Sunday in Ghana

This trip continues to become more surreal.  Remember when I wrote about the hard rain that kept getting harder and harder?  Well that has become a theme for the trip.

Whereas I started the trip with orphans at a rural school in an Appalachia-like area, I thought that the lavish hotel was going to be the other end of the spectrum.  Well it gets more extreme.  At the last minute, the local chief created a small dinner event with us and the entire team of local political leaders.  The protocol was pretty dense for most of the evening (all managed by a protocol officer that has recently become the president of Ghanaian protocol officers), and the ceremonial part of the event was very dignified and beautiful.  Victor asked me to give an impromptu speech about the vision of our partnership, so I made up something and the chief asked me to give a copy of the speech (huh! he thought that I wrote it ahead of time?) to be used as an introduction to the new foundational document on his newly created international business council.  So, after this email, I will be writing like crazy tonight.

It didn’t stop there.  After my speech, the chief declared that all protocols would be suspended for the rest of the evening.  It must have been something I said!   The discussion opened up into a terrific exchange of ideas, commitment and planning.

Just as we were concluding the meeting, the chief handed out some chocolate to take back to the Chamber of Commerce.  He then told us that we would be meeting with the president of Ghana on Monday for lunch.  He handed out invitations, but few other details.  So, it is official, in 8 days, I go from spending time with the people with the least power (the orphans) to the man with the most power.

More to report later.

Glenn

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