Anyone been to Ghana?
- Thread starter frogwoman
- Start date
Boudicca
Seaside Queen
There's a really interesting episode of Unreported World about the secondhand clothing market in Ghana.
I knew it wasn't a great idea, but it's much worse than I thought:
(A few years back, a friend of mine decided to get in on the action and shipped a container load of clothes to Ghana. Except that he didn't check it and it turned out to be mostly table cloths ....)
I knew it wasn't a great idea, but it's much worse than I thought:
(A few years back, a friend of mine decided to get in on the action and shipped a container load of clothes to Ghana. Except that he didn't check it and it turned out to be mostly table cloths ....)
Dystopiary
putting up a hook to hang my hopes upon
bimble
floofy
Good article thanks.
Boudicca
Seaside Queen
The charity shops cannot resell all that is donated, so they sell on to businesses that ship containers to other countries. There are also those places which buy clothes by the kilo. I went to see a sorting place in the Midlands once - they were sorting into hot/cold country stuff, but obviously if you sell by the kilo, then you will be inclined to include the crap too.
I was always uneasy about it and even had a vague plan to go and set up a little clothing factory in Ghana at one point, but I wasn't aware of how much was just dumped.
Some African countries have banned the import of secondhand clothing.
bimble
floofy
The thing that I wasn’t expecting in kantamanto is how it’s all (not all but a lot) sorted into categories, like one person only has white cotton clothing one has kids sandals one has a stall with small handful of ‘designer’ gear only. How that distribution happens I don’t have a clue. Also what happens to the larger sizes stuff cos not really a lot of larger size people there generally compared to where the clothes come from.
Boudicca
Seaside Queen
When you've got a moment, watch the Channel 4 programme I linked to. It follows one of the vendors.
Idris2002
Christmas Eve, you know?
I was listening to BBC World Service with a Sierra Leonean guy one time, and the big story was Mugabe banning the import of second-hand underwear to Zimbabwe. The Beeb took the line that this was the latest madness from the criminal mastermind of Harare, but my S/L contact was saying, "hang on, he's right".
skyscraper101
0891 50 50 50
What's it like? Post photos 
frogwoman
No amount of cajolery...
My ghanaian friends were quite worried about me going to places or buying stuff on my own but tbh this is a million times safer than most places I've lived.
Boudicca
Seaside Queen
Great photos frogwoman and love the frock!
I think it is the country with most churches per square mile (or something like that), they do love their churches.
Because they have very few tourists, you will get curious stares, but the people are generally very friendly and it's defnitely a country I could live in.
I think it is the country with most churches per square mile (or something like that), they do love their churches.
Because they have very few tourists, you will get curious stares, but the people are generally very friendly and it's defnitely a country I could live in.
bellaozzydog
rolling turds in glitter
I’m working in Tanzania and the locals make massive rope/old clothes constructions and float them in the sea as FADs (fish aggregation devices)
The beaches are full of them washed up and partially buried being mainly nylon they ain’t going anywhere
UnderOpenSky
baseline neural therapy
Please keep the photos coming.
AverageJoe
...
I'm sorry but that monkey attack video did make me chuckle.
Enjoy your time out there!
Enjoy your time out there!
frogwoman
No amount of cajolery...
Something I'm sure Pickman's model can get behind 
Would be great to see some more photos when you're back
