Calling all beautiful people

It can be a bit dispiriting actually. The Ghanaians may in fact be the most attractive people on the planet. And while I hate to admit it, this can take a toll on a short, preternaturally hairy, white-to-transparent visitor from Oregon.

The men are all lean muscle with square, angular faces that are equally at ease wearing a serious expression or a wide smile. They transmit a calm, physical confidence that were it not for their ready grin and warm manner might put one on alert. The result tends rather to just promote a sense of nagging inadequacy.

The women, well where to start with the women? They are composed of a combination of perfectly rendered individual shapes attached one to the other. To borrow an SAT form: They are to curves as bears are to shitting in the woods. Power this ridiculously complementary collection of parts with an unhurried gait, trained to straightness from years of carrying things on their head, and you may have the real reason behind the humidity in Africa.

Far from taking it for granted, Ghanaians treat beauty very seriously. Outside growing cocoa, it may be the biggest industry in the country. You can’t swing a set of hair extensions without hitting a salon or barber shop. Even in the smallest towns, there are numerous options for getting your do done.

And one is never far from the nearest seamstress. Requiring little more than a table and a sewing machine, they are as numerous as the locations of a certain purveyor of specialty coffee drinks in the United States. Global Mamas works with many of these businesses, all of which are women owned.

With so many competitors, it seems they’ve concluded that one’s sign can be the critical difference between success and obscurity. Shops devoted to beauty have the added challenge of conveying they know beautiful by displaying suitably captivating signage. The results, while not always pretty, rarely fail to be, at least, pretty interesting.

Many choose to call on divine favor for support, or at the very least advertise that God is a regular customer. God, Jesus or some other supreme power commonly figures in the name of salons and seamstresses. From His pictures, I can see He’s partial to what we’ll call the Black Crows’ look.

Not surprisingly, everyday dress is not chosen willy nilly. Apart of teenagers, who favor the same “just-slept-in-it” look so popular with their U.S. counterparts, the rest make sure that their shirts and pants are crisply ironed, their shoes nicely polished. They convey a sartorial sophistication that would seem impossible to maintain in the wilting heat. But they manage it with aplomb.

Even the children, down to the very youngest, if they are in school, wear a uniform that they are expected to keep clean and tidy. The little boys especially, in their collared dress shirts and creased shorts, look altogether like pint-sized accountants or mini UPS drivers.

The truly striking example of the nation’s relationship with beauty is unveiled on Sundays when the streets literally bloom with colorful dresses, coats and ties, and even the traditional toga-style garments still worn by some of the men. As they walk to or from church, it’s a like a bowl of fruit has just been spilled along the roadside.

God, we can conclude, digs dressing up.