12/8 Day One

Woke up around 3am. Did some organizing. Salihou asked to work on name server setup. Did that but didn't get it working (no name servers could be reached). I later discovered a security mode (chroot for named) was enabled but not set correctly)

Gameli on the porch

The high priest (seated), Gameli, Salihou, George and myself after our first meeting.

Greeting the high priest. Time to state my mission and ask permission to be here. Permission granted.

First on the list: A trip to Kpando (20 minute drive). Got a haircut at McLord's and did some shopping.

Getting my new do at McLord's in Kpando

Salihou got a light socket for the porch light. Light bulbs here are push and turn type, not screw in like the states, and part of the socket that holds a pin on the bulb was broken. Got some steel wire, envelopes and Christmas cards.

George estimates 600,000 for fuel/maintenance to Cape Coast and back. We are thinking of going on Monday and returning Thursday.

Salihou replaced the light socket in the guest house porch. He is a busy man :-)

Lunch - beans & plantains with gare (ground, fermented and roasted cassava) Then, George took us to see the computer lab. 9 desks with benches and computers and a blackboard. Nice setup. One computer is broken, Salihou wanted to try fixing it, so Emmanuel carried it to the guest house we are in. There was a fuse in the power supply, but that is ok. He didn't smell anything burnt. The units are a brand I haven't heard of before, and they are non-standard power supplies with the high voltage power switches on a wire at the front of the machine (older AT style).

Noah and Salihou were figuring out the delay shutter on the digital camera I borrowed for the trip, but the battery was low. I ran back for the 2nd battery but cut my finger on the porch latch, but we got the picture. Salihou, right on queue had his small paper towels at the ready.

Dinner - Fufu & chicken. Still more fufu left, and as I try to talk Salihou into helping me consume that so Mary doesn't see leftovers, all the lights in the village went out. We bump around in the dark for Kekeli lights (part of an lighting project) and start lighting them up. The lights came back on after 10 minutes or so.

The lights went out nearly every night around dinner time - sometimes for hours so the LED lights I brought were rigged up by Emmanuel and became our emergency lighting system.

Noah's mother came to greet us. She has lived here since 1978. Noah was born in Jordan Nu around 1984.

Maliki came to greet us. I asked her to write to Marty and I will carry the letter back.

I started falling asleep and fighting not to. Jetlag I guess. George, Salihou and I briefly discussed computer class we will hold the next day. I am so glad Salihou is here to help. He is also a big help translating Ewe. He grew up in the center region of Togo, which sadly has something of a dictator these days.