The Story of Hiba's Village

In a small village nestled in the heart of Ghana, there lived a hardworking woman named Hiba. She had a vision for her community: a village with thriving farms, clean water, and opportunities for every child to go to school. Hiba worked tirelessly, teaching farming techniques and advocating for better resources.

However, whenever Hiba proposed new ideas or initiatives, she'd often hear, "This is how we've always done it," or "Someone else will take care of it." Over time, Hiba noticed that many of her neighbors were waiting for others to lead, hoping for external solutions to their challenges.

One day, a severe drought hit the village, affecting crops and livelihoods. Hiba's community came together, but instead of taking collective initiative to find solutions, many looked to the government or NGOs for aid. Hiba reflected on their reliance on others and realized that their wait-and-see approach might be a factor in the village's slow progress.

Reflection

Hiba's story isn't unique to any one village or country, but it touches on themes that can impact development:

• Waiting for external solutions: Relying heavily on external aid or leadership can sometimes slow down local initiative and innovation.
• Collective action and ownership: Development often accelerates when communities take proactive, collaborative steps toward their goals.

Hiba's village began to change when she inspired a few others to join her in small, collective efforts. They started a community garden and initiated discussions on sustainable practices. Slowly, the village started to see the fruits of their combined efforts.

Note

This story aims to reflect on themes in a neutral, thought-provoking way without attributing Ghana's development challenges to a single factor. It's a narrative that highlights the potential impact of community initiative and collective action.

Ghana gained its independence in 1957, way before most of the African countries gained theirs. But what we see today is the opposite. It is as if we gained independence at these later times. Development compared to our juniors in attaining independence is knee-walking, even with our current role as the number one gold deposits and producers in West Africa or even the entire Africa, we cannot boast much.

Singapore, Libya, Kenya, Uganda,Rwanda, and even Ethiopia, which was not even colonized by the English or French, have gone further in development. The most common comparison and lamentation is our (Ghana) aviation industry, visit Jomo Kenyata International Airport in Nairobi, Kenya, and also take a transit at Bole International Airport in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and struggle to count the number of national or state airlines in these two countries, and for Egyptair, Rwanda airlines etc you will roledown tears for our nation.

Ghana, your country, my country, and our country, is not by any means a country; it has gained its name in diverse ways, including soccer, natural resources and to some extent a stable and peaceful Democratic state that other countries emulate, and this has given the nation International recognition. But the question is should that be all? A democracy without key developments and the underutilisation of natural resources will be much ado about nothing. Our leaders need to go back to the drawing board, and pick up the pieces left behind, and sew them together like the story of my coat of many colours. Kwame Nkrumah's vision is sinking or even sunk, but it is not drastically lost. Our visionary leader and potential state architects can man still make our beloved country bounce back we had the leaders We have the leaders. What we need to have are the painstaking and sentimental leaders who will consider the future of the state first before their personal gains. The jargon "Nyame bekyere state" must be changed to read "Nyame aye amayen," pardon me with broken Twi.

Ghana, our beloved country, must be able to match with her counterparts again, and of course, if not as torch blazers, then the torch bearers. Ghana deserves the best and Ghana deserves to have International Airlines again.

Long live Ghana, and make us great and strong.