from the "you've got to try" dept.

Mark and I had a long list of things to do today, none of which worked out particularly well.

1. We headed over to the University of Ghana campus radio station to meet with the station manager. It took about an hour and two tro-tros to get there. He wasn't in and his mobile was switched off. After a short wait, we gave up and...

2. We snagged a taxi and sped off to the Ghana Institute of Journalism. Mark wanted to speak with one of the students there who is interested in studying in Canada. Most of the information he needed is available online -- but the only nearby place to use the net -- the International Press Centre --- was hosting a conference. No computers available. The student had to return to class for a project meeting. Mark and I looked at each other and shrugged. Par for the course. However we we were able to salvage the visit with a great lunch of red-red and orange Fanta.

3. Next, we headed to the giant conference centre to see what was happening with the two-week long African Union human rights conference. Dick.

Apparently the most interesting event of the conference occurred the previous day. AU members took the Zimbabwean Minister of Justice to task over the recent events in his country. Drat! The media liaison told us that there was lots of yelling and desk pounding. Double drat! VOA covered the story HERE.

I did experience some unexpected success when, after weeks of searching, I was finally able to find a book on the J.J. Rawlings years. The single copy was hiding at a small book stand in the conference hall. It's the only one I've seen since arriving here. 80,000 cedis later it's mine!

4. We walked across the way to the parliament buildings to see if we could have a looksee. Security told us to return tomorrow. No reason. Just come back tomorrow. There are many arguments you can't win and this was one of them. We hopped into a cab and headed back to Osu and the internet cafe.

5. Upon arrival we found out that we couldn't recharge our accounts with time because the system was wonky. After about 10 minutes, the wonkiness went away and we were back where we started: online at Sharpnet, very little accomplished.

Another day in Ghana!

Cheers!