Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Worth the Wait!

Our first day in Ghana was A.M.A.Z.I.N.G.

We first went to the United Nations Population Fund (or UNFPA - you're right, the acronym doesn't match the words). There, we learned about what efforts Ghana is focused on in terms of developing ways to support women and children. They focus on areas of education, health, and empowerment for families in Ghana. It was an enlightening experience.


After exchanging our money, we had lunch at Frankie's. This is a restaurant lots of tourists eat at when in Ghana. This was pretty evident by the traditional Ghanaian food served alongside french fries!

After Frankie's, we visited the Kwame Nkrumah Mausoleum. Dr. Kwame Nkrumah was the first president of Ghana and led it's independence. More video is below from Salima (interviewing Nick and Aileen) and our guide at the mausoleum.


After this, we had a business visit with Databank, one of the largest Ghanaian owned banks in the country. The bank began in 1996 with $25K and now has assets of over $60 million. They are continuing to grow exponentially and have an aggresive plan of growth for the next 5 years. Databank has a strong focus on giving value to their investors. They also are concerned with developing their community. Their four pillars are leadership, excellence, humility, and integrity. This was a very informative and exciting meeting. Databank has positioned itself to be leaders in the emergence of Ghana as a major economic force in West Africa.

-------------------------------

The conclusion of our evening was simply incredible. We got to meet the Pro-Vice Chancellor of the University of Ghana, Professor Kofi Yanka. Professor Yanka is, for all intensive purposes, the chancellor of the university because the chancellor is the Nobel Peace Prize recipient, former UN Secretary-General, Kofi Annan. Needless to say, Annan's commitments likely leave him unable to run the daily operations of the university.

The highlight of the night (and the trip so far) was dinner. We went to Professor Yanka's home and it was.. it was... I can't even explain it.. see for yourself -

* Later, we found out that we called "coated grain oats" was really "coated ground nuts" or simply coated peanuts. I guess we were over-doing the foreign experience there.

We have another busy day tomorrow and all are looking forward to it. Off to the place where time changes never matter - sleep!

Ready for day two-morrow,

Kelley in Ghana 2010

2 comments:

  1. Awesome video, Jeremy--that party is ridiculous! How amazing! So glad everyone made it!

    Alli Frazier

    ReplyDelete
  2. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete