Ghana Rotary Project - Day Five - Hoping It Works

It's Saturday. Hard to believe I have been here only four days. It feels like I've been here for weeks because of the rapid pace it has all been moving. I took some time to go around the city today. I did take a bunch of pictures but will get those up in another post.

It was brutally hot - Low 90's for you Fahrenheit folks, low 30's for you Centigrade people - and around 60% humidity. So while not as bad as I've experienced in Southeast Asia, still very uncomfortable. So we ended up not staying out all that long. And to be brutally hones, Accra is really not a very attractive place. Now I say this hoping that my new friends here will not be upset and if you are new please read on because as they say beauty is skin deep.

Going on, from a pure physical/cityscape/visual impact space, not that great. There is little color. The architecture is kind of non-existent. Nice buildings are surrounded by neighborhoods and buildings that are not attractive at all. There are dirt roads even in the middle of the city which because it is the dry season makes everything dusty (if it were rainy season, they would be all muddy). There is a permanent overcast that gives everything a grey look.

BUT I am loving this place! Why? It is in many ways the polar opposite of Havana, Cuba. Havana was one of the most scenic cities I've ever seen...and I have no desire to go back. Accra has none of that but I am hoping, hoping all my work pans out because I really would like to make this the place where my travel + service component succeeds. Again, Why?

Because of the people and the energy. Look Wife and I are not neophyte travelers. Been lots of places. Very few seem to have a feeling to call me or us back. But in four days here I have accomplished more on this project than I have any project I have promoted at anytime, anywhere. I bemoaned coming here with zero appointments. But once I have gotten here, I have been flooded with meetings...as soon as people met me. A lot of that had to do with Rotary and the openness and sort of 'seal of approval' you get from being in Rotary. But beyond that there is an energy here and a friendly attitude that is incredibly infectious. I see at the vibrant Rotary meetings themselves. I see it with my hotel front desk manager and my car driver. I see it with the people I've met who are so open about their own businesses. It is kind of energy that I feel I would like to be a part of. It's an energy that seems to say that despite whatever obstacles they and their country face, they want to address them. They want to be successful and they are willing to work to do it.

So is it a place that's physically beautiful? No. But is it a place with heart and energy? I think so and I hope I get to get more of it, give something of value and become part of it.