I recently discussed pricing with the other staff at our tourist office. I do not agree with charging visitors more than local people for exactly the same goods.
A bottle of Coke costs a local person 1,500 cedis, which is about twenty US cents. A tourist may be charged 2,000 cedis for the identical bottle. Some colleagues say the difference is small, tourists can afford it and the drink is still cheap by their standards.
I see the principle differently.
I believe we are all equal, so why should we be charged differently for the same product?
Visitors who book through the tourism office receive a standard package. It includes one night in the community guesthouse or a homestay, a home-cooked evening meal, breakfast and a tour of the village.
Part of the money returns to the community. Some goes to the chiefs, while another part supports development projects.
A pottery workshop is currently being planned. Local people will be able to work there and sell what they make both inside the area and to tourists.
Tourism has directly created jobs in guiding, cooking and storytelling. A visitor can request a storytelling session and pay somebody to share local stories and traditions.
Shops now carry more goods and some new items. Mineral water and other drinks are popular with tourists. Shops also sell rice and biscuits in larger, more expensive packages that local families do not usually buy.
Even with tourism, farming remains the foundation of our economy. We mainly grow cassava, yams and other vegetables.
Basic infrastructure is far behind. There are no telephone lines or clinic in the village. We collect water from a pump or the streams. Public transport is available mainly on market days, when trotros travel through to Luggba.
Only about eight households have their own toilet. Everyone else uses the public toilets at the village entrance or goes into the bush.
The large rubbish belt that once existed in the bush has been replaced by household burning because we learned that tourists disliked seeing it. The chief can fine families that fail to keep their homes clean.
I also object to the forest access rules. Local people are forbidden to enter, while tourists and their guides are allowed inside. Whatever the reason for the restriction, I do not believe this unequal treatment is right.
The same respect we show visitors should also be shown to the people whose village, forest and daily lives form the experience.
My personal disappointment is with visitors who promise help and never follow through. Somebody may ask for assistance with school fees. A tourist says they will write or send money after returning home, but then nothing happens.
Apart from these concerns, I am happy with tourism and with the people who visit us. I only ask for fairness: equal prices, equal respect and no promises that will be forgotten as soon as the journey home begins.