‘Home’

My housing saga continues...I really thought that it was dealt with, but I am taking it well. It’s amusing at this point (though I really do want to get settled). In life in general, I am hesitant to commit to things, unless I feel certain that it is the right situation, and I see that tendency affecting this process. I could be unpacked and settled into a place that I am not sure about by now, but I don’t want to go through such a process.

So last night, I thought that everything was cool with the residence that the ladies from the US are staying in. When I called them after work to say that I was coming ‘home’, they hinted that there might be a problem with that...that I should wait until they came back from dinner as they had to work something out. So, I took the time and walked home from work.

The first part of the walk was with a lady from Holland that is leaving Tamale this weekend after teaching at a local school for around three months and volunteering at Justice where she read the 4PM news throughout the week. She is actually infamous around Tamale as ‘the White woman that reads the news’ (though no one really knows that it’s her by her face).
The greater part of my near two hour walk was alone. I walked through the town centre, along the main street, out into the residential neighborhood that the American ladies are staying in. I strolled along as people said ‘Hi’, ‘Ana Woola’, stared at me, laughed (I don’t know what is so funny), introduced themselves, tried to sell things, practiced their English, etc.

It was a strange feeling to feel alone and the centre of attention at the same time. I just wanted to walk ‘home’. I did well in not letting it get to me and just keeping perspective. While walking back, I must have been a little too focused in peeling my arms length piece of sugar cane, because I later realized that I had walked way past the street I was supposed to turn down. Eventually, I got into a cab with a driver who said he knew the street I was looking for, and drove the wrong way and then attempted to have me pay for the gas that he had wasted (I wasn’t having that).

Very hungry after finally getting to the area, I still had to wait for the American ladies to call me. I waited as I ate a dinner of jolof rice and fried fish from a local restaurant. After getting in contact with them, Abeena said to come by. After getting to the house I found out that there had been a problem with me being there, but that it should be alright for the night. I fell asleep in a chair waiting for a room to be made vacant for me, then was told to sleep on an extra bed in Abeena’s room while she ended up sleeping on the couch.

In the morning, I went through another ordeal where I was snuck out of the house at 6:15AM (thinking that it was near 8AM when I start work). I had to take my bucket shower in the bathtub and get dressed quickly. Walking out of the door, I felt like a fugitive.

From there, being that I had a long time before work started, I went over to a local hotel where I had met some women that work in the kitchen. I was just going to say ‘Hi’, but I ended up having a continental breakfast as I watched CNN. I also happened to sit at a table (even though all of the other tables were empty) with a photographer who had just finished an assignment with JHR. We both were surprised by the timing.

As it stands, after work, I will be leaving from the guest house that my stuff is in, and going to the Boaboa Guest House which has a vacancy. I will also be going over to the house that I should be moving into so that I can finalize and set the day that I can move in (God willing!).

Yesterday at work, I had my first real impact. I met with the head of marketing and suggested some ideas that I have in order to improve things internally and externally with the station. He took the suggestions so well that we actually created a document and a system to be implemented immediately. Razak later heard of this and was quite happy. Ato, the country director, was glad to hear of it also, as I am, “adding value to the partnership”.
Today, we will have the first General Meeting that I will have been present for and there I plan to share my vision and my role as determined by JHR, while ascertaining what the hope and vision is within the staff for my time here