i guess coming from nigeria makes me wonder about my hosts. my nigerian brothers would say there is too much ‘tok tok’ in this country. then again it reminds me of something i was told about a place in london where you could go to let off steam. the concept of the place was that if something really bugged you, you could go there and shout about it at the top of your voice until you felt better. i was very young when i was told this so i couldn’t quite verify its authenticity (this was long before google was invented). the idea anyway is that if people do more of talking or had a forum to talk they would be less inclined to acting in an otherwise unruly manner. winston churchill was acclaimed for making the statement jaw-jaw instead of war-war.
i think except for the boku area, ghanaians do a lot of talking about issues. over the past few days, there has been some excitement about the new president as he approaches 100 days in office. i am of the opinion that there’s not much that can be done in a 100 days given the credit crunch and all. there are claims that there were promises made during the campaign that were to be fulfilled by the first 100 days. the opposition wait gleefully for the 100 days to pass and they have prepared a forum where the government and ‘experts’ will sit around and discuss the progress. well i am a guest here but if you ask me, with two downward adjustments in the pump price since the new government came to power i would give the government a thumbs up. but then i am an outsider, the ghanaian people know better. but i prefer ‘tok tok’ any day.
i have not written anything on the credit crunch. i guess it’s because i haven’t really felt it yet. well i don’t own a credit card and i am not in debt. like the true african, living in africa , you are only given something when you have paid for it or can provide fool proof guarantee that you will pay for it in the very near future. if you can’t afford something you can’t get it period! notwithstanding, there is a credit system but it works on individual bases not like in the mass marketed western credit system. the buka lady can allow her favourite customer run up drinking bills because she knows that when he gets paid, he will come to her first to pay up his drinking debt. this he does religiously because he would need the services for the next month. some landlords who own low rent apartments would accept month by month payments and sometimes are owed up to six months in arrears. the two scenarios are typical examples of the african credit system.
with the encroachment of western culture, the credit system has also gotten a measure of adaptation. the salary advancement scheme is one of such adaptation. the bank in which your salary account is domiciled would offer you advances in lieu of your salary. you are allowed to borrow up to a certain percentage while the bank gleefully awaits your next pay check and you sorrowfully wait for the remainder. of course as the typical african credit system, the payment is guaranteed in that; the bank has access to your money before you do.
Saturday, March 21, 2009
Friday, March 6, 2009
Home is... II
once again i had the opportunity to visit my home country. it was an eye opening and pretty pleasant trip. i met with some interesting changes especially in lagos. seems the state governor has a vision (a rare thing for nigerian leaders). it was actually on my way back to the airport that i got a feel of the man’s vision. he wants to solve that age old problem of transportation we face in the overcrowded city. the statistics stands at forty thousand danfo buses and one million okada (motorcycles) servicing over thirteen million people, i guess excluding the seven odd million who own their own means of transportation. i must add here that his game plan is to eradicate the use of okada because of loss of life and the general nuisance these cause.
his approach is different from a host of his peers who think an outright ban on okada riders automatically solves the problem. he has more or less given 2011 as the time when the state will be rid of the menace. the plan being that by 2011 a functional train service and water transportation system would be in place. work has started on those already. so the okada drivers have two year’s notice to begin planning on finding alternative employment. the work on the road networks are continuing. places like oshodi that was both scary and slummy he’s clearing up. under bridges around the third mainland – ikoyi axis are being given a new look as per landscape. the green in the flag is once more showing brighter. i often wondered about the green on the flag when everywhere looked dirty and smelly.
the few nigerians i have spoken with feel the change coming. and they seem to be in support and believe in it. they talk of people queuing on the pedestrian bridge in oshodi with glee and wonder. i guess we were so rowdy a country that organized behaviour is shocking. its early days yet, like all good cynics (built over years of broken promises and failed projects and most importantly haphazard power supply) we keep our noses wrinkled until it happens.
his approach is different from a host of his peers who think an outright ban on okada riders automatically solves the problem. he has more or less given 2011 as the time when the state will be rid of the menace. the plan being that by 2011 a functional train service and water transportation system would be in place. work has started on those already. so the okada drivers have two year’s notice to begin planning on finding alternative employment. the work on the road networks are continuing. places like oshodi that was both scary and slummy he’s clearing up. under bridges around the third mainland – ikoyi axis are being given a new look as per landscape. the green in the flag is once more showing brighter. i often wondered about the green on the flag when everywhere looked dirty and smelly.
the few nigerians i have spoken with feel the change coming. and they seem to be in support and believe in it. they talk of people queuing on the pedestrian bridge in oshodi with glee and wonder. i guess we were so rowdy a country that organized behaviour is shocking. its early days yet, like all good cynics (built over years of broken promises and failed projects and most importantly haphazard power supply) we keep our noses wrinkled until it happens.
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Home is ...
i’ll probably get hate mail for this post but i cant help it. i heard a story some days back that made me weep (well figuratively) for my home country. i was in conversation about the recent kenyan fuel wahala . i was like don’t these people watch cnn. in home country on three ocassions in a six month period, there have been fire outbreaks caused by people going a fuel siphoning from a ‘vandalized’ pipe. like clockwork it follows well known steps.
1. news about the vandalized pipe spreads
2. first arrivals make a killing by scooping and going off to sell
3. late arrivals get killed because a fire breaks out
4. police arrive
5. fire service arrives (optional)
the cause of my sadness was the story about a similar situation in ghana. a fuel tanker fell and it would be expected that the items above are followed to the letter but then its ghana , things are different here.
1. a fuel tanker falls and news spreads
2. police are on the scene to keep off miscreants
3. another tanker comes to the scene for a transfer of contents
4. no body dead
i don’t have to explain my sadness do i? my home country , my beloved naija, full of smart intelligent and aggressive people. a hundred and forty million strong and nothing still ‘werks’. the giant of africa. most populous black nation. ok i better stop here before the hate mail is upgraded to kidnapping for ransom.
once again i must mention customer service here. my dstv was deactivated and i called. the guy at the other end first greets me, asks my problem, gets my account number, asks me to hold on while he checks my account. he then tells me to flip the channel and inquires if i’m now activated. i was so grateful i thanked him and hung up. this took just about 10 minutes.
now here's the contrast: in nigeria (ok so they kidnap me? they’ll get nothing). you don’t dare call. you have to physically go to multichoice office and get into verbal wrestling (its our aggressive nature) with the people. when you have overpowered the sales rep by your eloquent argument (showing him the receipt of your online payment which for some reason they haven’t been aware of) and he finally agrees that you should be reactivated. even though the system isn’t updated you go home to wait. day one, you realize you should have gotten the sales rep’s number. day two, you think of the lekki-ekpe traffic to vi and develop a sudden reluctance to take the trip to the dstv office. day three, you have had to watch the match at soul lounge. day four you have no choice you head back to multichoice and finally you are back.
nevertheless , nigeria we hail thee. there’s no place like home. home is where the heart is. i rest my case
1. news about the vandalized pipe spreads
2. first arrivals make a killing by scooping and going off to sell
3. late arrivals get killed because a fire breaks out
4. police arrive
5. fire service arrives (optional)
the cause of my sadness was the story about a similar situation in ghana. a fuel tanker fell and it would be expected that the items above are followed to the letter but then its ghana , things are different here.
1. a fuel tanker falls and news spreads
2. police are on the scene to keep off miscreants
3. another tanker comes to the scene for a transfer of contents
4. no body dead
i don’t have to explain my sadness do i? my home country , my beloved naija, full of smart intelligent and aggressive people. a hundred and forty million strong and nothing still ‘werks’. the giant of africa. most populous black nation. ok i better stop here before the hate mail is upgraded to kidnapping for ransom.
once again i must mention customer service here. my dstv was deactivated and i called. the guy at the other end first greets me, asks my problem, gets my account number, asks me to hold on while he checks my account. he then tells me to flip the channel and inquires if i’m now activated. i was so grateful i thanked him and hung up. this took just about 10 minutes.
now here's the contrast: in nigeria (ok so they kidnap me? they’ll get nothing). you don’t dare call. you have to physically go to multichoice office and get into verbal wrestling (its our aggressive nature) with the people. when you have overpowered the sales rep by your eloquent argument (showing him the receipt of your online payment which for some reason they haven’t been aware of) and he finally agrees that you should be reactivated. even though the system isn’t updated you go home to wait. day one, you realize you should have gotten the sales rep’s number. day two, you think of the lekki-ekpe traffic to vi and develop a sudden reluctance to take the trip to the dstv office. day three, you have had to watch the match at soul lounge. day four you have no choice you head back to multichoice and finally you are back.
nevertheless , nigeria we hail thee. there’s no place like home. home is where the heart is. i rest my case
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
To Home And Back
i went visiting the home country after a couple of months away. i did visit for sometime earlier in the year (last year that is). a lot had changed. sure lagos was still lagos, saw more street lights, the road signs were clearer , ozumba mbadiwe was all but finished, the roads were wide enough but traffic filled it all the same. the expansion work on lekki-ekpe road was serious business as usual it caused some more bottle neck. the real changes in the country was in my home state.
the shock began when i saw a julius berger sign in what used to be a very bad part of the road joining my home state to calabar. usually, our half was the bad part but this time around the cross river end was the bad part. a lot of work was going on on the road i was really impressed. i was in for more shock as i got into town. i heard about fly overs, an airport, a 5 star hotel and taxis! my home state invented the 'okada' system, we'd been using it a decade before it became a mainstay of transportation in other parts of the country.
apparently, the new government were either very resourceful or had found some hidden stash of cash and decided to put it to good use. i couldn't quite get where all the money to execute the projects were coming from. an airport, road networks, taxis? taking a trip to ikot ekpene from uyo in one of the taxis was an experience. for the price of an average mtn recharge card , i took an air-conditioned, comfortable trip to ikot ekpene. at ikot ekpene i got more shock because some inner city roads had actually been worked on and hence were motorable. sure enough changes were coming to the country. if my civil service home state was finally trying to get out of the civil service then there was certainly hope for naija. to cap it all, i got to my village and there was electrical power! life was back, welding work, hair saloons etc were all back in operation. who knows maybe it's because i've been away for a while so the changes are more pronounced to me.
while i was away, ghanaians once more gave africa some lessons in electioneering. the opposition successfully won over the incumbents. now this was done without any need for power sharing or bloodshed. i still harbour the theory that beneath their dark skin there's some caucasian blood flowing in their veins. its one thing for the opposition to actually win an election and its another for their victory to be accepted by the incumbent. this country gives me hope that after all its not the the lot of the african to be unruly and inefficient. someday there shall be order in the whole of africa, someday...not today.
a bbc radio program further reiterated my theory about the caucasian blood in ghanians. their equivalent independent electoral commission was very similar to the one in my home country except for the 'independence'. though the incumbent government could appoint the head of the commission he could not fire the person at will. the law was such that after the appointment the commission head had no allegiance to the incumbent. his allegiance was to the people and of course to his conscience. since the president couldn't sack him or sacking him would require some major constitutional wrangling he indeed could act independently. i guess my home country needs to borrow from the ghanaians in the electoral reforms they're thinking of.
the shock began when i saw a julius berger sign in what used to be a very bad part of the road joining my home state to calabar. usually, our half was the bad part but this time around the cross river end was the bad part. a lot of work was going on on the road i was really impressed. i was in for more shock as i got into town. i heard about fly overs, an airport, a 5 star hotel and taxis! my home state invented the 'okada' system, we'd been using it a decade before it became a mainstay of transportation in other parts of the country.
apparently, the new government were either very resourceful or had found some hidden stash of cash and decided to put it to good use. i couldn't quite get where all the money to execute the projects were coming from. an airport, road networks, taxis? taking a trip to ikot ekpene from uyo in one of the taxis was an experience. for the price of an average mtn recharge card , i took an air-conditioned, comfortable trip to ikot ekpene. at ikot ekpene i got more shock because some inner city roads had actually been worked on and hence were motorable. sure enough changes were coming to the country. if my civil service home state was finally trying to get out of the civil service then there was certainly hope for naija. to cap it all, i got to my village and there was electrical power! life was back, welding work, hair saloons etc were all back in operation. who knows maybe it's because i've been away for a while so the changes are more pronounced to me.
while i was away, ghanaians once more gave africa some lessons in electioneering. the opposition successfully won over the incumbents. now this was done without any need for power sharing or bloodshed. i still harbour the theory that beneath their dark skin there's some caucasian blood flowing in their veins. its one thing for the opposition to actually win an election and its another for their victory to be accepted by the incumbent. this country gives me hope that after all its not the the lot of the african to be unruly and inefficient. someday there shall be order in the whole of africa, someday...not today.
a bbc radio program further reiterated my theory about the caucasian blood in ghanians. their equivalent independent electoral commission was very similar to the one in my home country except for the 'independence'. though the incumbent government could appoint the head of the commission he could not fire the person at will. the law was such that after the appointment the commission head had no allegiance to the incumbent. his allegiance was to the people and of course to his conscience. since the president couldn't sack him or sacking him would require some major constitutional wrangling he indeed could act independently. i guess my home country needs to borrow from the ghanaians in the electoral reforms they're thinking of.
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
One Year Plus One Day
its been one year and a day since i moved to this country. its been such a learning experience. the people are an enigma. the dark skin color and environment portends a typical african country yet the order and the behaviours are very european. i have been waiting a whole year for the scales to fall off so i can see the real ghanaians but every time i've been surprised day in day out. if the term peace loving could ever be attributed to an african country ghana is the country. well of course they have the usual problems african countries are bound to have like the fights over chieftaincy in the north which involves some body count. somehow they contain it and keep it from being too much of a problem, they do it better than the british handled northern island in the hay days anyway its not about secession.
this piece wont be complete without mention of the ghanaian election. i daresay, i expected it to be peaceful but yet still i was shocked at the level of peace. an african country carrying out elections without any controversy? well there was one, on the news this young man who looked barely out of secondary school was complaining to the news reporter about being disenfranchised. his problem was that the electoral official at the polling booth said he couldn't vote because he carried an outdated voter's card. he said he's been voting for over four years and hadn't been told there was a change. well the electoral official suggested he take his case to her boss. there were complaints by voters that they had to wait too long to vote. well voting was to start at about 7.00am and voters went to wait and queue as early as 3.30am! you should have seen the queues, order in africa! i began to propose the theory that though ghanaians had black skin their dna was probably european.
the election itself was held on a sunday, the turnout was over sixty percent. unlike my home country, voter apathy isn't a problem in ghana, the only problem is voter education. a number (though not sizable) of votes was lost because some voters didn't exactly know what they were supposed to do. a friend put it down to illiteracy comparing it to the home country. i pointed out that in the home country people didn't really vote so we couldn't know, most of the votes were cast for them (assisted voting a.k.a rigging).
talking about free and fair elections. the radio stations and tv stations were collating results as they were counted. it was as close as one could get to the us elections. an interesting point of note was that when the electoral commission finally came out with the official results the radio station i was listening to had missed the mark by 0.8 on one of the candidates. there was no doubt about credibility. although however, the election didn't produce a presidential candidate, the votes were too close so there's to be a run off in a couple of days. however, another interesting fact is that the parties accepted the results, no lawsuits pending.
let's do some statistics, in the year i have spent here i have only been aware of about 19 power outages. i had problems with water during a two week period in january and since then water has been stable. these comforts don't come free though but in comparison power is cheaper yet more available than in home country. fuel moves with the oil market. every two months the price is reviewed in comparison to what crude sells at. so pump prices 'actually' drop. in fact with the recent drop in crude prices, fuel, gas and transportation costs went down. in home country, the excuse for increasing pump price is the rise in crude but when crude falls everywhere is silent. the taxes here are heavy though. well i figure that if they give water and power then its relative. in home country where taxes are lower you have to provide your own generator and dig a borehole if you want similar comforts so in essence you are paying for it anyway.
generally, life is simpler here which brings me to other side of this place. i know i said in previous posts that they are a laid back people. i think they are sometimes too laid back that it can come close to laziness. a friend needed grass cut and it took a whole month to get someone to come and do it. they kept promising to come. the one that showed up looked at the grass and asked my friend to get some other labourer to remove the tough ones first then call him back to come with his machine and mow the lawn. i had an electrician whom i called to come do work for me on a saturday by 8.00am , he came a week later on a saturday by 8.00am apologising for his absence the previous saturday. there's this favourite of mine, a meshai (bread and egg) seller who had an interesting business strategy. when he was broke, he would borrow money buy tea stuff and bread, work feverishly for a week or so , make enough money plus profit to last him another week or so. at the end of the week, he pays back his debts, spends the next week spending the profit and by the upper week he's broke again and goes back into the cycle. that's how laid back they can be sometimes.
yeah and life on a saturday starts from 11.00am. i am yet to figure out if its because of partying till the wee hours of the morning from the previous friday or they just start their day at that time. still on the laid backness. there are taxi drivers who don't work on saturdays and sundays its their rest days. there are traditional saturday businesses in home country that don't operate on saturdays over here. for businesses that open on saturday , the general closing time is 3.00pm
sure while i may not always get the service when i want it but when you do get the service its usually properly done. my plumber studied plumbing as a vocation, my cook went to catering school. i find that here, they still seem to be living in the good old days when standard 6 could get you a job. at junior secondary, students can either decide to continue on to senior secondary with the aim of getting into university or pick a vocation and fly with it. so here you hardly find an electrician who got to be one by becoming an apprentice. i guess that's why their houses are well finished because they go to school for it.
in summary, after a year of living here, though its not like home but its peaceful and relatively safe ( my walls are still low) though a friend living in another area got attacked by armed robbers. the best combination i see would be to work in home country and live here. i do have worries though of how long this calmness will last. the younger generation are a trouser-sagging-mtv-biased generation and there's a high influx of people from the home country like myself. i hope these factors don't change their landscape. and of course there's now oil!
this piece wont be complete without mention of the ghanaian election. i daresay, i expected it to be peaceful but yet still i was shocked at the level of peace. an african country carrying out elections without any controversy? well there was one, on the news this young man who looked barely out of secondary school was complaining to the news reporter about being disenfranchised. his problem was that the electoral official at the polling booth said he couldn't vote because he carried an outdated voter's card. he said he's been voting for over four years and hadn't been told there was a change. well the electoral official suggested he take his case to her boss. there were complaints by voters that they had to wait too long to vote. well voting was to start at about 7.00am and voters went to wait and queue as early as 3.30am! you should have seen the queues, order in africa! i began to propose the theory that though ghanaians had black skin their dna was probably european.
the election itself was held on a sunday, the turnout was over sixty percent. unlike my home country, voter apathy isn't a problem in ghana, the only problem is voter education. a number (though not sizable) of votes was lost because some voters didn't exactly know what they were supposed to do. a friend put it down to illiteracy comparing it to the home country. i pointed out that in the home country people didn't really vote so we couldn't know, most of the votes were cast for them (assisted voting a.k.a rigging).
talking about free and fair elections. the radio stations and tv stations were collating results as they were counted. it was as close as one could get to the us elections. an interesting point of note was that when the electoral commission finally came out with the official results the radio station i was listening to had missed the mark by 0.8 on one of the candidates. there was no doubt about credibility. although however, the election didn't produce a presidential candidate, the votes were too close so there's to be a run off in a couple of days. however, another interesting fact is that the parties accepted the results, no lawsuits pending.
let's do some statistics, in the year i have spent here i have only been aware of about 19 power outages. i had problems with water during a two week period in january and since then water has been stable. these comforts don't come free though but in comparison power is cheaper yet more available than in home country. fuel moves with the oil market. every two months the price is reviewed in comparison to what crude sells at. so pump prices 'actually' drop. in fact with the recent drop in crude prices, fuel, gas and transportation costs went down. in home country, the excuse for increasing pump price is the rise in crude but when crude falls everywhere is silent. the taxes here are heavy though. well i figure that if they give water and power then its relative. in home country where taxes are lower you have to provide your own generator and dig a borehole if you want similar comforts so in essence you are paying for it anyway.
generally, life is simpler here which brings me to other side of this place. i know i said in previous posts that they are a laid back people. i think they are sometimes too laid back that it can come close to laziness. a friend needed grass cut and it took a whole month to get someone to come and do it. they kept promising to come. the one that showed up looked at the grass and asked my friend to get some other labourer to remove the tough ones first then call him back to come with his machine and mow the lawn. i had an electrician whom i called to come do work for me on a saturday by 8.00am , he came a week later on a saturday by 8.00am apologising for his absence the previous saturday. there's this favourite of mine, a meshai (bread and egg) seller who had an interesting business strategy. when he was broke, he would borrow money buy tea stuff and bread, work feverishly for a week or so , make enough money plus profit to last him another week or so. at the end of the week, he pays back his debts, spends the next week spending the profit and by the upper week he's broke again and goes back into the cycle. that's how laid back they can be sometimes.
yeah and life on a saturday starts from 11.00am. i am yet to figure out if its because of partying till the wee hours of the morning from the previous friday or they just start their day at that time. still on the laid backness. there are taxi drivers who don't work on saturdays and sundays its their rest days. there are traditional saturday businesses in home country that don't operate on saturdays over here. for businesses that open on saturday , the general closing time is 3.00pm
sure while i may not always get the service when i want it but when you do get the service its usually properly done. my plumber studied plumbing as a vocation, my cook went to catering school. i find that here, they still seem to be living in the good old days when standard 6 could get you a job. at junior secondary, students can either decide to continue on to senior secondary with the aim of getting into university or pick a vocation and fly with it. so here you hardly find an electrician who got to be one by becoming an apprentice. i guess that's why their houses are well finished because they go to school for it.
in summary, after a year of living here, though its not like home but its peaceful and relatively safe ( my walls are still low) though a friend living in another area got attacked by armed robbers. the best combination i see would be to work in home country and live here. i do have worries though of how long this calmness will last. the younger generation are a trouser-sagging-mtv-biased generation and there's a high influx of people from the home country like myself. i hope these factors don't change their landscape. and of course there's now oil!
Sunday, August 10, 2008
Carbon Footprint
i haven't been writing here for long. i dont have an excuse. i guess i've been just lazy or too involved in other stuff. i just had to write today because of certain new developments. my car all of a sudden developed some issues, well not all of a sudden, i guess i've been lucky. funny today of all days it just had to act up majorly...i was going to buy my first bicycle since becoming and adult seems the car didn't like the idea so it did all it could to stop me.but it didn't succeed. tomorrow i'm packaging it off to the mechanic and i'll climb on my brand new bicycle and hit the road. the car helped in transporting the bicycle back home and i thank it for that.
anyway, i get home and i find that i couldn't use the pump i bought. it put in me in a fix though because i wanted to test run the bike within the safety of my environs before hitting main stream. i wasn't sure i was still able to balance on two wheels. i had little choice so i took off rolling the bike to the closest pump station. as i passed the estate gate the guards where like 'ah you are not carrying your car today ?' i grinned at them pushing my brand new ride (its a ride too!).
i got the pump got the tires pumped. the area had a big compound so i decided to do a test run. i shook a little but with every turn of the wheel i got more stable. a little fela on his on bike breezed past me and i cycled to catch up. him on his small bike , me on my big one. then off to a friend's i cycled learning about the bike as i rode along. the biggest lesson i learnt is that the higher gears make the pedals tougher to turn but you make better pace. at lower gears you do so many revolutions and the bike doesn't move an inch.
i think its good enough time to start preparing for london (assuming they get the next olympic hosting rights). i could probably be the first nigerian to win gold in cycling. yes laugh but that's how it usually starts..with a laugh and then the 'wow'!
sorry this narration has been largely about my new bicycle but i am currently doing some research on the interesting names of the 'chop bars' in the tema region. as soon as i am done with that research i shall publish. i can't complete this without discussing customer service here in ghana. my dstv subscription ran out and i went to the bank to make payment. by the next day i got a call from a customer service personell from multichoice. he asked if i was who i am and then said they have seen my payment whether i would like them to activate the subscription immediately. i was stumped. this is not 'bad belle' but in naija when my dstv subscription ran out some one had to go to their office to physically ask them to reconnect even after i had paid online.
aha this will not be complete without telling of my trip to the famous elmina castle in cape coast. there with a group of colleagues we were taken on a tour of the castle that held human cargo ready for export to europe and the americas. we got to see a small gate which despite my build (ok so i'm a little fatter than some of you know me to be) i wouldn't pass through it. it was called the gate of no return. it was really small width wise and could hardly pass me. we got to know that the human cargo was kept for months without adequate food so that they could become slim enough to through the gate. there where a couple of other things in which only the imagination ( how much you can stretch it) that would help one come to terms with what took place. anyway i won't spoil your fun by telling you all about it. you have to visit for yourself and see it. if you want a visual tour go here elmina castle
anyway, i get home and i find that i couldn't use the pump i bought. it put in me in a fix though because i wanted to test run the bike within the safety of my environs before hitting main stream. i wasn't sure i was still able to balance on two wheels. i had little choice so i took off rolling the bike to the closest pump station. as i passed the estate gate the guards where like 'ah you are not carrying your car today ?' i grinned at them pushing my brand new ride (its a ride too!).
i got the pump got the tires pumped. the area had a big compound so i decided to do a test run. i shook a little but with every turn of the wheel i got more stable. a little fela on his on bike breezed past me and i cycled to catch up. him on his small bike , me on my big one. then off to a friend's i cycled learning about the bike as i rode along. the biggest lesson i learnt is that the higher gears make the pedals tougher to turn but you make better pace. at lower gears you do so many revolutions and the bike doesn't move an inch.
i think its good enough time to start preparing for london (assuming they get the next olympic hosting rights). i could probably be the first nigerian to win gold in cycling. yes laugh but that's how it usually starts..with a laugh and then the 'wow'!
sorry this narration has been largely about my new bicycle but i am currently doing some research on the interesting names of the 'chop bars' in the tema region. as soon as i am done with that research i shall publish. i can't complete this without discussing customer service here in ghana. my dstv subscription ran out and i went to the bank to make payment. by the next day i got a call from a customer service personell from multichoice. he asked if i was who i am and then said they have seen my payment whether i would like them to activate the subscription immediately. i was stumped. this is not 'bad belle' but in naija when my dstv subscription ran out some one had to go to their office to physically ask them to reconnect even after i had paid online.
aha this will not be complete without telling of my trip to the famous elmina castle in cape coast. there with a group of colleagues we were taken on a tour of the castle that held human cargo ready for export to europe and the americas. we got to see a small gate which despite my build (ok so i'm a little fatter than some of you know me to be) i wouldn't pass through it. it was called the gate of no return. it was really small width wise and could hardly pass me. we got to know that the human cargo was kept for months without adequate food so that they could become slim enough to through the gate. there where a couple of other things in which only the imagination ( how much you can stretch it) that would help one come to terms with what took place. anyway i won't spoil your fun by telling you all about it. you have to visit for yourself and see it. if you want a visual tour go here elmina castle
Sunday, May 18, 2008
Egusi Soup II
ever eaten egusi soup cooked with sausage, chicken and beef? i have and it ain't half bad. just that i am not very keen on sausage. i’m not very keen on oyibo food in general, except for rice. well rice isn’t oyibo food. anyway, for all those who can cook (not microwave chefs mind you) , try the combo above , you will certainly like it. a word of advice, avoid having too many ‘obstacles’ in the egusi. it drives away the pleasure of dishing out the soup. its supposed to be a soup ie the obstacles should be the islands not the other way round. enough about egusi , at least now i have justified the heading.
i was at the famous akosombo dam the other weekend. went with four other friends and we had a guided tour of the dam structure. got a bit of history and how the dam was built. for the first time in my life, i got to appreciate and understand the ee lectures on power generation. turbines, emf, shafts , generators, rotors all those things now made practical sense. i pause to wonder how many of my lecturers have actually seen a dam. yeah, those mean people , who made the learning experience miserable for everyone. i know there were some good ones but majority where whack. for the first time , i can voice out this opinion without fear. those men who held our life in a balance and knew it. the should see me now, typing a blog to post on the internet.
once more i will mention the radio programs here. either i get too bored by the order that i listen to more radio on my way to work, than worry about traffic. well in home country i lived three minutes walk from work, in the same estate as the office and i still worried about traffic. i heard this sad but intriguing tale about a young man who committed suicide under suspicious circumstances. he jumped off a three story building to his death and left a note saying he was depressed by the break up with his ex-girlfriend. the guy from the unfolding story had a history of depression, he had left home declared missing for a while and then show up again in another part of town. he had been on radio talking about the loss of his girlfriend and how it made him feel bad like a year before his death.
the program took investigative journalism to its limits in our african context. the ex girlfriend who was now in the us studying was called up to be asked about the situation. she said though they had broken up over a year ago, they were back as friends and were in constant touch with each other. she had spoken with him three weeks before the incident that seem to have clearly debunked the idea that the suicide was because of her. as it happens the guy had a roommate who was absent as at the time it happened. he was on his way to meet with a lecturer who was particular about timing so that sort of was his alibi. anyway the story unfolds , i hope i get to hear the end of it. here radio presenters call up anyone to get firsthand info. i haven’t heard them calling up the president or vice but ministers, parliamentarians are always called up smack in the middle of the news about them to hear their own side. i am trying to picture calling up a minister to contribute to a radio program in home country. well maybe it happens, didn’t listen to much radio back home, and the few times i did , dan foster was more inclined towards prank calls.
yeah lest i forget there’s this program called sister sister. a bunch of women sit around to discuss ‘what’s on a woman’s mind’. its quite interesting and educative. i recommend it anytime you are on your way back from work around 7 pm. the only condition is that you have to be in ghana.
i was at the famous akosombo dam the other weekend. went with four other friends and we had a guided tour of the dam structure. got a bit of history and how the dam was built. for the first time in my life, i got to appreciate and understand the ee lectures on power generation. turbines, emf, shafts , generators, rotors all those things now made practical sense. i pause to wonder how many of my lecturers have actually seen a dam. yeah, those mean people , who made the learning experience miserable for everyone. i know there were some good ones but majority where whack. for the first time , i can voice out this opinion without fear. those men who held our life in a balance and knew it. the should see me now, typing a blog to post on the internet.
once more i will mention the radio programs here. either i get too bored by the order that i listen to more radio on my way to work, than worry about traffic. well in home country i lived three minutes walk from work, in the same estate as the office and i still worried about traffic. i heard this sad but intriguing tale about a young man who committed suicide under suspicious circumstances. he jumped off a three story building to his death and left a note saying he was depressed by the break up with his ex-girlfriend. the guy from the unfolding story had a history of depression, he had left home declared missing for a while and then show up again in another part of town. he had been on radio talking about the loss of his girlfriend and how it made him feel bad like a year before his death.
the program took investigative journalism to its limits in our african context. the ex girlfriend who was now in the us studying was called up to be asked about the situation. she said though they had broken up over a year ago, they were back as friends and were in constant touch with each other. she had spoken with him three weeks before the incident that seem to have clearly debunked the idea that the suicide was because of her. as it happens the guy had a roommate who was absent as at the time it happened. he was on his way to meet with a lecturer who was particular about timing so that sort of was his alibi. anyway the story unfolds , i hope i get to hear the end of it. here radio presenters call up anyone to get firsthand info. i haven’t heard them calling up the president or vice but ministers, parliamentarians are always called up smack in the middle of the news about them to hear their own side. i am trying to picture calling up a minister to contribute to a radio program in home country. well maybe it happens, didn’t listen to much radio back home, and the few times i did , dan foster was more inclined towards prank calls.
yeah lest i forget there’s this program called sister sister. a bunch of women sit around to discuss ‘what’s on a woman’s mind’. its quite interesting and educative. i recommend it anytime you are on your way back from work around 7 pm. the only condition is that you have to be in ghana.
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