Ghana's History: Are we learning from our past (mistakes)?

Now let me warn you guys beforehand, I am not use to blogging so forgive me if this first post sucks. I have always enjoyed having debates and discussions but I have never really written down my thoughts and arguments in a logical manner (and its way harder than I thought it would be. Ouch!) But go easy on me guys, after all it is my first post and sometimes there is room for some little mistakes here and there (lol).

 I have many thoughts and opinions about Ghana which I would love to share with my brothers and sisters out here. Trust me, if I don’t, my head will explode! I am like that person that you will meet on the bus or at a gathering, and you just start talking about how bad the weather is and when the summer is finally planning to start showing up ( that is if you are in England) all out of courtesy and next thing you know, you are in the middle of a deep discussion about western world manipulation and the incredibly delayed development of African nations and possible solutions etc (I’m sure you get my point).

As a Dutch Ghanaian born and raised in the Netherlands, I have had the best and worst of both cultures. While I considered both countries as home, I have always been particularly passionate about my ‘African Motherland’. As a child, I ABSOLUTELY loved the fact that i was not just an ordinary Dutch girl or just an ordinary Ghanaian girl but a Dutch Ghanaian. I proudly learnt how to speak Twi, when I was about six years old, and mayyynn I struggled (Twi is such a hard language for a six year old dutch speaking kid). I remember very well how my parents always laughed at the way I said 'water' in twi. I had to try and say it right for at least three times continuously before i could get some water to drink. Ironically, this always happened when my mouth was burning from the hot 'fufuo and abenkwan' I was eating at that moment. It did help though ( I guess) because I do  speak Twi fluently ( well that is what I like to think) and I can even read it.

The reason for this post is that I believe that it is the responsibility of people like you and me to contribute to a better and improved future for Ghana. Our forefathers had this visions, dreams, ambitions etc but there were many things that were missing despite these things. Therefore it is very important to know the history of our country.

The other day, my boyfriend and I had a conversation about Dr. Kwame Nkrumah and the plans he had for Ghana and even Africa as a continent. By the way let me just state that my Boyfriend is like a SERIOUS Nkrumah lover, no.. like.. seriously for real! If not for the fact that our dear Dr passed away years ago, I would have been one jealous girlfriend that is how serious the love is. One day I will ask him to write a post about Dr Kwame Nkrumah and his visions and dreams for Ghana (my bf is an incredible writer btw).

Anyway, moving on swiftly, our conversation about Nkrumah led to my boyfriend drawing the conclusion that most Ghanaians lack proper knowledge about the history of Ghana. According to him, most history books given to students in Ghana to learn are useless compared to the history books given to students in western countries. There are no proper descriptions, explanations and evaluations about major events that happened in the past. Personally, I have never schooled in Ghana, therefore I cannot give an accurate comparison between how history is taught in Ghana and say in the Netherlands. I do believe that knowing our history is very essential. G.K. Chesterton said: “The disadvantage of men not knowing the past is that they do not know the present.”  The present is always affected by the past; however, it is up to us whether that effect is going to be positive or negative.

Personally, I believe that this is one of the major difference between Ghana or even any other developing nation and a (western) developed nation. From experience I know that in western countries, history is taught to students in a very in-depth way. Important events are analysed and evaluated so that one completely understands how and why certain things happened. This knowledge also gives one the ability to learn from the past and therefore allowing history to have a positive impact on the present and future.

So my question is, should Ghana do more to teach her people the nation’s history and in what way can we achieve better remembrance of the nation’s history? George Santayana said in his famous quote that, “Those who fail to remember the past are condemned to repeat to repeat their mistakes’’.

Feel free to post comments with your thoughts, whether you agree or disagree with me.

Let’s get talking folks!

Efia