Dear Blog,
I don't like my Ghanaian name. Gene's is much better. In Ghana, when a baby is born it is not named for the first week. During that time, the community refers to the baby by the day of the week on which it was born. People then keep that name as a prefix to their given name forever. I had to look up the day of the week I was born which was a Thursday. Ramona, my wife, was born on Tuesday - I looked it up, I am sure she doesn't remember. I don't like my name. Gene's is better. He was born on a Friday. The word for Friday is Kofi. Kofi Gene. Kofi - like Kofi Annan - retired Secretary General of the United Nations. Kofi Annan is from Ghana. He is a hero here.... revered. What makes it worse is that Gene is the third born of three sons. So he gets to add the word Mensa. Which of course sounds smart. He is introduced as Kofi Mensa Gene. Very impressive. I am a Thursdy man and am introduced as Yow Barry. Yow - it sounds like "cow." I'm not talking to Gene right now.
The economy here is terrible. You can see it in the exchange rate. One U.S. dollar will buy you about 10,000 cedis. Let me pick a commodity that is available world wide to give you a sense of the cost of living. One domestic beer, purchased in a bar, will cost 8,000 cedis or about 80 cents. A credit union manager, supervising a full time staff, reporting to a board of directors, preparing financial statements and dealing with the regulator will earn 150,000 cedis a month or about $150 per month. This is less than $5 per day.
Before leaving for Ghana, Ramona gave me a large bag of school supplies to give to a local school. The credit union we were working at today had a primary school across the street. 500+ children in school uniforms, no shoes and playing outside. I presented the gifts as being from my generous wife in Canada. They were very, very appreciative.
My health is good. I feel great. I have decided that I need to drink more beer... for medicinal reasons. Have a good weekend.