Day 27: The last lap

I’d entered the last lap of this trip with just 3 more days to go. I must say I was anything but happy about this. 

Most of our programs were done and we were creating final presentations, metric measures & some basic hygiene work before wrapping up all t the programs. I had one more module of the women’s entrepreneur training left to deliver and some content to be sent to the Camfed staff – but otherwise was done with my stuff.

Everyone was much more laid back this week, with people planning on doing a detox on getting back, to-do list for the weekend ahead at our homes etc. I didn’t particularly want to do any of it – but there was 1 reason I wanted to get back – I’ve been off MAD for the longest time and wanted to get back to it. Barely got a chance to read those emails while here and a month off MAD seemed like much longer.

I spend the morning, doing some personal chores and then headed to office to prepare our final content for the Camfed folks, write up by post for the official Google Reach blog, check my flight details etc.

After office, we headed back to Holi Flats. Olivia and I (partners in crime) went to the Best Western Hotel right beside the hotel for a drink & some fast wi-fi to prepare for the Women’s Entrepreneur training tomorrow.

Day 24: Action Packed Day: Camfed | Busy Internet | Accra High School | OrphanAid Mentoring

We were almost at the end of our programs and at the end of our last full week. *Damn!*

We started the day with our itenary well planned out - it was going to be sessions Busy Internet (biggest internet cafe in Ghana) & Camfed in the morning followed by OrphanAid mentoring & Accra High school sessions in the afternoon.

The girls from Camfed who we had trained yesterday would come to Busy Internet for some hands on sessions on the internet. We got their at 9:00 am . The next 2 hours was spent in getting them to send emails to each other, search for things on the internet - including image search, chat with each other etc. The girls got most excited when they  searched for 'Samuel' (their program coordinator) and found his picture - which resulted in them searching for each others names! Gmail themes was also a big hit & soon you could see all sorts of colorful Gmail inboxes. 

Alongside Camfed training, Gopi, Yannic & Mohit fielded any questions from the 'walk-in's to the internet, about Google's products and did their bit in reaching out to as many as possible. 

After the session, we had a quick lunch @ Office & the teams left for OrphanAid mentoring or to Accra High School. I was excited about this mentoring sessions as I loved working with college students and the group we were to mentor was just that!

Olivia, Megan & I got there 30 mins early so we started by general intro to get to know everybody & what they were doing. It was interesting to hear about their courses & their interests. One chap who evidently was an artist had painted his jeans all over - making himself a walking gallery of his artwork!  We used role plays to show them what a good and a bad interview looks like and they were very quick at picking up the points on what makes an effective interview. Then, we got a few volunteers from the participants to do the role play for the group and some of the questions they asked were very smart & interesting. (I've even added some of them to my list of interview questions) ;) 

Our 15 mins Q&A session stretched to almost 45 mins as their inquisitive minds tried to make maximum use of us being there.  Questions about 'How to sound convincing', 'How effectively answer specifically to the question asked' etc

Soon we were heading back after promises from them of working hard, of getting good jobs & of seeing us in Google! When we were heading for the session, we were quite tired but we left the place refreshed & excited about those students! After feasting on some really delicious kebabs they served on the street side - we headed back to Holi Flats. 

Day 23: Consulting Project - Camfed All the Way!

After a successful event yesterday, my confidence was running high on being able to deliver a useful session for the Camfed staff - 6 girls who were Camfed beneficiaries and who have now taken up the responsibility of running ICT centers in the north of Ghana.  

By now, we were running on auto mode for 'Go!' 'Go!' 'Go!'.This week has been the busiest by far & most busy for Olivia & I.  Though we were still reeling from the high intensity event yesterday, we were looking forward to meeting the girls. Most of them had traveled long - all the way from Tamale, a town north of Accra - to attend the training. Both of us wanted to make sure their travel worthwhile.


By 9:00 am we reached the Camfed office to find the girls already up & waiting for us. We got everyone to introduce themselves, their favorite food (it always excites people here), and what they'd like to learn today. It was interesting to notice how excited the girls were about the training and we were glad that most of what they wanted to learn was a part of our agenda for the day! :)


We started by introducing them to the internet & Google search. 15 minutes into the session, we noticed a few blank stares & confused expressions. That's when we got the cue that a lot of what we were telling them were way too advanced for them to grasp. Having made changes to our plan on the fly several times earlier during our women entrepreneur training, we quickly scaled back to start with simple concepts like what was a browser, how to exit, minimize/resize a browser, the functions available on the keyboard etc. By noon, the girls knew how to get to Google.com, search for something & when done to close the browser. This was a big achievement for them and it was very satisfying to see the sparkle in their eyes every time they got it right!


We all went out to have a quick Ghanian lunch right across from Camfed's office. As usual I ordered Jellof rice (yes, I've fallen in love with jellof! ;) ). Olivia, being the brave one, tried Banku this time 'coz we'd heard so much about it, but by the way she was pecking at it - it was evident she didn't particularly like it. :P


Post noon, it was time for us to introduce the BIG one - Gmail! We spent the next hour setting up Gmail accounts for all of them. A concept that seems so obvious & simple to us like what an email address is took us about 30 minutes to make the group understand. We caught ourselves using offline analogies to explain these  concepts. For example, email id = their address online just the way their home address was their offline address. We even did a small role play of how an email/letter goes from one computer to the next.It was fun! The most interesting was explaining what a 'Security Question' or a 'Password' is to this group who've possibly just spent only a few hours their entire life on the internet.  

By 5:00 pm, they were animatedly sending emails to each other and got excited every time received an email from their friend sitting across the table. By then it was already clear that some of them were quick in learning technology as they were doing all kinds of searches like Image search & playing videos on Youtube etc while a few others were still trying to get their head around how to get to Google search without support. The usual learning gaps in a class began to appear & made it obvious that technology wasn't for everyone - some people just got it and they were a pro at it in no time! while for some others... it takes a while.


We left the office feeling satisfied with our power packed day. The girls had come a long way from not knowing what a browser was to owning email ids & sending emails to each other. One of the my most satisfying days thus far. Wish I could've stayed longer to ensure they knew the concepts well enough to be able to train people coming to the IT centers.


The rest of the Reachers had spent the day teaching at a Liberian refugee camp. I hear their sessions went really well too. :)

Day 8: Consulting Projects + Discover Accra Challenge

Today we spent most of our time in office, preparing for our consulting projects. My consulting project is with a non profit called Camfed that works with reducing poverty by education women & children. This project involved creation of computer & internet training content for their staff in order for them to take IT trainings for students in their ICT centers up north of Ghana. Olivia and I discussed our plan and then went about finishing up pending work.

In the afternoon, it was time to go out do the marketing challenge called 'Discover Accra' organized by the Google Ghana office. That was fun! We were given a few tasks to complete within the next 2 hours - the challenge being to get as many businesses along Oxford street on Google Places as possible. We were all dropped off on Oxford street and given exactly 90 minutes to complete are challenge. It was fun to go trotting into random stores asking if they'd like their shop to be on Google maps. We managed get about 9 people to sign up on Google Places or had their businesses marked using Map Maker. Learning: Now I know how to use these products - Yay! :) 

It was an interesting experience, especially since I got to walk on my own along the street and talk to the locals. We all got back home quite early (~6:00pm) after the challenge and crashed as tomorrow was going to be a long day.

Day 6: First Day of Program Prep

The day being a national holiday here in Accra, we decided to start working on the same day. The day began at 8:30 by two local men who run an event management company to give us an idea of how we can run events in Accra.

Post the session a few of us went to the Accra Mall, had lunch at an African resteraunt and started on program prep at 2 pm. My first program was to give business training to women entrepreneurs in a small town called Ofankor. By 6, we were done with all preparation, prepared the content etc.

Went to Monsoon restaurant that night had a big huge chocolate brownie ice cream. All set for the big day tomorrow - I'm totally looking forward to it!

Day 5: The Perfect Ending

We were all up and packed to leave by 8:45 am in the morning. The day's schedule looked promising with another 4 hours in OrphanAid Africa (OA) to spend time with the kids and then head to Accra.

Start to OrphanAid

After our breakfast at The Marina Hotel, Dodowa, we set out for OA. We headed straight through the village, up a narrow dirt road beside a mango plantation to reach the OrphanAid cottages where the special needs children stayed. There were so many mangoes hanging from the trees, almost touching the ground and I was tempted to jump off & pluck some of them off (especially since it could be done without throwing any stones!)

We reached OA by 10:30 am, to be welcomed by ~ 20 children who were all prepared for visitors. I was struck by the care with which the children were looked after - the place was clean and well sanitized and the children dressed in clean clothes. One of the most fasinating facts about the place is that the bathrooms do no have water but saw dust is used instead. It's an interesting concept which has gotten coverage in various circles.

Little Angels

They were little happy smiling faces waiting to eagerly to interact with these bunch of visitors that jump filled up their cottages. We started by introducing ourselves and then the children took over to show us what they were simply awesome at: singing and dancing. Before we knew it, we caught ourselves tapping to the rhythm and soon enough got pulled into the fast forming pool of little dancers in the middle of the floor. Within a minute, everyone was on the floor dancing with glee and it was amazing to watch them go all out.

Dancing and singing are two things that people here enjoy a lot - I wonder if that's a technique to keep up their spirit despite life being hard and a constant hussle.

Before we knew it 2 hours flew by and we were waving goodbye to the kids & heading to the main section of OrphanAid village for a session on 'Ghanaian Society '. It was another interesting session on the matrilineal nature of the society and the various traditions that's still followed across the various tribes in the villages.

After a quick lunch, we started back to Accra and reached the city by 4pm. Exhausted after the long day, we rested for a while and then got ready for the evening musical by a South African theatre group called 'Umoja'. Our excitement about the play paid off as we witnessed a spectacular display of music, color, energy and imagination portraying the importance of music in the African culture. It was a perfect ending to the day.

All got back to Holi Flats by 11 and crashed knowing we had a long day tomorrow with the start of our program preparation. So far, I've loved every moment of this program. :)

Day 4: OrphanAid Africa & Some Ghana Trivia

Like every other day, I had slept off on my laptop finishing my daily log and today I missed my alarm and hence missed the morning jog. Such a bummer!

Woke up at 6:45, lazed around, showered, had a nice breakfast and boarded the bus by 8:30am. We were headed to a small village called Dodowa 3 hrs from Accra to visit children at a community center called OrphanAid Africa. It was started by an Italian Vogue model called Lisa Loveitsmith who started it in 2002.

We reached OrphanAid at 11:00 am after a long, bumpy ride mostly on dirt roads to Dodowa. (loved it!). The caretakers/workers were very friendly - first thing I heard was ' You look beautiful' and I thought 'Well, I would've never heard that in India!' and hence evidently, wasn't quite sure how to react.

Our next 3 hours at the place was learning about Ghanan culture and history. It was fascinating.

Here is some interesting trivia about Ghanan culture & History:

1. Ghana has 79 languages (only 9 of which have scripts) and 60 ethnic groups. Each ethnic group differentiates themselves by the tribal marks on their faces, the language they speak and the clothes they wear. Some women wear neck beads which also tells about their tribe.

2. In Ghana, apart from the government there is a traditional institution which comprise of Kings, Paramount chiefs, Divisional chiefs. Nobody owns the land but it belongs to the throne or the chief. They bring law and order to the area. Ghanaian society can be marternal or paternal but a majority of the regions follow a matrileneal society where the children belong to the mother and her family, despite being a male dominant society.

3. Women wear love beads around their waist which is to be seen only by their lover. Polygamy is allowed and is quite common. Everytime a husband takes on a new wife, the remaining wives are compensated in kind. The first wife is considered the mother of the household and all the other wives are seen as children and must obey the first wife. Most of the women are farmers or fishmongers.

4. They believe that their ancestors are reborn again into the same family and hence considers a a child being born very special - especially that of a boy child.

Some interesting facts about Ghanian societal behaviour:

1. Ghanaians are very friendly, loud and outgoing. Everybody greets everyone even if they're total strangers.

2. Always use the right hand. Whether it be giving money, waving good bye, eating food - everything with the right hand, else it will be considered offensive.

3. Orders are not appreciated. The words 'please', 'if you may' etc are used to ask someone to do something.

4. A woman's upper body is not considered sexual. However, showing the midriff or legs can be considered vulgar.

5. Ghanaians do not have much hair due to which it's considered very sexy. They love hairy people. (even women) :)

6. Holding a girl by the wrist would mean that you wish to marry her and flirtatious hand shake would invole a palm tickle.

7. Bargains at stores work just like in India, but much more polite!

8. The locals make several forms of the 'clicking' sound which could be a 'yes', 'no', 'all clear' etc.

Post the session on culture and history, each of us were divided for the activity we'd signed up for. There were options to play football with the kids, painting/drawing, playing with special kids or brainstorming on a database for OrphanAid. I opted for the last and had a productive 2 hours chalking out a need/execution plan for the database.

We met the village Chief at 4:00. He was a small old man who said great things about Lisa Lovatt-smith and how her work has changed the village completely. Post the meeting, we headed to 'Marina Hotel', Dodowa where we stayed the night.

Day 2: Learning Begins: The Google Ghana Conference

Woke up at 6:00 in the morning. Couldn't sleep much longer as I was jet lagged. Did all the important morning calls. The day looked interesting with Google Ghana Conference being the schedule for the day. Unlike the other Google conferences that I've been to, this one is organized for the public - to provide small & medium entrepreneurs an opportunity to learn about Google's products & get online!

After a quick English breakfast, we set out to the Alisa Hotel for the G Ghana conference. It was an amazing learning experience to interact with Googlers working in the sub Saharan Africa and the highlight being the interactions during the demo pod sessions we held. My demo pod was about Google AdWords (predictably). Basically, any one with AdWords questions could just walk up & ask away!

Top things I learnt today:

1. The room was packed with 99% men. Exposure to technology is still a privilege for the men here.

2. These entrepreneurs are intelligent and have bright ideas - they just need the right push in the early days of their business to propel them into making history in Ghana.

3. Technology/Internet penetration in Ghana is like India 10yrs ago. This also poses a big opportunity for those who recognise it's value early enough (like now!). Which is why I believe those who came for the Google conference have seen this potential and are already on their fast track to making a difference to their economy.

4. Apparently, maps don't work here! People conceptualize places in relation to a well known landmarks.

5. Credit is unheard of here. Everything is bought through cash. So, anything that's fast, easy & free is what people are looking for.

I've begun to appreciate/see India's technological advancement now! :P

Google in Africa works just like a start up but without any financial constraints of being one (how cool uh?). After the conference, we all headed out to Captain Cook for dinner. A really neat place with a submarinish sort of theme. Loved the food and the people so far... :)

Stuffed, tired and satisfied.. I'm crashing now!