Wii Journeys....a Lesson in Entrepreneurship (and sanity for Mom)

Although it's very nice having a housekeeper to clean up & do laundry, I've also been concerned that I did not bring the kids to Ghana to become a little prince & princess. It's hard enough at home to get them to clean up after themselves and help around the house - worse here when they know that when they head off for school in the morning, the magic wand of tidiness will have been waved and all will be in order when they return home. Another big theme around here: the kids really want a Wii - something they know I won't buy for them. This morning, during a fit of arguing, complaining and generally being indignant when asked to do basic things - I thought up a plan that I HOPE will kill several birds with one stone (I don't really want to kill any birds, but I would like the kids to stop bickering about whose mess is whose and relentlessly begging me for a Wii).


We sat down and had a little talk about entrepreneurship - how to please your customer, how to proactively find ways to generate revenue and the importance of getting along well with your business partner. We even got into how to conduct business in a socially and environmentally responsible way. Voila! "Wii Journeys...where WE work together to earn our Wii" was born. The kids have a house tidying services business where they do everything from dishes to taking out the garbage to making breakfast (and cleaning up afterwards). Luckily, I fall right smack dab into the middle of their target audience - tired moms who need a little peace, cooperative children & completion of light household tasks and who are willing to pay for a service done well. So far, I've had pancakes (old favorite with a new twist - accidentally overloaded with too much vegetable oil and deliberately augmented with chocolate), the dishes done, a load of laundry put in the machine, garbage taken out and the shoes lined up neatly. Currently, my favorite household services firm is in the other room, cooperatively designing logos and invoices.

At least for the moment, I am one very happy customer!

Gratitude

Today was one of the best Thanksgivings I've seen in a while.  My mom thought she was leaving last night, but when we arrived at the airport, they informed her she was a day early!  So, she was here for most of the day today.  The kids had exams at school so mom and I had a leisurely day that started with a swim (for me - she sat on the veranda and had coffee), mom's first pedicure ever and a nice lunch.  I roasted a chicken (didn't come across any turkeys), made mashed potatoes and gravy & it felt a little like Thanksgiving.  The best part was spending much of the day thinking how very grateful I am.  Here's my list in no particular order:

• Health.  The past couple of Thanksgivings have been marked by surgeries and post-surgical complications.  This year, I feel stronger and healthier than I have in almost 3 years.  I forgot what it feels like to be able to swim and play in the ocean with the kids and to have my strength back and for the kids to know that Mommy really is ok. The kids are healthy, thriving and happy.  That's about as good as it gets.
• Friends and Family.  We are so blessed with how many people love & support us in so many ways near and far.  There are so many people here that have become part of our lives in such positive ways.  I love hearing from all of you that are far away and who connect with us by email, phone and just by sending love our way.
• Adventure.  Our lives are fun, interesting and never boring.  Yes, I get lonesome, yes, there are days that are challenging and when I'm exhausted and wonder just what part of me thought moving to Africa with 2 kids would be a good idea.  AND, every day, there are new things that I learn about myself, about the world and about what I "thought" I knew.  Everyday, I watch the kids grow in such amazing ways and with such a depth of understanding about the world and what it means to be....human. 

Today, I'm just thankful - for all of it.

And the winners are......

Thanks to all of you who voted.  There was much enthusiasm in the responses and most of you said it was a very difficult choice.  One of you who has a great interest in Sophie's photography career decided it's time for Sophie to go on to learning about depth of field (you know who you are :) .  Enough chit chat, here are the results....

Best Nature Photo 70% of votes (Sophie)

Grandma's photo

Sophie's photo

Best Person - TIE

Best Overall 52% (Grandma)

With the big prize money, Grandma will be able to retire and Sophie has enough to bum around the world during her "gap year".......

Sophie Vs. Grandma Photo Shoot-off - Need your vote by Friday, Nov. 20

We took a trip to Kumasi this past weekend.  During the nearly five hour drive (which included one episode of car sickness and a strategically placed ziploc bag), Sophie and Grandma challenged each other to a photo shoot-off.  Here are the rules:  there are 3 categories 1) best nature photo 2) best person photo and 3) best overall photo.  The photos had to be taken during our trip to Kumasi and the winner receives the joy of wining plus 1 Ghana cedi per each category won (about 75 cents - prize money generously donated by yours truly).  A fierce competition ensued with each participant going to any length - from leaning out of car windows in traffic to bribing locals to ensure a shot that was competition worthy.


The photos are available for viewing by clicking here. 

We need YOUR help - please take a look at the photos and send me an email by clicking here with your vote for best nature, best person and best overall - the captions on the photos tell you what category they're in and are listed as A and B.

Please vote by noon Pacific Time on Friday, November 20th.  I'll post the winning entries by Friday night.

Water: going with the flow in Ghana....Part II

I have a new appreciation for water.  Running water.  Not having running water when you're in a village and can pump from the well or go to the bathroom in the bushes is one thing.  Not having it in the city where those options don't exist is another thing all together.  Here is how water has eluded us in the past several days.

The government is working on a major waterline which means my neighborhood & many others have been without water for weeks.  We're all on backup tanks & pumps.  For the 2nd time in a week, we ran out of water Saturday. We had no water most of the day and water was finally trucked in Saturday evening. Of course, the outage happened when I hadn't showered for 2 days, so I was desperate.  Then, I woke up this morning....no water. I knew there was no way we could have run out of water so quickly.  We'd all been so diligent about conserving.  I went out back and discovered the pump was not running.  Got it working for about a minute. Then, nothing. Called the plumber at 7:30am, said he'd be right over.  Called him at 11:00, said he'd be right over.  Finally showed up about 3:00 just to let me know that our pump was broken and he'd need to "find" another and would definately install it tomorrow.  Ha.  I'm not that much of an optimist.  Looking around, I survey the scene:  Xavier is covered head to toe in so much dirt and sweat that his body is making mud.  Sophie is also sweaty but not as dirty.  Mom has been in the house all day with no water.  Both sets of school uniforms are filthy, so no school uniforms for tomorrow.  I'm leaving at 5am tomorrow to travel to the North and would really love a shower before I leave.  No water for hand washing, no water to flush, no water for bathing, no water for cooking & doing dishes.  Had the brilliant idea to stay at a hotel.  Every hotel I called was sold out tonight, so I finally found 1 room at a small hotel nearby. This was great, except all of us seemed to have our digestive systems working really well.  Sorry if it's TMI, but this is life.  Soon, the toilet in our room was....full.  And, the toilet won't flush!!!  The handyman's not around until tomorrow morning and there are no other room options.  So, here we sit, Sophie, Xavier, my mom and me....in a hotel with a toilet that won't flush but at least grateful we aren't squatting in the backyard!

Link to Project Website

Grameen recently revamped its website and a more thorough overview of the project I'm managing is now available. 

Check it out as well as the other amazing work Grameen does around the world.........  http://www.grameenfoundation.applab.org/section/ghana-health-worker-project

The Week in Review

A quick recap of the past few days: Cedric left for the US. Couldn't nail down a job here, but has something promising in Cyprus on the horizon. Yes, Cyprus, An island, but not the one we thought he'd be on! So, still no resolution in that department - he could end up in Cyprus, Vashon, Ghana....just about anywhere. In the mean time, I'm back to single to parenting in Ghana while holding down a pretty big job. Somehow, it all works - thankfully, mom is here for another couple of weeks, my housekeeper is helpful & I have great staff at work that help out however they can.


The very next night, Xavier had a coughing attack that was scary - he couldn't stop coughing for a couple of hours & was having a hard time breathing. Thankfully, I had signed up for a service called West African Rescue Association (WARA) that provides on-call consulting, house calls, private ambulances and access to the best doctors and hospitals. They came to the house & we ended up taking Xavier to the hospital to be seen by a doctor. The WARA guys were amazing, the hospital was much nicer than expected and Xavier ended up being fine - a perfect storm of enlarged tonsils, allergies & a virus. It was a long night for both of us.

Today, I was driving around with the kids & my Mom to do a bit of shopping. I went straight through an intersection from a turn lane and was pulled over. Long story, but basically my choices were 1) to be escorted to the nearest police station to be fined & likely end up in court which would mean spending the rest of the afternoon in hot, sweaty, bureaucratic hell or 2) pay a bribe to the officer - who insisted we "talk" about it away from her commander who was still at the intersection. So, for a modest 10 cedi (about $7), we were on our way home, have a good story to tell, were slightly entertained and I had my first near arrest. Cool.

Oh, and our water is out again today. Seems we went through our entire reserve tank of 2500 gallons in about a week! Obscene, especially considering I feel like I've barely showered all week! I think the guy who works around the yard is a bit over zealous in the watering of the plants. So, we're waiting - hoping - water gets delivered by this evening.

Well, that covers the highlights of this week.....I don't even dare to presume to know what's in store for next week!

Welcome to Ghana, Mom

Mom arrived in Ghana last Tuesday night - after about 24 hours of travel and no sleep.  I have to say that I'm impressed that my Mom, at age 72, made the trek from Vashon all the way to Ghana.  Although she has traveled quite a bit, it's mostly been via cruise ship.  Being on the ground in a developing country isn't exactly the same. 

The kids were elated to see her and she arrived just in time to celebrate Xavy's 7th birthday.  And, just in time to experience my house running out of water.  I had been told when I moved here that it was important to have a water tank for when the city's water was turned off.  I was a bit skeptical that the water in a city of somewhere around 3 million would just be turned off.  Luckily, I did end up with a house with a water tank.  A day or so after Mom arrived, the water pump stopped working and I couldn't figure out if the pump was broken or what was going on.  The next day, I overheard someone casually mention that the water had been out around my neighborhood for weeks!!!!  I had no idea, as my pump automatically switches to my reserve tank.  Apparently, since the water had been out for weeks, we had used up all the water in the tank.  So, we were without any running water for about 24 hours.  Not really pleasant with 5 people living here and another 2 working here.  Finally, we were able to arrange for a truck to bring in water and have it pumped into the tank and now I"ll know what to do next time it goes out - as there most certainly will be a next time!

I'm working, the kids are off to school for most of the day and I have a housekeeper  who does the cooking and laundry, so Mom is finally learning how to sit back and relax - sort of.  So far, she has rearranged the kids' closets, organized Patience's (the housekeeper) cookbook and read about and taken pages of notes on the history of Ghana.  Seriously.  Guess I come from a long line of women who just can't be idle.......