CIC Rejection

This picture was taken on 12 June 2008. It is a picture of Eriye and I watching a judge at the Courthouse in Akwanga, Nasarawa State, Nigeria signing our marriage certificate. It was a happy day for both of us, as we anticipated sharing our lives during the remainder of my placement in Akwanga and then travelling together to Canada for a totally new experience for Eriye.

Shortly after our wedding, we submitted our application for a Permanent Resident Visa for Eriye. For more than a year we heard nothing from CIC (Citizenship and Immigration Canada) but continued to hope that something would happen soon so we could come to Canada together at the end of my volunteer placement. Unfortunately, my job ended before we were able to get Eriye's visa, or even to find out where we were in the process of getting said visa.

I had to come home because the College of Education Akwanga had not requested that I stay any longer to continue working with them. It was a sad day on 2nd September when I left Eriye with another volunteer living in Abuja and made my way to the airport to make my way home alone. We did not know what was in store, but continued to have a naive hope that we would be reunited within a short period of time. My plan was to begin working through whatever contacts I could find that might help to move the decision process forward.

Sometime in November, after a few letters and appeals to the Canadian High Commission in Accra, Ghana, we were told that Eriye would have her immigration interview on 9th December 2009. It was hard to keep from getting too excited, as we had no reason to think that Eriye's application would be rejected. We started hoping for a reunion before Christmas.

Eriye travelled to Accra for the interview. It is a two day trip from where she is staying with friends in Port Harcourt, Nigeria - and that is two days of hard travel. We were happy to have another volunteer from Akwanga join her in Accra, and they enjoyed some time together while Eriye prepared herself for the interview. On the designated day, Eriye made her way to the High Commission and faced her interviewer. I say faced, because Eriye came away from the interview feeling very attacked. The interviewer said that our marriage certificate looked fake, like something that I had made myself on the computer and then sent to Eriye for the interview. Eriye did not go with a photo album of our wedding (mostly because we did not have one) or of events that we had participated in together since our wedding. We had no idea that these things would be needed. We know that our marriage is real, and had no reason to think that the Canadian government would not accept the documentation that we provided.

We were both so disappointed with the decision of the interviewer, and with the entire immigration process. Rather than helping us to know what is needed to ensure that our marriage is considered real, we have wasted a year finding out that we did not provide enough. During that year we could have gathered more supporting evidence if only we had known. Now we face an appeal process that might last for another year or longer, with no guarantee that the decision will be reversed.

Eriye left the interview with very bad feelings about Canada and not so sure that she wants to come here anymore. And, with winter settling in and me freezing here at home, I am not so sure that Canada is as wonderful as I have always thought it was. So who knows what is next in our lives.

After the interview, Eriye and her friend went to the market near the High Commission. While there, Eriye's bad was stolen and she lost:
* her brand new passport (about a month old and one that she went through a lot of trouble to get)
* her health card
* bank cards (her accounts, my accounts, etc.)
* money
* her bus ticket back to Port Harcourt
* all of her contact information
* everything else that a woman happens to carry in her bag on a regular basis

I have a feeling that 9th December 2009 will be a day that Eriye will remember for a long time. And all I could do is comfort her as best I could with a long distance phone call.

Eriye is back in Port Harcourt now and making some decisions about what she will do to make a living, since it appears that she might be there for a long time. She will have to look at a place to live, employment or work of some sort, and all those things that are part of having a home. And I am still in Beamsville doing what I can to survive here, while I start working on an appeal to bring Eriye home. We are both suffering from being alone, and hoping to be reunited soon. But neither of us knows what that will look like yet.

On the Way Home!!!

It is now September, 2009. I finished my time in Nigeria at the College of Education Akwanga on 28 August, and left for Abuja to begin my journey home on 21 August. The trip to Abuja was not easy. We were assigned an old van that looked like it would have difficulty making it from the campus to Akwanga town. And we weren't far off in our guess of the health of the vehicle. We actually made it to Garaku, about 25 km, before it broke down. The driver had been given enough money for fuel and something for his feeding, so I had to dip into my own funds for some repairs. These small repairs lasted about 5 km before failing as well. And so we were stranded again. I called the Acting Provost and described our situation. She immediately sent her own car and driver to bring us to Abuja, where we spent a day saying goodbye to our friends there.

The last several weeks at the college were very busy. One of the lecturers found out that I was soon to leave so took the initiative to arrange for training to take place. So I spent about 6 weeks teaching/training 6 hours a day along with personal assistance before and after the scheduled classes. It was what I had wanted to do since I first came, so was happy to be busy as I ended my time at the college.


This is a picture of most of those participating in the training. The class consisted of a wide range of ages and a wide range of computer knowledge. I feel confident that all gained something from the trainings, which concentrated on Using the Internet, Using Email, Word Processing, Spreadsheets and Presentation software. Open Office was installed for everyone to use, as many had trial versions of MS Office and I wanted to be sure that they had something they could use going forward. That added some difficulties to the training, as I had to discuss MS Office 2003, MS Office 2007 and Open Office at the same time.

I am now in London on a 21 hour layover. I am taking advantage of high speed internet access to do a little catching up and posting of updates. I will be back in Canada Thursday afternoon, and will be quite busy sorting out things when I get home so that I can take a trip to North Carolina to visit my daughter there.

Thanks to all that have been keeping up with me on this blog, though I have not updated it as often as I would have liked. Until the next time.

WASA - West Africa Strikes Again

West Africans love mnemonics. A popular one is WASA – West Africa Strikes Again. As I tell you of the past weekend, see if you can tell where WASA applies.

One of Eriye’s friends had her white wedding (church wedding) scheduled for 30 May, so I took advantage of the off day to make a long weekend trip. I took an extra day to travel to Port Harcourt on Thursday to meet Eriye there. She had been in Port Harcourt doing her business here since early May, so we had not seen each other for some time. She had arranged for a bus from Jos to pick me at the college gate. I watched the first bus pass and called her to tell her that. She said to be patient because I was scheduled for the 2^nd bus. The 2^nd bus came some half hour later and also drove past. I had been trying to call the driver for some time but he would not answer the call. Somehow the manager finally got through before the bus left Akwanga, but he had to come back to the College to pick me. That was the beginning of the weekend. Other than that the trip was uneventful and I arrived in Port Harcourt about 6:00 PM. We then tried to enter the Shell Residential Area for supper but because of security issues in the Niger Delta, they are much stricter about letting strangers enter the compound – even white strangers. We had celebrated my birthday there last year about this same time but we were denied entry this time. We called my friend, Cliff, and arranged to meet him at another location and enjoyed dinner and some good conversation before retiring to our hotel for the night.

Friday we had some business to take care of. Eriye had arranged to have new clothes made for the wedding and had told the tailor that we would pick those clothes by 8:00 AM on Friday morning. We went to his shop past 9:00 and found that he had only just then started working on Eriye’s dress. We told him the urgency of completing his work, as we needed to catch a bus to Calabar by noon. He said to come back at 11:00. Meanwhile we had hired a taxi for an hour, and basically wasted most of the expense for that taxi. We dropped to see one of Eriye’s friends who has been helping with her sales. And then we went back to the hotel to rest a bit. By 11:30 we returned for the dress but it was still not completed. Again, we had spent money on a taxi but would not be able to complete our business during the time we had hired it for. We had him drop us at another friend’s house where we could wait until the tailor called to say that the dress was ready. In the meantime, I was getting more concerned that we would not get a bus to Calabar at the time we wanted it. Finally the tailor called. Eriye’s friend has a car so the husband brought us to pick the dress and took us to the bus station.

We arrived there about 1:30 and the bus was scheduled to leave at 2:30. We got the last two seats. We showed the attendant our luggage and were told that it would be okay. Past 2:30 the bus started loading. When they saw one of the bags, which contained Eriye’s products, they said we would have to buy another seat for the bag – even though others had already loaded bags of the same size. A bit of an argument followed as to how the bag could be loaded without inconveniencing anyone, but the bus line refused. So we decided to take our chances with another bus line. Fortunately all of our money was refunded, though it took some arguing to make that happen. Then we had to find a taxi that would take us to another bus line, and hope that they had a bus still going to Calabar. At various points through this, Eriye decided that we should just forget the whole thing, stay in Port Harcourt another night, and then come straight back to Akwanga.

We decided to proceed. We got to the other bus line and found that their last bus left at 4:00. It was a bit more expensive but they didn’t charge us for the extra bag. Past 4:00 we started to load the bus. About 4:30 we left. We had to enter a go-slow (traffic jam) leaving the garage, make a U-turn and re-enter the go-slow to leave Port Harcourt. Not long after leaving we entered a fuel station queue and spent close to an hour to fill the tank. Leaving Port Harcourt, we entered at least two more go-slows so it felt as if we did not really start our journey until sometime past 6:00. During all of this time, it was raining heavily. In fact it rained during the entire trip to Calabar. We were also travelling in the dark, which is not the safest way to travel in Nigeria.

We encountered several road blocks along the way. They were all official road blocks and we were usually passed straight through. There was one army blockade somewhere around Uyo in Akwa Ibom State where the officer pulled the vehicle over. He then came to the window where Eriye was sitting and knocked. When Eriye opened the window he asked me if I was safe and would not let us go until I confirmed that I was. Since we were at a road block with the army, it seemed like a good time to step down to ease ourselves (since I had felt that I had to pee since leaving Port Harcourt almost). None of the other passengers had mentioned a need but all took advantage when I made the request. And for some reason, trying to pee in this line of men made me bashful and I couldn’t relieve myself well. That took care of all the men. Only a little further down the road, the other lady on the bus asked to relieve herself so we had to make one more quick stop. We finally arrived Calabar about 9:00 PM. The lady who was keeping us for the weekend had been waiting for our arrival since about 6:00. We had told her of our situation so they were not just sitting and waiting. We called them when we landed and they came to pick us a few minutes later. They had already eaten, per our request, but took us to a restaurant and watched us eat now.

It was during the trip that we found out that she could only keep us for one night. While we ate, we asked the reason, as we had planned to stay over the weekend and travel home on Monday. Her house is a one-room, bed sit. She had planned to give us the use of her house while she stayed with a friend. But the friend had travelled so she had no place to stay herself. She had gone to a hotel room for the night because she had promised us a bed. But we could not expect her to pay for a hotel while we enjoyed her house. She is a volunteer, just like me, so hasn’t extra money for such extravagances. We did enjoy the night in her house but had to make alternative arrangements for the rest of the weekend.

Saturday morning we rested some but had to get out to a tailor for some adjustments to Eriye’s dress. We also had to find a hotel for ourselves and make arrangements for our return to Akwanga. We both found it very hot in Calabar, though the heat is more from the higher humidity in the south. We had a fairly relaxed morning, anyway. We got the dress altered, found a hotel just across the road from where we were staying, I travelled to the bus station and bought our seats for the next day and returned to the house. Sarah was making some lunch and then we were tired and rested until past time to leave for the wedding.

The directions we had for the wedding venue were not very detailed. We were given the name of a Catholic convent on Calabar Road. We were told that any okado (motorcycle) driver would take us there. Sarah’s friend was taking us in his car and we found no sign for the convent. People we asked didn’t seem to know where it was either. We finally stopped an okado who took us to the spot. It was hidden inside a girls school, so there was no way that we would have seen the name of the chapel from the road. If we had been given the name of the girls school we would have found it immediately. As it was, already late, we spent a good half hour or more trying to get to the venue. After we arrived, many others were still coming. So it seems that many came for the reception and bypassed the actual wedding ceremony itself.

The wedding was nice. The reception was good. The food was served buffet style. There seemed to actually be some order to the serving. Our table was finally called. There were typical foods, with the choice of entre being either fish or chicken. The lady before me took the last piece of chicken and I didn’t feel like taking the fish. The fish that was being served seemed to be all fish heads, and I knew that I would not enjoy trying to find enough fish meat to eat. There was also some beef pieces so I did get some meat. Despite this small setback for me in the food, the evening was nice. It was hot and humid. We were sitting under awnings that somehow kept any breeze out. I found a little later in the evening that it was much cooler outside the awnings where there was some breeze.

We made our way back to the hotel, then visited with our friends for a bit, and came back to the hotel for bed. Everything was good when we arrived. We had opted for a room with a fan only to save a bit of money. We were told that even if there was no NEPA they would run a generator in the night. They were on the generator when we went to bed. About 3:00 AM we both woke suffering from the heat. Other parts of the hotel had lights but our room did not. It turns out that we are on a different phase. The rooms with air conditioners are on a phase that was getting NEPA power so they offed the generator. Eriye went to complain but was told that the other phases were working. At any rate, from about 3:00 in the morning I suffered tremendously from the heat and did not sleep again. Eriye might have slept a little but she too was suffering. We had to get up and pack our bags in the dark. Just as we were leaving the lights came on. I mentioned the situation to as many people as I saw, though I did not meet the manager. Everyone explained about the phases and said they were sorry.

We arrived at the bus station at the requested time. We watched one bus board and leave at the scheduled time. It was a luxury bus going to Lagos. We saw three other buses prepare to load and finally our names were called. Our luggage was loaded and we finally left the garage more than an hour after the scheduled time. The driver seemed intent on making up the lost time by driving fast. He was a bit erratic. He would accelerate quickly and then have to jam the brakes as he came up on traffic. He would veer around cars rather than passing smoothly. He would often pass on blind curves and hills, and then have to cut off vehicles behind in order to get back in line for an approaching vehicle. He would pass fuel stations, and then decide that he wanted to get fuel so would reverse in the middle of traffic. He was a bit scary. I had actually finally fallen asleep at one point and woke as we pulled into a stop. When the driver got out, I asked what we were stopping for and for how long. He came around to the passenger door and said it was best that I keep my mouth shut. We all sat in the vehicle while the driver dropped a passenger and then wandered around the compound for some time without ever saying a word to us about what was happening. When he got back in I asked him whether we were cattle or human beings that he couldn’t tell us why we stopped. At this point the other passengers took this a permission to assert their rights. The driver continued to stop at fuel stations more often than necessary, if he was actually filling the tanks. Other passengers began to question why we were stopping and to challenge him for not telling us anything when we stopped. But we all continued to sit and do nothing when we stopped.

When we dropped in Akwanga, I made sure myself to tell them that we were getting off there, that we would have to inconvenience some of them in order to get our bags out, and that we would be as fast as we could. I don’t know if the driver learned anything, but I hope that the other passengers appreciated us telling them what we were doing.

We finally arrived home about 5:30 Sunday night. We were met by several of the kids who helped us to bring in our bags. We treated them with juice and bananas. There was no lights when we arrived, but thankfully lights returned shortly after that and we had steady power through most of the night. As I am writing this there is no power and I am sweating. But somehow I prefer this northern heat to the southern humidity.

How many instances of WASA did you count? There is no right answer to that question. But maybe it gives you an idea of some of the things that make life interesting here. We are safely home. We are getting ready to celebrate our 1^stanniversary, perhaps with a goat barbecue. We might go to Jos this weekend to visit friends there before they return to the US, or we might go to Abuja to participate in a leaving party for another Canadian volunteer who will leave Nigeria this month. I think we both are tired of travelling and feel the need to save some money, though, so we just might stay home and rest.

Growing Season Update - May 2009

It has been several months since I last updated this blog. It has been hard to access this site for me. We lost our internet access for some month or longer. And when we did have access, the system was so slow that sending pictures was not advisable - if one wanted to leave work that day.

We are well in Akwanga. Life continues to move ahead. There are frustrations and there are joys. There are many good people and events to enjoy. There are times when I am ready to leave without warning - just to get away from life in Nigeria. Overall, it is a good experience and I will look back and say that it has been good for me to be here. But on a day-to-day evaluation, there are some days that I feel are wasted time and effort.

I have been able to do some training with one department. It has been hit-and-miss sometimes. There have been days when we have already started class and the director will call the students away for something that is more important - to him, to the college, to the team  members. It isn't always clear who benefits from the interruption, but it reminds me that training is not a priority.

There are other days when I see my students right before class is scheduled to start, but by the time I make it back to the training facility they have mostly gone to get food or to do something else. So it has been rare to start on time or to have a full complement of class members.

Having said that, there are at least a couple of the students that are taking everything in. They are writing notes, they are asking questions, they are going back to their office to play with Open Office Calc - to see if what I told them works the way I said it would, or to reinforce their learning in the class session. So there is some encouragement and desire to proceed.

The picture above was taken at a festival auction. I gather that people contribute from the proceeds of their farming efforts to the church. The church then holds an auction to convert this farm produce into cash. The picture shows plantain, yams, maize, palm nuts, etc. There were also chickens, goats, maybe even a pig. And the auction was interesting as those with money paid much more for things than the actual value, because they knew they were supporting their church.

One thing interesting about the event, which was hosted by a village Catholic church, was that it started about four hours after the scheduled starting time. That is not unusual in Nigeria. The main dignitary was asked to come to the high table, but he chose to sit under a mango tree with several others (including me) who enjoyed the shade more than sitting in the sun. That encouraged others to move their chairs into the shade and out of the sun. And then the bidding began - often people bid against themselves to push the prices up and to give more. It was a festive occasion.

I had the chance to visit another festival in a local village. This is the home village of my friend at the local bank here in Akwanga. This is a picture of a masquerade. You will notice that only a couple of the dancers are fully dressed. I asked about this and was told that there is an apprenticeship to become a masquerade, so many of the dancers in this troupe have bits and pieces of the full costume, and only two men are in complete regalia.

It was interesting to watch the men in costume disperse the audience by just running at them. The men who were supposed to control the crowd could not get people to stand back, and they kept crowding the dancers. The masquerade just had to move toward the people, especially the children, and everyone would run quick quick. It was interesting.

The dancing requires a lot of energy. There is a lot of stamping and body movement. It is difficult to really capture it in a photo, but a video is too large a file for me to upload at this time. And I have found that each tribe has a distinctive method of dancing. This is the Mada tribe and much of their dancing looks like a chicken flapping its wings. The other major trive in the area is the Egon whose dancing is very similar but still different enough to be distinctive.

The big news of recent note is that our Provost died on Friday (22 May 2009). He has been ill for some time with diabetes and high blood pressure. Some said that he was also suffering from malaria and that compounded the other diseases. He is a Muslim man and had apparently prepared for his Friday morning prayers before dying. I found out while I was in Abuja at a VSO workshop. When I called the Deputy Provost Adminstration to verify what had happened I was told that they were already on the way to the burial now now. So I did not attempt to hurry back that day, but did pass through his house on Sunday to offer my condolences. One thing that the Muslims bring to the north is the quick burial of a deceased person. I wouldn't say that the funeral was any faster or cheaper, as I found over 200 people at the Provost's house two days later when I passed through. And I expect that there are still a good number hanging around grieving with the family even now.

It is not known what impact this will have on the school year. We are already behind because of student riots in June 2008 that closed the campus for about 5 months. The students were in exams, but they were suspended for three days in an already tight schedule. The Deputy Provost Administration should become the new Provost, but it is likely that won't happen. First, she is a woman. Second, she has been known to support the opposing political party. The position of Provost is appointed by the governor, so supporting the opposition might be a CLM (Career Limiting Move). Hopefully an announcement will be made soon.

Eriye and I will celebrate our first anniversary on 12 June. We are possibly buying a goat to slaughter and barbecue, and will invite many from church, the college, volunteers, etc. to join us for the event. Meanwhile, we continue to wait (patiently) for Citizenship and Immigration Canada Accra to process Eriye's application for a resident visa. We hope that it will come soon, but will not know until they tell us what to do next. We hope we will not be called to Accra for an interview, which would only delay the process. But we hope that something will happen that will move things along.

Until the next time. Sai anjima!

09 October 2008

Again it has been a long time since I have written anything here. I have a regular update that I do through email because that is something that I can write offline and then send when I have internet access. This update requires that I am online and being online with nothing else to do is often a luxury that I don't have during work hours.

It has been a busy time. The last two days of September were Muslim holidays to celebrate the end of Ramadan. An advantage of living in a country that is split between Islam and Christianity is that we celebrate the major holidays for both religions. Anyway, Monday and Tuesday were days off. That was then followed by Nigeria Independence Day (01 October). I believe Nigeria celebrated 48 years of independence this year.

The picture here is of myself and a chief of a nearby village called Ningo. He is chief over about 3000 people. His son works at the College and brought me there to enjoy dinner with them. It is a very simple compound but we had a nice visit and good Nigerian food - pounded yam, egusi soup, and roasted chicken. It was funny that while we were there, the Nigerians complained about the sandflies and I didn't seem to notice anything. I experienced a delayed reaction, though, and spent the remainder of the week scratching the many small and irritating bites on my arms and ankles. It was a nice break to the long break, since Eriye had travelled and I was home alone for the entire break.

During the break I intended to do some work in the Internet Cafe. We need to move some computers around to get the most memory into the fastest computers, and have those computers available for use. We are also introducing some software for tracking and controlling usage and we wanted to roll that out on the first of October. But suddenly we started having problems with our LAN and with our internet connection.

I had travelled to Abuja to facilitate a small workshop for VSO and struggled for the two days before leaving to get our internet access working. I was supposed to leave about 7:30 on the Thursday morning but came in to make sure everything was working before leaving. Nothing was working, and I struggled until almost noon before it seemed stable enough to leave. When I got to Abuja I saw that my colleagues were online, so I was comfortable that all was okay. The same thing on Friday morning.

Then suddenly I got a panicked call. Things had stopped. I suggested some things to do but nothing worked. I finally said to reboot but that didn't solve the problem either. Finally, at the last call I told them to shut down and go home since it was late in the day anyway. And I planned to see what I could do about it on Saturday morning when I got home. And then I tried to enjoy my couple of days in HOT, HOT Abuja.

Saturday morning I stopped in the office and immediately found the problem - one of the Network Interface Cards had been disabled. That was one thing that I had not even thought to check doing "phone support." So that problem was solved and I thought we could go ahead and get some real work done on Monday without disturbing our users. No such luck. I spent all day Monday fighting our connection problem and finally had it working when I left on Monday afternoon. Tuesday, again, I expected to accomplish a lot only to find that our modem was not connecting to the Internet.

And that continued for 8 days. We finally found out that the ISP had a problem and that it would be solved over the weekend. The following Monday the problem was still there. The local agent for the ISP finally came with a "solution" but it wasn't until late on Tuesday that we found out the ISP had been updating the wrong model of modem.

The next couple of days have been full of intermittent problems, but finally today things seem to have stabilized a bit.

Anyway, I will close with that for this writing. We are doing well, staying busy and healthy. Eriye is selling mats and doing quite well but struggling with the trip to Benin to buy the product to sell. On her last trip home, the car she was in hit a woman and she thinks killed her. She asked the driver to stop but he refused, knowing that he would be killed if he stopped. The other passengers agreed and said that if anything happened to the driver and car, they would be stranded for who knows how long until they could get another ride. They told the driver to stop at the next police station, but I don't think he did. Eriye is still bothered by the whole thing.

And we are waiting for processing to begin our our application for Eriye's visa to come to Canada whenever I am finished here.

I really will close for now. I don't know who reads this blog as I don't get any feedback. But greetings and best wishes to all who find this page.

Meet Eriye

It has been a long time since I have updated my blog. It seems that it is hard to find the time to post something when the internet is working because there are other things that I need to do then. And when the internet is not working, it is hard to remember that I can create my blog for posting late.

In brief, I am enjoying my stay in Nigeria. Akwanga, Nasarawa State, Nigeria is very different from my last position in Bolgatanga, Upper East Region, Ghana. I thought that weather would be very similar because the latitude is much the same. However, I have found that it is very different - it is more humid, greener, cooler. The rainy seasons follow similar patterns, but the storms don't seem to be as severe here. When it rains, it seems to be a more steady rain that lasts longer though.

Outside of my house in Akwanga, which is on the College of Education campus, there are fields that were cultivated as soon as the rains started. Now there is corn (maize) taller than me with lovely ears ripening on each plant. The maize is interspersed in the field with yam, a tuber, with lots of green leaves showing above ground. Nearby are groundnuts (peanuts), beans, and all the other things that are grown here. With all this growth taking place, there is hope that prices will drop at the market soon. However, right now, the old crops are nearing the end so prices are very high. We used to buy three yams for N 500 - now the same yams cost N 750 or more. We were told the other day that the new yams are hitting the market soon and that will bring the prices down as there will be a glut on the market. Eriye says that that new yams are not as sweet though because they contain too much water.

Work is keeping me busy. We had a major struggle getting an internet service here on the campus. The internet was provided originally by a company that seemed to be cheating the College of funds in the student registration process they were providing. There are legal implications to what happened, but the result for me was the loss of the internet. The ICT Unit started sourcing for a replacement, but unfortunately just about the time that I thought the other service would end. As a result we spent almost a month without any access while the new ISP was paid and the new service was installed. There were a couple of problems encountered during the installation that slowed the process. But finally, on 01 July, we came back online. Unfortunately, there is hardly anyone on the campus right now to make use of the service - a good thing for me because I am able to make use of almost all the bandwidth myself.

The campus is empty because all of the students were sent home about three weeks ago. A female student was hit by a motorcycle and then killed by a car on the highway outside the campus. There have been too many deaths on that stretch of road but nothing seems to move the government to install speed bumps or some other safety measure to protect pedestrians. This particular death for some reason caused the entire student body to riot. They started on the street by burning the car that had killed the student. They also burned a tree across the road to block traffic. Police were called. Things seemed to quiet some but then started over again. The students attacked the Provost, vandalized his house and property and burned 7 vehicles in front of his house. Everything seemed to be directed at the Provost, though, so I didn't feel threatened at all. During the rioting two students were shot and wounded, though I suspect that they just happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time and were not the specific targets of any shooting by the police. By the end of the day all the students were sent home and cleared out of the hostels by the police. And from then until now, Akwanga has been the calmest place that I can imagine. There has been no projection yet of when classes will resume. By now I suspect that this term will be cancelled, meaning that the serious students have lost quite a bit because of this action.

On a more personal note, in April I renewed the acquaintance of a young lady that I had met when I was first working in Port Harcourt, Nigeria back in 2002. After spending some time together, we decided that we wanted to marry and set the wedding date for 13 June. The day before we went to the courthouse to ensure that everything was in order and to meet the magistrate who would conduct our court wedding. When we met him, we found out that he was travelling to Jos on 13 June and that he had no knowledge that a wedding was scheduled for that day. He asked if we could move the wedding ahead to that afternoon. Luckily, Eryie's maid of honour had already left her home in Makurdi to join us so we were able to proceed that afternoon. There were the four of us in the wedding party, with about 30 viewers from those that just hang around the courthouse hoping for something to happen. So we were actually married on 12 June and had a celebration at our house on 13 June instead.

A funny thing about the change in plans affected the Director of my department. He is a very good man for making social visits and providing that sort of support. On Friday morning he went to the courthouse and waited for us. He stayed there for about an hour before finding out that there was no wedding that day. We really appreciated his effort, and in retrospect wish that we had told more people about what had happened. We were trying to keep things quiet and private - partly because I could not afford to feed all the people that might have come if a broader invitation had been issued. The funny part of it all is that if we had not gone to check on things the day before, we would have been sitting there with the Director waiting for a magistrate who would not be coming.

And that is life in Akwanga for now. You will notice that my writing is more about "we" than about "me" now - the change that comes with having someone with whom to share life again.

05 February 2008

It is hard to believe that more than a month has passed since I last updated this blog. In my last post, I talked about my plans to go to Nigeria to work at the College of Education in Akwanga, Nasarawa State, Nigeria. I believe that I talked then about my proposed departure date of 08 February and then I wrote nothing more.


January has been an interesting month. There has been the usual post-Christmas activities of exchanging clothes and buying additional things to support my journey to Nigeria. I have spent some time out in the bush cutting wood with my friend, but we have not been able to do as much as hoped. The weather has been so warm some days that we would be working fields of mud if we tried to go out. Then the temperature would drop to the point that outdoor work was too difficult. Or it has rained when it should be snowing or snowed when it should be raining. In other words the weather has been all over the map.

Despite that I was able to ride my motorcycle out to the bush a couple of days. I have to admit that it wasn't too comfortable riding when the temperature was -5 or colder. And I remember one morning when the road looked dry, but I discovered there was a bit of snow still on the road when I got out of town. It made me a bit nervous, and I have finally parked the bike for good until I come back from Nigeria.


On 25 January, I travelled to Ottawa for additional training prior to my departure for Nigeria. One of the first things I found out when I arrived at the VSO office was that there would be a delay. The paperwork from the Nigerian government that was needed in order to apply for a visa had not yet arrived so the length of the delay was not known. That was a bit discouraging, to say the least.

When I left the class on Tuesday afternoon, I suggested to the travel coordinator that maybe a miracle would happen and the papers would arrive the next day and the visas would be issued quickly. And I left for home. While travcelling home the next day, Dad received a call from VSO saying that the paperwork had in fact arrived. So now it is just a matter of waiting for government wheels to grind.

I also found out that this was not just a problem with my application but that the letters had not been issued for any of the volunteers scheduled to arrive in Nigeria in February. Apparently the change in personnel as a result of the Nigeria election in 2007 meant that new business relationships had to be forged, and that can be a slow process. Today I received an email from VSO telling me that VSO Nigeria has rescheduled all of their plans for our arrival and we are now expected to be in Nigeria for training on 03 March. That means that I will likely be leaving on 29 February.

And it is nice to have a date to work toward. The uncertainty of not knowing is hard, especially when I had to think that I might get a day or two to do all those final things once the visa had been issued. Now, though the date is still not 100% guaranteed, I do have a better idea of how much time I have to do those final things.

You will wonder about the pictures that I have included. In the training course there were three American volunteers. I was quite impressed with them because they took advantage of being in Ottawa to do "stuff". For example, I believe that all three of them went skating on the Rideau Canal, Canada's longest skating rink. If you don't know, during a couple of winter months the Rideau Canal is cleared for public skating, including periodic clearing with a Zamboni. It is a part of Winterlude, a celebration of winter. Of our group of 15, only one Canadian joined the Americans in taking advantage of this unique opportunity. I had not brought my skates with me and did not feel like spending the high price for rental skates. But I was inspired to wander about town after class one afternoon. The top picture is a statue of Terry Fox, who most have heard of. He attempted to run across Canada to raise funds for cancer research when he found out that he had cancer. What was amazing about his effort was that he had one leg amputated and was running on a prosthetic. He has inspired Terry Fix runs around the world to raise funds for cancer research and they are held in various locations around the middle of September each year. The second picture is a small portion of the Rideau skating rink. This is looking away from town and the interesting buildings of Parliament and federal government. This was about noon, as I was leaving for home, so there were not many skating. I am sure that this area would be packed in the afternoon and evening. And the real celebration (Winterlude) has not even started yet.

The final picture is looking back into town towards the impressive architecture that is a part of the Ottawa landscape. It is truly an interesting city and one that I would like to spend more time visiting. And I would like to one day visit in another season other than winter to enjoy the other aspects of life in the federal capital.

Christmas - 2007

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year - for real.

I started on the previous entry and kept on going and going. It ended up so long that I wanted to end that entry and make a separate one to announce what is happening in the future.

Christmas in Beamsville was pretty mellow. Mom, Dad and I pretty well picked out our own gifts. We did wrap them and opened gifts on Christmas morning, but for the most part we each already knew what was in the packages we received. It was still nice to spend some time together, being thankful for what we already have and realizing that we are already so blessed that we don't really need to exchange gifts.

We went to my aunt's for a lovely turkey dinner. This is her Christmas tree, with Dad having a small snooze beside it. The meal was good, the company was good, and it was more about visiting with each other than about giving each other things we didn't really need at all.

Later in the day, Mom and Dad were able to have video phone calls with all of their daughters, many of their grandchildren and one of their great-grandchildren. We spent some time getting that set up but it worked out very well. Those that were not able to participate on Christmas Day will be able to hook up when they get the chance. And it will allow Mom and Dad to keep an eye on the growth of their great-grandchildren, especially, without having to travel from home.

Return to West Africa

I did not mention this earlier, but I did go to a Returned Volunteer Weekend in Ottawa for VSO. It was an opportunity for volunteers who have recently returned from their placements to share time and experiences together. It is a good chance to talk with those that understand some of what was experienced, because they have had similar experiences. And it is important for the volunteer to realize that what was experienced in Ghana, for example, was very similar to what another volunteer experienced in Guyana. There are similar joys and feelings of accomplishments - and there are similar frustrations - no matter where one goes.

Though unrelated to that weekend, I was able to do a lot of thinking and evaluating while I was away from my life in Canada for a weekend. I had already told VSO that I would be interested in returning overseas. My first choice was to return to Ghana and to the place where I had just left. My second choice was another African country for a different experience. What VSO presented me was an opportunity in Nigeria, which I hadn't really even thought about before. After a lot of thinking and soul-searching, I made the decision to accept the position.

I will be working at the College of Education in Akwanga, which is in Nassarawa State, and is located about halfway between Abuja, the federal capital, and Jos, a favoured destination for visitors to Nigeria. The latitude is very similar to where I was in Ghana, so I expect the climate and the environment to be similar. It is a more rural area of Nigeria so I expect the people to be similar to those I worked with in Ghana. The employment challenge will be different from what I have done before, but it seems to draw on my previous volunteer efforts. I am even looking forward to learning Hausa, which will be the prominent native language of the area. Hausa is spoken in many of the countries near the Sahel, so learning this language will be much more beneficial than I found the regional languages that I attempted to learn in Ghana and when I was in Nigeria before.

I will leave for Nigeria on 09 February 2008 for probably two years, though the length of the placement can still be negotiated. I am looking forward to meeting some of my friends from Nigeria who I left in 2003. I am looking forward to seeing how Nigeria has changed since 2003, realizing that I will be in a totally different environment this time. I am looking forward to working with Open Office, as the College of Education is interested in moving to Open Source software so that they will not have to deal with licensing issues, an effort that I find commendable and forward thinking.

You can find a brief description of the posting by visiting www.vsocan.org/display.aspx?pid=499&cid=926, where you will also find a link to make a donation to support my efforts. I encourage you to visit this site and to support VSO.

And I will close by again wishing everyone the best of 2008, which is only days away. 2008 will include another major change in my life. My hope is for peace and safety for me, and for each of you, as the year begins.

Pre-Christmas 2007

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everyone.

Again, it has been a long time since I last updated this blog. My life in Beamsville has stayed pretty routine since returning from Ghana. I continue to help cut wood with a friend in Silverdale, when the weather permits and my friend needs to cut wood. I spent almost two weeks travelling with a cousin who is a truck driver. He had carpal tunnel surgery on one hand and needed someone to secure and loosen his loads. It was interesting to see the life of a trucker. My cousin works independently and does relatively local deliveries now, mostly steel.

His deliveries took us to some places in Ontario that I have never been. Of course, we went to Toronto and Brampton several times. We also went to Barrie and Welland. But I don't remember ever visiting the Amish country of Ontario - towns such as Wallenstein and others north of the Kitchener-Waterloo area. Since winter had started, we had some adventures getting out of parking lots, especially in Wallenstein where the driveway was a solid sheet of ice. For me, it was a good week. We picked up the loads and I spent 15-20 minutes securing everything. My cousin would then handle the hard part of driving to wherever we were going and I road along in the comfortable passenger seat making conversation. At the delivery point, we often had to wait for an hour or more to unload, so we would chat, drink coffee, rest, and otherwise occupy our time until the tow motor or crane became available. then I would spend another 15-20 minutes removing the chains, wait for the unloading, and then close the tarp for the return trip.

It was good to spend that much time with my cousin. We had not known each other that well before because of our age difference and because he had grown up in India. When he returned to Canada, I lived in other parts of the country and the world. We got along very well and I enjoyed our time together. I hope he did as well.


And then Christmas happened, as it seems to do every year. One event of the season was to join my friend, Mary, for her company Christmas party in Simcoe, ON. It was a lovely evening, even though everyone was looking out the windows for most of the evening, checking the weather. Beginning a few days before this event, the forecast had been for a major snowstorm to hit southwestern Ontario. It didn't happen exactly when it was predicted to start, but we were all watching.

The trip to Simcoe was uneventful. The roads were dry and I thought I could have ridden my motorcycle down. It would have been cold but it would have been clear. Even at the party on Saturday night there wasn't a hint of snow. I began to believe that the forecast was in error.


Sunday morning I woke up when I heard what sounded like rain on the windows. The roads were still clear at the time. I called back to Beamsville to see what the weather was doing there, in case I needed to stay in Simcoe another day. I found out that they had cancelled church because of the weather. It still wasn't so bad in Simcoe so I ate some breakfast and then decided I would head back to Beamsville.

By that time the snow had accumulated. Mary and I spent about 30 minutes clearing the ice and snow from the car. Then I had a bit of a struggle getting out of her driveway because of the slope of the road. After that, it was a slow but uneventful drive home. I never exceeded 60 kph, and usually travelled about 50 kph. The trip I usually make in about an hour took more than two hours. There weren't that many other "idiots" on the road, making it safer for me. I wasn't so worried about myself, but got concerned when people were following me - I wasn't sure they were keeping a respectful distance behind. And there was a good portion of the trip where it seemed that it had not even been ploughed yet. But I made it home safely - only to get stuck at the bottom of the hill (driveway) to our house.

So, after a tense ride home, I spent more than 2 hours clearing the driveway enough to get the car into the garage. Dad was having some problems with his shoulder so was not able to help. And I think that the pain of not working was more than the actual pain of his shoulder, later diagnosed as bursitis. He did drive the car up the hill and into the garage. About the time I was finishing all the moving of snow, our neighbours, who share (and own) the driveway decided they wanted to go out. So they were able to take advantage of all of my work with very little effort on their part.

The next day, Monday, I finished cleaning the landing meaning that I spent another 2+ hours moving snow. It was very tiring but also somewhat fulfilling to see what had been accomplished. There was about 40 cm of snow in all and it seemed like we would almost certainly have a white Christmas. However, the following Sunday came with rain and a temperature of 10C and almost all of the snow disappeared (except for the mound created by my snow removal efforts). We did get a bit more snow on Monday so Christmas was white, sort of.

October 2007

This is me back in Canada. The picture was taken in mid-September after I returned from making a presenation to the Lincoln Rotary Club at breakfast. I had been invited to speak and made some effort to prepare a suitable presentation, including photos. And part of the presentation is a Ghanaian dress. Everyone seemed quite impressed with the outfit.

I prepared a talk covering certain things that I felt were important to share about my experience. Unfortunately, I didn't really plan my talk around the pictures I had chosen to show. Both depicted something of my experience of Ghana but they didn't necessarily go together. I chose to tell the story as prompted by the pictures I had chosen rather than forcing a speech and looking for supporting pictures. I have to admit, knowing that the presentation would be no longer than 20 minutes, I was a bit casual in my presentation. I had forgotten that it takes more to prepare a short, succinct presentation than it does to just ramble on.

The presentation was received warmly and several of the members indicated that they sensed my appreciation of the experience from what I said and the enthusiasm with which I said it. And I did use the opportunity to do some "preaching". A point that I wanted to make and continue to make is that African countries, and other developing countries, do not need the things that we no longer have a use for. If I want to send something to Ghana, I need to reach a little bit deeper into my pocket to send something that will be useful for an extended period of time, and not just something that is too good for me to throw in the garbafe.

The example that I used was a real one to me. Computers have a life cycle. Corporations upgrade their computer systems every three or four years. The old computers are still useable, but are not the fastest or the most current. They are often donated to not-for-profit organizations or to schools or to other beneficiaries. These donated computers are used until they are replaced because of new donations. The computers that came to me in Ghana were donated from schools. In general, I would suggest that a computer that is no longer of use to a school in North America is probably of even less use to a school or NGO in a developing country. It takes too much effort to keep the computers running. There is very little technical support for hardware or software for these older computers. They are often set beside a modern computer that has been donated by another agency and the discrepancies are too obvious. The life span of these donated computers is quite short, if they are able to be used at all. And the developing countries have no recycling program to properly dispose of the electronic equipment that was donated to them.

So, instead of donating "stuff" that is ready for recycling or garbage, let's all dig a bit deeper and give what can be used and what has a life span of years and not months or weeks.

I am still finding my feet here in Canada. The weather has been quite a change. From Ghana, I received reports of heavy rains with no breaks between. The result was the collapse of mud buildings because there wasn't a day of dry between the rains for the mud to dry out. Lives were lost, crops were lost, travel was difficult. None of my personal friends died, but some did lose parts of their houses and farms to the rain. The result of the early drought followed by too much late rain will be hunger for many this year and less seed to plant next year so probable hunger again next year. Recovery from this year will take two or more years. Yet the people remain positive and look to a good future. I miss that about Ghana too.

I am doing some work on a friend's farm cutting firewood. I enjoy the manual labour. It is satisfying to realize that I am tired at the end of a day of work, and I can look and see three or four cords of wood ready for sale or use. And I continue to look for suitable and satisfying employment. It will come in time.

Life in Canada

It is already nearing the end of August. I have been back in Canada for 21 days now. And you might ask how I feel about being home

It was a real pleasure to see my parents and to know that they are both doing well, at least as well as anyone could expect at their age. Both parents were there to meet me in Toronto, along with an aunt who drove them. It was good to fellowship together over some food.

Since arriving, things have been busy. The first weekend was the combined Perry/Huntsman reunion. The festivities started on Thursday night when some of the cousins got together in Vineland while the first generation and their partners met in Beamsville for their own time together. The cousins had a good time visiting with each other and meeting new relatives, as our group was multi-generational and so included the children of some cousins. The family keeps growing as the younger ones marry and then have children of their own.

Friday night was the gathering of the Perry family. The day started with a quick trip to Buffalo to pick my daughter from North Carolina. She was able to come and participate in the weekend, and it was nice to have some private time together before meeting with the rest of the relatives. The evening began with food, as usual. And as usual there was too much of everything, and I know that at least I ate more than I needed. The festivities of the evening involved interviewing different groups, such as the first generation brothers and males spouses of the sisters, followed by the first generation sisters and the spouses of the brothers. Interview questions caused each group to reach back into their younger days to tell stories of what it was like growing up on the farm, etc. Of course, I discovered that sometimes our parents did things that they would never allow their children to do because it was too dangerous.

After the first generation, the second generation was invited to the front basically in age groups. Again, various questions were asked to prompt memories and stories of our parents and our grandparents. Finally the third generation was invited. Unfortunately, by that time most of that generation had lost interest and gone on to do other things of more interest to them.

The Perry family consists of five brothers and four sisters. One brother died shortly after birth, but the remaining eight are still alive. Only the oldest sister, who is also the oldest child, is now unable to attend such functions because of her health. The rest remain relatively healthy and strong and very interested in these gatherings. There were 75 or so present for this event.

Saturday was the gathering for the Huntsman family, of which the Perry's are a subset. Someone determined that no Huntsmans were present. I think it is because there were too many daughters and not enough sons. There were up to 100 people for this picnic outing. Fun was had by all, at least it seemed like that as I watched one uncle participate in a pie-eating contest against his own grandchildren and nephews. He joined in out of his good nature and for the fun of it.

That was just the first weekend home. It has not been that busy since.

The weather in Southern Ontario has been very warm and dry. I felt at home and was glad that I decided to come home in August instead of February. All around complained of the heat - I felt like I was still in Ghana. Unfortunately, that has not continued and the weather has recently started to hint at what is in store in only a few weeks. And I have to admit that I have felt cold. After wearing nothing but short-sleeved, breezy shirts for 18+ months, it is hard to put on a long-sleeved shirt again especially when I know that a jacket won't be far behind.

I have been able to get a lot of errands done, simple things that needed to be done. I have contacted the doctors that I need to see and have appointments for August and September. It isn't possible here to just go to the clinic and be seen in turn. There are too many people and not enough doctors, so I have to wait several weeks to be seen. Unfortunately, for one job that I can step into quickly and easily, I need to be seen by a cardiologist first so this delay is affecting me adversely.

I had picked up my car from its storage location shortly after getting home. The car started fine and seemed to run fine. I took it to Buffalo to pick Jamie. On the way home the brake light came on. By Friday night, the brakes were totally gone. So another errand was to see what repairs were needed to make the car roadworthy again. The estimate came out to $2,500, which is more than I paid for the car when I bought it. So I had to take the tough decision of giving it away to a junkyard for $100. It was sad to see it go because I don't know what I will do for wheels while I am deciding what to do next.

I took my bicycle in for service and was happy that it came back with no problems, unlike the car. I had ridden the bicycle in to St. Catharines to the store where I bought it. About 1 km from the store I had a flat tire so had to walk the last bit. But that was the only real problem, other than normal tightening of wires, topping up the tires, lubricating and checking wheel alignment. I have been able to go for some good rides since coming home, though not as many kilometres as I was riding before going to Ghana.

I have done a bit of looking for work but it has not been my priority yet. I plan to go to the US to spend a week with Jamie in September. I hope that by that time I will have a better idea of what I want to do next. And then I will focus on doing that.

The pictures that you see in this post are obviously still from Ghana. The first picture is part of the staff at Bongo Senior Secondary School and the picture was taken during my last visit with them. The second picture is the presentation of a certificate to one of my students in Sandema. These show that my heart is still in Ghana. I left behind some good Ghanaian friends. I am trying to keep in touch with them but it is difficult because so many do not have email accounts.

Finally, I am happy to be home. I feel somewhat unsettled at the moment and unsure of what I will do or where I will go next. Keep me in mind as I make this hard decision over the coming weeks.

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.

Boxing Day 2006

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to one and all.

This is a picture of me with a new smock that I received from one of the schools where I have been helping them get their computers straightened out. What made this gift so special is that it was totally unexpected. I had actually gone to this event to celebrate with another volunteer who had been teaching at this school for more than two years. It is a lovely smock and when I wear it I become "Bolga Naa" (Bolga Chief).

Christmas has passed by now. It is Boxing Day. And here I am at work. I found out that Christmas is not such a big deal in Ghana, at least not in the Upper East Region. I think that when poverty is so high, there is no disposable income and so Christmas becomes just another day. In fact, I think that just about every store and every street vendor was working yesterday, and again today. That was good for me, as I rely on them for most of my food. And I had a small problem with my motorcycle that required a mechanic over the weekend.

The chain came off my motorcycle on Saturday. Then the kickstarter broke in half. I was able to borrow the kickstarter from another bike and I got the chain tightened. But the next day it was making a horrible noise. I took it to my mechanic, who happened to be working on Sunday and we decided that the chain and both sprockets needed to be replaced. I knew it was coming but not this soon. I was glad that people were working because I rely heavily on my transportation. And I have had to visit him Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday to get everything working right. After the major repair, the last two visits were just for some minor adjustments.

Christmas was quiet for me since almost all of the other volunteers have travelled for the week or longer. I had a visit from a Ghanaian friend. I got a call from my parents and my friend in Simcoe. And I talked with my daughter in North Carolina. It didn't feel much like Christmas here with the weather so warm and the sky so clear. It was still good to talk to folks back home.

2007 promises to be a busy year for me, even though I have not decided what I will do for sure. If I decide to leave in February, it is now time to start wrapping things up. If I decide to stay longer, I need to find out what that will mean for the work that I am doing. I am trying not to think about that too much over the holidays. I hope to have a conversation with my programme officer early in January so that I can make an educated decision.

Keep coming back. I will try to write from time to time. Be careful on New Years Eve. There are a lot of people out there that won't be as careful as I know you will be. 

Merry Christmas

It seems too early for Christmas to be so close. It is especially hard to realize when the temperatures are so warm and there is no Christmas music in the air. But it is here nevertheless.

This past week I was invited, along with many other Canadians in Ghana, to lunch with the Governor General of Canada. She is on a tour of Africa and Ghana was one of her stops. She visited Tamale during her five days in Ghana and about 80 Canadians were invited to lunch with her. I was selected to join Her Excellency at the head table.

I enjoyed meeting her and found her to be genuinely interested in development issues. I felt that she is a good representative of Canada - very outgoing and friendly. She made a big hit when she danced to the local drummers as she was greeted on arrival in Accra. Her stepping outside of the bounds of protocol and showing off her dancing skills made a big hit with the local people.

I decided to stay a few extra days while I was in Tamale to give some peer support to another volunteer stationed there. We made a day trip to Kintampo Falls. The first picture is part of the smaller upper falls. It was very picturesque. The second picture is the bigger lower falls. The people in the picture are nursing students from the Nurses Training School in Sunyani. They were there to enjoy the day playing in the water.

The falls were lovely and very approachable. I found the water to be quite cold, mostly because the spot was sheltered from the sun. I enjoyed watching these young people playing in the water and having a generally wonderful time together. I got wet but did not play so much, realizing that I am older and maybe a bit more fragile than these young people. Several spent time talking with me - about nursing, about Ghana, about their hopes and plans for the future, etc.

It was a good day, but a long one that could have been improved by spending a night. Kintampo is about three hours from Tamale so the travel took most of the time.

As far as work goes, I am busy travelling about Upper East Region. I am often doing two trainings at different locations in a day. It is still a bit sporadic, but all the districts are on board now and I am keeping busy. I still have to stay flexible with my schedule as planned trainings are often cancelled at the last minute.

It has been a while since I have updated here. It is because our internet access has been sporadic and I have been out of the office much of the time. However, it is time to wish one and all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

End of September 2006

Still no pictures! It is not because there is nothing to take a picture of. It is that I never remember to take out my camera until it is too late. And that usually means that when I do remember the batteries are dead and then I can't take the picture. Soon I hope I will get my act together as there are things that I would like to remember in pictures.

I have been doing some training over the past few weeks. So far, Kassena Nankana (Navrongo) has been the only district to move ahead. The others are still delaying getting the computer rooms operational. When asked, the answer is always that there is no money available. Ghana Education Services has just finalized the budget and apparently did not come through with some of the anticipated funding. Somehow there is money for some things, but this has taken a back burner for some reason. Teacher salaries is another issue. School has just resumed, and already the teachers are planning to strike for an increase in pay. Like most places, teachers are not paid what they are worth, when considering the impact they have on the future leaders of the country and the world.

Last week I was in Accra to meet 23 new volunteers as they begin their time in Ghana. It was interesting to be the one answering questions instead of asking questions. In talking with each volunteer, both individually and as a group, I always encouraged them to take whatever I said with a "grain of salt" and to make their experience here their own. I know that it is possible to be too influenced by what others say, and I feel that it is important to develop one's own relationships and feelings about the experience.

They all seemed to be quite enthusiastic and appeared to enjoy their time in Accra together. I helped with taking groups out to one of the big markets. Each group had a shopping list and a small amount of money. The challenge was to get everything on the list, and to come back with as much money as possible. The team that did the best found everything and spent about 20¢ doing so. We also helped them to get to the market on public transport, a first for them. It was a good day. We, the helpers, were able to enjoy some time on the beach while the newcomers were on their shopping expedition.

They will be in their new homes by this weekend. They all seemed excited to get started, though a bit nervous about what it would be like away from each other and away from the big city. I think they will all do well. And I enjoyed spending time with all of them.

The rains are about to end here in the north. The crops are pretty well harvested by now and soon everything will be back to brown dirt. It has been amazing to see the difference in the landscape once the rains started, and it is hard to remember how brown and dusty and hot it was when I first arrived in February. The heat has started to increase and it is already becoming hard to remember feeling cool in the evenings. There is still Harmattan (cool, dusty winds off the Sahara) to come, and I have been told that I will actually feel cold at night then. I can almost believe it.

We are currently experiencing power sharing in an attempt to conserve water. 99.9% of Ghana's power is hydroelectric. Currently the water levels at the dams are below the minimum set for full power generation, and the rains have been less than anticipated for yet another year. So, for now there are rotating 12-hour power outages throughout the country. This happens from 6-6, so sometimes there is no power throughout the day and sometimes throughout the night. Either time is an inconvenience. My hope is that conserving now will help to provide full power when the hot season is finally here. It is now cool enough at night that I can sleep okay without a fan. When the temperatures go above 40C, I don't know if that will be possible.

Look forward to pictures again soon. Until the next time, though.

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.

Computer Frustrations

Sorry but I have no pictures again this week. In fact, it seems like I have not had much time for doing anything other than work for the last couple of weeks. After spending 5 months wondering when I would start working on my project, I now wonder when I will find a bit of free time for myself.

Monday I went to Bongo to work on one of their computers. It is a fairly old computer that someone had upgraded to Windows XP. It does not have the power to run that operating system well, so I suggested taking a step backward to Windows 2000. I probably should have suggested Windows 98, but that might have been too far back. They agreed and so I came to do that installation. Imagine my frustration when I discovered that the computer could not be made to boot from CD. I was finally able to use another computer to make boot diskettes so I could complete the install, but I was not very happy with the performance afterward and wonder if I made the right recommendation. I had to return later in the week to get the printer to work. I had not even thought about that when I did the installation. Printers just work. But I had to download the installation software from the internet in this case and make an extra trip to set that up for them.

I spent two days at a Teacher's College in Navrongo. The first day I spent some time working on the teacher's personal computer that he had compromised by uninstalling his virus protection incorrectly leaving the computer in an unstable condition. I was able to resolve that after more effort than planned. Then I set up the three VSO computers that I had come to work on. One computer would not boot so I reinstalled Windows. Then I started working on some other computers that had been donated sometime in the past. In this case, the computers came from a Ghanaian firm in Accra. They were brought and plugged in but never tested. I had looked at them before but did not have any tools at the time to help much. Now that I had some tools I was ready to give them another look. Of 16 computers, only 5 worked. In many of them the hard drive had failed. In others, the systems would not bootstrap to the point of even determining what else might be the problem. One only had 8 MB of memory - how many of you can remember computers that small? I was able to piece together one more computer from all the others ones, making 6 working computers from that donation. Along with the three from VSO, he now has 9 computers to teach 200 student teachers with. Does that sound challenging?

I spent much of the weekend working in the VSO office. The office is networked but the original installers laid the Ethernet cable along the most direct path. That meant that many of the cables were in pretty bad shape because the direct cable path was usually across the path for foot traffic. The way the cables were laid also made it difficult to reorganize the layout of the office. So I had been tasked with rewiring the office.

In Canada, I would have gone to the local computer store to get pre-built cabling of appropriate lengths to do what I wanted to do. The longest patch cable that I have found here is 2 meters long, so was of no use to me. So, I had to build my own cables. In brief, the cable consists of 8 individual, colour-coded wires that are run through a sheath in 4 twisted-pairs. The wires are inserted into a clip in a specific order. The wires are so fine, and the opening to the clip is so small, that it is hard to keep the wires in the right order. Once the wires have been inserted into the clip, they are crimped into place. This has to be done before plugging them into any connection. And it is only after crimping them that you are able to test the wire that has been built. If it doesn't work, the connector or clip is cut off and a new one is used. So, each unsuccessful test wastes at least one connector. Saturday, I wasted 8 or so and finally gave up because I was tired and too frustrated to see clearly.

This morning, after some advice from a friend in Canada, and with fresher eyes and hands, I was able to finish what I started on Saturday, so the office is wired more neatly now if nothing else. I plan to add a couple more cables to make it more user-friendly for the volunteers that come in with their own laptops, hopefully allowing them to be more productive at home and minimizing the need for pen drives and floppies in the future.

Does that sound like enough work for one week? The good news is that I have been able to do all of this without getting wet. It rained one day while I was working in Navrongo. I think I might have already written about that day. My work took long enough that the rain had finished before I left for home. I am learning to look ahead for rain, and to alter my travel plans when it looks like I might get wet. Ghanaians understand the rainy season here, and understand not travelling when rain is threatening or when it is actually raining.

Keep posted. I plan to travel some this weekend, so maybe there will be some photos next time.

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.