Takoradi to Kumasi

Sent: Wednesday, June 22, 2005 4:07 PM

Subject: Kumasi Report

Greetings from tropical Ghana,
It is pouring down rain--like torrents of water dropping out of the sky. Hey, it's the rainy season.

First an update on internet access: Thanks for the emails and please excuse me for not answering, but it takes a good 10 minutes to open, read and reply to an email... actually more like 15. I am an hour and 10 minutes into this session and have read 7 emails and updated one address. It is my fault for coming with a western idea of how the internet should function. I need to take time to listen to the rain!

We did some work on Apple Macintoshes at Star of the Sea and a couple of the boys now know just what their value is. We also explored the Apple II GS machines as good old learning machines so they should be appearing in classrooms soon.

I met several times with the Sekondi/Takoradi Rotary and at their board meeting we finalized plans for The Willmar Rotary to partner with their city library project--it will be long term and an ambitious undertaking but will provide a metro area of nearly a million with a library. It will be exciting to see it grow. The photo at the top of this post is of a model of the building. Pretty impressive! After the evening meeting we went to a new Chinese restaurant to welcome two new members--it was a great celebration.

Kobby, Beattie and Doug got up at 4:30 this morning for a bus trip to Kumasi--about a 5 hour trip. The buses here are state subsidized, costing about $7.00 for the ticket--they are deluxe air conditioned coaches and very comfortable even showing movies. We saw "Red Scorpion" between Cape Coast and Obuwase!

Upon arriving in Kumasi we checked into the hotel where Rotary meets and found they would be meeting at 1:00 so I attended a second meeting in less than 24 hours. The former secretary and person I had been corresponding with passed away last month so I met a group of officers new to me. We had a great time and I toured parts of the city with one of the members after the meeting. He will send his driver tomorrow to take care of our transportation needs while visiting schools. The blood pressure monitors were big hits with both Rotary organizations and put to use immediately on themselves. Both groups are hoping to see other Willmar people here besides this one!

Kobby, the computer manager at Star of the Sea Cathedral is with me and his brother also. Kobby will meet with school people tomorrow and Friday as we plan what kind of computer installations will be made. It will be a busy couple of days, but each new school is an adventure. These visits also make me realize the importance of following through and providing the goods within the next few months. Please say a prayer or two for that to happen--the number of good computers needed here and requested directly keeps rising faster than the creek outside this internet cafe!

My apologies to those of you requesting changes in email or to be added to the list. With the slow speed here I can't get it done in less than 4 hours! No lie! So if you would be good enough to forward this to anyone who asked to be added, it would help a lot. Also I tried printing out the requests for clothing and carvings but it got lost on the network here and will take another hour to find and print again--of course I don't have pen and paper for note taking either. Oh well, I will just buy everything in a very large size so it will fit everyone!

Better go--Lots of impressions I will share with you all at home. Thanks everyone for the work going on back in Willmar, Hawick, MSP and wherever. See you later,
Love,
Doug

Doug Wilkowske
E-quip Africa