Unpredictable Ghana!

Firstly I realised that if I mention Wanlov The Kubulor in my post I get a lot more readers! So I have done it again to ashamedly get more readers to my blog. Thanks Wanlov, and once again very entertaining show last week! Here is a link to one of my favourite Kubulor tunes!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EnRvsvLlrZA

I am also almost getting to my thousandth viewing. I will have to think of an interesting story to post up to celebrate that!!

Anyway, on to todays musings! Ghana is the most unpredictable place I have experienced! (I have jumped straight in this time!) This can be a positive and a negative thing and I will try my best to give a balanced view! (Although those that know me will realise I am far better at complaining (its an English thing maybe?))

It really is difficult to predict what will happen to you on a day to day basis in Ghana. Planning sometimes is just not worth it. You can plan a whole day, and wake up in the morning ready to run out and achieve your goals in the hope that you will feel satisfied at the end of the day, but then everything changes. You wake up, get to the shower, and there is no water. Ok no problem, you can fetch some and bucket bath with just a little delay. Then as you get back to your room to iron your shirt, the power goes off. With another little delay maybe you can find a shirt that looks ok and then head out of the door.

After this you can have the problems with transport, finding a taxi (or tro tro) hoping it doesn't break down on the way to your first port of call and hoping they have change for you at the end of the journey. (or else they have to go round searching for change from everyone in the area!)

So you get to your destination for a planned meeting. And you have to hope that the person has reached the office. (remember he or she will be facing the same difficulties) If they are in the office, its likely you will have to wait for them for a while, or someone else will nip in front of you to have a short (long) talk. With all this going on, you will regret making your second appointment so close to the first one and will have to call to either postpone or cancel the meeting entirely!

This is just a small and short example of how unpredictable Ghana living is! Anything to do with time is a doubt. Water and electricity can not be assured. Women chasing me is very unpredictable (although more often than not they are not!!) Going out or staying in can also not be planned. (Many an evening I have planned to stay in and I have ended up on a big night out until 5am!)

Career wise I am a little annoyed with this element of Ghanaian life. Lack of communication at work leads to new tasks popping up without any notice. But also in the TV industry its difficult. Whereas last month I was on tv all the time. Getting shows and acting in series. Champions league, Afia Schwarzenegger, English Premier League. But this month I have hardly has anything to do. I guess that the nature of the game and here even when you are good or better than others (I am not saying I am!) you do not necessarily get given the gig. It is who you know, who your family is and who owes you!

But if not for unpredictability I may not even be in Ghana now. I kind of came on a whim and hoped that things would work out. The TV work came because I was going to buy sweets in the evening. (check out an earlier post) I randomly came to this house where I met a lot of good friends, which is how I secured the job I am doing with the volunteers now. So certain things are definitely positive about the nature of Ghana. If things are going badly, it is not long until something strange will happen and you will be on your way up the ladder!

Please leave comments and get back to me with your experiences of unpredictable Ghana!