Nii Kwei's Day
From Dawn to Dusk in a Ghanian City

Nii Kwei gets up at 6 o'clock every morning. He helps his sisters and brother tidy up the compound, then he eats a breakfast of coco (corn porridge), bread, fried eggs and a chocolate drink. At 7.30 he goes to school in a taxi. Later, on his way home, he goes to Abraham's material store with his mother. He ends the day playing football with his cousins, back at the compound.

This book is part of the series A Child's Day, photographic information books concentrating on the daily lives and experiences of children in countries around the world, published in association with Oxfam.

Author's Note

Nii Kwei (pronounced 'Nee Kway') lives with his family in Accra, the capital of Ghana. They share a large old family home within a 'compound', an enclosed area where people can play, talk, do their chores, and spend time together. Nii Kwei's compound is shared by several different families, but everyone knows everyone else and they all look after each other.

Some compounds have small businesses attached to them, like a tailor's shop, or a big outdoor oven for making cakes and pastries. Outside the compounds, nearly every street corner in Accra has its own 'chop bar' where you can buy delicious soups or stews. When people don't have time to cook, they go to the chop bar and sit down at one of the benches to eat, or they take food back to their compounds in a saucepan they've brought from home.

Although Nii Kwei's compound has a constant water supply, many children in the rural areas of Ghana do not have running water at home. For these children, gathering water takes up much of their playing and studying time.