Where the Streets Have No Name

In August 1987, the world renowned rock band, U2 released their third single off of their album The Joshua Tree. The song was entitled "Where the Streets Have No Name" and was meant to be a commentary on the idea that one could identify anothers religion and income based on the street that one lived on.  The lyrics were written by Bono about the city of Belfast in Northern Ireland, but they seem to apply to a large number of places around the world... except for Accra.

Here in Accra, even if a street has a name the chances of it being labeled, or known, are about zero. What Bono did not think of, when he decided that he wanted to go to a place where the streets have no names, is that it makes if very difficult to get, or give, directions to anywhere! Everyone here uses land marks to get around, which I have found to be a very difficult system. Telling someone to take a right where there is a lady selling plantains can be quite problematic... turns out there is more than one women selling plantains in our area.

The idea that wealth and religion can be identified by the street one lives on is lost here, or at least in my mind it is. In my experiences here so far I have found the city of Accra to be much like a patchwork, made up of a number of religions and socioeconomic statuses. On a single street you can have the poorest of the poor living next to a beautiful fenced house. Even the financial district of Accra has slums scattered in between the modern big banks. 

The picture below is of an area called Osu. This street I photographed, which has no name, is the main drag in Osu. I have found this area to be one of the more modernized areas in Accra, but even here a nice restaurant may be located next to a dingy shack.