Ayiem village pictures, plus I really like Ghana

[I wrote this last night but didn't have internet access so am posting now]

First, a few pictures that Rosa took when we were at the Ayiem village yesterday:















Our meetings with the bank went well today. It was a long day (I think the rest of the team was starting to think Ananda, Rosa, and I are being anti-social since we don’t return to the hotel until late!), but quite productive. We all wore our “power suits” and met with 4 banks today and will meet with 2 more tomorrow. We also met with the 90-year old founder. He’s in great health, and he’s a visionary. It was a helpful meeting, and we found a good balance between letting him talk and redirecting for the tactical needs we had today. We were successful in gaining his agreement to some key ideas, so that was quite successful. Before heading back to the hotel today, our team wrote up a formal proposal to be delivered to all 6 banks. I honestly can’t believe how much we’ve accomplished in such a short period of time, though it took 30 minutes to actually print 3 pages from an email that Kweku had.

Some other comments, not necessarily work-related:
* I saw a peacock this morning when I was out walking a bit before breakfast, and he was beautiful!
* I am really getting used to being spoiled. Today, Helena delivered my laundry (washed by Alfred, folded, and perhaps ironed for the first time ever). Nana and I have a ritual now: he lights the candle/oil in my room in the evening so it smells nice, and then he calls in the morning to wake me and then to let me know when breakfast is ready.
* Theodora bought a delicious pineapple for us and chopped it up for an afternoon snack, and it was better than the ones I had in Hawaii.
* If you are what you eat, I will definitely be a fried ripe plantain when I get home.
* When I get home to the hotel and Frederica asks me how my day went, I think she’s sincere and actually cares about what I did ;-)
* I can’t even think about running, I get sweaty when I walk for 30 minutes at 7am
* Isaac was willing to take a cab all the way over to the hotel tonight to give me a postcard he bought (I couldn’t find any, and promised I would send one to Makiah) and to show us another place to exercise, but we can wait until this weekend
* Of all the things I have seen people carry on their heads as they walk down the street, the most interesting so far was the old rusted sewing machine
* Today I was walking downtown to a bank and a guy had a goat on a leash, walking him on the same sidewalk
* I could already say hello, how are you, thank you, and you’re welcome, but today I also learned how to say please and God bless you