Crimimal Record fingerprint check in Accra

This is a very functional entry, for the benefit of anyone else wanting a criminal record check in Ghana, e.g. to cover time volunteering in Ghana when seeking a CRB (Criminal Records Bureau) certificate in UK on return. If that's not you, please skip this.
Who knows whether it would be the same for you - but this was our experience:
1. Go to Police Headquarters (CID), near Danquah Circle in Accra
2. Ask where to go - told room 22 on second floor.
3. In room 22. told to go to room 5 on ground floor
4. In Room 5, told to go to end room on ground floor.
5. Shown into very crowded end-room where most of the rest of the action happens
6. After being in wrong queue, discover we need to fill in a form first. Get 2 copies of form from man in corner desk and complete them. Interpret codes, e.g. "ED" = Expiry Date on passport.
7. Pay cashier - for each of us it's 5 cedi plus 15 cedis. I think the 5 cedi fingerprinting charge was going to be 200 cedis if we did not have Ghanain residence permit - so show passports. Wait while cashier processes various payments, then get our change and passports back.
8. Supply forms to finger-printing man.
9. Queue up to get photo taken in next door room. Unclear whether this is next thing to do, but was probably a good thing to do next, because photo printing takes a long time after the photos are taken.
Queue is very uncertain for this, various pushing past, but eventually have photos taken.
10, Queue up for finger-printing. Queuing is perhaps unnecessary because the finger-printing man is working through forms  in order, but you never know..
11. Get finger-printed. Wash hands.
12. Wait outside photo room (still in end-room) for photos to be printed. Again, much doubt re queue-jumping (and since people waiting for forms, for payment, for finger-printing, for photographing, or for photo-printing are all in the same small room, the 'queues' or scrums are all overlapping).
13 Wait more. Get involved in discussions re why people are pushing past others. Meet man from Walewale!
14. Eventually our photos are printed. (By the way it's no good taking your own). My name is called out  in the photo room. Since this is behind a closed door I'm lucky to hear it.
15. Collect photos and take them to man in corner desk (see step 6).
16 Man at corner desk unites application form, fingerprint paper and photos.
17. NOW we have to take this to Room 5. Where we find that the result can indeed be collected, but in 2 weeks time (we had been told it was one week). We are going to ask a VSO driver to do this, armed with signed receipts.

End-to-end time for this visit - 2 hours.
There's occasional criticism from officials about people not following the process. There is a lady there who is trying to be  helpful - I acknowledge this and suggest to her though that if the process was defined and posted up on the wall then people might know what to do. She says "Ah - you mean No1... No. 2...." - she sees the point.

So we needed, each:
passport with Ghana residency permit, 20 cedis, 2 hours at least.

Fingers crossed

Accra for a day

This is Kintampo, which compared to an average British motorway services has much better mango markets but much worse toilet facilities. Hey, you can't win 'em all.

We arrive in Accra Monday at about 4 a.m. and the Crown Prince hotel where we are staying Monday night allow us a very early check-in! The facilities are pretty basic, and the running water stops running, but it's a good deal for us to get one and a half nights for the price of one. When we wake at 7 there is no-one to make breakfast, but we find Josephine at a street stall who is able to make tea, toast and omelettes. While she does this she sings a succession of Christian songs - e.g. "many things have happened in my life - nothing can take away my joy..." and hearing her you wouldn't doubt it. Sorry, can't add the video now!

The day continues with a morning at the police station (see separate blog entry), and a useful afternoon in VSO.  I give Terry an informal update on recent OD activities, and Charlotte and I each have useful meetings with our boss Dora on key issues in the Education Programme in general (me) and in Walewale (Charlotte). In particular, from my viewpoint, we establish an informal proposal as to the quorum of people to be involved in Education organisation assessments in future, and apply it to propose what should happen when for the assessments not yet started. That's followed by a series of phone calls to the volunteers in question - all of whom knew what they were hoping to be agreed, and all are very happy with the outcomes.

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The day finishes with a Chinese meal at "Tip-Top restaurant" in Oxford Street with  Katherine.& Emily.

Athena's leaving party - weeekend in Tamale

It's Athena's leaving party in Tamale, she's going back to the Philippines next week.

We never seem to have a photo of both of us with Mar and Mark, so we take the rare opportunity for this rare picture. Then the rare opportunity occurs again on Sunday.

We try to talk to all our children and their other halves once a week, typically Sunday, but sometimes conditions work against us - here is Charlotte trying to talk to Tom & Sarah from the coach station in Tamale before we take the overnight bus to Accra.

Navrongo and Zebilla

Charlotte & I decide to go to Zebilla (volunteers at Ghana Education Service) via Bolga (Widows & Orphans Mission, helping with Human Resource Policies)  and Navrongo (cousin Sam at the Teacher Training College). Not quite on the way, but not far off. A swimming-pool not in use is a pretty sad sight here though.

We see a little of the end of inter-college Sports - the 100 metres here. They start (after a false start - "red card" for the unfortunate offender), they run past, somebody wins.

This is an opportunity to meet Sam's boy-friend Grahame, visiting from VSO Cameroon - although he's not directly involved, it's useful to hear a little about Organisational Development in VSO Cameroon.

We stay overnight with Sam's colleague Mary, seen at the back with Charlotte - thanks Mary!

Then on to Zebilla.

This is the spot, having just alighted from the tro-tro, where Charlotte takes & makes some crucial phone calls. We had discovered that Organisational Development activities could be funded or subsidised by VSO, and Charlotte manages now to facilitate phone calls between Seidu (Walewale GES OD Lead), the GES Director (on a workshop in Tamale) and Dora from VSO Accra, which result in a written request being prepared in Walewale for us to take to Accra on Monday. 

Many more pigs in Zebilla than at home  in Walewale, but Walewale is very Muslim

Lunch in Zebilla, with Stephen (governance), Ellie and Cherith (new volunteers in Feb/March) and Pat the Management Support Officer who like Stephen was part of our intake.  We explore how Organisation Assessment could take place in Zebilla GES Office, with limited time available for Pat to drive this, and Pat settles on her preferred approach that would explore all the issues via five time-boxed workshops, one per week in May. Talking through some of the example and illustrative materials helps Pat and Stephen to make choices on how to recommend  the assessment should happen in Zebilla.

We have a stroke of luck at the end of the afternoon in finding a tro-tro going all the way west to Bolga and then south beyond Walewale. Then, back home, we're visited by Seidu with the vital piece of paper - request for funds. In Walewale we're trying to integrate the VSO Organisational Development Planning process with the existing Annual District Educational Operational Plan, and the request is for funds to support the necessary joint workshops - Seidu is, we're glad to say, looking ahead to the whole year in terms of budgeting for this - good indication of sustainability! 

A landmark

This is a notable day. For the first time since 1997 we are not parents of teenagers (Daniel is 20 today). Charlotte has a beer to celebrate - her first since typhoid.

Email recovery ... episode 28.......

This isn't the best place to log this, but I'll put it here in case it helps someone  who Googles here.
The Vodafone USB modem has misbehaved again consistently on Vista with "RAS Error code 6". The Vodafone helpline which I'm getting very used to is not much help, I'm kept on hold, promises to phone back not fulfilled, clearly no knowledge at the other end as to what the error message  from their own software means.

But it hasn't worked since Saturday afternoon, and I check Windows Update and see some updates applied then. A Restore to the prior state resolves the problem. If the Vodafone helpline person ever phones back as he promised to then I'll tell him how to fix the problem..

Charlotte has been in to work briefly but is sleeping a lot and hopefully recovering from typhoid.

Since this is a technical entry I'll illustrate it with Powerpoint. I do my write-up for the OD Forum, including the "OD Success" diagrams that the Education volunteers prepared, and send it on to Accra to be completed (with break-out group output where I wasn't in the group) and published.

A well-planned Easter weekend

Jemimah organises our Easter weekend. We have planned ahead and Fati has filled the fridge with meals. Charlotte is banned from the kitchen while recuperating from typhoid.

The keen-eyed reader may spot that the movie schedule included "Pride and Prejudice", which we see in two sittings on Saturday and Sunday nights.

Fati takes Jemimah to catch the Bolga bus on Monday morning because Widows' and Orphans' Movement has a picnic for Easter Monday.

Janet's leaving

Janet leaves Walewale tomorrow, and so after dinner at our house there is a date for drinks at Moonlite Spot at 7.30. A number of head-teachers have been invited. We're running  a little late and don't get there till 7.45 pm - and they're all there! They decided as a demonstration of punctuality to Janet to be there on the dot "British Time".

I missed the head-teacher photos, but here as part of the "Leaving Drinks" are Andrea, Fati, Mashood and Janet.
Janet leaves on the morning of Good Friday - the three head-teachers have hired a pick-up to take them all to see the hippo sanctuary and then on to Kumasi

Diagnosis - and back to Walewale

To hospital in Tamale - the Kabsad hospital (behind Charlotte in photo) where VSO has an arrangement. Within an hour Charlotte sees admin, nurse, doctor, lab, doctor again for the results and diagnosis - typhoid - and pharmacy. Tremendously efficient, wonderful service. We return in a taxi,  Charlotte clutching a bagful of drugs, relieved to know what's wrong.

To answer the most common questions: yes you can catch typhoid despite immunisation, but the symptoms may be reduced. It's a risk wherever there is open drainage - a fly that flies from human waste in the gutter and then onto your soft drink bottle could be the carrier - that's why people often try to keep their bottle tops on when not drinking. We have 5 days drugs.

Earlier we had said our farewells to Yarrow and Veronica at the Radach Centre. There wasn't going to be a photo of Diana until she said "We will miss you" so we had to snap her too.

We found a big Bolga bus (costs more but does go beyond Walewale to our house) and then realised our tickets would only get us stools in the aisle, but I persuaded my neighbour to give up his seat for Charlotte.