Another Tale of Broken Electronics

Having a cellphone while in Ghana is very important to me. Really, it’s my lifeline. I use it to communicate to people at home and in Ghana in addition to using it for e-mails, internet, homework and work documents. 

You might remember me discussing my great used Blackberry purchase at a special place in Accra called Kwame Nkrumah Circle (locally known as Circle). In my first post I mentioned how overwhelming Circle was on the first day I was in Ghana - in hindsight, perhaps not the best choice to go to Circle while jetlagged and absolutely clueless but we managed. Circle is essentially a central transportation hub with a huge tro tro station (and at least 3 auxiliary stations that I have stumbled upon), STC and VIP buses have stations here, there is a Post Office and several markets. Circle is also a great place to buy used things like cellphones and bicycles. 

The purchase of my used BlackBerry Bold 9000 for what I thought was a pretty reasonable price was amazing. I couldn’t ask for more from a phone. It was pretty banged up when I bought it and it was quite remarkable that it worked perfectly despite its age. I will admit that it was very big and heavy and often got dropped but I tried to take care of it. I was hopeful that it would last the 8 months of my placement. Sadly, that was not meant to be, as it died forever on Sunday February 26. I couldn’t believe that it was dead dead even though it resetting itself constantly over the weekend. This was a bit of a problem because I had been working on an assignment for work on the phone and lost all the work. A reminder that relying so heavily on electronics is perhaps not the smartest thing (eventually I will learn this).

I had to do a great deal of soul searching about what kind of phone I would purchase for the remainder of my placement. I had two options: buy another used BlackBerry and run the risk of getting a garbage phone or buy a cheap, disposable phone to text and call without all the fancy extras. In the end, I decided the BlackBerry was the best option for me despite the fact that I will only be in Ghana for another 52 days. Could I have survived without the fancy phone? absolutely, but I didn’t want to.

So decision made and with my budget in mind, off I went with a friend to Circle Tuesday morning to once again buy a phone. I promised myself that this time I would shop around and not buy the first phone I saw like last time. I promised not to buy on impulse and make sure it was worth buying before handing over my Cedis. Ian and I hadn’t gone too far down the road before we saw a guy with nice looking BlackBerrys in his little glass case. We stopped to talk to Isaac and saw a BlackBerry in good condition that looked alright. Bargaining is like a sport and it is quite addictive. Within a few minutes we got him to cut the price from 200 to 150 and we quickly tried making a phone call and making sure all the buttons and camera worked.

I lost my desire to shop around and handed over the money and became the owner of my new BlackBerry. I didn’t realize until I got on the tro tro to come home that the buttons have what looks like Arabic characters in addition to the regular characters on the buttons! woops!! Never mind, I replaced an ancient Bold 9000 with a Tour 9630 2009 model.

So far, the Tour has been alright. It seems to be a cross between the Curve and the Bold. Having owned both models before, it seems to combine the features of the Bold in a smaller, lighter handset. So far the Tour is alright, it isn't my favourite model and I miss the bigger screen of the Bold but really, I can't complain.

My wonderful little purchase will only be mine until the day I leave as I’ve decided to return to Circle and sell it back to one of the boys on the street so that someone else can enjoy it. Right after buying it one of the other boys asked me if I was interested in selling it. I’ve got a better idea of how much I can get for it so we’ll see what happens when the time comes!

Off to Ghana

The first few days of my adventure was pretty eventful and not what I expected. The 7 hour layover at Heathrow Airport was brutal to say the least. Our plane landed at 2am Toronto time and it is extremely tough to take a nap in Terminal 5 which is extremely busy. I managed to find some sandwiches I liked so I bought two keeping in mind I didn’t know when I would get another non-plane meal. The 7 hours dragged by and despite not having access to free wi-fi, I managed to keep myself entertained by writing in my journal and sitting near the departures board near the Transit elevators and watching people running for their gate as their flights are announced.

I couldn’t believe the high-class shops that were in Heathrow. If you wanted high-end designer items then Heathrow is the place for you! The plane from Heathrow to Accra was pretty empty in the more expensive seats however the economy class was packed (not too surprising). It was really beautiful seeing the Sahara desert from the plane as we flew over during daylight hours. The sand dunes were very clear and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. We arrived in Accra after the sun had set so all you could see was the city lights. As soon as they opened the door of the plane, you instantly knew you were in a tropical country as the air was thick and warm. Despite a warning that collecting your baggage at the Accra airport is a bit challenging, we were able to collect our bags and make our way through the airport. After meeting up with our WUSC driver we got our first taste of driving mayhem in Ghana. Cars were everywhere honking and trying to get out of the parking lot any which way. The roads in Ghana are not very good and potholes are abundant as well as speedbumps being part of every surfaced road to slow traffic down. Within 10 minutes of leaving the airport, we had our first taste of Ghana traffic. The cross-street was gridlock with cars not moving and honking their horns. It is true that people will refuse to give way to one another causing cars to be jammed together and bringing traffic to a grinding halt. Fortunately we were able to slip between some cars and carry on our way. The other main feature of driving in Ghana is a lack of street lamps. In some places there will be street lamps lit, others will have street lamps that are not turned on but mostly streets are not equipped with street lamps forcing drivers to use their high beams in order to see where they are going. We eventually arrived at our hotel, exhausted and ready to sleep. We said goodbye to our driver and got settled in our rooms.

Front of the Suma Court Hotel

Suma Court Hotel was wonderful with clean rooms, big comfortable beds, and private bathrooms with hot water. The following day our little group decided to find the internet to let our parents and loved ones know we arrived safely and to look into buying cellphones. After arriving at the mall, hours after we left the hotel, we found some internet and were directed to go to Circle to find used cellphones. Another long cab ride later, we arrived at Circle. Circle can be summed up in one word - busy. There are people everywhere selling something. We quickly found a vendor that had the phone I was looking for and after Billy kindly negotiated a fair price, I purchased a used phone from him. By the side of the road (something I have never done before). Eventually we made it back to the hotel after dark. It became very clear that geography is not the strong suit of Ghanaians (at least the cab drivers), and that they don’t know all parts of the city, only the area where they typically work. 

Sunday we decided to go to the beach and take a break from the city. The cab ride to Labadi Beach was far less eventful than the adventures of the previous day as the driver knew exactly where we wanted to go. The closer we got to the beach, the cooler and fresher the air was noticeable. In fact, the breeze at the beach made it almost cool! The beach was clean and the only garbage was a few floating black plastic bags in the ocean (apparently the day we were there was surprising clean). The beach was quite an event. There was acrobats and musicians performing along the beach for tips from the audience. Vendors were selling their wares to people sitting on the beach. I really enjoyed the local drumming music and it really enhanced the atmosphere. We didn’t go swimming however it was nice to be somewhere relaxing for the afternoon after the activities of the previous day. One thing that became obvious was that food orders take a very long time to arrive. If your food arrives within an hour you are doing well. Luckily we were in no rush that day. Hopefully I will get to go back to Labadi Beach again.