Back in Cape Coast Again!

It was a long trip to Cape Coast. Paa Quesi Baidoo, Ato’s middle son and his wife Mabel picked me up around 7:15am and we left for Cape Coast.  It turned out that they had to drive in about a half-hour from where they live to get me and then it took an hour to get back to where we passed their section of outer Accra on our way to CC.  It took over 4 hours due to traffic.

               

Paa Quesi finished at the University of Cape Coast with a degree in Finance in 2008 and then got a Master’s in Finance and Statistics and is currently working for a small firm managing corporate and individual investments and portfolios. But what he really wants to do is to get a PhD in Statistics and then teach at UCC.  His wife, Mabel Simpson, graduated in Design from Kwame N’Krumah University in Kumasi and for the past 6 years has been developing her own creative handbag and accessories design company.

                Her business card reads: mSimps - Dress Responsibly

                www.msimpsgh.com

When we got to Cape Coast we went directly to Tuwohofo School and dropped off the three bins of books. I’ll go through them tomorrow and set aside one bin for the Abaasa Village Community Library that Dr. Nancy Lundgren built several years ago.  The computer lab has 10 laptops but only 1 is working right now. So, the 4 that I’ve brought will be rather useful.  I’ll arrange to have someone install whatever software they want.

We stayed about a half-hour and then Paa and Mable drove me to the Fair Hill Guest House.  Then they left to drive back to Accra.  It was very special of them to take the day to do this.

I found that there is a group of 12 from Davidson here. They’ve been here 5 weeks and go home next week – taking a Ghana culture class from a UCC professor who comes to the Fair Hill Conference room twice a week. They are also taking weekly drumming and dancing lessons. Each student has a personal project or internship that she/he is engaged in in the community (based on their majors or academic interests).  I talked with the Anthropology prof who is with them and, from what I gather, this is a study program in Ghanaian culture more than a service program such as Teaching & Learning in Ghana was.

Tomorrow morning I’ll go back to the school and spend the morning with Mr. Baidoo helping with anything that needs doing for Saturday's 30th Anniversary Durbar. I will also meet with Anthony Takyi, the Ghana Education Services Cape Coast official who is going to be my guide next week when I visit area high schools that have been recipients of "Progress in Education" donations in recent years.

I took a taxi into Cape Coast this afternoon and purchased 10 boxes of Black Whiteboard Markers (only color available) along with 10 erasers (or "dusters" as they were listed on the receipt).  I'll give these to Mr. Baidoo tomorrow.

Had supper of spaghetti with meat sauce and fresh green beans in my room tonight just relaxing and unwinding.

Fair Hill has grown and expanded - as has Cape Coast.  The road into Fair Hill is now paved  all the way and Ann and Ricky Hooper have built a new building with 8 rooms which now fills what used to be the wide gravel entry way.  The new Soccer stadium is finished and in use and the road up to Akotokyir Village is being prepared for paving as well.

All in all, a good first day back in Cape Coast. :)