Maria Booker
The past few days have been spent acclimatizing and meeting with the key stakeholders in my project. I still feel anxiety when walking around town by myself, but it is lessening, and it lessened significantly after spending the afternoon with my Ghanaian host, Bertha.
The meetings with my stakeholders have led to a definition of my objectives. I need to clarify my research a little bit, link the themes together some more, and define my specific objectives. I have agreed to provide the completed proposal, objectives, and itinerary by Monday, but I am aiming for Friday. Wednesday is a public holiday here, and my daughter graduates pre-school on Friday, May 27th, so I will be unable to work on both days next week.
My first objective is to find reliable internet access; the two bar service at the guest house means that I need to wait for four minutes to be told that the page could not be loaded. My search ends at the stalls downtown where three gentlemen each can sell me something for my internet access. One gentleman, Gabriel, can sell me the data stick, for which he drives a hard bargain, and I feel like I have gotten ripped off. Juju sells me the pay as you go sim card, which I need to gain access to the internet, and Majid sells me the top up card for the sim card. The men operate in a way that makes a business undergrad proud; each operate successfully within their business unit, passing customers to each other regardless of their profit margin.
After securing internet access, I am mobbed by all of the other salesmen on the street. It is intimidating, but I give them the time of day, and come away with some very impressive art work and a few other wares. I also learn that Ghanaians have names from the day that they are born. I was born on a Tuesday, so this makes my day name Abena. The boy that is selling me his artwork calls me Nana Abena, which means Princess Tuesday (this name may accompany me back home). While I don’t think I will ever feel like I fit in, I do feel like I am beginning to integrate more. I think I will be comfortable bringing my camera out within the next few days.
I was able to see my daughter for the first time on Skype after connecting to the internet. I read her a book called “Greenzys” before I left. The book is about animals from all over the planet that help clean up a polluted river that is making an old tree very sick. I’ve told Ava that I am cleaning up a river while I am here, and she is very interested in why the Africans don’t have trash cans. I miss her more than anything in the world, but she looses interest in Skype after a few minutes and goes to play with the dogs – she will be fine!
My main objective over the next few days is my research and proposal, and thankfully the rain is keeping me indoors. I will take advantage of the do not disturb sign in my room for as long as it is raining, and if I am able to submit the edited proposal by Friday, I will head to some of the museums and points of interest that I have read about in my guidebook.