That's the way things work around here - Part 1

Note: 1 Ghana Cedi ~ $1.25 CAD

I'm expecting my personal belongings to be shipped from Vancity in about a week, so I got a clearing agent to help me get organized for customs.

The first step was to fill out a declaration form at the airport. 5 minutes and 10 GHC later, it was done. A few days later, we noticed that the customs official had indicated that the items were arriving by air instead of by sea so the clearing agent and myself went back to have it changed. The same customs lady was there, engrossed in a newspaper when we arrived. The clearing agent started treating her like a demi-god, trying to placate her as he told her what the issue was. I just wanted to tell her straight up that she messed up and had to re write the information on the form. But that wouldn't have helped the situation. She grumbled as she re-wrote the information, adding that each individual was entitled to only one form. When she was done, in all of 2 minutes, she sat waiting as if for money. I didn't see why I should pay for her mistake and I told her that, much to the custom's agent horror. She got irritated with me and said I was the one who'd made the mistake. I shook my head in disagreement, but I wasn't in the mood to argue with her. "You don't expect me to pay 10 GHC again for one sheet of paper and 2 minutes of your time?" I asked this with a smile so as not to antagonize the madam. She immediately responded, 'you have to give me something to eat'. I was tempted to say "here's half a sandwich and some 'nkati' cake, knock yourself out", but that wouldn't have gone down well. So I reluctantly slid 3 GHC her way.

The clearing agent assured me, when we left the building that it was good I 'dashed' her something because she was doing us a favour. She messed up. I don't see how it was a favour to fix her mistake. "other than that," he concluded "she'd have asked you to come back in 2 weeks". She was reading a frigging newspaper when we got there, what would she be so busy doing that would take her 2 weeks to fill one sheet of paper?

I'd had countless annoying experiences with officials when I lived here before, and I was hoping somehow the culture of lining people's palms to get this done would have started dwindling. But it didn't look like it had, as I soon found out when I went back to the clearing agent's office. I wanted a ball park figure of how much money I needed to bring on the day we cleared my items at the harbour. I wanted to be able to keep track of how much money I was spending at customs. He broke down the various costs and they amounted to close to 1000 GHC! These were personal items I was bringing in here and I was exempt from paying duty on most of them because I'd lived outside Ghana for a number of years. I can't even imagine what I'd have to pay if I wasn't exempt from paying duty. Included in the breakdown was 250 GHC, that I was to bring along to line the palms of the various customs agents we met along the way who might want to make things difficult for me. This was in addition to the supposed standard processing fee of $300 GHC.

Needless to say, I'm so not looking forward to my next experience with customs at the harbour. My last experience with them 7 years ago was not the greatest and the process seems to be the same now as it was then. I look forward to the day when we have a transparent system in place, so that the public knows what the costs are for importing specific items. When there is no need to line several people's palms in addition to the standard fees. The day when customs officials did their jobs and didn't try to intimidate people for money. I look forward to that day very much.

random pics from my week

Traffic at Tetteh Quarshie in the morning

Korean Church on the way to Tema

A litter of mongrels or 'bush' dogs in the house at Tema

Fruit in the kitchen - Tema

Cleaning the clothes line - Tema

My niece - Haatso

Vodafone internet connection

The wiring at my parent's home in Haatso for the internet connection.

This is what the tech guys at Vodafone (Madina branch) consider a job well done.

Now, I commute back and forth to Tema, just so I can have a decent internet connection to do some work.

It's the little things in life...

...like a nice hot plate of 'red red' that make me happy. My plan this week was to start eating healthy and exercising so I can lose some of the almost 20lbs I gained in Vancity. But what's the rush? There's lots more delicious Ghanaian dishes to savour before that happens. I've tried healthy versions of some of our Ghanaian food, courtesy of my parents who are on a low-to-no oil diet. Not quite the same as the original dishes. Their 'nkontomire' sans palm oil was interesting but not quite the same. Their 'shito' with olive oil is a waste of expensive olive oil, in my humble opinion. 

Somebody please tell my pops that heating olive oil defeats the whole purpose of eating olive oil in the first place. 

 I will probably join their bandwagon when my clothes arrive in my shipment from canada and I still can't fit into some of them. Till then, bring on the carbs, bring on the deep fried foods. Yum. ;)

Heading back to the big smoke

After careful deliberation, I have decided to leave Tema and head back for Accra.  Tema was actually beginning to grow on me, my brother on the other hand was not.  In his own words, we are heading down different paths.  We tend to argue about nothing and I need peace and tranquility around me. As much as I liked the quiet, the faster-than-accra internet speed, the independence from my parents and the possibility of starting my own vegetable garden, I have to bid adieu to all these perks and find my footing somewhere else. 

* sigh....Such is life.

Back to reality

I'm amazed at how expensive things are. I went to buy a tin of sardines yesterday and thought I didn't hear right, when the lady at the store said it was 1 GHC. That was like 10,000 in the old currency! And this was the cheapest of the brands. I keep having to do quick conversions in my head when I'm buying items so I can tell if I'm being cheated, I guess.  I used to spend less than 10,000 a day on my 3 meals in a day! I was stunned. 

What was even more shocking was when my mum asked how much a piece of  'nkate cake' was and was told it was 1GHC!  I couldn't understand it. We don't import this snack. Why was it so expensive? How do kids afford to buy snacks like these with their 'chop' money? Later on she wanted to buy cucumber and was told it cost.....you guessed it....1GHC. It almost seems like the people selling stuff or providing services have rounded the lowest prices to 1GHC.  

I went to buy gas for cooking today and it cost 80GHC. That's like half of someone's salary if not more. I can't for the life of me imagine how Ghanaians survive. I suppose it comes as a shocker to me because I lived here only 3 and a half years ago and the prices just seem to have skyrocketed beyond reason.  I'm sure I'll slowly get used to this as everyone does. But I definitely need to find a decent paying job and live a simple lifestyle to survive here. No Busta Rhymes shows for me (80 GHC per ticket) and I need to start a vegetable garden and learn how to make ''nkate cake'.

Back home and jet lagged

I arrived a few days ago and I'm still jet lagged. I'm trying to re-orient myself, get used to the new currency and figure out what to do for work. I moved to Tema to live with my brother almost as soon as I arrived and that's confusing as heck, since I've never lived in Tema. I feel disconnected from my old bases in Accra. But I'm going give Tema a chance.

Maybe if I got a car it won't be so bad.

Met my niece for the first time and she's soooo adorable.