On June 16, 2007, we departed New York City on our way to Accra, Ghana to begin the Bamboo Bike Project. What follows is John Mutter’s recollection of the trip.
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
Back to New York
Overnight flight to LHR, the usual hassle through the airport and connection to AA flight, but it goes reasonably well.
Entering the US, I get hauled into detention by the INS people. Their records showed that I had reported my passport lost or stolen – even though I hadn’t. It took about 45
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
Ralph and the sock factory
Craig goes back to the Achimota Forest to continue training. David, who has revived, and I go to meet Ralph, another of David’s contacts through friends of friends. We contact Ralph by cell phone and he sends a driver for us. The cell phone has been a critical tool for us. Along with David’s
Monday, June 25, 2007
Training at the Achimota Forest Bamboo Office
This was our formal day of training. We have entrained quite a few people to come to the training and will have more than 10 participants so Mark decided to move the training to the office they have at Achimota Forest. We went fist to Mark’s office where we met a young guy named George who runs an
Sunday, June 24, 2007
Cultural Center again
Rain; pretty heavy from time to time. Often it rains hard at night and this is the first time we have seen heavy rain in the early part of the day. Its Sunday and the streets are very quiet by comparison with other days of the week. Most of the usual stalls and phone card sellers are absent
Saturday, June 23, 2007
Craig is sick
Could have been the African food or the palm wine or who knows what else but Craig is very sick. He is pretty much flat out so we give ourselves a day off – its Saturday anyway.
A local rider named Gabriel stops by. He saw Craig riding the bamboo cargo bike one day, and he wants to
Friday, June 22, 2007
EnterpriseWorks and the Cultural Center
A colleague at the Earth Institute, Darby Jack, has been working on cook stove production in Ghana through a business development group called EnterpriseWorks. He had recommended over lunch at a restaurant on Amsterdam Ave. near Columbia a couple of weeks before we left that we visit them. So we
Thursday, June 21, 2007
The village and bamboo cutting
The only day out of Accra during our stay. Started with omelet and beans of course but nothing about the rest of the day was ordinary.
We traveled to a small village about 3 hours from Accra in a mini-van arranged by Ibriham. The village turned out to be the one where his grandparents had
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
The search for bikes and bike parts
Different day, same breakfast. Craig is late getting up because he had had trouble sleeping and had taken a sleeping pill in the early morning so had overslept.
Our mission today is about getting to know the bicycle side of things in Accra and we start out by going too find George who works
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
Resinex and the Ministry of Forestry
Omelet and beans at 8 am, again. The restaurant serves meals all day from what must be a tiny kitchen at the rear. The waitress gives the orders through a small widow. The restaurant seats maybe 20 at most and has a television going all day, usually with a Ghanaian soap opera playing although
Monday, June 18, 2007
Cell phone, Akosua, Hanifa, and Patrick
The first of what will turn out to be ritual breakfasts at 8 am. Omelet and baked beans with dry toast, coffee and an unidentifiable juice that seems like it’s probably made from a concentrate and local tap water; so I just sip and hope for the best. Coffee is instant in two little packs. Beans
© 2007 Bamboo Bike Project