Mid-September

It has been a month almost since I last posted here. I won't try to detail all that I have been doing since the last post. As you can tell, I have not yet taken any more photos, so this is just a written update.

I have started training at one district. I have finished working with all of the computers brought in by VSO. I am anxiously waiting for the remaining districts to finish their computer rooms and get ready for training. It might still take some time.

The rains have been pretty heavy lately and it feels more like the rainy season that I was expecting to experience. For some days it has rained quite heavily throughout the day and the night. The skies have been cloudy most of the day. It is hard to predict my travels so I now include the caveat that it depends on the rain. So far, I have not been caught since that first week when I got wet three times.

Unfortunately the rains have not been heavy enough and so the water levels are low. Most of Ghana's electricity is hydroelectric, and with the water levels low there is a need to conserve what is there for the rest of the year. Currently we are experiencing rotating load sharing, which means every three or four days different areas experience 12 hours without power. That might happen from 6:00 AM to 6:00 PM or 6:00 PM to 6:00 AM. I am not sure which is better. During the day it means very little work gets down. At night, it means cooking, eating and entertaining myself in the dark and that generally means going to be before 9:00 because there isn't much else to do.

The good news is that the weather has been quite a bit cooler with all of the rain, so even without the fan it is bearable at night. I have even worked in the office a couple of days without turning on the air conditioner.

This week I will help out with motorcycle training again as well as continuing with the planned training schedule. Next week I will be in Accra for a few days to welcome a new group of volunteers into the country. Maybe I will even get the chance to take a few photos again. I will plan on taking my camera with me at least.

And with that I will close until next time.