Hi All,
I am a 47 year old African American male living in Atlanta, GA and will be visiting Ghana next month for about 30 days. I will be marrying a Ghanaian lady soon. I am considering moving to Ghana for a few years. However, I've studied the cost of living in Accra and I see it's expensive. I own an online eCommerce company and will be able to bring in about $2000 USD per month. Perhaps I will start a business in Ghana at some point, but I don't want to bank on that. The western luxuries aren't that important to me, but I do value a healthy diet and fast Internet access.
1. I don't require fancy, but I do want to feel safe and I need air conditioning. :-) I see homes for rent outside of the city, but still in metro Accra and some in places like the Ashanti region for $300 per month. They appear nice. What is the catch?
2. Being able to have high-speed Internet access (10 megabits per second or faster) is important to me. Is this possible outside out metro Accra area? I realize most ISP's there charge for bandwidth usage, but I'm really more concerned about the speed. For example, can you stream a YouTube video?
3. I'm not concerned with eating out, but I do prefer to eat healthy. This means virtually no red meat (perhaps once per month), a bit more poultry (perhaps once per week), and fish (perhaps 2 - 3 times per week). Most of my diet is fresh fruits, vegetables and whole grains and raw nuts. I enjoy juicing raw fruits and vegetables and I'm concerned with typhoid being an issue with doing this in Ghana and of course the cost of this. Can I acquire fresh fruits (mainly blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, pineapple, avocados, and dates) and vegetables (including green leafy vegetables such as kale, spinach, and collard greens) at a reasonable price? I often purchase organic in the states, but I assume they use less pesticides in Ghana. How about almond milk?
4. I do a lot of herbs and supplements i.e. garlic, turmeric, fennel seeds, fenugreek seeds, ginger, ceylon cinnamon, basil, spirulina, licorice root, artemisinin, milk thistle, peppermint oil, probiotics, colloidal silver, cinchona bark, chia seeds, flax seeds, echineaca, goldenseal, artemisia annua, etc. Some of these are for my anticipated trip to Africa to combat malaria, typhoid, yellow fever, etc. Can I acquire these and other herbs and supplements in Ghana at a reasonable price? I dislike vaccines and medications.
5. I'm fine with taking a trotro so long as it gets me from point A to point B. So, I don't plan on getting a vehicle.
6. I'm not a big fan of TV as I prefer to read a book.
7. I'm not too concerned about health care. I don't have any bad habits, I really don't get sick except for the seasonal cold and I've been to the doctor once in the past 10 years for a check-up. I prefer preventive maintenance.
Hopefully someone could reply to my long post. :-)
Thanks,
Eric