I find that any news from Africa catches my attention...the news from Kenya recently has been upsetting.
Last night I received an email from Kiva and their partner in Kenya. It outlines the difficulties the entrepreneurs are experiencing as a result of the uprising in Kenya. Below is the text of the email. Reading it will remind you how lucky those of us in the Western world our in our general security. It also demonstrates how strongly we have to defend our rights here at home - we can't let anyone begin to assume that if they reduce our freedoms a "little" bit in one area, we won't care.
Dear Kiva Lenders,
I wish to thank you for your continued concern and support during this very difficult moment in Kenya's history. We have been a peaceful Country in a generally troubled region and people sort of took the peace for granted.
The country is now battered almost to a pulp and blood spilt with vengeance, senseless killings and wanton destruction. Markets, food stores and shops have been looted. Hospitals are dysfunctional and health centers incapacitated by riots and barricades. The violence, death and destruction witnessed in the Country for the last couple weeks has jolted the Nation into conscience and every body is now craving normalcy.
While peace is slowly returning to all affected parts of the Country, the impact of the riots has been devastating. Hundreds of people have been killed turning thousands of innocent children into helpless orphans and over one million people have been displaced, becoming internal refugees over night.
The impact of the riots is most felt in the micro and small business sector. Over 1 million small businesses were looted and or burnt down destroying the only source of income to millions of Kenyans. Most of the fighting and destruction occurred in slum areas in Nairobi, Mombasa, Nakuru and Kericho in Rift Valley. These regions are home to over 70% of Ebony Foundation's clients and as you can imagine almost all of our clients in these regions have been affected by the riots.
Only one region- (Mount Kenya) which is home to about 20% of EbF's clients was spared the violence. The economy in this safe region is now getting stretched as the residents have to now house the displaced population.
We have recently completed auditing the riot's impact on our clients and as of yesterday about 4,900 of our clients had been badly affected by the riots:
-- About 1,532 of our clients were displaced and both their homes and business premises burnt down. This population is currently housed in church compounds and police stations.
-- Another 2,479 clients had their business premises burnt down or looted leaving them with no source of income at all.
-- 833 clients had their homes looted or burnt down and about 56 clients are missing and feared dead or critically injured.
We arrived at these figures through a survey being administered at holding grounds, police stations, and through reliable reports from groups and community leaders. Our staff and local group officials have also been committed to conducting field assessments. I am sending a photo today which you may share with the lenders. The biggest tasks at the moment are to feed and house the displaced people, and to finance the reconstruction of the small businesses that were affected in order to enable the people to reclaim their source of income. In addition, Ebony Foundation is now helping other MFI's audit their clients.
Eb-F has formed the following committees to address the above issues:
-- A humanitarian committee that is working with the International Red Cross to provide food, shelter and medical care to the victims.
-- A business reconstruction committee that is working with the affected clients to re finance and rebuild the small businesses that were looted and/or burnt down.
-- A compliance committee that is studying the legal and contractual aspects of the affected loans to arrive at the best policy action.
Thus, we ask for your continued patience as many loan repayments will be late, and it even may be impossible for some loans to be repaid in full at all. Thank you for your patience as we work hard to address all of these difficult issues, to serve our borrowers and help them recover, and to repay loans as quickly and as much as is possible in the coming months.
Sincerely,
James Maina
Executive Director
Ebony Foundation
Kenya
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Wednesday, January 09, 2008
Libya Photos
I forgot I hadn't put up our photos from Libya...oops!
No better way to kick off the photos, than one of the man himself - Muammar Al Qathafi - "Guide of the First of September Great Revolution of the Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya". Now that is a title.
Here we are with our hosts, MML - enjoying a picnic in the parking lot of a very nice mosque.
On top floor of MML's house, they have a great patio. Here the girls are demonstrating their fabulous artistic talents with sidewalk chalk. Lucy couldn't get the chalk out of the two big girls hands!
Here is our Sherpa for our Libyan adventure.
Here is our Sherpa for our Libyan adventure.
In Libya they will open a restaurant for several Canadians, some of whom speak Arabic...one of the neatest places I have eaten. The restaurant is in a series of caves.
Spectacular ruins on the edge of the Mediterranean at L'Atrun. They weren't open when we stopped by, but we boosted everyone up to get a look. We contemplated jumping the fence, but being renegade outlaws in the country already, we thought better not press our luck.
Cyrene was founded in 631 BC by the Greeks. Here is the spectacular theatre, that held up to 1,000 people. The Romans converted it into an amphitheatre in 2 AD.
This is the lobby of our hotel in Tripoli - Zumit Hotel. The mosaic depicts the camel caravans arriving at the hotel, as they did not too long ago.
Here we are at the Tripoli "Starbucks" - no Chai Latte here though...
Sunday, December 23, 2007
Miscellaneous Mali
At our first Dogon Village we visited - Begnimato, we had the opportunity to meet their "hunter". This guy goes out most nights to kill whatever moves and is edible. He wears his traditional clothing when he goes out on the hunt - and put it on for us!
These are the lush green tops of onions growing in the "dirt". Their color was such a stark contrast to the surrounding landscape.
Kim is perched about 400m above the plains on the edge of Bandiagara Escarpment. The Dogon people have their villages at the base of the Escarpment and along the ridge. We were visiting a village that is perched along the top edge. Wild.
Here is a glimpse of the private mask dance that we had. Yes that is an 8m high mask in the centre of the photo. It has a stick rigged to the bottom of it that is held by the teeth of the guy wearing it!
Here are the abandoned houses built under the cliffs. They still use the granaries up there if they have a bountiful harvest. The village only left the cliffs about 60 years ago. Just imagine carrying water, food, kids, etc. up a hill like that!
The Niger River is a fascinating place just to sit back and watch the African world pass by. Here is a boat the is just leaving Mopti on its way to Timbuktu. It is loaded to the point that it's barely floating. If you are sitting in the lower level you are basically looking out even with the water. Kim and I sure were glad we didn't have to spend a day on that (or the 7 days it takes to get to Timbuktu)!!
These are the lush green tops of onions growing in the "dirt". Their color was such a stark contrast to the surrounding landscape.
Kim is perched about 400m above the plains on the edge of Bandiagara Escarpment. The Dogon people have their villages at the base of the Escarpment and along the ridge. We were visiting a village that is perched along the top edge. Wild.
We think driving in snow is tough...sand can be just as challenging. Although you don't have to worry about frostbite when digging your 4x4 out of the sand...
This is a photo of Bamako from a hill above it...very different from Dakar...and very quite.
This is Timbuktu...
When African's are using the river for transportation, they don't waste any space on the boat. This is the ferry we took to cross a river as we were going to the market at Djenne. There were pedestrians, cars, trucks and bikes. All of them overloaded with goods!!
An ariel view of the market at Djenne which is held every Monday. That is the Mosque in the background - the world's largest mud built structure.
This is the village of Songho where they hold a ceremony every 3 years when they circumcise the boys from their village.
Here is a glimpse of the private mask dance that we had. Yes that is an 8m high mask in the centre of the photo. It has a stick rigged to the bottom of it that is held by the teeth of the guy wearing it!
Here are the abandoned houses built under the cliffs. They still use the granaries up there if they have a bountiful harvest. The village only left the cliffs about 60 years ago. Just imagine carrying water, food, kids, etc. up a hill like that!
The Niger River is a fascinating place just to sit back and watch the African world pass by. Here is a boat the is just leaving Mopti on its way to Timbuktu. It is loaded to the point that it's barely floating. If you are sitting in the lower level you are basically looking out even with the water. Kim and I sure were glad we didn't have to spend a day on that (or the 7 days it takes to get to Timbuktu)!!
Sunset over Bamako from our hotel restaurant.
Mali Market Video
This video will give you a sense of what walking around a market is like in Africa. This market is in Djenne in front of the Mosque. It is there every Monday. When we visited it was about 2 weeks before Eid so it was especially busy - think Chinook Centre about 3-4 days before Christmas!
Ghana Through a Lens
The world is definitely "flat". When we were walking around Accra one day, we were walking by a shop and found this guy inside. Clearly a Canadian at heart!
It is a bit weird seeing a snow man in a city where you melt as soon as you step outside of an air conditioned room!
It is a bit weird seeing a snow man in a city where you melt as soon as you step outside of an air conditioned room!
This is a picture of Cape Coast from our hotel's outdoor restaurant.
We talked about the Cape Coast Castle that was used by the British as a slave trading centre with the church built above the holding dungeon - this picture is taken from that church. It is tough (and sad) to imagine what this place would have looked and felt like at the height of the slave trade.
Here Kim and I are on the swinging bridges in the tree tops of the Kakum National Park.
Senegal Pictures
Since Kim and I are waking up at 4am...I hope to get a lot of pictures posted with all this time on my hands!!
Here is a picture of Il de Goree - which has been a slave trading centre, military fort and general trading centre.
This is a picture of the La Maison des Esclaves and the door of no return for slaves destined for the Americas. This was built by the Dutch in 1786 and now stands as a reminder of the horrors of the slave trade.
This picture gives you a sense of Dakar as a city - big, overcrowded and dirty.
This lady is a beneficiary of the microfinance provided through Kiva and SEM. The money she and her group borrowed bought more fish drying tables. They can now buy more fresh fish, dry it and take it to the market to sell. She was very happy to get in our picture...she just wanted a copy!
On our adventure through the mangrove near Palmarin, we stopped for an oyster roast. Our 2 French friends (Guillaume and Christelle) who live in Morocco are also in the picture.
Here is a picture of Il de Goree - which has been a slave trading centre, military fort and general trading centre.
This is a picture of the La Maison des Esclaves and the door of no return for slaves destined for the Americas. This was built by the Dutch in 1786 and now stands as a reminder of the horrors of the slave trade.
This picture gives you a sense of Dakar as a city - big, overcrowded and dirty.
This lady is a beneficiary of the microfinance provided through Kiva and SEM. The money she and her group borrowed bought more fish drying tables. They can now buy more fresh fish, dry it and take it to the market to sell. She was very happy to get in our picture...she just wanted a copy!
On our adventure through the mangrove near Palmarin, we stopped for an oyster roast. Our 2 French friends (Guillaume and Christelle) who live in Morocco are also in the picture.
Here is a picture of our treehouse room at Niassam.
Saturday, December 22, 2007
TIA
Our good friend Mike borrowed TIA from Leo in Blood Diamonds - This Is Africa. Like OIL, TIA applies to many things in Libya. Now that we have "escaped" from Libya, we feel more comfortable putting some stories up here!
On our flight from Malta to Tripoli, the flight crew handed out currency control sheets from Libya. These required you to list all the money you were carrying into Libya and every time you changed money you were to get it stamped. There was an English and an Arabic sections. The English part said this was just for translation purposes and that the Arabic copy must be presented. At this point Kim was really doubting whether we should be making a journey into Libya. How were we supposed to get this translated into Arabic???? This form also said that we must "register" upon our arrival, failure to do so would result in "serious inconvenience for the visitor". Great. Just what we need - serious inconvenience!! The funny thing about this form was that when I went to change money at the airport and presented the form, the guy "threw" it back at me. Even funnier was that neither Mike nor anyone else we talked to had ever even seen this form. OIL!
Upon our arrival in Tripoli, we were expecting to be met by a representative from the company that had arranged our visa. There was no one there holding a sign up nor anyone that looked like they were looking for 2 Canadians. So we decided to get in line and talk to the Passport Control people. Just as we did this - a guy came up and pointed to my name on a sheet and asked if that was me. I said yep and he said our visas were there and just talk to the Passport Control people. The Passport Control guys were very nice - happy to have Canadians visiting them. They never once even looked at our translation page!! After talking to the Passport Control guys for about 2 minutes, we waited for our representative to process our visa - which took about 20 minutes. He then took us to get our bag and said he was going to find our car. We told him we didn't have a car. He insisted we did. At this point I told Kim that he wouldn't "lose" us because we hadn't paid him yet. We also asked him about "registering" - he looked at us strange and said our "company host" would look after this. Ok. What if we don't have a "company host" - I guess we'll figure that out later. We grab our bag and wait for him to return for us. We are going about 500m to the next terminal for our domestic flight to Benghazi.
After about 25 minutes we can't find our representative. We are in the country, but haven't paid for our visa yet and we have about 1 hour before our next flight leaves. We decide to take a taxi over to the other terminal - we can't wait any longer for our visa guy to find us. In the Lonely Planet guide it says it costs 10LD (Libyan Dinar) (1LD= $0.80CAD) to go to the other terminal or to downtown Tripoli. Mike has also told me the same. So we hop in the taxi and go.
Once our 2 minute taxi ride is over, we get out and I go to hand the taxi driver 10LD. He wants 15LD. I tell him it is only 10LD. He says no it is 15LD. What am I supposed to do now?? Kim and I had this whole African taxi thing down. Get the price before you get in. Make sure it is clear. This time I am thinking that there is an "official" rate and it won't be a problem. Clearly I don't know about OIL at this point!!! So I pay him the 15LD for the ride. I am swearing under my breathe (ok, maybe not that under my breathe). Kim is a bit concerned that I am going to do something to offend a Libyan some how! We have been in the country for about 30 minutes and it has definitely been an adventure.
We get checked into our next flight with no problem - there was even an organized line!! Borrow a Libyan's phone to call Mike to let him know we are in. This is where we begin to see the true Libyan spirit come through. The guy who's phone we borrowed, wouldn't take anything for using his phone. I gave him a Canadian flag pin and we were friends!!
At this point I realize that over 95% of the people we have seen so far have been men. It is very strange to see mostly men every where you look. Probably even more strange for Kim! But everyone is pleasant.
We arrive in Benghazi with no hitches and hit the sack - we have been traveling for 27 hours!!
The next morning Mike takes our passports to get them registered. He has never had any visitors, so this is a learning process for him as well. He takes them to a friend to see what can be done, but his friend wasn't in the office yet. So he talks to another guy whom he doesn't know. This guy can't quite figure out who Mike is, why he speaks Arabic, why he has 2 Canadians passports to register. He wants to see both of us in his office. Then he demands to see us. Then he wants to see Mike's passport (which he doesn't have on him). This guy has Kim's and my passports at this point. Mike is a bit concerned. He calls us and I speak to him. Mike doesn't get ruffled very easy, but I can tell that there is some major potential problems at this point. The guy wants to get Kim and I out of the country tomorrow. We can't stick around. Finally some of the people Mike does know show up and things calm down. He gets our passports back and figures we'll skip the registration process at this time...perhaps this is the serious inconvenience they talk about. Unfortunately it is Mike that is inconvenienced...not the visitors!!!!
Kim and I are unregistered, unpaid guests in Libya. Not a good combination!
Now our plan is to get one of the hotels to register us. Our first attempt at this was on Monday night. We ask the guy at the desk about registering us and he says that we don't have to register because we are only there for 4 days and it requires registration if we are there longer than 7 days. Also the registration office is closed and because it is Eid, it won't open till Saturday - 2 days after we leave. Hopefully we don't need to be registered!!!
More later...also will get some photos up...
On our flight from Malta to Tripoli, the flight crew handed out currency control sheets from Libya. These required you to list all the money you were carrying into Libya and every time you changed money you were to get it stamped. There was an English and an Arabic sections. The English part said this was just for translation purposes and that the Arabic copy must be presented. At this point Kim was really doubting whether we should be making a journey into Libya. How were we supposed to get this translated into Arabic???? This form also said that we must "register" upon our arrival, failure to do so would result in "serious inconvenience for the visitor". Great. Just what we need - serious inconvenience!! The funny thing about this form was that when I went to change money at the airport and presented the form, the guy "threw" it back at me. Even funnier was that neither Mike nor anyone else we talked to had ever even seen this form. OIL!
Upon our arrival in Tripoli, we were expecting to be met by a representative from the company that had arranged our visa. There was no one there holding a sign up nor anyone that looked like they were looking for 2 Canadians. So we decided to get in line and talk to the Passport Control people. Just as we did this - a guy came up and pointed to my name on a sheet and asked if that was me. I said yep and he said our visas were there and just talk to the Passport Control people. The Passport Control guys were very nice - happy to have Canadians visiting them. They never once even looked at our translation page!! After talking to the Passport Control guys for about 2 minutes, we waited for our representative to process our visa - which took about 20 minutes. He then took us to get our bag and said he was going to find our car. We told him we didn't have a car. He insisted we did. At this point I told Kim that he wouldn't "lose" us because we hadn't paid him yet. We also asked him about "registering" - he looked at us strange and said our "company host" would look after this. Ok. What if we don't have a "company host" - I guess we'll figure that out later. We grab our bag and wait for him to return for us. We are going about 500m to the next terminal for our domestic flight to Benghazi.
After about 25 minutes we can't find our representative. We are in the country, but haven't paid for our visa yet and we have about 1 hour before our next flight leaves. We decide to take a taxi over to the other terminal - we can't wait any longer for our visa guy to find us. In the Lonely Planet guide it says it costs 10LD (Libyan Dinar) (1LD= $0.80CAD) to go to the other terminal or to downtown Tripoli. Mike has also told me the same. So we hop in the taxi and go.
Once our 2 minute taxi ride is over, we get out and I go to hand the taxi driver 10LD. He wants 15LD. I tell him it is only 10LD. He says no it is 15LD. What am I supposed to do now?? Kim and I had this whole African taxi thing down. Get the price before you get in. Make sure it is clear. This time I am thinking that there is an "official" rate and it won't be a problem. Clearly I don't know about OIL at this point!!! So I pay him the 15LD for the ride. I am swearing under my breathe (ok, maybe not that under my breathe). Kim is a bit concerned that I am going to do something to offend a Libyan some how! We have been in the country for about 30 minutes and it has definitely been an adventure.
We get checked into our next flight with no problem - there was even an organized line!! Borrow a Libyan's phone to call Mike to let him know we are in. This is where we begin to see the true Libyan spirit come through. The guy who's phone we borrowed, wouldn't take anything for using his phone. I gave him a Canadian flag pin and we were friends!!
At this point I realize that over 95% of the people we have seen so far have been men. It is very strange to see mostly men every where you look. Probably even more strange for Kim! But everyone is pleasant.
We arrive in Benghazi with no hitches and hit the sack - we have been traveling for 27 hours!!
The next morning Mike takes our passports to get them registered. He has never had any visitors, so this is a learning process for him as well. He takes them to a friend to see what can be done, but his friend wasn't in the office yet. So he talks to another guy whom he doesn't know. This guy can't quite figure out who Mike is, why he speaks Arabic, why he has 2 Canadians passports to register. He wants to see both of us in his office. Then he demands to see us. Then he wants to see Mike's passport (which he doesn't have on him). This guy has Kim's and my passports at this point. Mike is a bit concerned. He calls us and I speak to him. Mike doesn't get ruffled very easy, but I can tell that there is some major potential problems at this point. The guy wants to get Kim and I out of the country tomorrow. We can't stick around. Finally some of the people Mike does know show up and things calm down. He gets our passports back and figures we'll skip the registration process at this time...perhaps this is the serious inconvenience they talk about. Unfortunately it is Mike that is inconvenienced...not the visitors!!!!
Kim and I are unregistered, unpaid guests in Libya. Not a good combination!
Now our plan is to get one of the hotels to register us. Our first attempt at this was on Monday night. We ask the guy at the desk about registering us and he says that we don't have to register because we are only there for 4 days and it requires registration if we are there longer than 7 days. Also the registration office is closed and because it is Eid, it won't open till Saturday - 2 days after we leave. Hopefully we don't need to be registered!!!
More later...also will get some photos up...
Friday, December 21, 2007
OIL
We have "escaped" from Libya with very little hassle - but lots of question marks - more on that later. We left MML traveling back to Tripoli with a co-worker of Mike's (Rob) who is heading back to Toronto for Christmas. Rob was a great addition to our travel team and coined the term OIL - Only In Libya. You have to be in Libya to fully understand that phrase!!
We are in Frankfurt today, heading back to Calgary this afternoon. We will post some more on the weekend about our trials and tribulations in Libya, suffice it to say I wasn't sure if we would ever get out - Kim wanted to stay. Libya and Libyan's are great!
Merry Christmas and Happy Eid!!
g&k
We are in Frankfurt today, heading back to Calgary this afternoon. We will post some more on the weekend about our trials and tribulations in Libya, suffice it to say I wasn't sure if we would ever get out - Kim wanted to stay. Libya and Libyan's are great!
Merry Christmas and Happy Eid!!
g&k
Monday, December 17, 2007
Getting Close!!
Leaving Accra was a bit of an ordeal...as it should be! We managed to grab a cab which we believe to have been powered by two small mice. That was of little concern. A bigger concern, was the very significant size traffic jam that developed on the way to the airport. Knowing that if we missed this flight, they would cancel our Frankfurt - Calgary connection home, we became anxious at about the 50 minute mark of our cab ride (which should have taken 10 mins). Luckily, we made the flight and happily slept on the short hop into Lagos, Nigeria for a layover and then to Frankfurt!
We felt a little badly about how happy we were to land in Frankfurt as we made a beeline for Starbucks and then gleefuly wandered around shops where no one was saying "I make nice price for you".
Frankfurt to Malta was short and non eventful although we again fell into the trap of being "back in civilization". It only took us about 6 seconds off the flight in Malta before we crossed the parking lot to those golden arches...McDonalds!!!
After those reconnections with "home", we then boarded the flight for Libya. The flight was almost empty and adrenalin was a little high due to all the stories we had heard. The second we sit down on the plane, we are singled out by airport staff who boarded the plane looking for someone. Heart rate monitors at that moment would have been amusing. Luckily, they had only misplaced the tickets we gave them to board and there was nothing more of an issue. The level of anxiousness remained high - more on that later, but suffice it to say that we arrived in Benghazi and Mike was there waiting for us!!!
Mike, Mel and Lucy (hereafter known as MML for short) have been incredible!! Their home is beautiful and they've been exceptional hosts! After a good sleep and breakfast, we headed out in the car to Susa where we've checked into a hotel for the night. There are some wonderful Roman ruins to check out tomorrow and we got a great look at the landscape. We were able to visit a beautiful mosque and had dinner in an incredible restaurant. The restaurant wasn't busy and they opened the kitchen just for us. So far, what Mike has been saying about the Libyan hospitality and kindness has proven completely accurate! We are looking forward to spending another couple of days with MML. Lucy, in general, has been hysterical! By a few hours into our stay, she was helping us unpack and generally keeping us in stitches!
Grant is also keeping me in stitches because he is now committed to learning Arabic. He is like a little kid seeing Santa Claus every time Mike speaks to the locals and he sees their reaction to Mike's grasp of the language.
Off for more fun with MML ...
kim and grant
We felt a little badly about how happy we were to land in Frankfurt as we made a beeline for Starbucks and then gleefuly wandered around shops where no one was saying "I make nice price for you".
Frankfurt to Malta was short and non eventful although we again fell into the trap of being "back in civilization". It only took us about 6 seconds off the flight in Malta before we crossed the parking lot to those golden arches...McDonalds!!!
After those reconnections with "home", we then boarded the flight for Libya. The flight was almost empty and adrenalin was a little high due to all the stories we had heard. The second we sit down on the plane, we are singled out by airport staff who boarded the plane looking for someone. Heart rate monitors at that moment would have been amusing. Luckily, they had only misplaced the tickets we gave them to board and there was nothing more of an issue. The level of anxiousness remained high - more on that later, but suffice it to say that we arrived in Benghazi and Mike was there waiting for us!!!
Mike, Mel and Lucy (hereafter known as MML for short) have been incredible!! Their home is beautiful and they've been exceptional hosts! After a good sleep and breakfast, we headed out in the car to Susa where we've checked into a hotel for the night. There are some wonderful Roman ruins to check out tomorrow and we got a great look at the landscape. We were able to visit a beautiful mosque and had dinner in an incredible restaurant. The restaurant wasn't busy and they opened the kitchen just for us. So far, what Mike has been saying about the Libyan hospitality and kindness has proven completely accurate! We are looking forward to spending another couple of days with MML. Lucy, in general, has been hysterical! By a few hours into our stay, she was helping us unpack and generally keeping us in stitches!
Grant is also keeping me in stitches because he is now committed to learning Arabic. He is like a little kid seeing Santa Claus every time Mike speaks to the locals and he sees their reaction to Mike's grasp of the language.
Off for more fun with MML ...
kim and grant
Saturday, December 15, 2007
Wasting Time in Accra
It is about 400C outside right now, Kim and I are killing time before our 25 hours of travel from Accra to Lagos, Nigeria to Frankfurt to Malta to Tripoli to Benghazi. We have found refuge in an internet cafe - which importantly has air conditioning!!
Cape Coast was a nice relaxing beach town. We did the tourist things and that was about all there was to do there.
Back in Accra with an extra day which we don't really have anything to do with. We took a cab over to the Trade Fair Centre - which we thought was a shopping "centre" or area. But there really is nothing there. Just this internet cafe. Oh well.
We have plans for a BLOW OUT lunch in an air conditioned restaurant this afternoon. This is where we will blow all the Ghana Cedi's we have. We will likely have Coke Floats. Fun!
General observations in/of Ghana - there seem to be schools for the kids and kids in those schools. Very little on the hassle front when we are walking around. Paved roads just about everywhere.
Our next post will hopefully be from Benghazi!!
g&k
Cape Coast was a nice relaxing beach town. We did the tourist things and that was about all there was to do there.
Back in Accra with an extra day which we don't really have anything to do with. We took a cab over to the Trade Fair Centre - which we thought was a shopping "centre" or area. But there really is nothing there. Just this internet cafe. Oh well.
We have plans for a BLOW OUT lunch in an air conditioned restaurant this afternoon. This is where we will blow all the Ghana Cedi's we have. We will likely have Coke Floats. Fun!
General observations in/of Ghana - there seem to be schools for the kids and kids in those schools. Very little on the hassle front when we are walking around. Paved roads just about everywhere.
Our next post will hopefully be from Benghazi!!
g&k
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