Wednesday and Thursday
I feel like I’ve been in the van for a year. We drove all over the place today, putting in place a system to distribute our water. Because we have to deliver it by tanker to most of the places, we need to sell it (for a couple of cents a gallon) to cover fuel costs. Most of the discussions took place in Twi, so I sat around a lot. But today needed to happen and it was productive, if boring.
When we were in Kumawu, all these little kids kept crowding around me which is nothing too new. But one kept inching closer and closer until he was literally under my legs. I also saw a scene out of a Save the Children infomercial, which was pretty sad. One kid had cuts on his legs and flies kept swarming around them. There are flies everywhere here, but the open sores on this boy clearly attracted them. The education system here really needs to do a better job at instilling good hygiene in people. From my conversations with Dr. Addae and others, as well as my general observations, the education system here needs serious reform. It doesn’t turn out development-minded or patriotic people and the result is that people either want to leave Ghana or they look for the easiest way to get rich, contributing nothing to society.
We have no power at home right now, so we are at the Dr. Addae’s brother’s guest house. Carly texted me to say that the Habs beat Philly in OT, which I’m thrilled about. 7 and 2 is a fantastic start to the season.
I’m watching a program called MP Agenda right now, where they have an MP on each week and the host asks them questions. The host is incredible. She is grilling the Deputy Minister of Health with some really tough questions. She puts the lazy, softball-question-asking, suck-up chattering class of journalists in Canada to serious shame.
Ok, it’s now Thursday afternoon and I’m going to post this soon. This morning we went to the office really early, although traffic was absolutely brutal. It happens a lot here that trucks break down and then just sit there for days. The police often fine the companies, but they don’t seem to use the money to move the friggin trucks! Before we went to the office, we stopped quickly at an internet cafe where I actually managed to watch the highlights of the Habs/Flyers game!
Today has been very productive so far, so I figured I have to break it up by going to the internet again. I’ve been working on a final report for a foundation that gave us a grant.
When we were in Kumawu, all these little kids kept crowding around me which is nothing too new. But one kept inching closer and closer until he was literally under my legs. I also saw a scene out of a Save the Children infomercial, which was pretty sad. One kid had cuts on his legs and flies kept swarming around them. There are flies everywhere here, but the open sores on this boy clearly attracted them. The education system here really needs to do a better job at instilling good hygiene in people. From my conversations with Dr. Addae and others, as well as my general observations, the education system here needs serious reform. It doesn’t turn out development-minded or patriotic people and the result is that people either want to leave Ghana or they look for the easiest way to get rich, contributing nothing to society.
We have no power at home right now, so we are at the Dr. Addae’s brother’s guest house. Carly texted me to say that the Habs beat Philly in OT, which I’m thrilled about. 7 and 2 is a fantastic start to the season.
I’m watching a program called MP Agenda right now, where they have an MP on each week and the host asks them questions. The host is incredible. She is grilling the Deputy Minister of Health with some really tough questions. She puts the lazy, softball-question-asking, suck-up chattering class of journalists in Canada to serious shame.
Ok, it’s now Thursday afternoon and I’m going to post this soon. This morning we went to the office really early, although traffic was absolutely brutal. It happens a lot here that trucks break down and then just sit there for days. The police often fine the companies, but they don’t seem to use the money to move the friggin trucks! Before we went to the office, we stopped quickly at an internet cafe where I actually managed to watch the highlights of the Habs/Flyers game!
Today has been very productive so far, so I figured I have to break it up by going to the internet again. I’ve been working on a final report for a foundation that gave us a grant.
posted by Tony at 1:44 p.m.
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