The Little Match Girl
I’ve been looking through my negatives from a trip I made about 11 years ago to the West African countries of Ghana, Benin and Togo. The company I used was TransAfrica owned and operated by Alberto Nicheli, in case you, too, want to go to West Africa.
We stopped in the city of Kumasi, Ghana’s second largest city. One woman was keen to buy African textiles, especially kente cloth. I’d never heard of it, and had no idea of what to do with it, but I bought some, too. You have to. It’s your big chance. When you get back home, you’ll see kente cloth mentioned in all the decorating magazines and you’ll hate yourself if you didn’t buy. So, I did.
But I soon got tired of textile shopping and left the group to explore the market. I found many children working like little adults. Some made shoes, some sewed gandouras, some sold food that had been made at home, some like this girl made splints to get a fire started easily. They all had lovely, sweet faces and I want to show them to you.
I didn’t pity them. They were too happy to be pitied. Now I see the intelligence shine from their eyes and wonder what they would have become if life were different for them. Would they be happier? I doubt it. It was in Africa that I came to the conclusion that God disperses happiness in equal amounts to all. Material wealth is not equally dispersed, but as we all know material wealth does not mean happiness.
The Salesman and Salted Fish
This boy sells salted fish brought from Ghana’s coast on the Atlantic. They smelled a bit like anchovies. I can’t tell what his expression means. Maybe he is happy to have his photo taken but doesn’t want to show it. That would not be manly. I felt as if he was ignoring me but in a friendly way.