Ghana-urbanemergencies: 9 March: our own house!!

We begin the morning by preparing email and organizing photos. At 10 am, once the traffic become less busy, it is time for us to move to our house! We drive from the East side of Accra to the West, passing the Korley Lagoon. This is where the Odawna stream drains into the sea. The Odawna is responsible for flooding in Alajo, and is currently undergoing major rehabilitation. The smell is overwhelming and Frederick explains that unfortunately the river is used to drain much of the domestic wastes from the inhabitants that live along it. Lavander hills lies just on the other side of the lagoon, and is a major dumping site for sewage trucks in the sea. Frederick explains that there used to be a system in place that would treat waste before dumping it into the ocean, but that somewhere in the past the system broke down. We arrive to the house. It has 4 bedrooms, a living room, a dining room, a kitchen, and a terrace in the back. There are a few things missing, such as beds, fans and a working fridge, but the house is beautiful and spacious.

A 4th team member has joined the group. His name is Paapa. He is a student at the Methodist University in Accra and is doing his bachelor in Business Administration. These coming weeks he will help us with practical things to make our stay more pleasurable. Like becoming mad at the people who have to deliver the fans, which still have not arrived.

After a few minutes we convert the table and dining area to an office and begin making phone calls. Our first visit has been scheduled the same day with Regina Brown from the Geological Survey Department in ITC. By coincidence, her parents live right beside our new house. The meeting is short, but we take advantage to ask her some GIS questions, since we had experienced some problems opening files we had acquired from Richard (ITC). She is much better with GIS than we are. We explain to her the project, the back-story, and she seems very interested. We will meet with her again on Wednesday and she has offered to pick us up from the house in her car and take us to the office so we can meet with her colleagues and acquire a 2006 flood map. She is even kind enough to drop us off at the Internet cafe, where we wait again for 45 minutes this time for the power to come on.