KMJ travels

Today we left early to scout a site where we will see a community performance educating their peers on HIV.  Getting out of Accra this morning was a nightmare - it took us an hour just to get across town to the road towards Koforidua.  Then we had another two hours before we arrived very late to meet with Patricia, the local program officer for this program.  We then jumped back in teh vans to head another 20 minutes out to Akwadum, the local village where all of this would take place.  Just like in Lekpongunor, we first met with the village Assemblyman, and then he took us over to meet the Chief and get his permission to visit.

The chief was fairly young and a new chief.  I learned later from Mohamed, one of our contacts, that the prvious chief died last year.  This new chief was then selected by the community, but he does come from a certain lineage that allows him to be considered for chief.  Similar to our experience in Lekpongunor, we first went through and shook hands with teh several men assembled before sitting down.  Patricia then explained who we were and why we were they there.  Unlike Lekpongunor, this visit then stretched out a bit as the chief sent his spokesman inside to grab a a bottle of schnapps to present us with.  Everyone then had to take a drink, and introduce themselves.  Next, the chief asked for a description of who would be coming saturday and what kind of work the foundation does (though as he asked in his native tongue we were able to recognize the words Bill Gates and Microsoft, so he definitely had some idea about us.  Per Mohamed, many of the new chiefs are young and well-educated).  Shelby explained and then the chief asked about the education piece, saying he has a library but it has no books.  We let him know that we are focused on health, but would share his needs with our colleagues.   After another round of handshakes and discussion of the program for Saturday, we finally were released to wander over to the performance site.

This was our only spot to scout for the day, so we headed back to Accra to check email and prepare the hotel for the Directors arrival:  checking rooms to make sure the AC worked, water worked, stock the room with snacks, etc.  Over email, Shelby and I check in with Global Libraries to see if they had any programs going on in Ghana that could help our new friend, the Chief, but sadly we do not.  So, heads up:  Book drive coming your way soon!

With the rooms done, I got in a quick run on the treadmill and showered before rushing off to the airport to pick up the group.  Let the games begin!