Mark has been selected to be a member of the Roman Ridge basketball team. His first tournament is an all-day affair on Saturday at the Ghana International School.
Catherine had a fine, but uneventful, day at school today.
Tracy taught her classes this evening.
With no big stories or photos, I’ll provide a slice of Ghanaian life:
The country has ambivalences about its currency, the cedi. The official currency code and sign are GHS and GH˘, respectively. But, cedis are referenced as “cedi,” “GHS,” “GHC,” or simply “˘” in advertisements and in shops. Colloquially, the currency is referred to as “Ghana,” as in “you owe me twenty Ghana.”
The cedi is divided into 100 pesewas, but people rarely mention pesewas. At an exchange rate of about 4:1 to the USD, single pesewas have little value and are rarely circulated. Indeed, the ten-pesewa coin is the smallest coin I regularly receive. Five-pesewa and one-pesewa coins are treated as a nuisance to be rounded away.
This simplification of the currency allows simplification of speech. Two cedis and forty pesawas is spoken as “two four.” Coconuts cost “one five.” Single pesewas aren’t worth much, so they’re not worth discussing.
Because of the exchange rate, a trip to the grocery can demand close to 500 cedis for a family of four. With the 20 cedi note being the most common in this largely cash-based economy, a fistful of money can be required for a simple run to the store.
—Matt
