George Ayittey is a Ghanaian economist and author, and he has a problem with African autocrats above all other things, even oppression and mismanagement by colonial powers. He appears on Twitter every so often, and when he does he usually lets rip with a volley of tweets. He doesn’t pull his punches. When Muammar Gaddafi …
You see a lot of things in the developing world that you’d rather not see, you’d rather didn’t happen, or you’d do something about if you had the slightest idea what you could do. You’re approached for money by people with blindness or deformities. You see violence towards people and animals. You see the conditions …
On visits to communities, we often notice that people store things in their toilets. Like toilet paper. Sometimes used, kept in a basket, and occasionally tipped out behind the toilet and burnt. This despite us telling people to throw the paper down the toilet when they’ve used it. Sometimes people store other things. Timber. Medicine. Food. One …
Mongabay highlights the appalling situation in the Agbogbloshie slum outside Accra, which has become a massive toxic dumping ground for electronic waste. Agbogbloshie understandably gets a lot of attention, but it has been interesting to see some of the wider picture here. The e-waste in Agbogbloshie is the stuff that can’t be fixed any more – has reached …
A short visit today to Nkwabrim, a cocoa-growing village near Nsuta. Some additional homes there are getting VIP latrines, construction starting now. The home in the images above belongs to settler farmers – most rural communities I’ve seen have a small sub-community of settlers, living in an area colloquially known as a Zongo. Their homes …
I’ve really enjoyed being able to take and post so many pictures of Ghana looking beautiful. It is a beautiful place. So it’s a shame about places like this. This is close to where I live and work during the week. Crap. A whole pile of crap. With a cow topping. Children defecate here, then the cows come …
© Nathan Nelson 2026
