March 6th 2022 marks Ghana’s 65th year of Independence from Great Britain. The celebrations have already begun with two weeks of activities held in the Gold Coast, the central region of Ghana.
Ghana has much to boast about, starting even before its independence - it's a country rich with natural resources (apparently why the Europeans were drawn to the region in the first place) such as gold, cocoa and timber. It was also the first independent nation among all countries in sub-saharan Africa, and helped inspired others to do the same #FunFact.
From music to culture to sport to tradition, Ghana has contributed a tremendous amount to the world and has come a long way as a country, a nation and a people.
At the same time, there’s still a lot to be desired as the true inequalities between this resource-rich country and their former colonizer is still prevalent to this day. Ghana struggles when it comes to overall access to education, healthcare and infrastructure for many of its people. The environment is ignored many times for the sake of a dollar and corruption in political systems is still the order of the day.
Why does it feel like we’re not moving fast enough?
These everyday frustrations Ghanaians encounter are not new to Ghana or to other countries in the world. However, it seems we continue to rely on our governments and its institutions to actualize the change needed to get us to our full potential, even though their track record proves otherwise.
But, if we take a hard look at when change really starts to take place in the world, we'll notice something.
It doesn’t start with the government.
It doesn’t start with its institutions.
It starts with you.
With us.
When we act and become the change we want to see.
A philosophy Bôhten stands by is to be ‘Better Everyday’. Better for ourselves, our communities and better for our country. Our newest program as a part of this Initiative is called Club Bôhten - where we promote eye care education and support to children between 10 - 15 years to improve eye health here in Ghana. Our aim is to eliminate poor vision as an impediment to learning and social development.
It's a small team, taking it class by class and school by school. But, we want to see better eye care health in Ghana for generations to come. We want to act in a way that impacts the community for the better. This is how we seek to bring about change, to be ‘Better Everyday’. Our forefathers and mothers fought and acted on the change they wanted to see - the freedom of the people of Ghana. We’re working to make a change in the eye care world, here in Ghana and abroad.
How will you act to bring about change this Independence Day?
*The opinions expressed are solely those of the author and do not reflect the views of Bôhten or any of its affiliates.*
Featured image photo credit - True Fond