6/5 – Wednesday
Today is
one that I will remember for the rest of my life. I woke up and had a nice, typical breakfast –
Egg, bread, and tea. It was from there
that I walked to town. The previous
afternoon, I had interviewed a storeowner who mentioned her husband might know
something about Sachet water, so I walked back to the store. There, I met Yesutor, a recent graduate of Ho
secondary high school, who was the sister of this woman’s cousin. I was able to interview her before I met
Yao. Yao was the husband; clearly
wealthy, with a nice watch and an Acura.
He greeted me gave me a Guinness Malt (non alcoholic, but still fills
you up like a regular Guinness), and told me he’d be able to chat after his
short meeting. In the mean time, I read
my book, The Wretched of the Earth.
Once Yao was finished with his meeting, he simply said,
“Ok, let’s go,” Implying that I was getting in his car with him. Sure, why not. Yao drove me to a “political thing” – It was
the local NDC (National Democratic Congress) primary election. Here, two-dozen NDC members had just finished
voting on their choice for the district’s MP (Member of Parliament). Once Yao was finished observing the results,
we got back in the car to pick up his wife and baby at the hospital and drop
them off at his wife’s work, the local school.
During this time, Yao explained his life’s story to me. He was born and raised in a village nearby
with no running water and no power. He
was sent to a regional school, and scored high enough to get himself into a
good high school, and later, college.
From there, he got a scholarship to get a master’s degree at St. Louis
university, and another masters from George Washington. From there, he became a finance manager at
Proctor and Gamble, making over 100k a year, before returning back home to make
a world class library for his home village.
And now he wants to run for secretary for his MP, with dreams of
becoming an MP or President himself.
I bought us lunch at a Fufu bar, and we shared some beer
and “Akpeteshie” (herbal liquor) before he drove me to his company’s shop –
Indugu Company Limited. This company is
a combination construction materials supply company and financial investment
firm in downtown Sogakope. He introducet
me to his highly educated staff, Paul, Elikem, Kwasi, and Rose. I explained to the staff my project, and
Kwasi decided to take the afternoon off and show me around. We first visited a water company called “Ever
Klin,” met the manager, and took a tour of the shop. From there, we went to Kwasi’s mother’s house
to bring her to the market. After that,
another water plant!
Having completed several interviews and learned a whole
lot, Kwasi took lunch, and I joined in.
We had Banku and tilapia with pepe, all eating from the same plate with
our hands. Banku, is similar to Fufu –
pounded yams, yucca, plantain, and potato into a thick, sticky dough. We were joined by two friends of Kwasi –
Brice and Richard. It was a jovial
communal meal.
The sun was beginning to set, and
before we headed back to town we had to bring Brice’s mother some cooking
gas. We drove far out into the village,
far past wooding buildings and western structures. When we arrived, it was just about
sunset. The mother, named Mary, lived in
a small home on a peanut (groundnut) farm, heavily populated by chickens. I sat in silence and just basked in the sun
and relaxing atmosphere that is so difficult to come across in the states. Space to just appreciate people, the weather,
and the land we were on. It was an
incredible end to an incredible day. In
the evening, I talked to Yao for hours about life and had an incredible
interview. I had come to town, and in
one day, made good friends, shared meals with incredible, important, friendly
folks, and accomplished a ton of research. 
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