Crazy week already, and it’s only just starting. Sun’s coming up, somewhere over the Atlantic. My watch says it’s 7:45, but that’s miles and hours ahead, in Accra. Back home it’s a bit after midnight. Here? Who knows – the whole notion of “time” is a bit arbitrary when you’re blasting through the sky in pressurized metal tube.
I was mentioning to Devon as she dropped me off at the airport this morning – or was that yesterday morning? – that I’ve never gone to Africa with so little advanced preparation. The fact that I could make that a statistic also probably says something. Threw four changes of shirts and underwear, two pairs of pants and my toiletries kit in a small rolling bag, and I was ready. Oh yeah – and my Tilley hat. Malaria meds? Have enough left over from last time. Shoes? Just the ones I’m wearing – they’re all I’ll need.
It’s really just a short trip this time: 22 hours in the air each way for a little more than three days on the ground. Sort of parachuting in, trying to get Crucial Stuff Done on our team project, and getting out. I’ll be able to say more, later, of course – that’s the way it always is in the corporate world.
I do wish I had more time – there’s so much I want to do, and people I want to see over there! Spend some time at Ashesi, an amazing little liberal arts university – West Africa’s first. Visit Kpong Airfield, on Lake Volta, where “Captain Yaw” is teaching rural girls to assemble, maintain and fly airplanes (Zenairs). Girls education and aviation – what’s not to like? Or fly back up to Tamale, to meet with Ken and the rest of the amazing innovators up there at the Northern Ghana Innovators Group. Yes, and to wander the market again, and maybe even make the drive to Ouagadougou. Just to have been there, and to make it a real place for me, not just a funny, magical name on a map.
Then, of course, there’s Liberia. It’s been almost a year since I’ve been back, and it’s only a two-hour flight from Accra. So many friends to see there, and so many projects I’d like to check up on! All going to have to wait. Until next time, or the time after. Things are just too busy back home right now to be gone more than just a few days. But to fly halfway around the world for just three days on the ground? Seems so….unfair. (Yeah, yeah, I know I don’t get to complain about “unfair” – life in the Pabloverse is a serendipitously awesome thing. Get to spend three days in Accra? I’ll stop whining and go polish my tiara).
David Pablo Cohn 