I am almost at the end of my 8-hour layover in Istanbul before I board my 11-hour flight to Chicago. I really appreciate the fare I got on this flight but I am not appreciating it's extreme length. I am spending the night in Chicago before I complete my journey on Tuesday.
I have been spending my time in the Turkish Airlines Business Class Club which is quite luxurious. I was able to take a shower. I found a couch to lie down and take some more sleep but it was so cold I had to move.
I have made good use of some of this time by working on my Rotary Global Grant Request document. Working on this project is a bit of an emotional rollercoaster. No change that. It is not a bit like being on an emotional rollercoaster. It is being on an emotional rollercoaster. There are times when it feels like everything is coming together...like you are doing these good things and it will all happen. These are closely followed by times when all that is necessary to put into place seems overwhelming.
Don't get me wrong. No regrets. None. This has been such an amazing experience. And I know I am doing good. The rollercoaster is just part of the landscape.
Monday, September 30, 2019
Saturday, September 28, 2019
Ghana Trip Three - The JOBS Project
I have been devoting my posting energy thus far to the Theodora Project since that is the major focus at the moment both to get funds and because of a feeling that we need to show progress to our participating women. However that is not the only project I am working on.
You may remember when I first came to Ghana, the intent was to test a hypothesis that the type of business advice I provide in the United States professionally, could improve businesses in developing countries and thereby create jobs. That still is a focus of activity. But unlike Theodora, it is not something that can be demonstrated relatively quickly. This is becasue there is a signficant time period that needs to transpire before the results of the consulting show up in improved business performanc and increased jobs. Thus the activities involved tend to be slower and steadier with less of the drama associated with what we are trying to do with Theodora.
Also there is no possibility of funding for this project at this point. Only when I have proved the concept and we go into expansion of institutionalizing expert knowledge and developing remote learning and coaching technologies will we be likely to look for funding.
Nonetheless, I still believe that in the long run, this project, which I have called the JOBS Project, has the greater potential for creating change in employment and wage opportunities. And the indvidual reward the comes from dealing with these business owners and entrepreneurs is great. There is not much of a culture of either mutual support or of mentorship here from what I have seen so far. Therefore, when you prove that you are not a flash in the pan, but actually are making the committment to coming here AND you actually listen and try and help, the genuineness of the appreciation is substantial.
You may remember when I first came to Ghana, the intent was to test a hypothesis that the type of business advice I provide in the United States professionally, could improve businesses in developing countries and thereby create jobs. That still is a focus of activity. But unlike Theodora, it is not something that can be demonstrated relatively quickly. This is becasue there is a signficant time period that needs to transpire before the results of the consulting show up in improved business performanc and increased jobs. Thus the activities involved tend to be slower and steadier with less of the drama associated with what we are trying to do with Theodora.
Also there is no possibility of funding for this project at this point. Only when I have proved the concept and we go into expansion of institutionalizing expert knowledge and developing remote learning and coaching technologies will we be likely to look for funding.
Nonetheless, I still believe that in the long run, this project, which I have called the JOBS Project, has the greater potential for creating change in employment and wage opportunities. And the indvidual reward the comes from dealing with these business owners and entrepreneurs is great. There is not much of a culture of either mutual support or of mentorship here from what I have seen so far. Therefore, when you prove that you are not a flash in the pan, but actually are making the committment to coming here AND you actually listen and try and help, the genuineness of the appreciation is substantial.
Thursday, September 26, 2019
Ghana Trip Three - The Rotary Global Grant Experience
One of the major focuses of this trip is putting into place what we need to win a Rotary International Global Grant to fund the Theodora Project.
Rotary has a wide variety of grant opportunities. But the Global Grant is a vehicle that allows you to leverage the money you can raise by a couple of multiples. So if you raise a dollar in donation, you could end up with two to three dollars total for your project from the matching funds available from. However to successfully do this, Rotary requires you to design your project and submit your rant request in a certain way.
There are a lot of good reasons for this. Rotary wants to make sure that the project is well thought through. They want to know that you have done your homework and the community you propose to serve is fully committed to the project as well as. They are demanding as to the types of activities they want to support and the manner in which the project will be supported. And they want to see how the project is going to be sustainable...meaning the project should be able to continue even after the Rotary involvement stops.
In our case, a lot of the points that are important to Rotary were a part of project design from the very beginning. For example Rotary wants to see performance benchmarks used as a means controlling funds disbursed during the project. That was already a part of our plan. The sustainability issue mentioned above was already built. As was our serving of specific target populations Rotary wishes to serve.
There were two major components we were lacking - a local club that would be the Host sponsoring the project and a community assessment that needed to follow specific approved methodologies. I had talked to a number of clubs and we have been very fortunate that one club has a senior member who knows my partner GG quite well and a President who has 1) gone through the Global Grheant process and has some experience dealing with our target audience. So great thanks to the Rotary Club of Accra East for partnering up with us.
The issue of the community assessment really took some thinking. To be blunt sex work is usually an aspect of society that most like to ignore or pretend is not there. So there was a question as to what 'population' we needed to assess. As Rotary wants to make sure that the community being served is fully bought in and committed, clearly our small group that will be our initial participants can be considered a community. There is also a wider group that GG works with that is not a part of the initial group that can be considered part of the community. Finally we decided we needed some way of assess the overall community of Accra. Via one of the people I am mentoring, we located a researcher who is willing to take on the project. We will be using a focus group for the two initial groups and a survey plus a focus group from the last.
As I am ending up this trip, the major required components of our Global Grant request are falling into place.
Rotary has a wide variety of grant opportunities. But the Global Grant is a vehicle that allows you to leverage the money you can raise by a couple of multiples. So if you raise a dollar in donation, you could end up with two to three dollars total for your project from the matching funds available from. However to successfully do this, Rotary requires you to design your project and submit your rant request in a certain way.
There are a lot of good reasons for this. Rotary wants to make sure that the project is well thought through. They want to know that you have done your homework and the community you propose to serve is fully committed to the project as well as. They are demanding as to the types of activities they want to support and the manner in which the project will be supported. And they want to see how the project is going to be sustainable...meaning the project should be able to continue even after the Rotary involvement stops.
In our case, a lot of the points that are important to Rotary were a part of project design from the very beginning. For example Rotary wants to see performance benchmarks used as a means controlling funds disbursed during the project. That was already a part of our plan. The sustainability issue mentioned above was already built. As was our serving of specific target populations Rotary wishes to serve.
There were two major components we were lacking - a local club that would be the Host sponsoring the project and a community assessment that needed to follow specific approved methodologies. I had talked to a number of clubs and we have been very fortunate that one club has a senior member who knows my partner GG quite well and a President who has 1) gone through the Global Grheant process and has some experience dealing with our target audience. So great thanks to the Rotary Club of Accra East for partnering up with us.
The issue of the community assessment really took some thinking. To be blunt sex work is usually an aspect of society that most like to ignore or pretend is not there. So there was a question as to what 'population' we needed to assess. As Rotary wants to make sure that the community being served is fully bought in and committed, clearly our small group that will be our initial participants can be considered a community. There is also a wider group that GG works with that is not a part of the initial group that can be considered part of the community. Finally we decided we needed some way of assess the overall community of Accra. Via one of the people I am mentoring, we located a researcher who is willing to take on the project. We will be using a focus group for the two initial groups and a survey plus a focus group from the last.
As I am ending up this trip, the major required components of our Global Grant request are falling into place.
Sunday, September 22, 2019
Ghana Trip Three - The Videoing Experience
There are numerous aspects of the Theodora Project that have unique aspects to it.
It proved to be a real challenge to pull off. Finding someone in Ghana was the task of my partner GG. The first person completely flaked out on us on the day we were to do the shooting (causing our women to be royally pissed but then become even more committed). We found a second group and decided to wait until GG and I were both in country. These folks are way more professional, even if young and clearly very new at what they are doing. Their communication with everyone was great. They did a wonderful job of getting from the women their stories and guiding them on camera to be shorter and more concise. And they have a lot of empathy which carries through to how they interacted with the women.
The process has not been without issues. Originally they were just going to film the woman and I was going to use a resource in the U.S. to make the videos. Then it was decided that it would be better to do as much of the process in Ghana as possible. The amount quoted for just the filming was hardly anything. But the quotation for the full project was a lot. I suspected I was getting the "white man's" price. Some investigation indicated that this was probably a reasonable fare for a very experienced group doing a project of this size, which are team is not.
Then there has been the issue of the 'sound studio'. They said we would video in their studio, but there proved to be no sound proofing and we had all kinds of outside noises while doing the videos. GG and I are greatly concerned about what the audio quality will be.
But I am sure we will work things out. If need be we will redo some of the audio. For the money we will be paying (I will pay what they ask), I will require they do whatever they need to do to get things right. Working in this country as one would totally expect is a different animal than working in the U.S. I understood there would be issues like this intellectually before I started the effort. Now I am understanding it much more viscerally.
- The sex workers we are dealing with (who represent a majority here in Ghana) are not 'captives', 'slaves', or 'trafficked' as most people in the United States automatically assume sex workers to be. They rather are people who, because of the very challenging circumstances that people find growing up here, make a series of logical decisions that lead them to finding sex work the optimum career for taking care of their personal and family economic responsibilities.
- The women who grow up in this environment may get frustrated, feel they are disrespected, feel misused, but they don't feel they are victims. Rather they look at themselves as being tough survivors.
- There is a high degree of abusive behavior that permeates society. There is a high degree of marginal income that supports society. These combined lead to situations where young women find they either need to leave home or are forced to take care of themselves at very young ages.
- This in turn leads to high levels of women who cannot complete their basic high school education. Without the certificate that you have completed high school, getting a job is near impossible.
- The overall economy here is short on jobs and those jobs that exist tend to not pay well
- To address this as we contemplated how to create an exit path out of sex work for these women, we had to do more than just help them complete education and get a certificate. We had to actually create jobs. And those jobs had to be high paying jobs so those we worked with would not be tempted to go back into sex work.
- Our solution has been to create a virtual personal assistance business that can market the services these women are taught thus allowing them to translate their work into remuneration far higher than they could receive in Ghana.
- Finally to ensure sustainability, we have determined that this enterprise needs to ultimately be a commercial one owned by the women who are participating.
It proved to be a real challenge to pull off. Finding someone in Ghana was the task of my partner GG. The first person completely flaked out on us on the day we were to do the shooting (causing our women to be royally pissed but then become even more committed). We found a second group and decided to wait until GG and I were both in country. These folks are way more professional, even if young and clearly very new at what they are doing. Their communication with everyone was great. They did a wonderful job of getting from the women their stories and guiding them on camera to be shorter and more concise. And they have a lot of empathy which carries through to how they interacted with the women.
The process has not been without issues. Originally they were just going to film the woman and I was going to use a resource in the U.S. to make the videos. Then it was decided that it would be better to do as much of the process in Ghana as possible. The amount quoted for just the filming was hardly anything. But the quotation for the full project was a lot. I suspected I was getting the "white man's" price. Some investigation indicated that this was probably a reasonable fare for a very experienced group doing a project of this size, which are team is not.
Then there has been the issue of the 'sound studio'. They said we would video in their studio, but there proved to be no sound proofing and we had all kinds of outside noises while doing the videos. GG and I are greatly concerned about what the audio quality will be.
But I am sure we will work things out. If need be we will redo some of the audio. For the money we will be paying (I will pay what they ask), I will require they do whatever they need to do to get things right. Working in this country as one would totally expect is a different animal than working in the U.S. I understood there would be issues like this intellectually before I started the effort. Now I am understanding it much more viscerally.
Saturday, September 21, 2019
Ghana Trip Three - Week One
It's Saturday morning here in Accra. I am sitting in the living room of the apartment at around a quarter to seven. I was so exhausted last night. I slept (for me quite late) until just a few moments ago. I should be doing yoga or meditation but I just don't have the motivation to do so. What I really feel like doing is just sitting here. I don't even have the motivation to make myself some coffee. All this 'lack of motivation' is actually a good sign. It is the sign that I've just had the most incredible productive week.
Everything about this Ghana project has been a bit surreal ever since that first day I arrived in February, not knowing a soul, with just a theory. And that feeling that I am not doing this initiative, that it is doing me just keeps growing. The experience that each time we have an obstacle some means seems to turn up to overcome the obstacle. So it has continued here.
Since so much has happened, I think what I will do is just give you the week's activity in this post and add additional posts that provide detail and explanation later.
As my last post explained, I pretty much crashed on the first Sunday. Here is what the rest of the week looked like.
Monday - I had a meeting with my partner GG on the Theodora Project. We have major goals for this trip that need to be achieved if we are to succeed. We need to have filming of the stories of the women for promotional video, we need to get a Rotary Host Club joining our project and we need to figure out how we are going to do a community assessment that is required to apply for a Rotary Global Grant. Working on all these are on our agenda for the trip. Then I drive off to another part of Accra where I meet my prize apprentice, MYKB, to consult on her food business. While there we are joined by two other women who are part of a coaching group this lady has put together. Finally, we head off to a Rotary meeting. Lots of distance and traffic dealt with. It is a 12 hour day.
Tuesday - Less busy but intense in its own right. We are prepping for the videoing. I will do a separate post on the details of that experience. I go to where my GG is staying. We do some work on the Global Grant application. Then our video team arrives. This is a big relief as the last person we had doing video flaked out on us. We like these guys' approaches. The ladies start arriving. We have a real issue with these women coming on time. It's a Ghana thing but also more than that. The video people do a great job of engaging the women. This is a pretty hard thing to go into your past and talk about all that has happened and why you are in the sex trade and how important it is to get this opportunity to get out. We do practice of the presentations. Get back to the apartment at a reasonable hour.
Wednesday - I have a meeting with a new consulting business owner. I got the apartment rather than the hotel I had been in to a great degree because of location. But the advantage of distance closeness has been offset by horrible traffice to get in and out of it so I have ended up not saving any time in transit. The new consulting client is very impressive and I think will be a lot of fun to work with. He also has an incredible story. 10-years ago he was homeless, living on the streets. Now he has a thriving, I mean really thriving business. Next we went to do the actual video. I thought I would be late but no I still beat all the women there. It is in a really hard, hard scrabble place to find. And though it is promised to be a 'sound studio' it is anything but. There are all kinds of outside noises. The video guys do a great job with the women. The women do a great job. But I am very concerned about how the quality of audio is going come out. When we were done, we go to a nice hotel to buy drinks and food for everyone. For the first time since I've used my driver, he screws up and I end up waiting an hour and a half after everyone leaves to be picked up. I am pissed. I don't need that extras energy drain.
Thursday - I have two meetings with consulting clients in a major suburb of Tema. One is an IT company that I meat on my first visit but we are just now getting to the work. We have a good session. These people (a husband and a wife) are also recruiting other owners to be in a coaching group. Then I visit a business owned by another of the key people in Theodora. It is a transportation hub. But before your mind goes to visions of bus terminals here, take out all modern buildings, all paved roads, substitute rather beat-up mini-vans that carry 9 to 11 people and you will be closer what we visited. Nonetheless a fascinating business and one that brought out clear thoughts of current effectiveness but others of clear opportunities for improvement. Next it was back to Accra. GG and I had a long wait but met with the leaders of my primary target to become our local Rotary Host Club for the Global Grant applicataion. Again I will go into more detaile in another post but they have agreed! A major step forward. After the Rotary Club meeting itself, I got back to the apartment at 8:30. At 9:00 I had a WhatsApp video call with prospect in the U.S. It was 10:30/11:00 before I got to bed.
Friday - Mercifully a much easier day. I didn't sleep well last night. Going to bed from 14 hours of work mode with no relax time and my mind is too active to have good sleep. But the day itself has another breakthrough. I have recruited MYKB to assist with Theodora because of her acadmeic background and connections. But because she is a marketing specialist, she has access to the people who have the particular skills we need for the comunity assessment! Bingo! Last piece of the puzzle!
I have another couple of meetings but now I just want them to end so I can crash. I go and have dinner, do some food shopping and then crash.
Everything about this Ghana project has been a bit surreal ever since that first day I arrived in February, not knowing a soul, with just a theory. And that feeling that I am not doing this initiative, that it is doing me just keeps growing. The experience that each time we have an obstacle some means seems to turn up to overcome the obstacle. So it has continued here.
Since so much has happened, I think what I will do is just give you the week's activity in this post and add additional posts that provide detail and explanation later.
As my last post explained, I pretty much crashed on the first Sunday. Here is what the rest of the week looked like.
Monday - I had a meeting with my partner GG on the Theodora Project. We have major goals for this trip that need to be achieved if we are to succeed. We need to have filming of the stories of the women for promotional video, we need to get a Rotary Host Club joining our project and we need to figure out how we are going to do a community assessment that is required to apply for a Rotary Global Grant. Working on all these are on our agenda for the trip. Then I drive off to another part of Accra where I meet my prize apprentice, MYKB, to consult on her food business. While there we are joined by two other women who are part of a coaching group this lady has put together. Finally, we head off to a Rotary meeting. Lots of distance and traffic dealt with. It is a 12 hour day.
Tuesday - Less busy but intense in its own right. We are prepping for the videoing. I will do a separate post on the details of that experience. I go to where my GG is staying. We do some work on the Global Grant application. Then our video team arrives. This is a big relief as the last person we had doing video flaked out on us. We like these guys' approaches. The ladies start arriving. We have a real issue with these women coming on time. It's a Ghana thing but also more than that. The video people do a great job of engaging the women. This is a pretty hard thing to go into your past and talk about all that has happened and why you are in the sex trade and how important it is to get this opportunity to get out. We do practice of the presentations. Get back to the apartment at a reasonable hour.
Wednesday - I have a meeting with a new consulting business owner. I got the apartment rather than the hotel I had been in to a great degree because of location. But the advantage of distance closeness has been offset by horrible traffice to get in and out of it so I have ended up not saving any time in transit. The new consulting client is very impressive and I think will be a lot of fun to work with. He also has an incredible story. 10-years ago he was homeless, living on the streets. Now he has a thriving, I mean really thriving business. Next we went to do the actual video. I thought I would be late but no I still beat all the women there. It is in a really hard, hard scrabble place to find. And though it is promised to be a 'sound studio' it is anything but. There are all kinds of outside noises. The video guys do a great job with the women. The women do a great job. But I am very concerned about how the quality of audio is going come out. When we were done, we go to a nice hotel to buy drinks and food for everyone. For the first time since I've used my driver, he screws up and I end up waiting an hour and a half after everyone leaves to be picked up. I am pissed. I don't need that extras energy drain.
Thursday - I have two meetings with consulting clients in a major suburb of Tema. One is an IT company that I meat on my first visit but we are just now getting to the work. We have a good session. These people (a husband and a wife) are also recruiting other owners to be in a coaching group. Then I visit a business owned by another of the key people in Theodora. It is a transportation hub. But before your mind goes to visions of bus terminals here, take out all modern buildings, all paved roads, substitute rather beat-up mini-vans that carry 9 to 11 people and you will be closer what we visited. Nonetheless a fascinating business and one that brought out clear thoughts of current effectiveness but others of clear opportunities for improvement. Next it was back to Accra. GG and I had a long wait but met with the leaders of my primary target to become our local Rotary Host Club for the Global Grant applicataion. Again I will go into more detaile in another post but they have agreed! A major step forward. After the Rotary Club meeting itself, I got back to the apartment at 8:30. At 9:00 I had a WhatsApp video call with prospect in the U.S. It was 10:30/11:00 before I got to bed.
Friday - Mercifully a much easier day. I didn't sleep well last night. Going to bed from 14 hours of work mode with no relax time and my mind is too active to have good sleep. But the day itself has another breakthrough. I have recruited MYKB to assist with Theodora because of her acadmeic background and connections. But because she is a marketing specialist, she has access to the people who have the particular skills we need for the comunity assessment! Bingo! Last piece of the puzzle!
I have another couple of meetings but now I just want them to end so I can crash. I go and have dinner, do some food shopping and then crash.
Sunday, September 15, 2019
The Long Slog To Ghana
I got into Accra last night at about 6:30 PM local time after 47 hours of travel. One can certainly get from Albuquerque to Accra in less time and I have. But the imperative during this early phase of the project is keeping costs down. Essentially Wife and I agreed that we could only put so much of our own money into this project before we'd have to call it quits. I have addressed that limit in two ways.
First, I have picked up my regular business game and brought in more money. Since we pay the expenses of this project out of the business if the business is able to pay the cost and still make its expected contributions to the family income, we are not using any of the personal money we've put aside.
Second, I have been extremely aggressive in finding the best airfare I can for these trips. Now with full disclosure remember I am still flying business class (there is no way my 70-year-old + body could withstand this kind of travel in coach). But I've used free frequent flier mile tickets and shopped aggressively for the best fares. I have succeeded in getting flights now that were around double a coach ticket. That may sound like a lot but a regular business class ticket is usually 4 to 6 times a coach ticket.
Now to get that kind of fare means taking some convoluted routes. In this case, I flew from Albuquerque to Chicago, was scheduled for a 5-hour layover and then took a 10+ hour flight to Istanbul, Turkey. I was to leave Albuquerque at 1 PM local time, take off from Chicago at 9:40 local time and arrive in Istanbul at 4:15 PM local time the next day, Friday. Then I had a 21-hour layover in Istanbul leaving on Saturday at 2:40 PM local time arriving in Accra at 6:50 PM local time. Take into account that Accra is 6 hours ahead of Albuquerque and Istanbul is 9 hours ahead. So this route meant jumping 9 hours forward but then the next day giving 3 hours back.
In the event, our plane out of Albuquerque was 2 hours late departing. In this case, the schedule meant that the Magical Unicorn Pony God of Travel wasn't even given an alert. Then in Chicago, we sat on the ground for an extra hour because of weather-related delays. Again with all the time in my schedule, not an issue.
This is the first time I have flown Turkish Airlines on a long haul flight. Their food service and seat size in business are superior. Ranks up with the best Asian experiences I have had (Singapore and Asiaaa). And the new business class lounge in Istanbul is crazily the best food and comfort in business class I have ever had.
I stayed overnight at a hotel in Istanbul, walked to a local neighborhood place for doner and manti (dumplings with yogurt). But I will tell you that the 7-hour fight from Istanbul to Accra was a killer.
One saving grace, I have learned important lessons from Venerable Pulisha, Daughter #2, that when one travels in countries were folk is generally less fortunate than we in the USA, using help and spreading the wealth around is a blessing. So I have a wonderful driver that has proven incredibly reliable so my ride was waiting at the airport and my business travel for the week is taken care of. And I have a woman who has proven to be a reliable personal assistant. She checked out the apartment I am renting ahead of time. She does the shopping and cooks some for me. The amount I pay her is way offset by not having to figure out where to go out to eat after long days. Plus I know that what I pay her is really appreciated.
So today Sunday, I went food shopping with the assistant, got stocked up. After a nice home-cooked meal, I collapsed and let my body acclimate. Tomorrow the fun and game start.
First, I have picked up my regular business game and brought in more money. Since we pay the expenses of this project out of the business if the business is able to pay the cost and still make its expected contributions to the family income, we are not using any of the personal money we've put aside.
Second, I have been extremely aggressive in finding the best airfare I can for these trips. Now with full disclosure remember I am still flying business class (there is no way my 70-year-old + body could withstand this kind of travel in coach). But I've used free frequent flier mile tickets and shopped aggressively for the best fares. I have succeeded in getting flights now that were around double a coach ticket. That may sound like a lot but a regular business class ticket is usually 4 to 6 times a coach ticket.
Now to get that kind of fare means taking some convoluted routes. In this case, I flew from Albuquerque to Chicago, was scheduled for a 5-hour layover and then took a 10+ hour flight to Istanbul, Turkey. I was to leave Albuquerque at 1 PM local time, take off from Chicago at 9:40 local time and arrive in Istanbul at 4:15 PM local time the next day, Friday. Then I had a 21-hour layover in Istanbul leaving on Saturday at 2:40 PM local time arriving in Accra at 6:50 PM local time. Take into account that Accra is 6 hours ahead of Albuquerque and Istanbul is 9 hours ahead. So this route meant jumping 9 hours forward but then the next day giving 3 hours back.
In the event, our plane out of Albuquerque was 2 hours late departing. In this case, the schedule meant that the Magical Unicorn Pony God of Travel wasn't even given an alert. Then in Chicago, we sat on the ground for an extra hour because of weather-related delays. Again with all the time in my schedule, not an issue.
This is the first time I have flown Turkish Airlines on a long haul flight. Their food service and seat size in business are superior. Ranks up with the best Asian experiences I have had (Singapore and Asiaaa). And the new business class lounge in Istanbul is crazily the best food and comfort in business class I have ever had.
I stayed overnight at a hotel in Istanbul, walked to a local neighborhood place for doner and manti (dumplings with yogurt). But I will tell you that the 7-hour fight from Istanbul to Accra was a killer.
One saving grace, I have learned important lessons from Venerable Pulisha, Daughter #2, that when one travels in countries were folk is generally less fortunate than we in the USA, using help and spreading the wealth around is a blessing. So I have a wonderful driver that has proven incredibly reliable so my ride was waiting at the airport and my business travel for the week is taken care of. And I have a woman who has proven to be a reliable personal assistant. She checked out the apartment I am renting ahead of time. She does the shopping and cooks some for me. The amount I pay her is way offset by not having to figure out where to go out to eat after long days. Plus I know that what I pay her is really appreciated.
So today Sunday, I went food shopping with the assistant, got stocked up. After a nice home-cooked meal, I collapsed and let my body acclimate. Tomorrow the fun and game start.
Monday, September 9, 2019
Getting Ready For Ghana Act III
I am heading back to Accra on Thursday. All that I have written about in the past continues to move forward. But I am sure none of you are surprised when I say that there is complication upon complication, detail upon detail, that has to be dealt with. It is not a simple project, to say the least. But worthwhile for sure.
When I get there, I will post much more detail about what is going on. For the moment, I am now settled into what is clearly going to be a long-term effort. This is no surprise. I mean you parachute into a completely new country and culture, no one knows you, and you claim you can make a difference. Of course, people are going to be skeptical. They should be. So you have to keep going, keep working, keeping meeting people, keep doing what you say you are going to do, keep working on those situations where you can prove your ideas will help them, keep building trust, keep building credibility, keep learning, keep growing.
The Theodora Project component has such potential but who knows if we'll be able to raise the money we need. But I will make this statement. I started this because I recognized the need I had to get to know a place better. I recognized that I wanted to meet people in a less superficial way. And I wanted to give back in some way. Didn't have to be grandiose but in some way. And I am happy to say all that is happening despite what might happen with the bigger projects. And I am doing it and funding it all out of my business activities while still spinning of money to the household. Some something is in harmony with all this.
When I get there, I will post much more detail about what is going on. For the moment, I am now settled into what is clearly going to be a long-term effort. This is no surprise. I mean you parachute into a completely new country and culture, no one knows you, and you claim you can make a difference. Of course, people are going to be skeptical. They should be. So you have to keep going, keep working, keeping meeting people, keep doing what you say you are going to do, keep working on those situations where you can prove your ideas will help them, keep building trust, keep building credibility, keep learning, keep growing.
The Theodora Project component has such potential but who knows if we'll be able to raise the money we need. But I will make this statement. I started this because I recognized the need I had to get to know a place better. I recognized that I wanted to meet people in a less superficial way. And I wanted to give back in some way. Didn't have to be grandiose but in some way. And I am happy to say all that is happening despite what might happen with the bigger projects. And I am doing it and funding it all out of my business activities while still spinning of money to the household. Some something is in harmony with all this.
Sunday, September 8, 2019
The Joy Of Cooking (And Eating)
Food - consuming it and preparing it - has been a big part of my life. I grew up in a family where we definitely lived to eat not ate to live. And the pursuit of a world of gastronomic delights, experiences, and human connections provided much joy over the decades.
However, 5 to 7 years ago as I was going through the meat of my transition experience, all things food-related seemed to drop off as a source of joy. There were physical issues that affected what I could and how much I could eat and drink. Other physical issues made performance entertaining - where the food experience was the main attraction - not only unenjoyable but in many cases dangerous. And even at home where now do all our cooking, dealing with various dietary restrictions and lack of appetite issues disincentivized foodie pleasure.
But some time over maybe the last year or so something shifted. Perhaps I have had enough time to accept all the limitations so I don't mourn them but just accept them as reality. Or maybe we've stabilized in the transitioned role so I can once again look to other pleasures. All I know is that I have gotten way more engaged in my cooking and am enjoying the results way more. Much like I said in my last post about my writing, I am pretty impressed with what I am putting on the plate these days.
Having taken all these cooking lessons around the world has certainly expanded my repertoire of flavors and techniques. And the work schedule (as busy as it may seem to others) is so much less than when I worked fulltime that I have the time and the energy to be creative.
I also have switched to only drinking 'good' wine. I mean what's the point of saving things at my age. Since I can afford it I buy good Bordeaux, Burgundy, Rhone, Barolo, Barbaresco, Rioja and some Oregon Pinot Noir and that's about it. You get to the point where you know what you like and just want to indulge in it. I used to have a problem opening a good bottle just for myself (Wife is not that much into wine for various reasons) but no more.
And I have to say it is all good...really good.
However, 5 to 7 years ago as I was going through the meat of my transition experience, all things food-related seemed to drop off as a source of joy. There were physical issues that affected what I could and how much I could eat and drink. Other physical issues made performance entertaining - where the food experience was the main attraction - not only unenjoyable but in many cases dangerous. And even at home where now do all our cooking, dealing with various dietary restrictions and lack of appetite issues disincentivized foodie pleasure.
But some time over maybe the last year or so something shifted. Perhaps I have had enough time to accept all the limitations so I don't mourn them but just accept them as reality. Or maybe we've stabilized in the transitioned role so I can once again look to other pleasures. All I know is that I have gotten way more engaged in my cooking and am enjoying the results way more. Much like I said in my last post about my writing, I am pretty impressed with what I am putting on the plate these days.
Having taken all these cooking lessons around the world has certainly expanded my repertoire of flavors and techniques. And the work schedule (as busy as it may seem to others) is so much less than when I worked fulltime that I have the time and the energy to be creative.
I also have switched to only drinking 'good' wine. I mean what's the point of saving things at my age. Since I can afford it I buy good Bordeaux, Burgundy, Rhone, Barolo, Barbaresco, Rioja and some Oregon Pinot Noir and that's about it. You get to the point where you know what you like and just want to indulge in it. I used to have a problem opening a good bottle just for myself (Wife is not that much into wine for various reasons) but no more.
And I have to say it is all good...really good.
Saturday, September 7, 2019
Re-Reading
It has been a long time since I've posted anything related to my long-time writing of the epic "Story'. And the reason for that is that after about four straight years of intense creative flow and over 2 thousand pages of text, I seem to have come to dry spell. I started writing the sixth installment quite a few months ago but it just wasn't flowing with the effortless creativity as before. Maybe it is because so much of my positive energy these days is going into my Ghana projects.
Whatever, I decided that I needed to get back into the full scope of what I had written. So for the last couple of months, I have been re-reading. Starting over from the beginning and getting myself back into the whole flow of the epic. I mean after you've been writing for over four years on an ongoing story that covers generations with changing characters and changing plot issues, it is easy to forget what the connecting themes have been.
So as I have done this re-reading a number of observations have come to mind.
First, I am pretty glad that I decided that this was going to just be for me because it seriously needs rewriting and editing in a lot of places and some things that were fundamental like certain names just need to be changed.
Second, despite all the flaws in it, I am pretty damn impressed with the overall scope of the storytelling and emotional character development. And as a person who thinks a lot of himself, I have to tell you it is not easy for me to impress myself!
Third, as I come to the end of the fifth installment and start-up with the sixth, I am curious as to whether I will have rekindled ideas for where to take the story. Or I wonder if I will decide to go back and make the changes that I think are needed to make what has been written so far better.
I suppose it doesn't really matter because the reason I have done this is for me and whatever I decide is going to be for me.
Whatever, I decided that I needed to get back into the full scope of what I had written. So for the last couple of months, I have been re-reading. Starting over from the beginning and getting myself back into the whole flow of the epic. I mean after you've been writing for over four years on an ongoing story that covers generations with changing characters and changing plot issues, it is easy to forget what the connecting themes have been.
So as I have done this re-reading a number of observations have come to mind.
First, I am pretty glad that I decided that this was going to just be for me because it seriously needs rewriting and editing in a lot of places and some things that were fundamental like certain names just need to be changed.
Second, despite all the flaws in it, I am pretty damn impressed with the overall scope of the storytelling and emotional character development. And as a person who thinks a lot of himself, I have to tell you it is not easy for me to impress myself!
Third, as I come to the end of the fifth installment and start-up with the sixth, I am curious as to whether I will have rekindled ideas for where to take the story. Or I wonder if I will decide to go back and make the changes that I think are needed to make what has been written so far better.
I suppose it doesn't really matter because the reason I have done this is for me and whatever I decide is going to be for me.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)