First Day of our trip to the Volta region

 

Big smiles despite the early hour :)

Since we are working steadily all week, it's important for us to leverage the weekends.  We planned to stay overnight in the eastern part of the country so we could see more.  Departure time was crazy early 6am GMT on Saturday. Ghana is on GMT which can mean Greenwich Mean Time or Ghana Maybe Time, since things are pretty loose here.   We actually didn't get going till 6:35, earlier than expected.

What do you think of his back end??

We've yet to see any animals penned up.  Chickens, goats and cows wander freely...

First stop was the Akosombo Dam. It's creation resulted in the largest man-made lake in the world, Lake Volta, and produces most of the electricity for Ghana, as well as some other nearby countries.  We were amazed that they took us right down into the guts of the power plant, a low ceilinged noisy place with enormous shafts twisting the turbines at great speed.  You would never get this close to it in Canada!

After lunch, we drove towards Amedzofe, the highest settlement in West Africa, with Togo just on the other side of the mountain.  On the drive we had to climb up several kilometres of wet clay road that was under construction.  Our little bus struggled with the hills, fish tailed and grunted, but eventually made it up. As we drove, we saw this marvelous looking hotel perched on the edge of a cliff - and I thought how fabulous if we could stay there.   When we stopped for directions, our CFO Bismark told his that that was where we were staying - woo hooo!!

We hiked to the highest point and took a thousand pictures, then wandered through the village on our way to the hotel, children jumping around us yelling "photo, photo!", looking for some dash and a chance to see themselves in the camera window. (more pictures to come when I steal some more from my friends!)

Hundreds of locals out for an exercise walk singing at the top of their lungs at 5am :(

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The hotel had fabulous views of course!

One week done!

Today I will comment on the work we're performing. 

My subteam is working with the Accra Metropolitan Authority, basically the City Hall organization, who have responsibility for the capital city Accra, with 4.3M inhabitants, and an additional 1M who commute in every day.  It's a bustling booming metropolis that has outgrown it's infrastructure.  Traffic is crazy, schools are full, and services are strained.

Our main executive contract is Lydia Sackey, who is the Budget Director, a lovely warm lady who has made us most welcome.  We are working on two projects for her.  One, to address the Building Permit process to achieve their goal of delivering a permit in 90 days and two, to provide tools to help teachers elevate their capabilities especially in the teaching and use of computers in the school.   All in 4 weeks!
 

Mrs Sackey at right front, Vivian and Samuel middle back, while visiting a school.

Front - Emily, Samuel, Vivian, Mrs Sackey.  Back - Tony, Ken, Greg, Mr. Akoto

 

 

 

 

To say we've been busy is an understatement.  We leave before 7am, often with no breakfast, we get to the office by 8:15 or so, and immediately people are arriving at our office to great us and plan the day.  Meetings, meetings, meetings, all day long.  We had lunch once all week and capped off Friday with a 3 hour status meeting to align on what we had learned so far and what we would do going forward.  There is so much that can be done!!

We have been impressed with the amount of work that is already underway in these projects but the challenges have been mostly around pulling together many disparate projects that support our objectives.  A world that operates without email makes for significant gaps in information flows to those who would greatly benefit from it.  We are optimistic that we can pull many of them together into a cohesive strategy as well as produce some very practical deliverables.  But today was a good day; many times our optimism has plummeted only to be skyrocketed back up again as a result of another positive discussion that points us to a way to solve our problems.

We were invited to meet the Mayor, Mr Vanderpooy on Wednesday morning.  He is an inspiring leader who is passionate about education, and spent much time telling us to make a difference, take that first step and that the children were his most important focus.  We were proud to have the opportunity to talk to him.  Yesterday, his assistant came to get us, saying the Mayor wished to speak to us again.  Wow, we thought - this is fabulous.  We went to his office, and he sat down and asked us how we were doing.  Then he told us that he thought he could get the roof on the school in time, and could we install the equipment next week?   We were quite confused.  He said he thought we were leaving soon and was accelerating the roofing - could we work with his new schedule?  We were still confused.  Turns out his assistant had found the wrong group to come and talk to him... oh well.  We did say we'd be happy to help if we could, the door to his office was unlocked and out we went!

We are exhausted but will get no rest this weekend!  We are departing at 6am for a weekend trip to the Volta region, an area of untouched natural beauty to the east of us.  I am very much looking forward to it and will send you news on Sunday!
Volta Region of Ghana

Some pictures around Accra for you to enjoy

Local beaches have tremendous waves!

My team!

It's hard to paddle your boat out to sea...

So some people park and take a taxi in to shore!

Oxford Street in the city

Lovely lunch spot!

Ghanian Walmart

The drive to work is quite long, as there is a lot of traffic on the main highway we need to take to the office.  What would take 20 minutes on a Sunday morning, took 1.5 hours on Tuesday at 6:30am.  The entrepreneurs have taken full advantage of the fact that we are stationary much of the time, and they are selling EVERYTHING!!  Here's a list I made today...

DVDs

Mugs

Soda

Fire extinguisher

Windshield wipers

Car mats

Emergency sign

Paint brushes

QTips

Wire

Bamboo mats

Sausage rolls

Rags / used towels

Tooth brush

Tooth paste

Car covers

Sunglasses

Pants

Welcome mats

Running shoes

Gas cans

Pails

Deodorant

Strainers

Cabbage

Under shirts

Posters

Garbage pails

Books

Large metal bowls

Sauna belt

Drying racks

Voltage converters

Hairbrushes

Newspaper

Hats

Towels

English lesson books

Canned milk

Buns

Plungers

Steering wheel covers

Coconut

Fried plantain

Plantain chips

Wallets

Super glue

Passport holders

Air freshener

Hard cooked eggs

Bananas

Pineapples

Necklaces

Shampoo

Tote bags

Socks

Bowls

Fish oil

Papaya

Baskets

Oranges

Watermelon

Juice

Scarves

Golf shirts

Fabric

Sugar cane

Cooked fish

Tomatoes

Peppers

Watches

Baking tins

Toys

Belts

Dust pans

Gingerbread

Yams

Bubble guns

CD’s

Harvard business review books

Luggage

Ties

Flamingoes for your garden

Clocks

Tummy trimmer

Maps

Magazines

Brooms

Ironing boards & irons

Chains

Coat racks

Soccer balls

Chairs

Placemats

Weights

Kleenex

Traditional Ghanaian shirts

Ice cream

Pillows

Toilet paper

Matches

Cookies

Water

Peanuts

Apples

Flip flops

Grapes

Gum

Handkerchiefs

Phone cards

and...

TREADMILLS!!

First Impressions of Ghana

Wow ... that's all I can say.

It started Saturday, when the team of 11 IBMers met each other in the airports and taxis and lodge.  We recognized each other from pictures and voices and heartily hugged and kissed as we finally were able to be together in person.

University Campus

On Sunday I started the day by doing the one thing many of you recommended I don't do... I went for a good run by myself on the university campus.  I felt completely comfortable - everyone was dressed up for church, and I could hear singing and cheering in the different churches on campus.  What I had read was true - Ghana feels very safe.

Just as you leave customs,this is the sign you see!

Clearly the message of safety is one the Ghanians want to ensure we hear.  We saw signs at the customs counter in the airport and heard it again from the police officer who came to speak to us - sexual crimes are VERY much abhorred here, and it is inconsistent with their culture to be anything less than friendly and hospitable.













We were taken on a tour of the university area and the downtown core.  Quite a dichotomy between the very attractive campus buildings and the slums of the Jamestown area in the city.  So many children were running around on their own, playing soccer in bare feet, but cared for - they all have access to government sponsored education and health care, and a communal approach to parenting. 

Jamestown

Boys playing soccer

The first Ghanian meal was an adventure!  Jeremy won the prize for literally digging right in - he ate his whole meal of soup & fufu using his right hand, as is the custom here.  We were intrigued by the sign for "Fresh Palm Wine" but aren't sure what we got since it came in a plastic bottle! It was not a hit with anyone... but we gave it a good try!

Groundnut soup with chicken and fufu

Fresh palm wine? I think not!

After that back to the hotel for some excellent advice from a senior police officer Eric and doctor Hanif, who provided practical advice on how to stay safe and healthy while in Ghana.  Eric gave us his personal extension in case we need a "Get Out of Jail Free" card, and Hanif will be monitoring our health weekly.  Pretty good service!!