GTP Company Tour

A few weeks ago, I RSVPed to go on a company visit of a local textiles company called GTP. In my last post, I talked about how to make batik through a workshop that I attended last Friday. (Note: if you have not read that, now is a good time. Otherwise, much of the remainder of this post won't make sense.)

....Waiting on the less-dedicated readers.... :)

Ok, so Tuesday morning, 35 or so women met up and caravaned to GTP's factory in Tema. The tour was organized through NAWA (North American Women's Association) of which I am a member. We arrived there around 10am and were seated in a training room for a short presentation on the history of the company. GTP is celebrating it's 50th year in Ghana and it's parent company is Vlisco. Vlisco was founded by a Dutch man who was fascinated with the batik printing in Southeast Asia. On a trip back from Asia, he stopped in Africa and the locals were enamored with the fabrics he was carrying. The idea to create a batik printed fabric in bright African colors and patterns was born.

Vlisco remains a Dutch company with it's headquarters in Holland. There are four brands under the Vlisco umbrella: Vlisco (manufactured in Holland), Uniwax (manufactured in Cote d'Ivoire), Woodin (manufactured in both Cote d'Ivoire and Ghana) and GTP (manufactured in Ghana). Vlisco is, by far, the leader in the market, with few competitors in the West African region. However, the market still remains untapped. Vlisco estimates a market demand of 175 million units per year, but the company only manufactures 25 million. This leaves the window open for knock offs... more on this later.

After the presentation, we were divided into groups to begin our tour of the facilities. We started in a room with bundles of raw cotton. The raw cotton is sent out for weaving and returned to the site. At that time, it goes through two machines: one to de-lint the fabric and another to treat it with a chemical to remove the starch that was added during the weaving process. After that the fabric is bleached and/or dyed to a solid color as the base for printing. It is rolled through a number of rollers fill with hot steam for drying and put onto massive spools.

In the next room, there a big machine fitted with a roller that is essentially a roller stamp. Fabric goes down and wraps around the stamp to be stamped with wax. After being stamped, it is dyed a secondary color and dried. It is then put through a machine that heats and boils off the wax. As the dye resists the wax, the part of the fabric that was covered in wax remains the color of the original fabric prior to stamping.

He takes us to another room to show us the handstamping method. There are about a dozen men handstamping piece by piece. They are phenomenal. No measuring, no questioning, no attempts to line up the stamp, just dips in wax and plop and it's perfectly in line and I'm in awe. They make me feel bad about my stamping efforts last week at the workshop. After stamping the fabric goes up and into the machine that melts off the wax and comes out on the other side.

Incredibly talented man hand-stamps/Fabrics coming out after wax removal

He also shows us a machine-method of doing the wax in colors. It's an assembly-line of rollers with each roller adding a new color to the fabric. Feels like an episode of How It's Made (or my favorite Sesame Street episode ever as a kid when they showed you how Crayola makes crayons... fascinating.) I digress... After being utterly stunned by the work that goes into these fabrics, we went to a less-exciting but still necessary section: the washing and drying section. After drying, the fabrics go through Quality check 1, where an inspector watches it scroll by and removes any flawed pieces. Quality check 2 is done in a similar fashion and then the fabrics are cut into yardages for sale.

While in this section, he shows us the new labels they are adding to their fabric. There is a problem in Ghana with counterfeit GTP fabrics being manufactured and smuggled in from China. They mimic the pattern and the copyright information on the border of the fabric so well that it is almost impossible to tell the legitimate fabric from the fake. The best way to tell is to wash the fabric as the Chinese knockoff isn't able to hold the dye well. Unfortunately for most buyers, by that point is too late. These new labels allow a potential buyer to scratch off a code and text it to GTP, who will instantaneously reply either confirming or denying the legitmacy of the package of fabric you're considering. While it's a little inconvenient for the buyer, it's necessary for them to protect their reputation and ensure that people know the cheap, poor quality fabric is not actually real GTP.

The factory in Tema employs about 700 workers (1000 total in Ghana including a smaller factory in the northern region) and those employees are divided into four shifts, keeping the factory running 24/7. This particular factory makes multiple style lines of GTP and Woodin fabrics. There are designers on site who work tirelessly to create new designs for the fabrics. In one year, the Woodin line alone will release 400 new designs. Dan and I frequent one of the Woodin stores in town. He has 4 shirts from there, our curtains are fabric from there, and several of our friends and family have Woodin shirts. After seeing the work that goes into making the raw fabric alone (not to mention creating the ready-to-wear items), I'm pleased we support this company... and will continue to do so.

Batik Workshop

At the last minute, a spot opened up to go to a batik-making workshop at a local special needs school. Caroline, a French woman, volunteers at the school and has organized about a half dozen of these workshops over the last year and a half or so. The New Horizon Special School is, as the name would imply, special. In total there are about 125 attendees of all ages. Those aged 6-18 go to school during the day and are taught a curriculum that is tailored towards children with mental disabilities. After age 18, there are several "workshops" behind the school where the adults are taught trades. They want them to feel like they have accomplished something on their own but also teach them a craft that would allow them to earn a living outside the school. Trades include (among others): beading, basketweaving and, you guessed it, batik.

The class was taught by "Auntie Mariana" and some other helpers. She gave handouts explaining the process of batik and we got right into it. We each got about a yard of white cotton fabric and she showed us various completed samples just to give us some inspiration. In the corner of the workshop sat probably 3-4 dozen stamps. The stamps ranged in size from about a 3x3 square up to a 10x10, some were sponges and others were actual stamps with big wooden handles. As we were picking out our stamps, she set up a "test cloth" and let us each try one stamp and one sponge by dipping it in hot wax and stamping on the white cloth.

Once we got the hang of it, we got started on our pieces. I wanted to keep my patterns as African as possible so I picked a stamp that sort of looked like blades of grass to me. I stamped in a checkerboard like design and then took it outside to be dyed. I chose yellow as my first color. Here's some photos of me and one of the helpers dying some of the fabric, and a photo of what mine looked like while the yellow was drying in the Ghana sun.

Next, we went back in and did a second round of stamping. There's a lot of thought that goes into what colors things will actually end up. My first stamps would be white (as the fabric had not yet been dyed). Once dyed, the wax should prevent those spaces from receiving color so they remain white. My second round of stamps would be yellow since that was the color of the fabric when I stamped. Once the second set of wax stamping was done, we dyed again in a secondary color. Some people did a darker shade of their first color (ex. light blue, then navy blue). I was in a toss up between green and blue as my second color.

She already had a big bowl of blue ready so I made the impulse decision to do blue. What I neglected to consider, whilst trying to recall my art lessons on negative space, is that the yellow undercoat with the blue second dye actually made it dark green. Hey, thanks for making my decision for me, color-wheel. After the second dye dried, they boiled a massive pot of water on a charcoal stove. The cloths were stirred gently one by one in the boiling water to melt off the wax. They were then washed with soap to try to remove the loosened wax and then hung on a clothesline to dry.

Once they were mostly dry, we brought them in and Auntie Mariana ironed the last bits of wax off the fabric and we took them home. I still haven't decided what I'm going to do with my fabric but now I have all kinds of ideas in my head. I almost want to go back and make more and have the street vendors make me cushions for my patio furniture.... the options are endless!

It was a very fun day and the two Ghanaian ladies praised my fabric as their favorite while we were chatting. I'm not sure if it's because I chose the most African stamps or the color scheme or if they were just being nice but I'll just assume I did something right! Here's the final product hanging up to dry at home.

Ghanaian Wedding Numero Dos - Gabby and Rosemary

Last Saturday, we went to our second wedding in as many weeks. This one, while taking place in Accra, was much more multicultural. Rosemary, the bride, is Ghanaian from the village of Ho (see Dan's post from Sunday about the Ho festivities... it's not what it sounds like, I promise). Gabby, the groom, is Kenyan on secondment in Ghana from PwC Nairobi... though he's been here three years now. Pierre, the best man, is Cameroonian, and used to work for PwC Ghana but now is on rotation in London. Jonia, the maid of honor, is Tanzanian, and used to work for PwC Ghana but is now on rotation in Dubai. And then there's me, Dan, Janni (Danish), and White Joe (English) rounding out the cast of pale folk. Yes, we have multiple friends named Joe so we do actually call him White Joe to his face.

The wedding was set to start at 10am "prompt". We left the house at 9:35 expecting to arrive around 10:15. We got lost... very lost. In Dan's defense, he knew where he was going, but there was a service road on the right of the highway. He didn't know he needed to be on the service road so when our turn came up, we couldn't make it through the cement barrier. We finally arrived at the church at 11:05 and were sat in the front row by the usher. Rosemary had walked down the aisle but, considering the priest was giving the "please silence your cell phone" spiel, we realized we actually were right on Ghana time.

The ceremony was a Catholic one with lots of standing and sitting but the service was very nice. The priest did well to try to merge the West African/East African cultures and made everyone feel welcome regardless of their personal beliefs.

During the ceremony, we noticed that some people had programs. Dan looked across the aisle to check a woman's program to see where we were in the service. He then whispered to me, "My name is in the program for the reception but I'm not sure why". We asked the usher for a program and she said they had run out. The nice woman across the aisle heard this and gave us one of theirs. Verdict: Dan is a "Popper of Champagne"... along with a few of Rosemary's friends, Gideon, Pierre, Gabby's brother, Dan and Albert. All I can picture in this moment is the scene from Dumb and Dumber when they pop Champagne and kill the endangered species owl. We had a good laugh over this. Thankfully, when that time came at the reception, no humans or owls were hurt in the completion of this task.

After the ceremony, there were multiple photographs taken. A list of the order of photographs was provided in the program just like it was the weekend before. We stayed for the "PwC" photo and the "friends of the groom" photo. Afterwards, we hitched a ride with George to the reception where we were seated and awaited the arrival of the newlyweds.

The reception was very nice and similar to Laura's with the western-ness. They cut the cake, there was a bar, toasts, first dance, etc. There was a buffet of food from both sides of Africa... Ghanaians love spicy food, whereas East African food has no pepper so they accommodated family/friends from both ends. The funniest thing is that our table was selected last to go to the buffet but they had run out of plates. We're not sure how that happened. You have x number of chairs, wouldn't you need at least as many plates and then some for people who come back for seconds or take two? Apparently not. So we had to wait for them to wash some plates. A lot of the food had run out by this point so we took what was still available and went back to the table. After the food was finished, and the drinks were flowing surprisingly heavily, the dance floor opened up. It was everything you'd expect an African wedding's dance floor to be. Best people watching experience I've had in a long time.

 Albert post-Champagne-popping/Dorothy, me and Ayesha

 Dan the Man/Photo with the newly married couple which escalated to...

 

this...

and then this...

As the reception was winding down, Pierre asked Dan and me if the after party could be at our house. Obviously, we said yes. The remaining booze was put into Albert's trunk and he and Dorothy drove us home. We got home around 6pm, took some showers and a quick nap. People started turning up around 8/8:30. At max capacity, there were about 15 of us.

By 1am, Rosemary was asleep on Gabby's lap and I casually started to pick up empty bottles/glasses. You know, the universal sign for "hey it's been fun but please get out of my house so I can go to bed". Everyone was very grateful that we had them over and the troops headed out. Suffice to say we slept very well after a long day in the sun and playing host/hostess.

Another wedding in Ghana complete.

Guest Post - Gabby's Traditional Wedding

Jeopardy Clue: A long handled gardening instrument, a promiscuous woman, and a city in Ghana.
Answer: What is Ho?

It’s wedding season in PwC Ghana.  A number of coworkers are getting married (not to each other).  Jen shared her experiences at a wedding last weekend which was done in the Ghanaian take on western weddings.  During that weekend, I was supporting a good friend with his traditional Ghanaian wedding in Ho (no funny pronunciation, it’s just the way Santa says it).

Cast of characters:

Author: Me
Gabby: (Male) coworker on secondment from Kenya
Pierre: Coworker from Cameroon/Ghana but on secondment in London and Gabby’s good friend.
Albert: Husband of coworker Dorothy
Rosemary: Gabby’s bride-to-be
The Kenyans: Gabby’s friends from Kenya
George: Partner at PwC

Albert, Gabby and I were drinking (juice) together and decided that we needed to have a party, one last hurrah with Gabby before he got married.  Unfortunately, Gabby’s weekends were being occupied by wedding stuff.  Apparently weddings don’t plan themselves. 

However, according to Gabby, he had to attend some traditional thing in Rosemary’s village (Ho) on 30 January.  “It’s in the afternoon and I just have to show up for five minutes, not say anything, and then leave.  We can go up to Ho together and have a good time”

Conveniently, that was also the weekend Pierre was going to be in town – so he’d be able to join us. 

The plan was simple, pick Pierre up from the airport on Friday, head up to Ho, enjoy a night on the town, and head to “this traditional thing” the following morning.  Hangovers be damned.

During the workday on Friday, there are a lot more details surfacing about “some traditional thing.”  It turns out that this is the traditional Ghanaian wedding we’re headed to.  It’s a little more than just going for five minutes and being done.  It seems that since Gabby’s family was in Kenya, he needed someone of stature to speak on his behalf in front of the elders.  Enter: George. 

Not only did Gabby need someone to speak to the elders, he also needed to give a gift to the elders and some of Rosemary’s family members.  Specifically, cash.  But not just any cash, new bills.  To assist with this, Gabby and I headed out after work to go to my bank ATM (closer than his) and start to sort through money that I withdrew.  What probably looked like a suspicious exchange was actually completely legitimate.

Gabby and I grabbed dinner while the Kenyans and Albert came to meet us. Pierre was set to arrive at 8PM on Friday.  Planes arriving from the UK or US generally take about an hour longer than other planes because people are always bringing half a dozen bags of goodies for their friends and family.  Pierre’s flight was no different.  About an hour delayed in landing and another 1.5 hours for baggage, Pierre was back in Ghana.  Since Pierre was staying with Jen and me, I was the welcoming committee while Gabby, Albert and the Kenyans were taking care of Gabby.

I get Pierre settled and we meet up with Gabby, Albert and the Kenyans and then we’re off in our caravan to Ho.  Oh, and we’re also informed that this wedding program is supposed to start at 7AM…

A few hours later we arrive in Ho at about 2AM.  Time to hit the town! Unfortunately, the town looks haunted.  You see, this time of year is harmattan.  Sand and dust blows down from the Sahara.  The further north you go, the dustier and sandier it becomes.  As a result, we’re driving through a quiet, poorly lit town with “fog” that restricts distance vision.

Early mornings and quiet villages can’t stop us though.  We arrive at our hotel and wake up the staff who were sleeping on couches and mattresses around the property.  Much to their chagrin, they open the bar for us and our night on the town wraps up around 6AM.  45 minutes of sleep later, we awake to get ready.  Quick showers and a quick breakfast is all we need (when you’re as naturally good looking as us, it doesn’t take much).  George had arrived in Ho and was escorted to meet the elders.  Pierre, Gabby, Albert, the Kenyans and I meet George at one of the elder’s home.

(Left to Right: Gabby, George, Pierre, me)

 

They say a few words and want to validate all of the gifts that Gabby had purchased for Rosemary and her family.  These are separate gifts from the envelopes of fresh cash.  Typically, the traditional gifts are a sewing machine, cloth, kitchen utensils, tobacco, spirits, and a stool (yes, like a small bar stool) among other things. Since we are running late, Gabby has to bring another gift to Rosemary’s family as a token of respect.  The elders recommend a specific brand of whiskey. 

Upon arriving at the venue, we are seated with the other men and listen to the priest and some of the elders say a few things.  The local language there is Ewe, of which I (obviously) and Gabby do not speak.  Luckily, Albert does speak it and is able to translate for the Kenyans, Pierre and me, and the elders translate for Gabby. 

Then the ladies come in bearing the gifts that Gabby had brought. (see Video) Traditionally, the family will accept each gift individually, but the process was sped up a bit with the mother just announcing that everything was accepted. Following the gifts, it was time for the bride to come out.  Except she needs a little extra “motivation” – meaning that the crowd needs to throw in some cash to help convince her. 

 

Rosemary arrives via procession with the ladies of the village, similar to the way the gifts came in.  The rest of the “ceremony” (about another hour) involved people giving speeches and prayers in Ewe.  After which, the father accepted the engagement proposal and both Gabby and Rosemary started to cry. Naturally, Gabby caught a fair share of flak from us.

 

 

After the festivities completed, we went back to the hotel to check out and made our way back to Accra. Due to lots of traffic, and multiple food stops suggested by a very convincing Albert, we finally made it back home around 9pm Saturday night.

PwC volunteering - Kinder Paradise School

Today we're going to do a flashback post: On Tuesday 1 December 2015, 28 PwC team members volunteered at a local school. We were on blog hiatus at the time but Dan was nice enough to send some photos and provide the company email recap of the day...

The day began when we arrived at Kinder Paradise just before 10am, after which we were introduced to the school's headmistress Mrs Aryee, and also a few of the teachers. Once we had finished with our introductions, we formed into our various groups to head the teaching sessions and also handed out pastries and drinks to all the children and teachers.

The PwC volunteering groups consisted of the following: 3 groups teaching English (group and individual reading) and 3 groups teaching Math to children aging from 6-18 years of age. 6 volunteers also paired up to give 3 career talks to students in J.H.S 1-3 on a range of topics which included: How to be a male/female leader in society, Being and choosing a role model and Self esteem and confidence building.

Prior to the visit, a plan was devised to ensure that all children in Classes 1-6 received a full hour of English and Maths tutoring. The teaching sessions began promptly at 10am and each session lasted approximately one hour.

The sessions ran up until lunchtime (12 midday). After lunch, we played a game of tug of war with the children and the male volunteers were challenged to a riveting game of football by some of the school's best football players.

All in all, it was a fun day where lessons were learned, laughs were had and friendships were made. We also donated our teaching materials (approximately 80 English and Maths books as well as story books) to the school.

Christmas Vacation - Part 3 - France and Germany

After adventuring around Switzerland, we headed to Strasbourg, France. I'll be honest, the only reason this city made the list is that it is famous for having one of the best Christmas markets. The town itself is really cute and looks a bit German in construction as it is on the border between the two countries. Apparently, the Alsace region was traded back and forth between France and Germany over the course of history until it finally ended up with France in the early 1900s.

Strasbourg has a beautiful cathedral that was a very impressive sight. I have to admit that I was incredibly underwhelmed otherwise. The Christmas market that usually stays open until New Years Eve closed early this year on Christmas Eve so, we had missed it. There were numerous little wood shops with the shutters closed on all of them. We read an article in the paper about the tourists being really upset about the change in closure date. People book their holiday travel so far in advance and it was disappointing for many of us to arrive and realize all the markets were closed. 

We enjoyed a walk around the city and admired the sights but, despite it being a weekend, not a thing was open. We suspect that with Christmas being on a Friday, the shopkeepers just remained closed all weekend. This left us with little to do aside from explore, eat and drink. I remain very disappointed in the experience as I don't see any reason why we would ever go back there. France did not do a good job of scoring points with Dan, so it remains one of his least favorite European countries.

On Monday, we traveled to Stuttgart, Germany. There isn't much in this town either; however, it is famous for two museums: the Porsche Museum and the Mercedes-Benz Museum. On Monday afternoon, we went to the Porsche museum, had lunch there and roamed the exhibits. It was very well laid out and full of fun facts. 

That evening, we went to a sports bar near our hotel for dinner and soccer. We had just finished paying when the fire alarm went off. This was not a good sign since it was attached to our hotel. Turns out, someone's radiator or towel warmer or something had started smoking so everyone in the hotel was confined to the restaurant while the fire department de-smoked the hotel. Always an adventure haha. 

Tuesday morning, we went straight to the Mercedes museum first thing and roamed the 7 floors of cars and information. The museum was also very good, but was different in that it traveled a timeline of Germany and how specific world events (wars, technological advances, etc) impacted the company and its trajectory. Very interesting. After all this car inspiration, we rented a BMW and Dan drove the Autobahn from Stuttgart to Cologne. There was little traffic so Dan was able to explore the "no speed limit" idea. I don't recall how fast his top speed was and it's probably best that I don't. Though I never felt unsafe with him behind the wheel. After driving in Cape Town, with a stick on the left side of the road, the man can do just about anything.

We checked into the Marriott in Cologne and roamed the streets in search of a dinner place. We eventually found the area with all the restaurants and opted for an "American Sports Bar" (shocking). We walked home through the quiet streets and crashed after a long day. 

The following day, we walked to the Hohenzollern bridge with all the love locks on it. You may think this is a silly idea given that Paris just cut all theirs off the bridges. Firstly, I trust German engineering immensely. I mean I did just ride there in a BMW. Lastly, this bridge is the one on which all the passenger trains cross the Rhine.... soooo it can hold some weight. Several thousand metal locks are not going to impact the structural integrity of this thing. We walked and walked trying to scope out a spot for our lock. We eventually managed to find a suitable place, affixed our lock, each took a key and tossed it into the Rhine. There our lock will stay, in the shadow of the Cologne Cathedral.

 It had gotten cold and windy, so we wandered a little more and then picked a warm place for lunch. New Orleans creole food that was very good. A bit more roaming and then we went to a quintessential German beer hall for dinner. The kind of place where they don't ask what you want to drink, they just bring beer.

In conclusion, this portion of the trip was a mixed bag. I suppose that's to be expected. Not every place you visit will be everything you hoped for and you will always love some places more than others.... to each their own.
One more stop til we head home to Ghana (well one and a half... but more on that later.)

Tax Away Day 2015 - Part 2

Sorry for missing Thursday's post. Dan is teaching several trainings over the next week or so, thus he was "too busy" to write the second half of the Away Day Recap... But, without further ado...

Post Games:

Ghanaian food for lunch (prepared by the hotel, not me).  Then, nap time for me. Nap time lasted about 90 minutes.  Then, the plan was to have dance practice and get ready for the evening event.

Oh yeah, dance practice.  So, the planning committee decided that we should do a performance at the end of the evening event and to kickstart the party.  Obviously, this wasn’t a unanimous vote.  But, being the gifted dancer that I am, I was not that upset when the majority agreed to do a dance.  The dances were to Uptown Funk (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPf0YbXqDm0) - which I’m sure all readers have heard on the radio – and Shake Body (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_qoUU4onORY).  Given my proclivity to “feeling the rhythm,” I’m pretty confident I looked just like the dancers in the second video. 

Anyway, the plan was dance practice then get ready for the evening event.

Unfortunately, lots of things were running on Ghana time (i.e., not on time).  As a result, dance practice turned out to include helping finish setting up the venue and dealing with other issues.  Most notably, power. 

“Daniel, we have a problem.”

“Okay…”

“I’m being told by the technician that we don’t have enough voltage”

“Like power?”

“Yes please.  You see the lights? They’re already going out”

“Okay, so who do I need to talk to?”

“The technician is over there”

“Yo, boss, I hear we have a power problem”

“Yes, someone should have talked to me!”

I then took a bit of berating for the next minute or so.

“Alright, well are there any solutions?”

“We can add another power source”

“Okay, lets do that then”

After talking to a few more people, power issue = troubleshot.

Evening program:

 So the evening program was scheduled to start at 6.  People would arrive, take pictures, grab a drink, then have dinner at 7.  Dinner was a wide variety of food that was as close to “island” or “Hawaiian Luau” as we could get.  We had about 30 roasted chickens and 2 whole goats that were on a rotisserie.  Not quite a pig roast, but we did what we could.

In Ghana time, that means people started to arrive at 7PM and dinner starts at 8PM.  This actually worked out well because while I was dealing with last minute items, I was still in workout clothes.  In fact, when people were taking their pictures and selfies, you can find me in the background of quite a few still in my work out clothes…an interesting contrast to the fancy dress of everyone else. 

But, like most events, everyone will have a good time regardless of the little things that go wrong.  Obviously, I’m a little torn up that the drink umbrellas didn’t make it out, but I don’t think it ruined the atmosphere. 

As some readers may know, Ghanaians generally do not drink alcohol.  When budgeting for the party, we assumed there were about 7 (out of 60 people) who would drink alcohol and we bought beer/wine/liquor accordingly.  Part of that budget was 2 bottles of Johnny Walker Gold Label.  Even among 7 people, that’s a decent amount.

At approximately 10:30, the bartender informs me that the Gold Label is out.  I tell him to open up the second bottle and he informs me that is gone as well.  I look around and none of the 7 drinkers are passed out, so I tell him to get another one from the hotel bar.

At about 11, the bartender informs me that the Gold Label is out, again.  Now I’m starting to realize that a lot of these non-drinking-Ghanaians are having a little extra fun.  I go ahead and tell him to bring two more from the hotel bar.  Neither of which made it home with us.

The whole evening lasted until about 1:30AM, and then Gabby and I hosted an after party until about 3AM.

Since pictures are worth a thousand words, here’s a few thousand-word essay on the rest of the events.  I will note that none of the pictures after 11:30PM (aka, after 5 bottles of whiskey) were shared amongst the group:

Me presenting Gabby with the Hardest Partier award

Video of dance done by Senior Managers:

Tax Away Day 2015 - Part 1

So about this time last year, I was in a bit of a dilemma.  I had to pick a roommate for the Tax Away Day.  I barely knew anyone, and, despite me being awesome, people didn’t know that yet.  (click here for recap)

This year was a bit different.  This year, people know I’m awesome and I was involved as member of the planning committee.  This year, people wanted to hangout and take pictures with me – and not just because I’m the white guy.  So, without further ado, here’s the recap:

Venue:

Aqua Safari in Ada.  You can even Google it! This place has a bit of an infamous history.  A famous Ghanaian rapper, Castro, disappeared while on vacation here.  This might not seem like a significant loss to American readers, but here’s one of his song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uxD3GNltmV0 

Now that you’ll be humming or singing that for the rest of the day, (probably embarrassed if/when you’re picking out produce at the grocery store and a black person walks by) you can appreciate the significance of the loss.

The place itself is a measure of extremes.  One can tell that it used to be a shit hole.  However, management has gradually been investing $$$ in upgrading it.  What does that mean? It means my room has granite counters, but a shower head that’s fallen off.  It means my room has a 40-inch flat screen, but my ass can feel every spring in the couch. 

Planning:

As I mentioned before, I was part of the planning committee.

One of the partners casually suggested Aqua Safari, and since it’s coming out of their pockets, that pretty much means we have to go to Aqua Safari (shucks).  In coming up with a theme for the night, I had two ideas.  The first was Monte Carlo/Casino themed.  People love dressing up and love prizes, so this would cover both.  The one problem? No one knows how to gamble.  Idea scratched.

My second idea, Hawaiian luau.  Do Africans actually know what that is?  It turns out, they do.  Everyone loved the idea and, thankfully, everyone agreed that we should not require coconut bras for the girls and guys should keep their shirts on.  However, the committee decided to put a bit of a twist on it and make it an All White party.  No, that doesn’t mean I’m the only one that gets invited, it means people had to wear all white clothing.  The plan being, everyone wears all white clothes and we have leis and decorations that are colorful and create a nice contrast. 

My primary roles were: smuggler and troubleshooter.  Being a smuggler really just involves having a US passport, Amazon prime, cool in-laws, and a big enough suitcase.  I think all I need is a tall furry friend, a vest, and blaster pistol and I’ll be just like Han Solo. 

Given Hawaii is part of the Greatest Country On Earth; I was in the best position to procure leis, drink umbrellas and other Hawaiian themed merchandise. More on my role as troubleshooter later.

The head of the planning committee was Gabby.  Obviously no one reading this has ever met Gabby and therefore doesn’t have the appreciation required.  Gabby is Kenyan.  That means Gabby typically parties till the sunrise.  Not surprisingly, Gabby won the Hardest Partier award at the Tax Away Day.  I came in second place (sorry, Mom).

Games:

Fortunately, for my safety, health and well being (but unfortunately for readers) there were no games that involved sharp objects being thrust at coworkers.  Instead, one of the premier games we came up with was Mine Field.  The general idea was that this involved blindfolding a team member and having them cross an area of beach covered by water balloons (i.e., mines).  In order to effectively cross the minefield without stepping on the water balloons, other team members would shout instructions to those blindfolded.  Cool, yes? We thought so too.  Unfortunately, we didn’t think about the logistics of filling water balloons. 

As we got closer to the day, we realized that these water balloons would take a lot of effort to fill.  As a result, (first problem to troubleshoot) this required Gabby and me to go up to Aqua Safari the night before in order to get started on preparations.  We left Accra at 11PM and arrived at the venue on 12:30AM.  Three hours later, we had 100 water balloons filled and other miscellaneous tasks completed.

The rest of the team (about 60) arrived the next morning.  The games began immediately and anticipation was high amongst Gabby, me, and the planning committee about the minefield game.  Unfortunately, what took us 3 hours to prepare, was far too easy.  People crossed our minefield in less than 20 seconds.  The game was over in about a minute.  Oh well.  Lesson learned.

As this post is quite lengthy already, we will pause here for suspense and finish the remainder in the next post.