Birth History Of An Astroturf In A Middle-class Ghanaian Neighborhood: Impact on the community
It is mid 2019. The area where the Madina Zongo sport complex stands today is still an unoccupied space. The road crowns it with a bunch of businesses. Hairdressers, tailors, bookshop owners, grocery shops, food vendors have found a place to be and make money. Within a week, and without warning, they all got dislodged. There are rumors that a dapper new football park will see the light of day soon. Next day after dislodge, workers appear in the scene. Work has started and there is sweat flowing. A so-called project has to meet a deadline.
A month later, the courtyard wall is built, and the entry protected with steel sheet. The movie has started. Suspense! Nobody can tell what is happening in there. People continue the course of their lives even though it is hard to ignore something is going to change soon in the area. If you’re a passenger, your eyes can’t get less curious than trying to sneak in through the sheet. Less than five months, and we see some artificial grass in there. This is going to be huge! A football park with grass in a Zongo area? For your information, Zongo settlements are zones in West African cities populated predominantly by settlers from Northern Sahel regions, mainly from Northern Nigeria. Those communities have in common their primary use of Hausa language as their lingua franca. Zango which is wrongly spelt as Zongo literally means “a settlement of Hausa speaking traders”.
Next thing we noticed is plastic bleachers. There are yellows, reds, greens and blacks. Then the glimpse of a garden appeared right after the gate. The park seems to be ready soon. The walls are cement plastered, and the gate is fixed. Still nobody can say what the stadium looks exactly like. There are rumors that the president will soon come for inauguration of the project. It is December 2nd, 2020, less than a year after the start of the work. The president is coming over to inaugurate the newly built Madina Zongo Astro turf. They planned the event for 7pm. It’s 5pm, we can all hear some good Ghanaian music flooding in our ears, and telling us: hey! Today is celebration day. Don’t stay at home. “Bra ha” (Come here)! How can you ignore such a call when it comes with so pleasant music on a weekend, right at the other side of your house.
I am dressing up for the occasion, ensuring combination of colors is perfect because here, celebration day rimes with photo shooting day. How can I go to such a nice place without taking at least a dozen of pictures? It is 7pm, I just arrived at the stadium. There is pure water, donut, credit card and natural juice sellers at the entry. The courtyard is packed and there are young boys hanging all over the 4 walls of the courtyard. What a surprise! The complex is not only a football park. “It has a multipurpose court, five-a-side pitch, basketball court, changing room, public washroom, CCTV camera installation with control rooms and floodlights”, the entire package. I spotted a free seat somewhere in the corner. There are so many people that I can’t see those inaugurating the thing. I saw the president’s shadow, though. Anyway, I am happy to witness this moment. The president has done his part and is now leaving. The place is all ours. I am glad because I can now do my photo shooting.
During the next days, young boys in football teams started training in the soccer field. There are trainings on the Basketball court as well. There are always people training in there, day and night, even at midnight. Watching them play, you can feel how much the youth is thirsty for such infrastructures. Soon we will see the rise of new talents coming from this community.
Having been living in the area for 4 years, I can really appreciate the impact of this project on our daily lives. The days following the inauguration of the Astro turf; they paved the road in front of the complex all the way from the main road to the down area. New businesses are emerging every day, the community and the youth hold diverse events in there. Yet, the quality of life went up suddenly. Rent was increased, transportation fees as well. Even though development comes at a cost, this situation is always painful to the mind. Odds are that in five years, not everyone will be able to live in this area.
The Madina Zongo sports complex so far has changed the lives of many. Investing in the youth, in sport, is not a waste. People need food, fuel, and electricity, but they also need opportunities like this. Those are opportunities that will help them grow with time. The more talent this structure produces, the bigger the returns on their community. And who knows? Those talents will one day create further opportunities for other young people to grow like them, streamlining progress.
