Interesting website

Found this 2 interesting website through a link in another blog. You can access that blog by clicking on the link in the my blog list.

The first is on travelling with purpose.
http://www.vergemagazine.com/index.php
The second is on the efforts of a woman to help developing communities through trade and not aid.
http://www.choolips.com/about/

Have fun browsing through them!

Day in Obuasi

Had my first full day in Obuasi today. Marius the intern from Germany was here today with Eric to discuss details of the opening ceremony with Phillip. Marius remarked that he envied me as he loves greenery and Obuasi is surrounded by hills and forests unlike Kumasi which is basically a big urban sprawl. Kinda agree with him as Obuasi is a much smaller city, with fewer people and traffic making it much less noisy and chaotic. Spent much of the day walking around the city with Phillip. He basically went around the municipal office introducing me to the various officials to facilitate me working with them in the future should the need arises. Met a great deal of people and I can't remember half their faces or names. Will have to work on it! Besides that we also visited some schools to confirm their attendance at the opening ceremony and participation in the ASK project. I realised that there's only so much that can be done here in a day as we spent much of the time walking and looking for people. Communication is a issue here. In Singapore if we wanna do something, we will probably drop the person a email or make a call to arrange a appointment. But here you just go the place and see if the person's around or not. Tough luck if he/she's not around. Come back another day. So I'm still in the process of getting used to doing things here at their pace. Slowly I'm adjusting to the life here.

ASK project

Started my first day of work with PACA today. The main job today was to work on the Answers, Solutions, Knowledge (ASK) project. Basically the ASK project is a initiative by AIESEC Africa to develop and and implement sustainable means of creating awareness about the deadly epidemic HIV/AIDS. And PACA is working with AIESEC KNUST to run the program in Obuasi. The interns that I mentioned in the previous post were all working on the ASK project for AIESEC KNUST. The official opening ceremony would be this coming saturday and there are still quite a bit of details yet to be finalised, most importantly that of funds to pay for the cost of the opening ceremony. The other interns have been working hard to secure sponsorship but due to the economic crisis, companies are not forthcoming with money. Will be making a trip down to the goldmining company in Obuasi tomorrow with Phillip and others to see if we can convince them to open their wallets. Fingers crossed people!

Obuasi

Starting my stay in Obuasi from today onwards. Accessing the internet from a internet cafe now. Interestingly, the manager of the place is currently renting a room at Phillip's place. Anyway will try and blog as often as I can but I have to walk a distance to the cafe so it's kinda inconvenient to access the net too often. Furthermore the speed here is quite slow. Will do my best to update the blog but no promises people.

Itinerary for the week

My current location is in Kumasi. The local AIESEC committee AIESEC KNUST is doing a orientation for me to get me used to Ghana first before sending me over to the NGO, PACA which is based in Obuasi, an hour drive or so away from Kumasi. But so far there isn't much of an orientation as they are all too busy studying and planning for other upcoming events. So the only orientation I have is confined to the immediate vicinity where I live. But the plan is for me to stay in Kumasi till Tuesday before heading to Obuasi on Wednesday for a meet up with Mr Phillip, CEO of PACA. But there's a slight change of plan now. Mr Phillip is coming up to Kumasi for a workshop on Wednesday so I would join up with him during the workshop. And there's a AIESEC conference on Thursday running through to Sunday which I would be attending too. So the earliest I would start work would be on Monday. Looking forward to meeting Mr Phillip and starting work with him as I've heard good things about him.

The people in the house

The house I'm staying in is nicknamed 'The AIESEC House'. It is made up of a series of single and double storey buildings. The family that owns the place occupies one of the single storey building while the rest of the buildings are rented out. The local AIESEC committee members rented for themselves and interns 2 out of the 3 double storey buildings to stay in. Interestingly, the rent payable is based on the number of beds, not the people or buildings involved. The rent is around 300 cedis p.a. per bed. So, besides the AIESEC members, there are other people living here too. Just yesterday morning, we played a game of soccer together. As for the AIESECers here, they are really friendly. Because the rent is payable based on the number of beds, they just rented enough beds for themselves. So when there is no interns each one of them will have a bed to themselves. But when there are interns, they will sleep on mattresses on the floor. The beds have mosquito nets on them so it's not that bad at night. Besides the local AIESECers, there are currently also interns from other countries staying in the house. They are here to work for the ASK project. Will elaborate more on the project another day. 2 of them are from Nigeria, Seun and Eric. Another from Germany, Marios (think that's how to spell his name) and the last one a girl from Japan, Hitomi. They are all here on varying length of time. Marios will be leaving early next month and Seun and Eric sometime after. Only Hitomi will be staying till next year feb. Besides them, there are a few more interns arriving over the next 2 weeks or so. Among them are 2 Japanese who will be based in Obuasi with me and a girl from China who will be working on another project. Funnily, yesterday the local AIESEC committee President, Bertrand who is in charge of managing the overseas intern was showing us the resume of this girl from China. Everyone was fighting to be the one to show her around. Hahaha, she looks quite chio in the picture!

The house

The house that I'm currently staying in would be considered primitive by Singapore standards but I think its adequate to live in. The water flows are irregular but we have a big tub to store water for bathing purposes though there is no hot water. So it can get quite cold if you bathe too late. Electricity is paid for through a pre-paid card and on the night I arrived, the credit just so happens to drop to zero without anyone realising. But somehow one of them managed to keep the lights on. Perhaps what most people would be interested or concerned about would be the toilet. To be honest I was slightly taken aback when I saw the toilet. It reminds me of my army days in taiwan. The plumbing cannot take toilet paper so we have to throw used toilet papers into a wastepaper basket by the side of it. So the sight can initially be shocking. As one of my fellow housemate a Ghanaian said after I have taken my first bath on the night of arrival, 'this place is challenging your world view.' But things are the way it is here and I just have to get used to it. As I have mentioned to some of you, in jest maybe, that my worst fear is to have no access to washing machine and that nightmare has come true. There is no washing machine here. I tried my hand on washing clothes yesterday and boy, it's not something I'm looking forward to doing for the next few months. If the toilet didn't made me think what the heck had I gotten myself into, the washing of clothes certainly did. Just collected the clothes from the laundry line and I'm still not sure it's clean.

Arrived

Finally have internet access! Quite a bit of things to blog about. Let's talk about the travelling first. I arrived Accra at around 11.30am (7.00pm SIN) and was met by a local AIESEC member, Rasheed who sent me to the bus terminal to catch a bus to Kumasi. A interesting thing about travelling in Ghana is that buses travelling between cities will only leave when the bus is full. So the unlucky me had to wait for an hour or so after I got my ticket for the bus to depart the terminal. Heard from another intern that he once waited for 2 hours! Anyway I arrived at Kumasi at around 8plus pm local time which is around 4plus am Singapore time, Monday. So considering I left Singapore at around 1am on Sunday, the total time spent on travelling was approximately 25 hours of which I estimate around 80% of the time was spent on my bum. Quite amazed I didn't get DVT from sitting down for so long. Anyway when I arrived in Kumasi, while I was waiting for the person picking me up to arrive, a lecturer teaching in the nearby university came up to me and offered to wait with me. He wanted to ensure that there was someone coming which was very nice of him! Even if he had not accompanied me, I did not at any point in time felt threatened. The locals were curious about me but pretty much left me alone except for the taxi drivers. But that would have happened in most other countries too. Anyway I was quite hungry after I arrived and I got my first taste of Ghanaian food. Banku is maize pounded and cooked till it reaches a gooey sticky form. It is then served with stew which is very much like curry and eaten with hands. Am regretting not bringing a set of utenils with me now. Anyway I shall blog more about Ghanaian food some other day. But that pretty much summed up my first day in Ghana.

Start

The journey starts here. Thanks to everyone for the well wishes, especially to my family, Dennis and Joa for sending me off. Cya people when I'm back.

Till then

Chantal K- Leaving on a Jet plane



Lyrics

I'm ... I'm ...

All my bags are packed, I'm ready to go
I'm standin' here outside your door I hate to wake you up to say goodbye

But the dawn is breakin', it's early morn
The taxi's waitin', he's blowin' his horn
Already I'm so lonesome I could die

So kiss me and smile for me
Tell me that you'll wait for me
Hold me like you'll never let me go

'Cause I'm leaving on a jet plane
I don't know when I'll be back again
Oh, babe, I hate to go

I'm ...

There's so many times I've let you down
So many times I've played around
I'll tell you now, they don't mean a thing

Every place I go, I think of you
Every song I sing, I sing for you
When I come back I'll wear your wedding ring

So kiss me and smile for me
Tell me that you'll wait for me
Hold me like you'll never let me go

'Cause I'm leaving on a jet plane
I don't know when I'll be back again
Oh, babe, I hate to go

Now the time has come to leave you
One more time, oh, let me kiss you
And close your eyes and I'll be on my way

Dream about the days to come
When I won't have to leave alone
About the times that I won't have to say ...

Oh, kiss me and smile for me
Tell me that you'll wait for me
Hold me like you'll never let me go

'Cause I'm leaving on a jet plane
I don't know when I'll be back again
Oh, babe, I hate to go

And I'm leaving on a jet plane
I don't know when I'll be back again
Oh, babe, I hate to go

But I'm leaving on a jet plane
Leaving on a jet plane
Leaving on a jet plane
Leaving on a jet plane
Leaving on a jet plane
Leaving on a jet plane
Leaving on a jet plane
Leaving on a jet plane
(Leaving) On a jet plane

Last night in Singapore on my comfortable bed

Last night in Singapore. Gonna miss my bed! The familiar smell and all. Was out just now with some friends. One of them asked me if I'm nervous about the trip. I said yes. Another friend later told me to be careful of my own personal security and the likes. Ironically, while I'm nervous of the trip, I'm not overtly worried about my personal security. So what am I nervous about? I guess I'm worried about pushing out of my own comfort zone and finding myself inadequate to deal with it. It's this sense of inadequacy that gnaws at me from time to time which pushes me to go for this trip. So I hope to get a better sense of self after this trip. Wish me luck!

PACA International Foundation (PIF)

Found this link while I was researching on the organisation I'm gonna work for, PACA International Foundation (PIF). It's about these two students who joined AIESEC Global Exchange Program and found themselves in Ghana working for PIF.
http://www.ryersonline.ca/articles/2796/1/With-a-little-help-from-her-profs/Page1.html

Also, found a recent newspaper article regarding the HIV situation in Obuasi. The headline reads, 'HIV Prevalence Rate in Obuasi Drops'. Hopefully when I'm there, I can play my part to reduce the prevalence of HIV too. Can't wait to start my work there!  
http://allafrica.com/stories/200909020998.html

Where is Ghana?

Not quite sure how many of you know where exactly Ghana is. Actually I wasn't so sure myself till I check out the map. So to save my dear readers precious time, here's a map of Africa. (Ghana's on the west side of Africa)

And for more information about Ghana, check out wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghana

So which part of Ghana will I be working in? It's this place called Obuasi. According to wiki and my guidebook, Obuasi is Ghana's most important gold-mining centre, one of the ten largest in the world. Obuasi is also noted for the great healthcare facilities such as AGA Hospital owned by Anglo Gold and also a private health facility, St. Jude Hospital, owned by Dr. George Owusu-Asiedu. Just realised that too! So I shouldn't be too worried about getting sick there after all. And for those of you thinking I would be staying in some mud hut, relax. It is described in the guidebook as "presenting itself to the tourist as a large sprawl of concrete dwellings and 'shops'".

Not too sure if you can see Obuasi on the map above. (It's on the diagonal upper right of WESTERN.)

Why this internship and why Africa?

I've been asked these questions at almost every farewell or gathering that I've attend so far. So I shall answer them here. It's gonna be a pretty long post so do bear with me.

Why this volunteer/exchange/internship? Even though I graduated with a finance related degree, I never much wanted to work in the industry. I always feel the industry it is making money for the sake of making money. The financial crisis pretty much solidify my viewpoint. So when it came to looking for a job towards the end of last year, I wasn't sure what to do. I thought to myself, what exactly it is that I want? People who knows me knows I love reading. And I guess the more you read about the world, the more you realise that there are many people in the world that needs our help. If I can make a career out of helping people, why not? After all, I would be getting the best of both worlds. I can make a living while at the same time do some good. So I thought this internship would serve me well. I can test my resolve to make a career out of helping people, experience for myself how it is like to be working for a NGO. It might even open doors for me in this industry. And if it doesn't work out in the end, the internship will be a fantastic addition to my resume.

So the next question is why Africa? After I decided to go for this internship, it was always clear to me that it's gonna be choosing between going to South America or Africa. I guess the exotic factor in these two places trump the rest of the world. So why Africa? In the application questionnaire for this internship, there's a similar question. Part of my answer is as follows, "Africa intrigues me. It is a land of contrast. A continent with breathtaking sceneries, abundant natural resources, yet mired in poverty and conflicts." That's the common perception people have of Africa, of the wildlife, poverty, HIV/AIDS, crime etc. I believe there's more to the place and I want to find out for myself. There's just some inexplicable mystery over Africa that interests me. I want to see Africa for myself. And I'm not coming back till I see the lions, elephants, rhinos, crocs and so on! :) Just kidding!

But having said it all, the most important reason was to challenge myself. Push myself out of my own comfort zone. I've been too comfortable for too long. Can't see myself achieving anything worthwhile should I continue on this way. So the harder the challenge, the better it is.

So there you have it! The answers.

Malaria

Started my anti-malaria pills today. Will have to take them on a weekly basis for the next few months. I wonder how people living in malarious area protect themselves? After all the pharmacist that sold me the anti-malaria pills told me that the pills should not be taken on a long term basis as it could damage the liver and I should look out for signs of jaundice and stop taking the pills immediately as 4-5 months is considered long term. And there is currently no vaccine available for malaria. Maybe that's why malaria disease is currently responsible for 1.5 to 2.7 million deaths worldwide per year. Anyway, I also bought a insect repellant to bring with me to provide double protection since malaria prophylaxis is not 100% effective against malaria infection.

Hi

Welcome to my blog!

I decided to set up this blog to document my trip to Ghana. For those of you who know me, I'm not a big fan of online social networks. (So stop sending me requests to join facebook!) True, blogs are not online social networks but I never found a reason to set up one anyway. That is, till now. I realised that not many people among us really know how Africa is like (me included) so I thought I would to the best of my ability bring a little bit of Africa into your home.Will attempt to blog often and put up pictures so everyone can get a sense of how Ghana and Africa as a whole is like! So stay tuned and follow me to take a small peek into the birthplace of humankind!

Cheers