While it might not be my favourite place I’ve traveled, Accra is without a doubt an interesting city. This might sound strange, but one of the interesting things I’ve been observing is the relations between the large foreign population and the locals.
Okay, so I’m probably going to offend someone by saying this, but… Ghana is kind of the Japan for foreign women. You know how white men go to Japan, and suddenly they are awash in more beautiful women than they know what to do with? It’s kind of like that here, except for white women. The thing is, Ghanaian men are gorgeous, and for a number of reasons that don’t need to be repeated here, they love white women. In fact, there a many young men in Accra that are known as Obruni (white person) hunters. They seem to hang out in Osu, the upscale neighborhood that expats and volunteers hang out in. They sell jewelery on the street or hang around expat bars filled with white women. Some who I’ve met have never dated a Ghanaian woman!
So there are a ton of western women here with Ghanaian boyfriends. Some really love these men, but I get the impression that some just love the attention. And truth be told, I guess there’s the feeling that you can date men far more handsome than those you’d attract at home. The whole situation makes me a bit uneasy, because you can never be certain whether money is the motivation of the Obruni-hunters. I have met white women who pay for all their Ghanaian lovers’ expenses. So I guess this just begs the question – is this just another form of sex tourism?
I guess I shouldn’t say either way as I have hardly spent any time in Ghana and I have never dated a Ghanaian (or Burkinabe) so I probably don’t know what I am talking about. I do know, however, that the uneasy power/money relations and other obvious problems does make not want to join the ranks of the Obrunis with their local lovers.
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