Enroute to Ta'adi
July 9, 2004
Note from Lassiter

7/9/04

Well well well.  At long last we are on the road to Takoradi..  one van and one truck filled with Fab Lab boxes and 7 people crammed in amonst all the stuff.  It took us until 7:30 this evening  to obtain THE LETTER ( we did get the picture!), customs clearance, pay the fee, pay the tips, find the equipment and pack it up for its last journey across Ghana.   The early morning commenced  with one more quick trip to the market to get an additional suitcase to carry all the goods Amy and I purchased at market last night.  Then off for a brief 3 1/2 hour visit to CEPS (customs ministry),  followed by a long session at the Shipping Agent's joint.  Can you imagine, they charged us a value-based percentage tax for Development?! Hmmm...  Seems a bit redundant to tax a development project for development.  Amy was most irritated with the GCNet charge... for  connecting once on the Net to load some information that they needed for clearance.   And then there was the threat of storage fee if we didn't pick up the goods today. Aiye!

After maybe another 3 1/2 hours at the agent's office,  the representative trying to clear us through customs( a young beatiful woman named  Adjoa) came running up  (around 5:30PM) and asked us  to come help as Customs couldn't find all the Fab Lab boxes in the warehouse.  We walked into the large warehouse with row upon row upon row of shipping crates on shelves stacked 30 feet high. They found all but ONE box and they needed our help. (That one box contained 21 smaller boxes, so it was essentially THE SHIPMENT)  Amy and I dutifully walked row by row around the warehouse (very interesting experience-- Ericsson and HP both have quite an import presence here!), and not surprisingly,  could not identify our box.  So I pulled out my laptop and started her up to look up the American Shipping Agent's number. As I booted up I realized I had about 10 men in red suits crowded around me and my computer watching what was transpiring.  I found ADCOM's phone number, (one customs mover was so into it he dictated the number to me off of my laptop screen) took out our handy GSM cell phone and called Anthony.  Anthony talked me through the box description, and I translated to the crowd around me. Voila!  In 5 minutes they had identified the missing box and retrieved it.  (BTW the fork lift operators drive just like the locals here--really really fast.  OSHA would have a ball. ) All were amazed (including me) at how quickly these two bits of technology helped to solve the problem.  Whew!

As the mosquito hour approached we waited with about 10  red suited customs workers  outside with the equipment and the Agents worked on the clearance.  Most of the men fell in love with Amy. (Everyone keeps calling me "Mother"!  Makes me feel like an old lady!)  I think Amy got three proposals this afternoon, one from a customs agent and two from the red suits.  They were very eager to keep up the aquaintance and were tech saavy enough to figure out how to get our cell number.  Just so you know, we probably won't answer the cell phone unless we recognize your phone number for the next few days... 

Have you ever seen a fork lift load a crate into a minivan?  It was hair-raising. Enough said.   After packing we broke all the rules and took off for Takoradi at  7:30PM...after dark.   All the guide books say "Don't drive at night!"  mainly because there are no street lights, no traffic signals, and many cars and trucks on the road do not have lights.  The accident statistics for night driving are  not great...in fact I don't think they even track the statistic.  But everyone seems undeterred by this and drives in the dark anyway.  Traffic out of Accra was ghastly.  Bumper to bumper anarchy.   But the city is teaming with life. Similar to India, everyone sets up merchandise stalls on the roadside. When night falls many use candles to light their wares.  Driving by  at 9:00 PM the hillsides and roadsides reminded me of prayer alcoves in the Catholic church.   Except these folks were dancing and singing, socializing and mixing it up.  Alot of fun.  Outside of Accra the road is under construction and so a few hours were spent on rather bumpy streches--was grateful for Maidenform... 

Other than bumps and bounces, the trip was  uneventful, and at midnight or so we arrived at TTI to meet John Boafo and  a lot of sleepy students who helped us unload. TTI is a wonderful school and location. This will be a great place for the Fab Lab.  The facilities are just about everything you hope for (other than the lack of internet access and we're working on that). About 1PM a very tired Jake and Eric dropped off a very tired Amy and Sherry at the Takoradi Beach Hotel.  No mosquitoes , but not the hotel fare we're used to.  Nonetheless, the hotel was welcoming and accommodating and I don't even remember my head hitting the pillow. 

This is more than you ever wanted to know about our trip but hey, just wanted to share!  Best from Taadi!

Lass