Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Somebody dies... and I find it hard to feel sorry


Another human being dies, and my first thought is "it's a good thing".

Heartless? Hardly. But my heart goes to the millions of people who had to suffer under his rule, for this man was a dictator, of the "non-enlightened" type, one of those we seem to have an endless stock of on this continent. One disappears, and another emerges. Less than 24 hours after this announcement, the constitution is "suspended". Another captain saw his chance and decided to seize it.

1984... Ahmed Sekou Touré, Guinée's first president, dies. A week later, Lansana Conté stages a coup and seizes power.

2008... 24 years later, Lansana Conté, Guinée's second president, dies. People who had been champing at the bit for years proved ready to seize the occasion the very same day.

A coup is undisputably wrong, but the hypocrisy of "the rule of law" most African strongmen touted after the democracy puppet show of the 1990s make it an option not less viable than following the constitutional route. In Guinée notably, there is no way credible elections can be held within 60 days. It seemed so easy to amend the Constitution to allow the current ruler to be re-elected forever, yet nobody with legislative powers seemed to find desirable to amend the least realistic articles, which could very well become a problem once put to test.

Fortunately, other countries seem on the road to sustainable democracy. Ghana will have its runoff elections this coming Sunday. Nothing is ever perfect, but this country is trying hard. And apparently succeeding.

Sunday, December 07, 2008

Important people ask me for favours

Hey, who would have thought I knew people high up? More to the point, that people high up are courting me for favours?

As you probably know already, Ghana is choosing a new president and new lawmakers today. I was very surprised to receive the following on my mobile phone:
Sender
: AkufoAddo


Text: Do you Believe In Ghana? Vote for me,Nana Akufo-Addo on 7th Dec for quality education,jobs,healthcare and a brighter future for our children.God Bless Ghana
Now this is interesting. I would never have thought somebody as important as Mr. Nana Akufo-Addo, presidential candidate and, if I read the signs well, soon to be president elect, knows me or knows of me and values my modest person so much that he would text me to ask for my vote.

I'm terribly flattered and, had I been a Ghanaian, I would willingly have participated in this voting exercise. I may even have voted for him, out of sheer gratefulness and loyalty. After all, he was the only candidate to reach out to me.

Being a cynic and a bit paranoid too, I however wonder where Mr Nana Akufo Addo got hold of my mobile phone number. Did he (or his campaign) try all possible mobile phone numbers sequentially? Did he (or his campaign) buy listings from the mobile phone company? Doesn't the Ghanaian law frown upon this? Is it legal in Ghana to buy subscribers lists?

This is democracy in the making. International medias wow and ahhh about how advanced Ghana is in the exercise of democracy. Would they be as impressed by consumer protection as they are by Ghana's political maturity?

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Running madly... in circles?

It's been a long time... Not that I had nothing to say, rather that I found it difficult to arrange my ideas in a coherent way. So many things happen every day, in the world at large and in my own life. How can I make sense of it and decide what would be most sensible as the next step forward?

We Western privileged people with a telly or a radio and the tiniest ability to understand what the newsreaders are saying know that the whole world economy is in turmoil. Everywhere, there is fear and apprehension: will I lose my savings? will my employer let me go? what about my retirement? my lifestyle?

Most of this is due to the fact that collectively, we've built a lot on sand or even in the air: speculation was rife... and still is, which magnifies the repercussions of every single event.

Since the West got rid of the immediate concern of feeding people on a daily basis, it has been forgetting gleefully about the basics of life: work, earn (not win!) money, have a roof over one's head, feed one's family, provide for their health and education. The workforce has become a commodity, it's now considered much more clever to make money through investment/speculation than through hard work, a house is just another gamble, health and education funds are being played around with to make the quickest, biggest buck possible.

To me, what we Westerners have been doing... and today's result is perfectly summed up here:



Do you think I'm jesting? Think again.


Wednesday, May 28, 2008

When everything else fails...

... it's nice to know that there is One Who never fails. Of course, this mechanic flunked his grammar tests and failed to repair your truck, but take heart, breathe deeply, and read a few verses.





To me, an appropriate choice would be Psalm 119.50. Those of you who suffered in the hands of a wicked (strike: incompetent) mechanic know that in times of distress, you need superior comfort. No matter what happens to your ride, don't give up hope and remember: only He will never disappoint you (this rule suffers no exception, not even the mechanic a non-motorist just pitched to you as the best one around).

Read on... After all you've nothing more pressing to do, have you? Remember, you're on the roadside, the bonnet is up, steam is coming out (of under the bonnet and out of your ears) and you've just given up on the above mechanic. Cheer up. This one is exactly what you need:




Of course, you won't be able to actually call the specialist (noticed the obliterated phone number? maybe a disguise to avoid attracting repeat customers? I'm told popularity is sometimes a burden) and I have no clue what "warshing" could possibly be, but while you wait, you can rejoyce (either because the specialist was located, is at work and you're hearing promising grunts coming from under the bonnet, or because you've finally found out what really matters in life...) and go straight to reading Psalm 100 and Shout for joy!
Disclaimer: this post is not intended as an endorsement of the above vendors and the author accepts no responsibility in case of faulty repair work performed by said vendors.

Thursday, May 15, 2008

Wonders shall never end

Just at the corner of my street... I never saw it before, so it is probably new...


Shall he, now?

I was always told Jesus was brought up by a carpenter, so who am I to disbelieve His Father might be a tiler?

Nobody here will find this sign even slightly funny, but I have the nagging feeling I've slipped into the Twilight Zone.

Madam, the egg moved

I know I'll sound like a cynical colonialist but here goes...
Yesterday I found that there were fingerprints on the fridge and asked my (new) househelp to clean it. She took it upon herself (laudable initiative) to clean the top of the fridge too. There she found a cardboard tray of eggs where there was only one egg remaining.
Instead of taking the one remaining egg, shoving it into the fridge, discarding the useless tray and cleaning the fridge top, she pushed the tray until the obvious happened: the remaining egg landed not too elegantly (well, flat out) on the floor.
Or that's what I guessed after she came to my home office door saying, in a half pitiful, half panicky voice: “Madam, the egg moved!”
Yes, we are in an animist country, not too far from voodoo shrines... She certainly had nothing to do with the egg moving and crashing on the tiles, surely the egg took it upon itself to commit suicide in my kitchen.
I found it VERY hard not to laugh openly. But it would have been uncharitable, considering how panicky she seemed.

We are not of the same species


Remember my previous experiences with Moringa oleifera (leaf powder, brewed like tea) and Cyperus esculentus (a/k/a tigernut; vegetal milk + powdered almond-like residue)?

Since I like experimenting almost as much as eating, an idea crossed my mind: why not bake a cake that would be almost-but-not-quite a Matcha green tea almond cake?

Here we go then. Let's start with the ingredients:

175g (6oz) soft butter or margarine
125g (4 1/2 oz) sugar
3 eggs
250g (9 oz) self-raising flour
100g (3 1/2 oz) powdered almonds (I used half grounded tigernut, half grounded egusi (shelled squash pips) instead)
2 tsp Matcha green tea (I substituted Moringa leaf powder)
5cl milk (tigernut milk, of course)

Brew your tea in the hot (but not boiling-hot) milk. Mix all the ingredients in the order above, adding the tea+milk mixture last.
Bake in a pre-heated oven for 15 min at 180°C (356°F), then 40 min at 160°C (320°F).

Here is the result:


The kids found the colour so off-putting that they wouldn't taste it. Too bad for them, hurrah for me! One thing puzzles me though: they don't seem to believe we are of the same species. I mean, they don't really expect me to drop dead eating my concoctions but they won't believe that what agrees with me won't poison them either. Life with teenagers is so strange at times...

Monday, April 07, 2008

The ultimate cake tin shop

One of my hobbies is baking cakes. I even toy now and then with the idea of a change of career. Of course, I do use state-of-the-art silicon cake "tins", but if I had to revert to the old aluminium ones, I know where I would buy them:



It's just opposite the place where I pay my broadband connection. This is a true Ghanaian business. A few years ago, there was only corrugated tin available here and cake tin makers had to hammer the sheets flat before giving them their final shapes. I am not sure it's still the case, but even starting with a flat sheet, it's skilled and inventive work.

Ovens are also built locally. I'll post a picture here soon.

Wednesday, April 02, 2008

My beautiful bed


After seven months of dithering, I finally found the perfect bed for my huge bedroom. I couldn't opt for an ordinary bed, which would have been lost in this immensity. I'm only slightly exaggerating: I measured its area at 62sqm, that is about 667sq ft (inclusive of dressing room, bathroom and terrace).

Last week I saw a nice carved bed on the roadside, but after enquiries, it appeared that it was king size, whereas all the mattresses here are only doubles. The carpenter told me he had a double bed in the making and showed me rough planks he had only just started carving. Nonetheless, I liked what I saw and decided to put a downpayment on it.

The bed was delivered yesterday and look at how beautiful it is!

The carpenter who did it is an artist, I think, even though he calls himself "just" a carpenter. There are quite a few wonderful discoveries one can make here. I guess it is why I love this country so much.

A word about "fair trade": I did not discuss the price. I know it is standard procedure and it labels me as a "foreigner" when I do not, but I found the price he quoted "fair", and thought it was a good thing if he felt that he made easy money and I that I made a bargain and obtained a beautiful, unique work of art.

Friday, March 28, 2008

The quicksands are swallowing me

How dit it all begin? Not so young and supposedly experienced, I thought I could help my neighbour, that he would welcome my help, that we would work at it hand in hand and that in a not too remote future, we would all rejoice at being alive and well, better for the stimulating cooperation we would have experienced...




Today, I am much more circumspect. Having pursued my dream to exhaustion, I have now more questions than answers:

1. Does my neighbour feel the need I, as an outside observer, think has to be fulfilled?

2. Does my neighbour want to be helped and, if so, am I the help he desires?

3. Am I qualified to help him? What superior experience/know-how/skill do I have that makes me fit to help him?

4. Do my values remain valid once I cross the threshold of my neighbour's house? Does what I perceive as valid for me have the same value in his context? Is there anything like universal values? If so, which are they?

5. What if the statu quo were actually the wisest option?

Help. I need help. Everything is getting blurred and grey. Must be oxygen deprivation now that the quicksands are well above my head.