Day 1, 2 & 3

Lush, green and HOT!  Our flight to Ghana was uneventful and we were greeted at the airport by Isaac and Daniel from the hotel.  Leaving the airport in Accra in a pick-up truck, we were driven to Tema where we unpacked and relaxed a bit before heading out for some lunch.  Our Liaison Officer, Francis or as we like to call him, Chief Fun Officer (CFO) showed Joanne, Akiba and I around Community 10 where we're staying.  As one would expect the climate is very much like some of the Caribbean Islands, a musty tropical smell that says "relaxation".

We dined on local cuisine for lunch (Fufu - a spicy soup with a corn dough ball and a fish head).  It seems odd to eat hot food in this heat but it's not common to have salads or cold foods (nor is it safe) so almost everything they serve here is hot.

After meeting up with some other team mates from Mexico and India for dinner we took a quick trip to the grocery store where I was pleasantly surprised to see frosted flakes, kraft dinner and most anything I could want from home. Home doesn't seem so far away now.

A tour of Tema on Sunday provided some eye opening experiences.  The market, although empty as it's closed on Sundays (everyone goes to church) was a maze of little shops with rough pathways.  So easy to get turned around...even for me.  Thank heavens for Francis and Daniel to tour us.  Our next stop was the harbor which houses the largest selection of ocean containers I've ever seen and the ocean vessels are lined up off the coast for off loading in what is Ghana's largest port.  For Bob and those on my ICO team, you'll be pleased to know the AEO security requirements seemed to be met from what I could "audit" from the van. :-)  In fact, police with semi-automatic machine guns are a good deterrent any time....as you will read below.

The fishing harbor was a cultural shock for me.  The boats are made by hand out of wood, about 25 ft. long and take about 12 people to row out to sea on a daily basis for fishing.  There are no motors so the process is heavy work.  Hundreds of boats lined the harbor as it was midday and fishing happens in early morning.  There were many people selling fruits and fish from the day's catch in the 90 degree temperature. The heat was unbearable in the sun for some of us and the smell of the salt air and day old fish lying around was quite prevalent.  We had some fun taking pictures of the children and showing them back to them.....perhaps many had never seen a photo of themselves??

There is alot of industry in Tema although infrastructure is crude in some locations and many roads had pot holes too deep to go through.  There are also very few stop signs to manage traffic...everyone just eases in where they can and every toots their horns, more as a sign of warning that they're coming.


Dinner at a local restaurant was fun.  There is music blaring at most night spots, which makes it difficult to carry on conversations but the music is so danceable!  Our CFO arranges for our transportation and on the way home from dinner we were pulled over by the police as part of a regular nightly spot check.  Not having any identification on me (any most of the rest of the team) I started to worry until a colleague pulled out the Police Commander's business card with his personal cell phone # on it and said "phone him if there is a problem".  The Commander had been in to visit our team earlier in the day to give a security briefing.  We were quickly moved on, thank heavens, but not much fun having that semi-automatic a foot from your face with a flash light in your eyes.  Next time, I'll carry my ID.

It was wonderful to meet our clients today and after introductions and presentations we settled in to discuss our projects.  What an experience it will be to bring some best practices from our own countries to share with these people.  The people here are so friendly and easy going...what a great day.  Tomorrow we head to Accra where we'll be working the rest of the week at the client site. We're also hoping to get to a shop at lunch tomorrow to buy fabric (like kenti cloth) to have an outfit made for traditional dress days which is on Fridays.  Some of the girls from work will help us out.

Sleeping is rough and I've had a challenging time adjusting (as usual for me) but I should be fine by the end of the week.  It didn't help either that I'd had cold showers for 2 days as I couldn't figure out how the hot water worked (everyone on our team had trouble until Ranga from India provided a lesson) but this morning all was good.  I was a little worried that I might have a month of cold showers! :-)

Time to sign out as our team is staying in tonight to work on Executive presentations for tomorrow.  After all, you only make a good impression once so we want to get this right.

Take care!

Departure Day

Well, it's departure day.  It's a cold blustery day in Toronto and perfect for leaving for a warm tropical climate.  After a (too) brief a night's sleep Joanne and I arrived at the airport and after a few hours of ticketing issues, flight delays and a rough ride into NY we are now settled in for a lengthy layover.  It's all good though.

It's funny the things that you stress about prior to departure...from making sure the car has gas (even though no one will be driving it for a month) to finding jungle worthy PJ's and making sure I have room for all my token gifts (and hair products) with the baggage weight restrictions.  I had to cut back on shoes :-) and thank heavens as I came in only half a pound less than limit.  Now that's efficient!

In getting everything organized for the trip I made a point this week of treating myself to all my favourite snacks before I left.  I'm sure Ben & Jerry's NY Super Fudge Chunk and Vanilla Bean Sugar Free Soy Lattes and Raspberry White Chocolate Scones from Second Cup won't be available in Tema, Ghana....  I ran 3 times this week to make up for it!   I am though just as excited to be trying some new Ghanian foods come Saturday such as Fufu, Kelewele, Farowe and lots of fresh seafood.

I also had a chance this week to talk with some friends and colleagues who have connections in Ghana.  I'm looking forward to meeting my new Ghanaian contacts thanks to Bob and Amesika.  It's amazing just how small the world really is and how we are all interconnected in some way.  It's so true what they say about the "six degrees of separation from Kevin Bacon".

On the home front, the girls shed only a few tears so that's goodness.  They're just excited that I stocked up on treats while I'm gone....hopefully the treats last through the first week!  Doug, Chris, Kim, Rose and Mom are all lined up to manage things while I'm away.  They say it takes a village to raise a family and they're right.  I'm so grateful for my village!

Our Corporate Service Corps (CSC)  coordinators Keith and Tasha as well as the CDC coordinators Barbara, Huld and John have been a wealth of information and have prepared us all very well for what's ahead.  I want to thank them for their tremendous support!  For those of you who hadn't heard already, we recently learned that our Ghana VI team has been selected to represent IBM's 100th CSC team to deploy which also marks IBM's 100th Anniversary year.  Our team is very excited for this honor and are certainly up for the challenges and adventures that await us on this assignment.

Well, time to go.  I'll be sure to blog again on my first impressions of Ghana.  For all of those in Toronto suffering through what is hopefully the last storm of the winter, drive safe and I'll talk to you on the other side of the Atlantic!

Kristina's First Thoughts on her CSC Assignment to Ghana

This is my first blog attempt.  I'm still trying to figure this all out and for those of you who know me, I'm not very tech savvy.

I'm going to use this blog while I'm on my Corporate Service Corps assignment to keep everyone up to date on my activities.  I must say that so far, the preparation in getting ready for this assignment has already been worth it.  The people I've met (Joanne is quickly becoming like a sister) and what I've already learned about the Ghana culture far exceeds what I expected at this stage in the game.  That being said, it hasn't been easy either.  At times, I've been overwhelmed by how much preparation is required to leave on assignment for 5 weeks.  I've been working hard to have my client engagements well ahead of this years plan before I leave and organizing home life has been a challenge and an emotional journey I didn't quite expect.  The time I had hoped to spend with my girls has unfortunately been dwarfed by the volume of preparations. But what I will gain by this whole experience will far outweigh the sacrifices not just for myself, but for my girls who will learn that being a strong independent person with goals and aspirations will lead you on wonderful adventures in life and, learning to appreciate the world outside of our own comfort zones and sharing your skills with others will hopefully lead to greater appreciation of our uniquenesses.  After all, it takes all kinds to make the world go 'round.

On a rather humorous note, I'm calling this my deja vu experience.  It seems as though everything I've had to do to get ready, I've had to redo, sometimes more than once...from multiple attempts to get my shots (the travel clinic was out and I had to go back twice to get them all done), re-booking my flights and post assignment trip (Egypt didn't pan out but Kenya will be great) and then having been reassigned to a new client three weeks before departure.  I can't help but chuckle at the pattern and am thankful that I'm comfortable with change and just "winging" it.  IBM has taught me well in this regard.  I am however, looking forward to getting on the plane in NY with my new sister Joanne.  At that point, all I will be able to say is, "what's done is done, and what's not will have to wait 5 weeks".  Oh ya, and..."Here we come Ghana!".