Elephants!

After the heavy rain and thunderstorm last night we wake up to a wonderful sunny day again. We leave early morning for our walking safari with armed guide. The cool of the morning quickly turns into another very hot and humid day, but never mind…. We soon find the first signs of elephants nearby. Our guide very expertly traces the footprints, and suddenly there is this huge lone male elephant. He goes swimming in the waterhole, and we watch fascinated for a long time. Tempting to join him in the pool, but after seeing the crocodiles this option never really comes up.

Slowly we walk back across the open plain towards our hotel. Suddenly the guide stops. Elephants again! I don’t believe it, we are so lucky!

 

(Joan, I promised to paint his toenails in green, yellow and red, but the way the elephants look at me, I decide against it….)

Wow, what a morning – I never expected we would really see elephants, and that close!

More to come,

Cynthia

Kente Weaving

Time to do some (hand)work. We visit Adanwomase, a community based tourism project. After seeing and learning how a Kente Cloth is made, I have a go. It’s very good I do not have to earn my living weaving; I am not a natural talent! My hand, feet and the head get totally confused, and this is just a plain weaving with one color only!

The final products

 We spend the night in a guest house in Nkoranza, It is quite tricky to find the location of the guesthouse. Our guide Patrick asks some five locals and gets five different directions, so he calls up his office to get the phone number and call them directly. It is in the hospital complex, past the mortuary, down the hill – the guesthouse helps support the orphanage for handicapped children. We stay in a lovely bungalow with open air shower.

More to come,

Cynthia

Lake Bosumtwi

Rain season is here! For two days the sky has been grey and from time to time there are some heavy showers. I am still optimistic though that tomorrow it will be better again.

We left Accra Sunday morning for our drive up north, arriving at the lake mid afternoon. A very cute little hotel, I think there only about three guestrooms, right on the on lake shore (welcome mosquitoes…. glad we have a mosquito net we can use)

We skipped Kejetia Market in Kumasi today (well, we postponed that visit to our return journey) It would simply have been to wet and muddy there. Kejetia is the largest open market in West Africa, incredibly busy; it will be quite an experience.

PS: internet connection does not work here, so posting of this entry will be delayed.

More to come,

Cynthia

Sun, Fun and Nothing to Do

With the CSC project over, data delivered and presentations done, we are all set. In my case: ready to start vacation. Bojo Beach Resort is our destination for the day. The beautiful sand island is only accessible by a very short boat ride. What a perfect day to end the project!

The evening is another highlight. Live Ghanaian Highlife Music and wonderful company. Guys, I will not forget that evening…. Thank you!

More to come,

Cynthia

The Showdown

Presentations are over. And honestly, I am impressed. Impressed, by what I can see that all four teams have learned, achieved and implemented in (as Remi from IBM Nigeria pointed out) just 16 working days. Yes, that’s true; we had just 16 working days! The teams met for the first time physically the day we arrived, and during the following 16 days (and yes, some evening or weekend work included) we all delivered findings and recommendations, pilots and documentations that I hope the clients find really useful. I can only speak for myself, but I think we have all learned a lot – from the projects, from each other, the clients and from this wonderful country.

To celebrate we went out. First things first – I am a woman – we went shopping. Those that know me also know that usually I am not a shopping queen. But once I get started, it’s difficult to stop. Look at those beautiful things! I could have bought the whole market….

Our CSC project is now over – my blog is not. I will stay in the country for two more weeks and travel around, so stay tuned.

More to come,

Cynthia

Murphy's Law?

We were scheduled to present our two projects internally to the client today. All ready and set to go in the big boardroom, microphones tested, laptops ready – waiting, with all unit leaders for the Auditor-General to join us. Suddenly a loud noise, some sparks above my head, and the projector goes black. This is the exact minute when the Auditor-General walks into the room!!!! OMG!

Our "subversive" team

But the situation is solved quickly; a new projector is in place in no time. Our presentation went well; I saw many heads nodding around the table. We can’t have missed the points too much. So tomorrow we have all day to fine tune the slides for the “big” presentation on Thursday, finish the paperwork, and we even have some free slots to meet with our client to walk them through some of the recommendations and suggestions in more detail.

More to come,

Cynthia

Sunday in Accra

We went to the beach (yes, famous Labadi Beach). I had a hard time keeping all the vendors at a distance. My usual “later” did not really work here. One of the guys really came back later, and we had to say “no” again and again. He was quite persistent. 

A word on taxis in Accra: I have never before been to a place where there are so many taxis. They honk at every “Obruni” (white person). Never forget to negotiate the price before you get in! Meanwhile we are quite good at it. Before we went to the beach I checked with the hotel staff on a price to be expected, and she said about 15 Cedi -  we paid 10 Cedi each way.

But look at the taxi! Mirrors in bits and pieces, the inside was a total mess, everything broken, the doors were difficult to close. A 33 year old Opel Kadett, as Salomon, the taxi driver, proudly explained.

Despite the very old car - he brought us back safely.

It was at least making a living for him and his family.

More to come,

Cynthia