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Counting Africa's beans
Well, it's now the end of my first week and I'm pleased to say I have done some work. It's at this point I get a bit nervous because I'm about to start writing about accountancy, and desperately want to be entertaining - I have only a modest readership as it is. This blog should be about adventure, intrigue and discovery, and should inspire others with my dedicated mission to do great good in the world. Instead I'm about to fill half a page with statements like 'and then I reconciled the control account. The resulting discrepancy was below materiality so I corrected it via a manual journal'. I'm sure you see the problem.
After spending a day or two recovering physically and emotionally from my overnight bus ordeal, I met some of the key members of the Young People We Care team on Thursday. I had spent the earlier part of the week looking over a very helpful report left by the previous volunteer, so had some idea what to expect. We discussed budgets, auditors, Excel reporting and, at some length though without resolution, how to get to (and from) town. The mutual conclusion (such as it was) was that I'm going to find it difficult, going on impossible, without an escort. This last point, I'm afraid, may come to dominate my future dealings with Kumasi.
Following the meeting, and various inputs from George, I spent part of the next day or so putting together an outline plan for what I intend to do. Feeling myself already adjusting to a laid back, unhurried pace of life, I hope that my ideas won't prove too ambitious. I'm also vaguely aware of a potential culture clash of cosmic proportions. Life here seems so relaxed that I fear emailing a vast spreadsheet with statements like '1.1 - scope of this report' and '2.2 - objectives with target completion date' will prove to be a bit out of place, like going to work in a wetsuit, or playing the bagpipes at 2 a.m.
But, all in all, I am happy with my first week. I'm semi-acclimatised and am slowly getting to know the area where I'll be living. I am being housed, fed and watered like a king. Annoying things like getting my mobile sorted are in the pipeline. And now, at least, there are some beans for me to count.
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