October

WOW cannot believe it's October already! September just whizzed past. Now it's time for Oktoberfest, Halloween and Breast cancer awareness programmes.Yes it might seem strange to some of you but we do celebrate Oktoberfest and Halloween in Ghana mainly because we have a large expatriate community. Lots of Germans, lots of Americans and Brits you name it, we have them here. You could say that Accra was a melting pot of different nationalities.
Oktoberfest is just another excuse to drink more beer and eat lots of wurst but hey in Accra we do do quite a lot of that already. Beer drinking is a favourite pastime of the locals and one just gets to do a bit more of it this time of year.

Halloween on the other hand is not popular. It is mainly the children in the international schools who tend to celebrate it by wearing scary masks to school, or having fancy dress parties where the person with the most horrific of costumes, wins a prize. (I should know as I did attend an international school myself many decades ago). Generally in Ghana, Halloween is seen to be a time associated with evil and is frowned upon by the charasmatic and pentecostal churches. We all know that it is a bit of fun but no, to others it is taken much more seriously than that.

Breast Cancer awareness on the other hand is becoming more popular and there have been lots of workshops and seminars over the last couple of years. Health and prevention of disease generally this month seems to be the hot topic of the Ministry of Health and there have been a number of health clinics and walks to promote good health and better diets among the populace.

Here's to October.. the month of healthy choices!