I was riding in a taxi in Ghana when I spotted this woman on the side of the road. I was constantly looking out of the window because there was so much to see while driving on the streets of Accra. What struck me about this picture was the way she is handling the fruit. Can you see what I see?
The images we normally get from Africa are almost always poverty and pictures of people that are not clean. Or at least the appearance that their situation isn’t a hygienic one. But look at how she is cutting that fruit. She has it on a clean surface, there is plastic around her hands so she doesn’t touch the fruit and I noticed when she bit into the fruit she then took that plastic bag off of her hand and got a new one then started cutting again.
It’s a very small thing but to me it speaks volumes about her and how she was raised. Even though she is selling food on the side of the road there is nothing shameful about the way she is making her money and certainly there is honor in the way she carries herself. A lady is taught to keep things clean around her and this woman exhibited behaviors that showed she is a true lady.
Can you see the towel underneath the fruit and plastic bags? See how the tray behind her on the right is sitting on a clean bench? Even though there is lots of stuff on this table the fact that everything is clean and she is cutting fruit to be sold in an extremely clean manner is beautiful to me.
It’s so important to see past the poverty when you travel. When you do, you will understand that people all around the world no matter what color they are or what continent they live on, have more in common with you that you think.
What types of things do you notice when you travel?
