'Twas the night before Christmas...

We finished our final document at 8:30pm this evening, phew! Comparing it to other risk plans, it certainly stands up as an excellent plan, coupled with what we hope will be a stellar presentation tomorrow. I needed a boost this evening to finish those last grueling paragraphs, it was like lead weights attached to my arms. So I dared the milo in a can. It was alright. I had terrible visions it may have been milo and soda, but was relieved to find it was just normal milo and milk, no fizz.





That's Thiago hard at work correcting my mistakes by the way. Made more difficult as it was a German keyboard -QWERTZ not QWERTY, and don't even get me started on the accented characters! Just one of the challenges of working in an international team.

Speaking of which, I learned this week why all directions given to taxi drivers don't use street names etc. The streets do have names here, but you describe where you want to go as left by the woman selling yams, or next to the big round about. Even from the other side of the city, they know what this means. OK, can you guess why? Well, the majority of the taxi drivers can't read. Anyway, back to work.

Presenting starts at 9am, so I will be up early to iron a shirt and pants, polish my shoes, scrub up, read through our presentation again. We will be the last to present this time, so we will have the tired audience to dazzle and liven up. I know our work is good, but no one will see that until after the presentation, hence we will be judged based on what happens tomorrow.

We are scheduled to finish by 3pm, but we all expect that to extend. I'm hoping to grab a few last souvenirs tomorrow night, which will be my last chance as I'm one of the first to fly out Sat noon. I am not looking forward to the 46 hours of flights and airports to get home, that is just cruel! I must have upset someone.

At the same time as being excited about presenting tomorrow (4 weeks of intense focus and dedicated work goes on show) it's also the end of this chapter which creates a bit of a pensive atmosphere. We've just scratched the surface of getting to know Ghana, it's culture, and it's norms. The weekend trips were critical to understanding what it's like to be Ghanaian, which was then applied to our work, and business contacts during the week.

So, a man dies and goes to hell. When he gets there he sees there is a hell for every country, and he can choose which one he wants to go to. So he asks what happens in the Australian hell, and is told well we put you on the electric chair for an hour, then we put you on a bed of nails for an hour, then the Australian devil whips you to within an inch of your life for the rest of the day. Not being too keen on that, he then asks about the American, German, Brazillian, Hong Kong, Indian, Singaporean, Chinese, and Irish hells to learn they all offer the same treatment. About now he notices a long line-up for the Ghanaian hell, so asks what happens there. He is told, we put you on the electric chair for an hour, then we put you on a bed of nails for an hour, then the Ghanaian devil whips you to within an inch of your life for the rest of the day. "But that is the same as all the others" the man protests, "why are so any people lining up"?

"Because there is never any electricity for the electric chair; the nails were paid for but never supplied, so the bed is quite comfy; and to top it all off, the Ghanaian devil used to be a civil servant. So he comes in, signs his time sheet, and then goes back out on private business for the rest of the day".

I thought I would share that Ghana joke with you, it came from a book called "Ghana - Culture Smart!" by Kuperard. Very useful book if you are planning a visit to the Gateway to Africa, Ghana.

- Keep on Rockin'. Dwight.

Location:Independence Ave,Accra,Ghana