On Finding and Losing One's Way

OWhere The Streets Have No Namene of the greatest challenges facing newcomers to Ghana and Accra in particular is the lack of specificity on maps or in directions given by Ghanaians. Almost all roads in Accra have names – I for example live on Nmati lane – however, if I tell a Ghanaian that I live on that particular road, he will stare at my blankly, even if he lives in my neighborhood. Ghanaians don’t use road signs or road names, they prefer to use landmarks and institutions. “I’m going to Coffee Shop side of Labone” or “I am going to Ridge near the Fidelity Bank building” or “I am just going around the corner from Metro TV”. It seems fairly simple, but the problem for foreigners is not just getting used to the Ghanaian method. Imagine stepping off of a plane, never having spent time in Accra before. You are snatched up by a cab driver who seriously inflates the fare. You look down at the card with the address of the residence, office or institution that you are heading for and you read the address to the driver. Unless he already knows where the particular place is, he won’t know where to take you just from the street name.
The postal system in Ghana isn’t good to begin with, so if mail were regularly delivered to people’s houses or offices.... well let’s just say it never would be. Everyone has a mailbox at the post office. I have yet to see a postal worker, mail truck or even a letterbox. No one in Accra knows the “official” city well enough to put together routes and in addition the postal infrastructure that we know in the US doesn't even exist. You can't tell a postal worker to deliver letters to the brown house on the curving street that runs off of the avenue parallel to the one that intersects with Circle.
It’s strange to me, but certainly not inconvenient enough that I can’t get around. It has even helped me know Accra better – it’s monuments, it’s markets, it’s well-known restaurants and stores. For me though frustrating, in the long run it has been more help than hindrance.