Good Sightseeing Day

First, you should know that I am drawing closer to acquiring my visas. It is somewht slow but moving forward. Hopefully all will be ready to go on Mon. as I have tentative plans to be in Nigeria on Oct 24, Wed. Also,I have completed my first lecture outline which I estimate will take 45 minutes before the U. of Ghana on Nov. 1.

Now onto today...I travelled to the grounds of the Convent of the Holy Spirit on the other side of Accra to visit and take a tour with Sister Mary Laureen who is Provincial Superior of Ghana, in charge of the 57 nuns there together with their sundry hospitals, and schools.

As some of you know, my kid sister was a member of that order for 7 years, being schooled,as was this Sister, at the home convent in Techny, Ill. She remembered my sister from the 60's when they were both there together. She came to Ghana from Techny in 1971 as a young woman (hometown was Erie, Pa.) and has been there ever since. As all people who have been here for awhile, she contracted malaria after one month but not the severe type. She has also had a no. of other tropical maladies over the years but has weathered it all very well. I asked her when she might retire and her reply was: "One half hour after I die." So god willing and the creeks don't rise, she will be here yet a long while.

The nuns she explained have never had a/c in their rooms, although her office does so to preserve the computers there. Her only luxury is a fairly new Prado SUV that is used for the necessary long transports to her other compounds, hosptls and schools in outer Ghana, the longest transport being 15 hours to the NE corner of GHana. She showed me her school there on the grounds. It is St. Mary's Secondary School and educates 700 young girls who live in the dorms there. Secondary school is the equivalent of our high school and only a small portion of Ghanas can go to secondary schools. Public schools are required only to Grade 9, then only those who test high can go on.

I ask the reader to imagine yourself as this young woman leaving Ill. to come for the rest of her life to this foreign land and live so frugally and with bare necessities all for the missions.

Another thing, In 1979, the Mormons and JW's were forced to leave b/c of their proselityzing the native peoples. The convent sisters did not do so, but instead ran hospitals and schools which include all religions. Thus, she explained that they were never asked to leave. It seems that here they act more like the Peace Corps, which is the only way to do this. Help these people, don't make them change their way of life.

When we ended our time, I got some pics and Sister gave me a ride back to my apt area in her Prado. What a nice ride and with a/c which eliminated worries about sitting in traffic jams along the way. Iwill now put the pics on the blog. Till next time...

Work To Do

I have trips out of country coming up so I am working on visas' today and maybe tomorrow. It is a longer and more tedious process than anticipated. I will go to Nigeria and Sierra Leone in the next two weeks assuming that my host lawyers let us know their available dates. It is likely that I will go the foreign embassies tom. with the dates as soon as I can tie them down.

In the meantime, I am preparing my lectures to the Univ . of Ghana Journalism School, and later to the Ghana Bar Assn on The Status of Media rights and Law in America.As everywhere, the law continues to evolve with our case law being oft-cited in this country where there is not yet established precedent.

Outside I just heard a young goat bleeting. The chickens move aside when a goat comes by. Is this called a pecking order?

Yesterday, I asked one of our employees why someone does not just take one of the chickens off the street and fry him up b/c there are no tags etc. and they just run loose everywhere. He said thay all have an owner somewhere and you never steal or kill someone else's chicken b/c your spirit will be haunted forever and when you die you will go to Hell and suffer eternal fire. I said "Oh, that does not sound good." Maybe taking the other guy's chicken is not a smart idea unless you are an atheist.....Enough already... onto more visa work.

End of Day

The mtg today was long but productive. I walked up 5 flights of stairs to a very small office with room only for two chairs and a small desk. The atty is about 40 and single as he is hoping to do well enough to afford a wife and family. He devotes much of his practice to pro bono work so it is a difficult legal life.

We made a lot of progress today. Attached is a pic of the King David whose facade looks respectable but you would not want to stay there. The heat, noise, dust etc would not be to your liking.

Meeting Day

I am preparing for my mtg with the atty from Ghana whose name is Akoto Ampaw whom I have mentioned before. The Moroccan Engr who now lives below looks like Saddam Hussein without a mustache. Yikes, I thought this guy was taken care of earlier. Maybe his afterlife has brought him here to haunt me. He always smiles and bows which is certainly different from people I meet in the States.

On another point, my office is close to the Kind David Hotel. I will send a pic later so you can see the hotel and make your own judgment as to whether King David would ever grace his presence there. I can get Larry and Claudette a 10% discount on the already low cost for a room there. Of course, a/c is extra, but you can pick your own chickens off the street for dinner. I do not think that this place has ever seen anything like Claudette's recipes or food in their kitchen.

Well, back to my preparations for the mtg later today.

Sightseeing

I spent this Sun sightseeing. I went to the National Museum which has a good display of various aspectas of Ghana history, the most interesting of which is the display on its slave history. There were 24 million slaves sent to different countries, the U.S. included. 15% of the slaves died on these journies as did the crew but from tropical diseases. Warring African tribes turned their prisoners into slaves and traded them for guns and powder to continue and defend their wars.

From there I went onto Independence Square which looks like Red Square, a huge expanse of a concrete floor that holds 30,000 parade participants. On this day though, only the homeless were there sleeping on the various bleachers. The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier is here. The Square sits in front of the Ocean. I walked back there and took pics. Below you will see these pics of the Ocean, the Square and some taken in the Museum.

Finally, and on another front, my landlady informed me that she was subletting the lower apt to a Moroccan Engineer, which is OK with me. She returned later to say that he had signed a one year lease and his co. insisted that he occupy the entire house! They would move me to another space where there is no a/c. I, of course, told her there's no way would this happen. Recalling that possession is 9/10 of the law, I told her I was not moving for two months and she was beaching our contract and he was inducing the breach. They left and coferred and came back later to say he had agreed to just take the lower apt and I would stay where I am. And so it goes...