold and ivory was surpassed by a ‘trade’ in human beings, as Africans were considered the best labourers for these plantations. By 1720 the shameful ‘Transatlantic Slave Trade’ had taken hold of the region economically, socially and politically. Gun and greed fuelled wars raged along the west African coast, in which whole ‘nations’ were defeated, bound and sold to the Europeans, often just for more guns, or cloth, beads and mirrors. In Ghana, the Asante were the main suppliers of ‘slaves’, including to the Dutch and the British. Powerful with guns, they ‘sourced’ captives for the trade, through war or simple kidnapping, and handed them– through a long chain of African middle men, to the Fanti traders on the coast, who concluded the negotiations with the ’white men’. By the 18th century the British were the dominant slave traders. “The Atlantic slave trade became part of a prosperous trading cycle known as the triangular trade. In the first leg of the triangle, European merchants purchased African slaves with commodities manufactured in Europe or imported from European colonies in Asia. They then sold the slaves in the Caribbean and purchased such easily transportable commodities as sugar, cotton, and tobacco. Finally the merchants would sell these goods in Europe and North America. They would use the profits from these sales to purchase more goods to trade in Africa, continuing the trading cycle.” (Microsoft Encarta ® 2006.)

Historians agree that the slave trade was the driving force in the development of capitalism throughout Europe and the colonized Americas. For example: between 1500 and 1750 the trade was the largest employer in Holland and Portugal. ‘Wall Street’ in New York City, became a vital capitalist financial centre because it was the first big slave trade center in the colonies, and later, the new nation’s principle slave trading port where the business of slave trading was conducted, until 1862. It is equally well-documented that England accumulated enormous wealth from the trade, directly funding many ‘institutions’ in the business world, including Barclays Bank, founded in 1756 by brothers David and Alexander Barclay from the profits made in their slaving business; and Lloyds of London, which evolved from a humble coffee house to a leading insurer of British Slave ships and their human cargo.

There are many records from the time detailing the dependence of British prosperity on the trade. Malachai Postlethwayt, an 18th Century capitalist and mercantilist theoretician, wrote that: “The African Trade is the first principle and foundation of all the rest, the mainspring of the machine which set every wheel in motion...the African trade is so very beneficial to Great Britain, so essentially necessary to the very being of her colonies, that without it neither could we flourish nor they long subsist.”. During the 18th Century British slave traders supplied the sugar planters of France and Spain; and by 1795 Liverpool had five-eighths of the British slave trade and three-sevenths of the whole European slave trade. As for France, historians, including CLR James, suggest that the trade was the economic basis for the French Revolution, as the wealth produced at Nantes and Bordeaux “gave the bourgeoisie a pride that needed liberty!” James concluded that: “...nearly all the industries that developed in France during the 18th Century had their origins in the goods or commodities destined for the coast of Guinea or for America”. (CLR James– The Black Jacobins, 1963).

Conversely, historians have not identified any resulting lasting benefits or developments for the African partners in this trade.

Eventually, the Asante came into conflict and war with the British when, in 1807, the British officially abolished the trade in slaves. The trade was no longer profitable for Britain, due to the increasing costs of containing plantation revolts; and ‘free trade’ now offered better profits than those possible under the monopoly on trade with Britain enjoyed by plantation owners in their colonies.

The illicit trade did not end for several decades, as the African chiefs involved had no other ‘commercial enterprise’ to replace it! Historians say that these chiefs found new ‘ports’, suitable points, along the coast, from which to ship the captives, after the British had actually ‘bricked up’ the “Doors of No Return” in their forts, including at Cape Coast and Elmina. The Europeans had developed a whole economy based on the manufacturing of goods in their home countries, which were then exchanged for human beings in Africa. By the 19^th Century, these European goods were no longer considered as luxuries to the African chiefs, but as necessities in West Africa! The position of the African chiefs involved in the trade was simple: if they wanted European goods, the only way to get them was by providing human beings, as the Europeans would accept nothing else in place, except Gold.

A majority of the slave forts along the West African coast were found along the coast of today’s Ghana, signifying the extent of the involvement in the ‘slave trade’ here. Conservative estimates conclude that between 1451-1870 approximately 10–20 million people were transported from the West African coast to the Caribbean and the Americas, with at least as many dying in the slave raiding wars or along the journey. Other historians have concluded that the numbers were multiples of this total. The impact on West Africa was quite devastating. These regions are still ‘developing’ and remain largely dependant. The “removal of millions of young men and women led to depopulation that stifled African creativity and production... slaving and slave trading stimulated warfare, corrupted laws... stifled technological advancement, and created a class of elite rulers and traders...the slave trade was the beginning of a dependency relationship with Europe.. based on the exchange of Africa’s valuable primary products for European manufactured goods, which continued after the slave trade ended, through a colonial period and beyond. In this sense, the slave trade was the first step towards modern Africa’s current status as a region where technological development has yet to match that of more industrialized nations.” Microsoft ® Encarta ® 2006.

For the rest of the world: “The Atlantic slave trade involved the largest intercontinental migration of people in world history prior to the 20th century. This transfer of so many people, over such a long time, had enormous consequences for every continent bordering the Atlantic. It profoundly changed the racial, social, economic, and cultural make-up in many of the American nations that imported slaves. It also left a legacy of racism that many of those nations are still struggling to overcome.” Microsoft ® Encarta ® 2006.

The trade in human beings only really came to an end around 1880, after Ghana officially became a British colony. The British officials finally realized that the only way to effectively stop the ‘slave trade’ was by replacing it with a different trade which would allow Africans to sell local commodities, at reasonable prices, to Europe. In many parts of West Africa palm oil was produced and sold to power the new industries in Europe. These had developed as a result of the huge wealth derived from their slave-labour intensive colonies in the Caribbean. In Ghana, cocoa production became the new business. The very long and difficult road to healing could now begin.

When the British defeated the Asante in 1826, various treaties were signed with the chiefs of Asante and the coastal regions. Christian missionaries then began their work: the Basel Missionary Society started schools in Aburi and Akropong from 1835; the Wesleyan Methodists started schools in Cape Coast, and in 1876 founded Mfantsipim, the oldest secondary school in Ghana; and the Bremen missionaries started work in the Volta region, amongst the Ewe people.

The Gold Coast became a British Colony in 1874. By the time of gaining independence on 6 March 1957, under her first President Dr Kwame Nkrumah, the borders of the newly named country ‘Ghana’, had been negotiated and drawn up by agreement between the former colonial power Britain and her French ally in the victory over Germany in WWII. Dr Nkrumah, amongst many of the first Presidents of independent African states, was inspired in his struggle for the independence of Ghana by the Jamaican born, Christian, mass political leader, Marcus Mosiah Garvey, who advocated the independence of Africa. Much of the insignia of Ghana’s national independence is borrowed from Garvey’s movement: including the ‘Black Star’ of Independence Square in the capital, Accra; and the name of the Ghana national football team- ‘The Black Stars’.

Ghana is now striving forward! It is peaceful and democratic, and welcomes all visitors, regardless of race, nationality or creed.

The People: Ghanaians come from six main ethnic groups: the Ga-Adangbe, the Ewe, the Akan (Ashanti and Fanti), the Mole-Dagbani, the Guan, and the Gurma.

The Ashanti peoples (Asante) of the Akan are the largest group in Ghana and one of the few matrilineal societies in West Africa. Once known for their military might, they are most famous today for their craft work, particularly their hand-carved stools and fertility dolls and their colourful kente cloth.

The Ewe largely settled in southeastern Ghana and the southern parts of neighboring Togo and Benin, and are also known for beautiful Kente work.

The Fantis are mainly located in the coastal areas of Ghana, where the ‘castles’ and fortresses used during the Atlantic Slave Trade are located.

The Ga-Adangbe people inhabit the Accra Plains. The Adangbe are found to the east, the Ga groups, to the west of the Accra coastlands.

The major languages spoken: are Twi, Fante, Ga, Hausa, Dagbani, Ewe and Nzema. However, English remains the official language of Ghana.

The Legal System: Based on the English Legal system.

Religions: Ghana has the highest percentage of Christians in West Africa. An approximate breakdown of religions suggests that 60% are Christian, 15% are Muslim and 25% practice traditional African religions.

The Climate: Ghana’s climate is tropical but relatively mild. There are two rainy seasons for most of the country, from April to June and from September to November. However, in the north of the country squalls occur in March and April, followed by occasional rain until August and September, when the rainfall season peaks.

The temperatures range between 21°C and 32°C (70°F - 90°F), relative humidity between 50% and 80%. Rainfall ranges from 30 to 80 inches a year. The ‘harmattan’, a dry desert wind, blows from the northeast from December to March lowering the humidity and causing hot day and cool nights in the north. The effect of this wind is felt in the south during January. In most areas, temperatures are highest in March and lowest in August after the rains.

Visas: To enter Ghana, citizens of all but ECOWAS -member States require visas (at a nominal fee).

The Currency:100 pesewas=1 Cedi

Local Time: Ghana has the same time as that of GMT

Electric Power: is 230V running at 50Hz.

Travel Insurance: It is advisable to always ensure you have a comprehensive travel insurance policy which covers you for repatriation to your home country.

The food: Soups are the main dish in Ghanaian food and are eaten with fufu (either pounded plaintain and cassava or yam), kokonte (cassava meal cooked into a paste), banku (fermented corn dough), boiled yam, rice, bread, plantain, or cassava.

Our Environmental Responsibility:

* To offset carbon emissions we promote vegetarianism, through our vegetarian café. We recognize that diet is an important tool in working to achieve environmental sustainability; and studies on world food security estimate that a diet containing meat requires up to 3 times as many resources as a vegetarian diet. (Research has shown that worldwide food production requires 20% of fossil fuel energy, 30% of the total soil available, and a major part of the fresh water flow. Raising cattle is one of the most damaging elements of agriculture as they cause the most environmental damage of any non-human species through over-grazing, soil erosion, desertification and tropical deforestation for ranches, in addition to their gaseous emissions and manure products.) As far as we are aware, there are only 2 other vegetarian eating places in Accra. We are known in our area for our vegetarian life-style. We also help to limit transport pollution by promoting the use of local transport including the train and buses (trotros). We are ideally placed just 5 minutes walk from the train station.

* We collect rain water during the rainy seasons, for household and garden use, in two large water tanks. We are not connected to the Government mains water system, and are particularly careful with our use of water.

* We compost our organic waste and grow organically, without using pesticides or fertilizers, some basic food stuffs in our garden- such as cassava, gungu peas, callaloo and pawpaw, depending on the season. We also use the food we grow for meals in our café.

* Our recycling mainly comprises returning bottles and other containers to our suppliers for reuse, and also carrying refillable containers to the market for items such as peanut paste and palm oil. We also recycle old subscription magazines, such as ‘Amnesty’ and ‘Clean State’ by putting them in the apartments for guests to read. Our ‘Akwaaba’ information sheet also encourages our guests to separate their waste for composting and recycling.

* We maintain a small office, in our home, which is in the same compound as the apartments, and do not ‘travel’ to work, thereby avoiding transport pollution. We also use only a minimum of paper, printing on both sides, not producing printed brochures, printing multiple flyers for the café on A4 paper instead of one flyer per sheet, and using blackboards instead of printed menus in the café. In the office, our home and throughout the compound, we aim to ensure that appliances are turned off from the mains when not in use, and that energy efficient bulbs are used.

* We minimize energy use by placing a minimum of electrical appliances in the apartments: a television (if requested), a fridge and fans; by requesting that guests do not use electric irons or kettles; and reminding them, in our ‘Akwaaba’ information sheet, not to waste resources.

* We fit the apartments with spacious showers, instead of bathes; we have well-ventilated rooms, instead of air-conditioning; the sheets are changed as requested by guests, and usually every 3-5 days, depending on the guest and their length of stay.

* We give a home to the many different species of birds and butterflies which inhabit the fruit trees in our garden; and the birds begin their melodic singing with the sunrise every morning.

* We also work with a local organic farmer in Djastui, Ras Obadiah Farm, and organize working visits to his farm for interested guests.

Our Economic Responsibility:

We aim to promote the economic development of our community.

We employ local young men and women to work with us, providing them skills training and on-site accommodation, so saving on travel costs. All our furniture, professional and technical help is provided by local people, which encourages capacity building in these fields, reduces the costs of transportation, and promotes the beauty of local crafts.

Our Social Responsibility:

We are active members of our community and are keen to preserve the social stability and harmony of our area. We advise guests that they will get the most from their stay with us by mixing with the local people, traveling and eating with them, and observing, through respectful eyes, the ordinary Ghanaian way of life.

We have also developed a relationship with a local orphanage in our area, at Ayawaso– Village of Hope, which cares for orphans and street children; providing vocational training for the teenagers, as well as feeding programs in Accra. We can arrange volunteering opportunities for interested guests at the orphanage in a range of activities including teaching, farming and construction.