african markets

I have been to the markets twice. To get to the Medina markets (they are located in Accra, and are one of the countless markets in the city area), we walk to the Main Gate of the University, which takes about twenty minutes from my hostel. We cross the highway and then walk a little bit down the road (past some other markets) to get a ride on the tro-tro (they are like 16-passenger vans which are the bus system here). The tro-tros don’t come on any sort of schedule, but instead there is a worker who yells out where they are going as some people scramble off and others decide to get on.


The ride to the markets is about 10-15 minutes long. During the ride, many sights can be seen: little phone shops where Ghanaians purchase phone minutes (they don’t do prepaid cell phones as we do in the US), women and men selling everything from water to plantains to glue, substandard houses, lots of red dirt, and people everywhere. I legitimately don’t think I’ve ever seen so many people just sitting, standing, walking all in one place…

Stepping off the tro-tro into the markets showed me that I really had no idea what a lot of people was. I could not believe how many people are at the markets. I am so surprised that I haven’t seen anyone get hit by a taxi or tro-tro, because they drive so close to people and really don’t practice any sort of pedestrian right of way. You can buy pretty much anything you would need at markets: cell phones, clothing, food, books, CD’s, water, buckets, kitchen supplies, rugs, etc. Anytime you look at an item at a stand for more than a second, the person selling the items there will come up to you and say hello, ask you what you want to buy, etc. Many little children are laying down on blankets near their parents stores or just walking around, and they often shout and point ‘obruni, obruni!’ whenever they see whites. A lot of times they run up to touch us, flash us big smiles, and then quickly run away.

After I got back from the markets the first time, I was trying to explain to Araba (my roommate) about how I had never seen anything like them before…how in America, we either have big stores that carry pretty much everything (Walmart, Target) or small specialized stores. I also told her how I have never seen people selling things on the side of the road, where sometimes they had to run alongside the tro-tro in order to pass their sold item in or receive their money. She said that having people selling things on the side of the road is convenient…if you forgot to get something at the market, you will certainly be able to get it on your way back. Never thought about it like that…