in the office we met with a fairly senior exec who explained the history of the rice industry in africa. special emphasis was placed on the fact that traditionally the middle-men or aggregators (our clients) are despised by all parties. this is due to anti-semitism and the jewish roots of trade in europe. suddenly things were not so black and white… although they seem pretty black and white when kids on the street shout at you obruni (white man) and you are supposed to scream back bibini (black man). this was also reinforced by the fact that our hotel seems to confuse us multiple times each day with another white couple staying here... I guess we do all look the same?!
nicholas was then called upon to attend and help run an industry body annual general meeting the following day. we had no idea what we were in for, it was awesome. we started about an hour late (ghana time) and after all the standard procedures of signing in, sending messages of solidarity from government and aid groups and ‘snapping photos’ we finally began. the opening agenda item was the president’s speech. he recounted his objectives and goals over the duration of his 3 year term and then proceeded to go through 1 by 1 of how and why they were not achieved. the audience members, clearly unhappy constituents, would jump up every so often and shout a question. as the discussion got more and more heated or answers were not provided, someone would quote a verse from the bible with some form of moral for the group. there were elections, and grand statements of future opportunities and of course, more shouting. it was basically like any annual general meeting you have ever attended.
I will leave you with a final thought which is a quote from the ministry representative to the industry group as part of his closing remarks “you are all refusing to nail yourselves.”
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| enjoying the meeting |
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| nicholas counts votes at the election |
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