Headline news…

‘A VSO volunteer based in Bolgatanga, in the Upper East Region of Ghana has spent more than one days allowance on a box of cornflakes and a pint of UHT skimmed milk.  After 9 months of various varieties of egg or oats for breakfast this is a giant and expensive leap for the VSO volunteer.  On speaking about her recent purchase the volunteer from the UK said “I just got a massive craving for milk; think my body must be craving calcium, after 9 months with nothing more than powdered milk or ‘ideal’ in tea and coffee it feels good but I’m really looking forward to gulping down a pint of fresh milk when I get back to the UK in August.  In the meantime I’ll just have to chew a few antacid tablets.”’

This is the total sum of the excitement that is my life in Africa and not particularly newsworthy… sorry; it goes some way to explaining the lack of blogs recently.  I did however think a blog about newsworthiness in Ghana was worth writing about, for nothing less than the hilarity it brings to me.  I don’t often read a Ghanaian paper, but over the past few months I have had the opportunity and I quite regularly dip into Ghana web on the net just to see what’s happening.  Mostly Ghanaians listen to the radio to share their news but papers are a regular sight in the office or at workshops… generally because they are being read rather than work being done or actively participating.  The Mirror and the Daily Graphic are the main papers in Ghana and are on a par with our infamous Daily Mail.  Actually I would go so far as to say Ghanaian news puts the inflammatory writing of reporters and choices for ‘news worthy stories’ (literally inverted commas) of The Daily Mail to shame.  The Ghanaian English is rife in all news articles and really makes me giggle… unfortunately out loud for I don’t believe they are ever meant to be funny, just super serious.

Here are a few headline examples;

‘The Lebanese Dude And Snoopie's Report’

‘Sex:  Ghana’s best kept secret’

‘Truck runs over armed robber’

‘Dog saves baby’

It’s the language I find amusing… for example, from the article where the dog saves a baby by looking after it under a bridge; ‘….although it's not impossible that officials will find themselves presiding over a medal presentation to "Hairy Poppins" sometime soon’ and ‘…[baby] is currently in the custody of a local health directorate until new, non-bridge arrangements can be made for him’.  !!!  They can be graphic as well both in written content and photography… often if there has been a road traffic accident the carnage is described in detail including the bodies and they are not afraid to show it in pictures either. More on that later…