Week 2: Tamale and the bus ride of Doom

Week one of work passed in a blur as most first weeks do. There seems to be 5 steps:

1) Excitement

You have a vague understanding of the work you will likely be doing and a vague goal and plan in mind. All these things combine into an optimism that tells you that you can change the world. Your spreadsheets will be the best, your presentations will be flawless, and the organization you work with will shine brighter than ever before.

2) Reading

You now realize how little you know of the organization, topic area, and work you will be doing, which means that you get to spend the bulk of the next couple of days reading everything you can get your hands on. Sometimes you understand it, sometimes you don't, but you consume all of the information you can and begin to try making sense of it.

3) Confusion

The documents you read and the people you speak to all begin to point to one particular problem: the organization you are stepping into is a chaotic mass. There are few processes, information is not stored logically, and the format of documents, reports, etc vary widely based on the individual who created them. You no longer understand what your goal is, or how you fit into your role.

4) Tantrum

This is ridiculous. The organization may or may not know what they are doing, and you certainly don't. The existing bureaucracy makes things at best inefficient and at worst impossible. Screw it, it's time for a drink.

5) Acceptance

Maybe this won't be so bad after all. The people around you seem well-intentioned and are fun to be around. Plus, with all the inefficiency and lack of standardization, you can't help but meet or exceed expectations. It's time to settle in and enjoy the ride.

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Both my co-worker (http://amandacoxdesign.wordpress.com) and I have arrived at the Acceptance stage of our first week of work. My tasks with the Mobile Business Clinic will be to: I) assist in revising the course curriculum prior to the Clinic in Korfidua in October, II) work on developing a business model for Mobile Business Clinic to become sustainable, and III) assist in the set up of a seed fund to be added to the Clinic. This fund could be accessed by clinic participants to enable them to pursue investment ideas.

On to Tamale

After the first week, I had a somewhat relaxing Saturday in which I played a few hours of soccer with a co-worker of mine and his friends, and then went to see Guardians of the Galaxy. The sense of humour in Ghana is definitely different and I did not laugh with the rest of the audience. Awkward...

This is the view of the valley on the drive to my place just outside of Accra. You will notice the wonderful layer of smog that blankets it and the lungs of its inhabitants. My thanks to the very large garbage burning pile of garbage for the enhanced sunsets that it provides. For more information on the garbage dump: http://www.local.com.gh/pantang-dump-site-mountain-garbage-sprawling-residential-area-148559.html.

Where I play football on Saturdays. I now regret quitting soccer when I was 8.

This is Fan Ice, it tastes like soft serve ice cream in a bag. It is now my reason for being. I am eating as much as possible to prevent weight loss.

The bus to Tamale

My venture (MBC) is loaning me to another venture, the Young Managers Project, for two weeks to assist in the set up of their monitoring and evaluation effort. As a result, I woke up at 5AM on Sunday to travel 12 hours North to the city of Tamale. When I arrived at the bus station at 6AM, I was informed that the 8AM Imperial Express bus was sold out. In response, I grabbed a cab to the STC (government-owned) bus station to attempt to get on one of their three buses on Sunday. These were also sold out. An employee saw this, and promptly told me to sit down and wait, he would help me shortly.

This is one of the more uncomfortable things that happens regularly. The situation goes like this: the Obruni (foreigner/white person) comes in and is given preferential treatment/is able to by-pass the line/have an exception provided for them. The employees who provide this sometimes expect additional compensation. Sometimes it is difficult to recognize when this is happening, other times, it is blatantly obvious and uncomfortable. In this particular situation it became clear to me pretty quickly and I told the employee I was going to one of the other bus stations to see what I could find. He insisted on accompanying me back to Imperial Express Station to help. When we got back to the station, he spoke to a man, who then walked up to the counter and enabled me to buy a ticket on the bus that I was denied entry to an hour prior. I’m still not entirely sure what happened or why. Was the bus not actually full? Did somebody get bumped? Situations like this seem to be fairly common and I am still figuring out how to handle them.

The drive up to Tamale was beautiful and bumpy. The road has big speed bumps every kilometre or so, which makes sleeping very difficult. In addition, the speakers blare Ghanaian movies for most of the trip. Further exacerbating this issue is the fact that Ghanaian movies have no shortage of screaming, yelling, and fighting in them. After twelve sleepless hours, I arrived in Tamale!

A picture from outside the Afri-lead (YMP) office in Tamale.

Part of my breakfast this morning. To answer your question, yes, that is hot coffee in a plastic bag. A water fight with me right now would be very unwise.

A brother and sister fight over a basket of candy their mother got for them. The brother is clearly picking on the sister. I can relate to the plight of the boy, I remember being forced to share with my little sister. So unfair.