hao's journey

It's about time

2010-01-30T00:22:00.000+08:00

It's confirmed. I will be flying back this coming Monday.

Aksombo Dam

2010-01-30T00:17:00.000+08:00

Here's the hydroelectric dam that produces much of Ghana's electricity. The ensuing lake created by the dam is the largest man-made lake in west Africa.

Lake Volta

Wli waterfall

2010-01-27T17:27:00.000+08:00

Wli waterfall is reputably the highest waterfall in west Africa. it consists of a easily accessible lower fall and a harder to reach upper fall. It takes about 2 hrs to trek up to the upper fall and the climb really drives home the need for me to get some exercise in when I'm back. But anyway it was worth the effort and time to climb up to the upper fall. as you approach the fall, the sound of water roaring down the falls reaches you first. Gradually the fall comes into sight. What a sight it was! and a nice dip in the pool to wash off all the sweat from the exertion of the climb. What more can you ask for?

Can you see it?

Upper falls

Lower fall

Boy

Getaway (3) - Butre beach

2010-01-22T23:52:00.000+08:00

Spent the Christmas period at this excellent beachside resort at the town of Butre.

Rented this fishing boat to take us out to sea. Had some hairy moments trying to board the boat as the waves were really big.

Pics of the beach

Getaway (2) - Kakum National Park

2010-01-20T21:55:00.000+08:00

The main attraction here is the canopy walk. The walk is not too expensive and its a rather interesting way to see a rainforest. Not sure how it compares with the tree-top walk in Singapore. Has anyone tried that yet? Anyway meet some 'obrunis' along the way and we ended up having lunch together.

Obrunis

Getaway (2) - Fort Gago

2010-01-12T00:59:00.000+08:00

Fort Gago is located near St George's Castle in Elmina. It has an interesting story. The Dutch had for years been trying to take over the Castle from the Portuguese by attacking from the sea. But those attempts were largely unsuccessful till the local population decided to assist the Dutch. They led the Dutch through a overland route to attack the Castle. The Dutch arrived on the hill where the current Fort Gago stood and found it to be overlooking the Castle. They placed cannons there, forcing the Portuguese to surrender. To ensure that no one else can take over the Castle as easily as they did, the Dutch constructed a Fort on that hill.

Getaway (2) - Elmina town

2010-01-10T18:08:00.000+08:00

Some pictures of the town of Elmina.

Getaway (2) - Elmina Castle

2009-12-30T23:44:00.000+08:00

Some pictures of the imposing structure of Elmina Castle also known as St George's Castle

Getaway (2) - The slave trade

2009-12-29T07:40:00.000+08:00

Visited Elmina in the southern part of Ghana a couple of weeks ago. It's a small town famous for its castle built by the Portuguese. The castle is indeed awesome! From a distance you can see its white facade gleaming under the bright rays of the sun. But beneath its pretty walls lies a dark past. For over 200 years, it was used first by the Portuguese and later the Dutch as a centre for the trans-Atlantic slave trade. The living conditions that the slaves had to endure is horrendous. Typically, a few hundred people will be crammed into a small, dark, damp dungeon and made to eat, shit and sleep there while waiting for the ships that is to take them to the new world. It could take up to 3 months waiting for those ships. Countless died in those dungeons. Many more during the journey. Those that left would never ever see their homeland again.

It never cease to amaze me the kind of brutality that Man are capable of. The trans-Atlantic slave trade is but one of them. Terrorism, genocides, wars and the list goes on. During this festive period, while we are enjoying ourselves, let us all not forget that somewhere out there in this world, there could be a mother crying over her dying malnourished child or a father weeping for his fallen soldier son.

Entrance to the dungeons

The dungeons

Through the 'Door of no return' - so named as all the slaves that passes through the door will never again see their homeland again

Never again

The branding room - this the place where the slaves are branded with a hot iron to allow the traders to identify which slaves belongs to them

Weekend getaway (1) - Day three

2009-12-20T01:42:00.003+08:00

Woke up early on the last day to see turtles hatchlings emerge from their nest. Quite a sight that I will not forget for quite some time!

Fisherman fishing

Turtle hatchlings!

The coastal town of Beyin

Fort Apollonia

View of the beach

Cute children!

Weekend getaway (1) - Day two

2009-12-12T18:10:00.000+08:00

The beach resort that we stayed in is a stone's throw away from the Nzulezu stilted community. It's basically a village built upon a lake. The funny thing is the villagers are mainly farmers and not fisherman. Wonder why they decided to live on the lake.

The canal that leads to the lake

The canoe ride

Scenes of the wetlands

The stilted village

Weekend getaway (1) - Day One

2009-11-30T23:54:00.002+08:00

Went for a short weekend trip to the southern coast of Ghana last week with all the other interns. The place we stayed at was isolated but beautiful.

Here are some pictures from the Day one of the trip.

The journey to the place we were to stay took a bloody long time. It couldn't have been more than 400 km but it took us almost 10 hours to cover that distance due to the bad conditions of the roads here. Anyway along the way, we saw some kids playing volleyball and we decided to stretch our legs and join them in the game.

View of the beach from the resort

The beach resort runs a local turtle conservation program. So for a small fee, visitors can join in the beach patrol at night and they might see mother turtles laying eggs or help to dig out newly laid eggs and bring them back to the resort's nursery for protection.

HIV test

2009-11-27T19:00:00.000+08:00

Went for a HIV test. Not that I did anything stupid enough to warrant going for a test. The topic for the next 2 weeks sessions is on the importance of knowing your HIV status and I feel there's no better way to talk about it then to get myself tested first. It gives me first hand experience of how the whole testing process works and I can better relate to the students about it afterwards.

Here's a little rundown on the test. HIV status test is also known as VCT (voluntary, counselling, testing). When you go for a test, a trained counsellor will do a pre-test counselling which consists of providing you with the basic information on HIV/AIDS. The test itself takes only 5-10 minutes and consists of pricking your thumb to get a little blood after that there's a post-test counselling session. So altogether the process takes less than an hour. And its for free!

Btw, my test result is negative.

TIG

2009-11-18T23:50:00.000+08:00

Recently one of the interns coined this word - TIG (This is Ghana). We generally used it to refer to situations whereby we are at a loss of words to explain what's happening and simply have to accept that its happening because we are in Ghana (Africa is interchangeable with Ghana here). Encountered this moment just now. This particular school have for the past 3 weeks been informing us at the last minute that we cannot do the session for the week due to various reasons. So we are now seriously behind schedule for that school not to mentioned pissed off at the last minute changes and we cannot indefinitely extend the project just for the benefit of one school. So me and Tomoki went down to the school to attempt to find a solution. There was no one around the school as they had all gone for their athletics meet this week. Managed to find one teacher and she 'agreed' to allow us to do 2 sessions next week to make up for lost time. Not sure if she can make the decision but having someone agree to something is better than nothing I feel. Also we wanted to find out when is the end-of-semester test (to avoid future clash of schedule) and the TIG moment occurred. She has no idea! WTF! At another school earlier, they were not sure of the exact date too. Its gonna be held sometime in Dec. The exact date is a mystery. In fact they are not sure if its gonna be a uniform date for all the schools or not. Can you believe it? I wonder how the students are suppose to prepare for it. Kind of makes you question the professionalism of the education service here in Ghana huh. Anyway this means that we will have to make a trip down to the education service department in Obuasi to sort out the mess. More work :(

World Cup Qualifier: Ghana vs Mali

2009-11-17T23:19:00.001+08:00

Went with the other interns to watch a World Cup qualifier between Ghana and Mali last Sunday. My first time watching a World Cup qualifier match 'live'. Never imagine I would be seeing some Premier League stars in this way. Yes! Michael Essien (Chelsea) was playing! I like him and its a pity that Man Utd didn't managed to sign him. Anyway Ghana had already qualified prior to the match which probably explained their rather lackluster performance. The match ended 2-2.

The stadium

Street peddlers

Supporters

From left: Yu Jin (Korea), Hitomi (Japan), Aireen (China), Hannah (Germany)

The match

The gift from heaven

2009-11-12T22:15:00.000+08:00

The tap went dry a few days ago at Phillip's house. It has happened once previously though we were better prepared the last time. The previous time, there were signs that the water supply might stop as the water was flowing rather erratically and we made sure to store up water in a big container that most Ghanaian household have. This time round, we were all caught by surprise and were left rather unprepared. Worst of all, there wasn't much water left in the big container. Unfortunately for me, I had soaked my clothes the night before in preparation for washing them that morning and the water shortage made the washing rather difficult. Tricky balance to strike between making sure the clothes are clean and not using up too much of the precious little water left in the big container. Towards the night, the water supply still showed no signs of coming on anytime soon and we were left to wonder how to take a shower that night. But the heavens probably saw our predicament and decided to intervene. It rained. In case you thought that the tap starting flowing again, you've got it wrong. Oh yes, we collected the rainwater and for the first time in my life, I bathe with rainwater. Kind of a experience huh!

It made me realised one thing. We should never take a country's development for granted. Ghana is probably how Singapore looks like 50 years ago. But look at where we are today and where Ghana is. Ghana is blessed with natural resources from gold deposits to land for agriculture (they are one of the biggest producer of cocoa beans in the world). But still they struggle to provide decent clean tap water to the majority of the people here. The tap can and will go off anytime here without warning. Imagine if PUB does that in Singapore, what an outroar it will create. Here, people just shrug their shoulders and carry on. Some people might argue that the development in Singapore came at a steep price of lost of liberty etc. Perhaps they should spent some time living in a less developed country. There is no liberty to speak of in my opinion if your stomach is hungry, if your kids have no access to schooling, if you have to trek under the hot sun to get to a communal tap for access to water. Took a tro-tro just now. (A tro-tro is a form of public transport here. It's basically a converted van used to carry people. Tro-tros are operated by a team of 2 people. A driver and a 'conductor' whose main responsibility is to collect fares.) The 'conductor' in that tro-tro was just a boy. Probably no older than 15 years old. What were you doing at that age?

Making of fufu

2009-11-07T23:51:00.000+08:00

Here are some photos of the process involved in making fufu. It's a rather tedious process!

Larabanga and the mud mosque

2009-11-04T01:16:00.003+08:00

Larabanga, a small town, lies at the entrance to Mole National Park. According to the Bradt guidebook, it hosts the most famous and reputedly oldest of the West-Sudanese-style mud-and-stick mosques in Ghana. The exact age of the mosque and its builder(s) is subjected to dispute. Can't remember the exact story but it goes something like this. A man wanted to built a new house and somehow he decided to throw his spear and relocate to whatever the spear landed. Miraclously, the spear flew half a kilometre and landed at the present location of the mosque. Even more amazing, it landed in a foundation which had appeared out of nowhere and he decided to build a mosque upon that foundation. Not too sure about the authenticity of the story, but one thing's for sure, it's a old mosque with a unique architecture and that's all I need to know.

Scenery

Traditional mud hut

Guide explaining the story behind the mosque

The mosque

Photos from first week of classes

2009-11-02T00:12:00.001+08:00

Here are some photos from the first week of ASK classes.

Head Teacher's office

Classroom

School compound

Canteen!

Another school

Resting under a tree

Disappointing day

2009-10-29T23:01:00.000+08:00

Had a heated discussion today with the Head Teacher of one of the school. Was really disappointed with his attitude and demands. He was asking us about financial incentives for the school or teachers to compensate them for the time spent assisting us in the project. He said that his teachers complained to him that they had to spent their own money to go for the opening ceremony of the project and that there was no food only light refreshments provided. He went on to say that if this continues, the teachers might not be so willing to cooperate and the project will end in failure. He feels we are not being fair to the school or the teachers! What a load of bullshit!

This is not the first time he had brought up the issue of money. Every time we go to the school, he will never fail to bring it up. I seriously had enough of it. I have repeatedly explained to him that we are having problems finding sponsors. If we can reimburse the school or teacher for the time or personal money spent, we will but until we get money in, there's nothing we can do about it. But this man doesn't seem to trust us and was persistent in badgering us to do something about it. And so let my emotions got the better of me and went into a heated discussion with the Head Teacher. I have to admit there was a period during the discussion when I was struggling really badly to control my anger. So much so that I had to stop myself from speaking.

In hindsight I really should have controlled myself better. It was unprofessional of me to did what i did. But the thought that we spent so much time and effort to run this project in a faraway place because we care about the issue and this is the kind of appreciation we are getting is really upsetting.

To be honest, after today, even if the project have the money, I would not spend it on the school or teachers. Every single cent that we have raised so far and is continuing trying to raise should be spend on the students.

Food

2009-10-28T23:01:00.000+08:00

Finally the much awaited posting on food in Ghana! Generally the food here tends to be starchy as their staple consist of mainly rice or root vegetables like cassava or yam. The variety of food available is also limited. For rice, its usually fried rice, plain rice with stew or jollof rice (rice cooked with tomato, tomato paste, onions, salt and pepper), giving it a red colour. Have yet to see a pure noodle dish though they have a curious habit of mixing some spaghetti with rice and eating it. So far I have yet to find any green leafy vegetables and also no fresh milk is available here.

So what is Ghana's national dish? I believe it's fufu. Basically its boiled cassava and plaintain, pounded into a glutinous mass. It is then served with gravy, which can be made from groundnut, palm nut or light tomato soup. The texture of is a bit like muah chee. And yes you eat fufu with your fingers.

First class

2009-10-23T00:40:00.000+08:00

This ASK project officially starts this week! The first and second class was done yesterday by Hannah and Eric. Went to observe their lesson and to ensure that everything went smoothly since Tomoki and I were the main point of contact between the schools and the ASK team. Had my first class this morning and another in the afternoon. It is exhausting having to stand in front of a class for an hour and teach about HIV/AIDS. But at the same time it was fun too! The kids here are unlike Singapore students. Here they enjoy participation and if you ask a question, generally you can find people willing to raise their hands to answer it unlike in Singapore. Having said that, I find myself being very careful with my choice of words as I wasn't sure of their English standards. Having been here for a while, I'm beginning to find that the older generations generally speaks better English than the younger ones. Hope that is a wrong assessment and that things are actually better than I thought. Anyway back to the classes, some of the questions asked by the students were really challenging and I find myself unsure of the answers. So I guess I better read up more on the topic!! And to all my teacher friends out there, you guys rock!

Mole National Park - Part three

2009-10-23T00:19:00.000+08:00

Pictures of insects

Mole National Park - Part two

2009-10-22T01:55:00.001+08:00

Only managed to see 4 variety of animals at the national park. They are the elephants, antelopes, wild hogs and baboons.

Pictures of Mole National Park - Part one

2009-10-22T01:08:00.000+08:00

Sceneries

A series of unfortunate events

2009-10-22T00:21:00.000+08:00

Was up in Kumasi at the AIESEC house over the weekend as they had planned for a integration trip up north for the interns and the new members. The original plan was to leave Kumasi at 2am on Friday and travel the night to reach Yeji by dawn. At Yeji we will take a ferry to cross lake volta and travel on to Salaga which was formally a slave camp. After that we will journey on to Bolgatanga where we will spend the night and leave early the next day to travel to Paga. At Paga we will take pictures with crocodiles at the sacred lake and travel onwards to Wa. Not sure what's to see there but after that to Mole National Park to see the elephants before dropping by Larabanga to see the oldest mosque in Ghana after which we will head back to Kumasi and hopefully reached the house before midnight. Sounds crazy? Yup it is. I wasn't convinced that the plan will work especially since it usually takes longer than expected to reach anywhere in Ghana. For example, I was told that it would only take 45mins to 1 hr to travel from Kumasi to Obuasi and in the end it's more like 3-4 hrs. And they didn't want to spend another night up north in order to keep the cost down. But in the end, as things goes here, the plan didn't work out. Quite glad of that actually as I wasn't looking forward to spending so much time on my bum travelling on lousy roads. Some how everyone overslept and we left Kumasi at around 6+ in the morning. And lo and behold, some of the members that were suppose to come on the trip changed their minds at the last minute and we were left with a bus, a few of us interns and some members wondering whether we should still carry on the trip. But I guessed everyone wanted a short break so we decided to take a day trip instead to Tamale, Mole National Park and Larabanga which are all near each other before heading back at night. But the delay meant that we only left Kumasi at around 9+ and the trip to Tamale will take around 6 hours. We reached Tamale at 2+ in the afternoon and became worried that we might not make it to Mole in time before it closes for the night. So we took a short spin round Tamale and left for Mole. The road to Mole was atrocious even by local standards. The road were unpaved, full of potholes and stretches to nowhere. And when we reached Mole at 4.30pm, we were told the park is closed. So we went to Larabanga and took some pictures of the mosque and stayed the night there even though we did not plan to do it. But was glad that we did as we saw the most beautiful night sky. Stars, moon and the milky way. Gorgeous! The next morning we went to the park and if you are picturing those images you usually see on National Geographic or Discovery, forget about it. Those wide swathes of Savannah are only found in east and south Africa. Furthermore we visited the park at the wrong season. It's the rainy season now and the best time to visit is in Feb when its the dry season and the grasses are shorter and water more scarce forcing the animals to congregate at watering holes which makes viewing easier. Anyway we left for Kumasi and after what seems like eternity we finally reached the AIESEC house again at 3 something in the afternoon. So there you have it, this is Africa for you. Unexpected surprises are always around the corner waiting for you. Just in case you're wondering if I enjoyed the trip, I did. The great company made up for the rest.

Crazy!

2009-10-20T23:01:00.000+08:00

Saw this piece of news on yahoo 'Epic African roadtrip aids poor ahead of 2010 WC'. Basically the plan is to raise money for charities by getting people to pay 1,250 dollars to join the organisers on a roadtrip through Africa driving "the cheapest, worst, lightest cars' from Berlin to Cape Town. "We want to show that you don't need a four-wheel drive vehicle to go across Africa, that having a smaller car makes it half the adventure of getting there." Knowing the state of roads in Africa, I can only wish them good luck!

Get the full story here
http://sg.news.yahoo.com/afp/20091020/tls-fbl-wc2010-us-travel-charity-aeafa1b.html

ASK opening ceremony photos - part two

2009-10-15T19:25:00.000+08:00

Guest speakers

Q&A session

Organising Committee with invited guests

Others

The children

Can you do that?

Reporters

Machine-washed vs hand-washed

2009-10-14T23:30:00.000+08:00

Shall recount a conversation I had with Yaw (Phillip's third son) a while ago which set me thinking. It was about the lack of washing machine in Ghana. I remarked to him that while Ghanaians have laptops, fridges etc it is rather odd that they do not have washing machine. To me technological progress comes as a package and I was surprised to find it not so here. He's reply was that they prefer to wash by hands which I take to mean that they are used to washing by hand and see no reason to change. I thought that wasn't a very good reason and said that perhaps it's because washing machine are expensive and it consumes unnecessary water and electricity. He agreed and added that washing by hands is cleaner (which I disagree) and the clothes last longer. I left it as that. A similiar conversation took place when I was at the conference in Takarodi. The reply I got was that God gave people hands to use it. At which point I replied that why then are you using a laptop and not a pen? God gave people brains to use it too. As a economic student, I look at it from a economic perspective. Most women here are housewife and the marginal cost of washing to them would probably be the time spent. But time here is cheap generally and especially so for housewife. Why do I say so? Unemployment here is generally high. Most people here are self-employed (i.e. you will see many small stalls by the side of the road selling similiar products like drinks or snacks). So time is theirs to use as they wished. Also, whenever I go to the Obuasi's Municipal Office, most of the workers there are doing nothing but reading newspapers. On the other hand, the marginal return from hand washing is the savings made from having to purchase a washing machine and the extra electricity and water cost which would be substantial by local income levels. So what would change the equation to tilt it in favour of washing machine? When time is no longer cheap. That would require economic progress and Ghana certainly has the conditions and natural resources to achieve that. So who wants to bet against washing machine becoming the norm here in the future?

Pictures from ASK project opening ceremony - part one

2009-10-14T23:02:00.000+08:00

Some pics on the preparation of the opening ceremony.

The venue

NTMS part 3

2009-10-14T01:06:00.000+08:00

Last group of pictures from NTMS 09

People I've met

NTMS part two

2009-10-10T23:25:00.000+08:00

More pictures of the conference

Meal times

Bedroom

NTMS 09 part one

2009-10-05T23:09:00.001+08:00

National training and motivational seminar (NTMS). My feelings for the conference is kinda mixed. On one hand, I think the whole conference was badly organised. The hotel was crappy, the food was always not enough, the program too boring etc. But on the other hand, I was quite glad that I went for the conference too. The conference was held in Takarodi which is a nice coastal town. So instead of attending the plenary sessions which, by the way, was meant for new members to get to know more about AIESEC, I went to explore the beach and city center instead. Will upload those photos in another post. In the meantime, here are some photos of the conference.

Arrivals

Pictures!

2009-10-04T00:48:00.000+08:00

Wow took me ages to upload these few pictures! Anyway got a bit bored of typing so decided to spice up the blog with some pictures. These pictures were taken at the AIESEC house which is where I stayed at when I first reached Kumasi.

The room where I slept is on the 2nd storey of the building on the right.

Toilet

My bed is the lower one.

The other room.

Kitchen

The opening ceremony

2009-10-03T23:53:00.000+08:00

The opening ceremony is finally over! Hurray! Somehow we managed to scrambled through the entire ceremony. There were definitely cock-ups but in view of the lack of funds and planning, I would say its a miracle we got through the event without too much of a hitch. Anyway I was quite glad to see the other members from AIESEC KNUST as I have not seen them since the conference. Kinda miss the easy banter with them and all the jokes and stuff. But me and Tomoki will be heading up to Kumasi on Wed for Marius's farewell party so I will get to see them again. Marius is the German intern and he will be leaving Ghana on Sat. I will miss him. He has a easy-going nature about him that endears him to people. And besides, he was the one doing much of the work on the ASK project so without him around, I'm quite worried as to who will be pushing things forward for the project in Kumasi. Well I guess we will cross the bridge when it comes so in the meantime I'm gonna enjoy a little breather.

Hot day and patience

2009-10-03T01:39:00.001+08:00

It's a bloody hot day today in Obuasi. Too hot to be walking around in business wear. Was out visiting the schools that are participating in the ASK project. All the travelling was done on foot which wouldn't have been so bad if it was not so hot. Went to do a final confirmation that they are coming for tomorrow and to arrange the pickup timing. It was then that I realised some schools have not even assigned a teacher to follow the kids yet. As for the pickup, Phillip suggested we give a early time to them as he says his people if you tell them 8 they will reach at 9 (for those who know me, yes I'm usually late too but not to that extent!) Anyway, besides going to the schools today, went to the goldmine too. That's why I was wearing business wear as I was hoping to meet the General Manager of community development at the goldmine. Didn't get to meet him again. The reason this time round was that while he's in, he had not read our proposal yet. Haiz! The proposal was sent last thursday! I don't really care if he wanna see us or not, so long as he gives us the funding! Anyway he says he will read it and discuss it with his MD and get back to us. Not sure how long that will take. In the meantime, AIESEC KNUST will probably have to fund the opening ceremony through their operating income or something like that cos the event is definitely going ahead tomorrow. The other interns from Kumasi are now in Obuasi doing the final preparation for tomorrow. So the greatest take-away from this hot hot day is patience. Patience with the speed of the internet here as I try to upload photos; patience with the speed things get done here etc. That's Africa for you. Anyway since the net here is really slow, will not bother uploading photos to the blog. Will do so through flickr instead so its gonna be a wordy blog people. I'm sorry.

Money, money, money

2009-10-01T04:01:00.000+08:00

Had a not so good day today. While we managed to settle many things concerning the opening ceremony of the ASK project, the main issue of funding is still in the air. Went to the goldmine today to talk to the general manager in charge of community development and was told he had gone to Accra and there's no one else for us to talk to. So there goes about our last hope for sponsorship. Not sure what else can be done. Will go back again on Friday when he's back and hopefully he will make a decision in our favour then and soon. That's about the best we can hope for at this moment in time. Money is a major issue for NGOs and projects like these especially so when many companies are affected by this financial crisis. Had a chat with Phillip yesterday and he was talking about the difficulty he had in securing funding for the various programs that he does in the community. He often had to write to overseas organisation for funding as local organisations do not yet have the civic consciousness to support such programs. It's a pity really as I think local donations is better for a NGO to sustain its operations. It doesn't have to be a lot of money. A small sum from everyone will add up to a lot of money. These money are going back to the community, not like it would be benefiting someone else. So the real beneficiaries will be the community at large. Anyway all we can do now is to try and negotiate down the prices of everything we will need for the opening ceremony, from the food to venue cost. On a lighter note, the intern from Japan is finally here. His name is Tomoki. So far found him to be a rather nice guy. He has been to India before so he's not too shocked by the environment here in Ghana. And he's rather independent too. He arrived in Kumasi while we were at a conference in Takarodi and so he was on his own for a few days. Heard briefly from him that he simply went around on his own for those few days! Anyway will try my best to put up the pictures that I've taken so far. By the internet is really slow here and so its difficult to upload photos. Last but not least, those who wants a postcard from Ghana, do email me your address @ oahiew_il@yahoo.com.sg. Do try and consolidate the addresses so that my mailbox wouldn't be flooded! It will take me a long time to individually open each email. Will try to meet every request but no promises as it actually quite expensive to send a postcard from here.

Interesting website

2009-09-30T04:41:00.002+08:00

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

2009-09-30T04:27:00.000+08:00

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

2009-09-30T04:10:00.000+08:00

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

2009-09-29T04:10:00.001+08:00

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

2009-09-23T01:31:00.000+08:00

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

2009-09-23T01:30:00.000+08:00

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

2009-09-23T01:27:00.001+08:00

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

2009-09-23T01:21:00.000+08:00

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

2009-09-20T00:29:00.002+08:00

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

2009-09-19T17:48:00.002+08:00

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

2009-09-19T01:58:00.002+08:00

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)

2009-09-17T02:45:00.003+08:00

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?

2009-09-17T02:41:00.004+08:00

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?

2009-09-15T03:28:00.000+08:00

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

2009-09-14T05:55:00.001+08:00

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

2009-09-11T01:26:00.000+08:00

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