01 August 2007

It has been quite some time since I have posted to this blog. I did a better job of keeping up with my newsletter update each week, but even that suffered. Loading pictures to the internet took just too much time, money and patience. Sometimes I was short on all of these.

As of 31 July, I am back in Beamsville, ON. I made the decision to return home because the project that I had come to do - the IT Training on the Educational Management Information System (EMIS) - was pretty much complete. The challenge was that when we started using real data for testing, I found problems in the data sheets that were to be used to analyze the exam results. So, I spent much of the last month working on the spreadsheets at all hours of the day and night.

The power shedding exercise (sharing power outages on a regular basis to avoid a complete outage for the whole country) presented an additional challenge. I kept a calendar so that I had a good idea when the districts were scheduled to have no lights. But VRA (Volta River Authority) did not always stick to the schedule. So there were many occasions when I would arrive at a district for training to find that there was no power.

Overall, Ghana was a good experience. I enjoyed the work that I did. I enjoyed the mobility of having a motorcycle. I met a lot of great Ghanaians, both at work and as friends. The other volunteers were a great circle of support. It was good. But it was finally time to leave.

It was with very mixed feelings that I left Ghana because of the things mentioned above. It is hard to say goodbye to people that I spent so much of each day with over the past several months. Ghana had become the known and it is now Canada that is a bit of the unknown. I am glad to be home, but I know that I will face different challenges here as I try to fit back into Beamsville.

The above picture has nothing to do with my job or with my leaving. But I think it is a pretty neat picture. This camel and rider showed up outside a spot on the outskirts of Bolgatanga one day. I asked if I could take a picture and he seemed happy to oblige. After taking the picture, he then started asking for money. I found out that during the dry winter season (January and February especially) people wander in off the Sahara and Sahel looking for pasture for the camels. This man was probably from Burkina Faso, or possibly even Mali. It was interesting to see. I did not realize how large a camel is until I stood next to this one to take the picture.

I will try to add a bit more here soon to wrap things up. For right now, I just wanted to let those that have looked here that I have arrived safely at home in Canada, and I am beginning the next phase of my life.

Take care one and all.