09 August Update - Just Because

This is just a short entry with no pictures this week. I have been busy but without doing anything exciting or different.

The best news is that I have not been caught in another rainstorm. I have taken the time to listen to the locals and follow their advice. I have learned that when they scurry for cover, it isn't long until it will be too late to scurry for cover. I have spent a couple of afternoons doing more work at a locale than planned, just so that I could stay under cover until the rain stopped.

Yesterday I was in Navrongo, for example. The sky looked rainy all day. I made it there and worked for a few hours before the storm hit. When it did, there was one flash of lightning that I only say out of the corner of my eye and it was followed immediately by a crack of thunder that shook the entire building. Then the rains came to the point that it seemed that everything would flood. The power went out for about 1/2 hour, and I though I would have a pretty dull afternoon - unable to work and unable to leave. The power soon came back and I was able to finish my work. And about 5:00, when I had to leave for home, the sky was still cloudy but it didn't look like rain anymore. Getting out of the parking lot was an adventure, as it had been turned into a mud pit. Both back and front wheel went in their own directions at various times and I was sure that I was going to fall over. I made it out okay but then sprayed myself with mud as I picked up speed on the paved road and the dirt came off the tires.

That was my adventure to report this time, and it didn't even happen last week. Statistically, there are 31 VSO computers that I have worked on in the past few weeks. I am happy to report that only three do not work at all, and that parts from those three have been used to either get other computers working or improve the performance. So it has been a better result that I originally feared when I first started looking at them.

And from here I can begin to do the training that is part of the project. That will be basic introduction to computers and to the hardware, maintenance, Excel, Word, PowerPoint and the use of the spreadsheet we are providing for analysis by the district statisticians.

And I am also looking forward to doing more travelling in the future and to enjoying what I can while I am here in Ghana.