And, when you come to a red light, especially in Accra because there were not many red lights along the country road to Togo, men and women balancing to perfection baskets and bowls on top of their heads walk between cars, vans and motorcycles with fruits, drinks, candies, men’s ties, laundry washing detergent, gum, men’s belts, dish towels and yes drinks to keep you cool during the hot, hazy day…are for sale. On your motorcycle and need a new tie…no problem because someone has a variety of ties draped across his or her arms to sell you.

It took us close to six hours with a couple of stops in between along the pretty descent roads through a variety of villages to get to the boarder of Togo but the roadside visual feast of people selling a cornucopia of items, big and small, edible and drinkable and professional to sporty attire was something I had never seen before and frankly, I was mesmerized. These are not big businesses, these are men, women and children ‘hawking’ whatever they can to make a dollar, or in this case, a Ghanaian Cedi. There wasn’t a village we drove through that didn’t have a stand of something for sale be it tomatoes, coconuts, loaves of homemade bread, sandals and even men’s dress suits.

I am just so taken by the ingenuity to make a buck, I mean cedi. And, they are doing this in hot, not warm, weather. I don’t know how prosperous these street vendors are in their endeavors but I applaud their desire to get out there and do what they can to make money. As a recipient of the pushing, it can be annoying at times. But I let that go because these street vendors/hawkers/entrepreneurs are doing what I think any of us would do if we needed to feed our families and ourselves.

This post is dedicated to the hard working Ghanaians who transport, set-up and sell a plethora of life’s wants and needs on the streets of Ghana.