Tags
Accra urbanization, Afresco foods, African press in the US, Cape Coast Cuisine, Ghana diaspora, Ghana election protests, John Mahama, The New Ghanaian
On a recent visit to my local west African grocer, Afresco Foods, I picked up a free copy of The New Ghanaian, a publication, I believe monthly, that is based in Alexandria, VA.
Many of the complimentary US newspapers appealing to an African clientele are little more than glorified classifieds, but once I noticed that this publication was local, I decided to give it a slightly more thorough glance.
Although TNG has its fair share of travel and legal ads, there are also several pieces of interest. Its pages contain (negative) reflections of Ghanaians in the diaspora on Accra’s urban boom, pieces on immigrant success stories in the US (Cape Coast Cuisine in Beltsville was apparently started by a former Ghanian employee of the US embassy in Ivory Coast who immigrated to the US with the assistance of the Ambassador), news stories from Ghana, and an opinion piece on the need to adopt natural gas to address electrification challenges in west Africa.
I was particularly interested to read about 200 ‘Concerned Ghanaians’ who protested outside the White House following Ghana’s 2012 presidential election that saw John Mahama of the governing National Democratic Congress retain power.
Even some of the ads were interesting, I now know who to turn to ship barrels to Ghana and it was particularly interesting to see Ghanaian businesses (such as hotels) advertise in the paper.
Africa in DC 