Seeing Local Hardship Up Close in Ghana and South Africa

A short visit lets a person see hardship and leave.

By Neil Solomon · 3 min read

Picture a couple named Janet and Frank. They have a comfortable home and a good routine. One morning, on the way to the market, Frank stops walking. "I know it is the same road as yesterday," he says. "But I cannot stop seeing it."

Two accounts, one from South Africa and one from Ghana, describe this feeling. Neither was written to sell or to scold. Both were honest about being troubled.

What people describe

South Africa. The writer described poverty every day and felt conflicted. They also thought about where to stay, which tells me they were weighing comfort against conscience. I find that honest. Not everyone admits that choosing a neighborhood is partly a choice about what you will see each morning.

Ghana. The second writer said the poverty weighs on an outsider. The word "burdened" came to my mind reading it. I do not think it was guilt exactly. It read more like a heaviness that comes from being close to something you cannot fix.

I want to be careful here. I was given only short summaries, and I do not know the details of either person's days. I also do not want to describe any people or place as a problem. The people living in these places are not a scene. They are neighbors with full lives.

How it differs by place

My reading

I think this is a real cost of living abroad that does not show on a spreadsheet. You may pay your bills with ease and still feel the weight. Some people turn that weight into action, such as helping a family they know, supporting a local school or hiring fairly. Others feel they must step back to protect their peace. Neither seems wrong to me.

What stands out is that the people who sounded steadier had decided what they could do and let that be enough. The ones who struggled most were trying to carry all of it.

One small scene

Janet says, "I gave what I could today and I still feel it."

"That feeling may not go away," Frank says. "Maybe it should stay a little. It means we are paying attention."

There is also the question of time. A short visit lets a person see hardship and leave. A longer stay means seeing the same faces and streets again and again, and the feeling changes. It can turn from shock into something closer to familiarity, and some people find that harder, because it is easy to stop noticing and then feel bad about it. I think it helps to name that feeling early, to yourself or to a friend.