Leftovers

It is amazing what you can find in an African market. The majority of goods available are second hand, of course: clothes, radios and shoes. Of the goods that are new, most are produced in China and India and are generally of poor quality.

On the one hand, the level of material reuse in Africa is commendable. Here, you have automotive parts that would be instantaneously melted down or discarded in the UK being refitted into a ‘tro-tro’ or communal vehicle: they are treated as raw materials. The continent is indeed the king of automotive refurbishment, and we in the West could learn a lot from these guys. But on the other hand, this simply underscores what Africa is for us: a repository for our waste and unwanted products. After all, the refurbished automotive parts were selected from, well, outdated cars in the first place – cars that would not be deemed fit to be on a European road; nor which anyone in Europe would want anyway.

Sometimes it is amazing what trade liberalization and de-regulated markets have created in the developing world. I mean, twenty years ago, who would have thought that African capitals would be epicenters for poor-quality used clothing manufactured in South Asia, used bicycles produced in the Far East, rice manufactured in Thailand and the US, and toothpicks – I repeat, toothpicks – produced in China. In Ghana here, the indispensable MSG-infested Maggi cubes that make or break the jolof rice, chicken dishes and light soups we consume, are manufactured in Malaysia; as is the ketchup used on our rice dishes, despite the fact that the country is a major producer of tomatoes. But what perhaps tops everything is the television program shown during primetime (Friday and Saturday nights). This is a Mexican soap (produced circa-2001) translated into English. Accra seems to stop on Friday and Saturday nights to watch it, and if you are in a building where it is being televised, you often see women pick up their cell phones to call their friends, sisters and mothers to gossip and reflect critically on what Carlos Raul or Alessandro has said, has not said, has done, or has not done. From what I hear, most African countries have similar soaps ‘imported’ from Latin America and the Philippines.

Sometimes the things you see in Africa are mind-boggling.