Market Friday-Aboaboo Market, Tamale, Ghana 🇬🇭
Hello everyone, nice to be here, I hope you’re all having a great market Friday. My name is Nativr Boy, I live in Tamale, Ghana 🇬🇭.
Friday is here again and I’m happy to take part in this week's #marketfriday challenge. Today I’ll share with you my experience at the Aboaboo market in Tamale, Ghana.
Tamale is the capital of all the northern cities in Ghana and the Aboaboo market is the biggest market in the whole of northern Ghana 🇬🇭.
On this day, I went to the market to get some books. There was a huge fog in town, the sun was on a break, therefore, depriving the market atmosphere of its usual beautiful bright and vibrant energy.
This is me
AT THE BOOKSHOP
This is my friend’s small bookshop. It’s located in the heart of the Tamale Aboaboo market. He sells a wide range collection of books. You can find any genre of books here.
I bought two books. I like reading all genres of books but I enjoy fiction the most. African novels are my favorite genre of books. Chinua Achebe and Wole Soyinka are my all-time best writers. My favorite non-fiction book is the Holy Quran.
the goated ‘things fall apart by the great Chinua Achebe
I paid 60 Ghana cedis (5$) for these two books. The shocking thing about books here is that unlike anywhere else in the world where books prices are determined by the experience and efforts put into the production, in Tamale, the price of a book is determined by the cost of printing the book. The bigger the book, the higher the cost of printing therefore the higher the price. What I understand about this is that almost all these books are printed and sold without the writer’s consent, therefore what you are actually paying for is the cost of the papers and not the information the book carries. (Except when the book is written by a local author).
That’s an illegal practice, a clear copyright infringement, but that’s also our reality.
ON THE STREETS OF THE MARKET
This is a tro tro (danfo), a famous public transportation bus in West Africa. On market days, you’ll find a tro tro on every street of the market. Tro Tro is considered a cheap public transport for most people living in the city (Tamale). A 25km ride will cost you only ten Ghana (0.9) cedis and take about an hour.
Another cheaper public transport unit is the motorking. A tricycle motorbike. On a normal day, a motorking is used to transport farm produce but on a market day, a motorking can carry everything, including traders. Motorking is the favorite transport service of the market women who live outside Tamale, it is cheaper, convenient, and more ghetto. A 25km ride on a motorking will cost only about six Ghana cedis. (0.3$)
When I was going back home, I spotted this Koko joint and started craving immediately. Koko is a popular Ghanaian porridge usually taken as breakfast or lunch. It’s a porridge made with corn flour. A cup of Koko and sugar costs two ghana cedis (0.16$)
This is koose, a popular snack that goes with Koko. Koose is made by deep frying small balls of bean paste. Five balls of koose cost about two Ghana cedis.
I hope you enjoyed reading about my #marketfriday experience. You can also share your experience and get rewarded by taking part in the market Friday challenge by @dswigle
All images in this post were taken by me.
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You made good choices of books for your consumption and yes, copyright infringement happens a lot
Thank you 🙏🏿
you're very much welcome
Welcome to #MarketFriday!
Copyright infringement is terrible! I actually did not know how that worked over there. You are the first to tell me that. Are all the bookstores like that?
I like that you gave an overall view of how your market works and how it works for people with transportation. Most people use transportation and it makes good sense when you think about how expensive cars are, how much gas/insurance/upkeep is... it is insane, isn't it? There are different modes of transportation for different pockets, I guess many have motorbikes, which, even here are a much better option when talking about affordability.
Have you noticed your prices going up in your market? It is a weekly event on some things. Does your market have bargaining or is it posted prices only? I want to thank you for joining us here! I post the rules in case anyone reading this is wondering how to join!
#MarketFriday began as a way to reach out across the globe and learn about different cultures through their markets, especially local markets and farmers' markets, and eventually branched out and evolved over time from straight shopping to a cultural affair as it highlights how we differ and then again, how much we are alike. We have become a melting pot of culture, but it is still the Rituals, Festivals, food, architecture, and even your language/languages that separate us... Along with the fact that these things are normal for us. There are unwritten rules that rule our social behaviors. I see this as allowing for increased tolerance between cultures and nations, and opportunities to come together on an even playing ground. A strong culture can be beneficial to a country as it promotes unity, especially during a crisis, peaceful debate, and open dialogue. I have learned so much about all of you and it has been an amazing experience. I can only hope that learning about each other can help us work together for a peaceful world. Thank you for being a part of #MarketFriday
Rules of the Road to Join #MarketFriday!
6 You must put #MarketFriday by @dswigle somewhere on your post.
7.#MarketFriday post should be submitted sometime on Friday UTC
#MarketFriday loves you!
Hello @dswigle, thank you for going through my post, I appreciate your comment as well.
Most books stores here are like this, almost every book store I’ve been to have this copyright infringement books for sale.
Prices fluctuations are very common here, mostly prices of commodities rise due to certain factors such as inflation and scarcity, what I’ve noticed is that prices rise frequently more than it decreases, honestly speaking, it’s rare to see prices of commodities fall.
And yes prices of commodities and services are bargain-able everywhere in the market, except supermarkets and gas stations. One way to thrive well in the Tamale market is to have a good bargaining skill, because most of these market women are very tricky.