Africa for dummies

Well, for beginners is actually what my guidebook has to say about Ghana. Amazingly enough Ghana is one of those countries for which there are hardly any guidebooks. My rummaging through the shelves of the dedicated travel bookshop yielded just a single one. There is no Lonely Planet even. There is one for West Africa all lumped together but just Ghana on its own apparently does not draw enough of an audience. I like the idea of going somewhere that is off the beaten tourist track.

For the sceptics amongst you out there who still think I wasted my money buying yet another guidebook that I will not use: think again. My ticket is booked and I have spent a fair deal of my time this morning getting my visa sorted. Armed with two completed application forms, two identical pictures, two names of referees in Ghana and my passport I showed up at the Ghana High Commission. In the waiting area I was treated to 30 minutes of documentary on the cocao industry. Not very entertaining but it killed time. Once I finally made it to the visa desk I was brusquely rebuffed since my forms were not correct: I had neglected to complete them in CAPITAL letters. Right..., no point in arguing that one so with my tail between my legs I moved away to fill out two new forms. Then of course I had managed to overlook the fact that payments are cash only, something incompatible with my nature as a plastic fantastic girl. Off to the cash point I went and at attempt number three I finally managed to get a stamp on my form. Next week I can pick up my visa.

There is more preparation to a trip to Ghana than just a visa so the afternoon was taken up by a visit to the travel clinic. My poor left arm suffered multiple jabs and I am kitted out with anti-malaria pills and pills to fence off that old traveller's favourite. It is a bit of a mood killer, all these practicalities. I even had to buy some new outfits as my business clothes are all more designed for the British climate than the African one. I can't very well show up for my interviews in a strappy top and sandals, can I?

All this is to stay that I have crossed the point of no return. Twelve days from now I will take off for Accra and will spend 11 days there, interviewing a multitude of people whose names I do not yet know. Assuming I won't have any trouble accessing the internet, I will keep you posted from there. Stay tuned!

Saudade

Fortunately London is a place where one doesn't have to stay homeless for long. I have found myself a new apartment and will be moving in next weekend. The new flat is in the same neighbourhood I am living in now so I can stay set in many of my ways. I will miss this place and am somewhat worried about how I am going to fit all my belongings in a room that is clearly a lot smaller but I genuinely like the looks of my new accommodation.

Last week has awoken a feeling in me that had stayed dormant thus far. The feeling is simultaneously fed by my need to move out and the fact that I have just agreed to rent out my Amsterdam apartment for the next 6 months again. Breaking through my emotional surface is a nagging homesickness. Up until now I had been too absorbed by my new life in London to spend much time thinking about the one I left behind. London is a greedy lover, jealously demanding all your time and energy. The city had blinded me to my old love.

Amsterdam is the only city that really makes my heart beat faster. Cycling along the canals on a sunny afternoon makes it skip a beat. I miss the houseboats, miss shopping on the Albert Cuyp and, most of all, miss the feeling of being at home. In London I still feel on the outside. I am merely passing through. The problem is that I will be passing through for at least another 6 months and with my current line of work, it is very possible my next destination will not be Amsterdam. This was my choice and it is a choice that I do not regret. This is what I want to do with my life. But on days like today, my heart sings heavy with saudade.

Foot prints

I have written numerous times here about trips I was supposed to be making to unusual and exotic places. Indeed my shelves have filled up with guidebooks I haven't yet had a chance to use. Due to all sorts of funding and logistical trouble everything had been pushed back and then further back. But finally the tides are changing!

Next month I am scheduled to make my first business trip. It is not to Russia, Kyrgyzstan or Uzbekistan. No, it is quite a different continent all together. I am scheduled to spend two weeks in February trotting around Accra, Ghana. Before you roll your eyes and think to yourselves "yeah right, we'll see about that": the arrangements have been made and I have my letter of invitation personally signed by a delegate of the Dutch consulate in Ghana already. What I need now is my visa and my shots. O yes, and some idea of what I am supposed to be doing there...

I will be travelling alone which is something I have not done on this scale before. I will be met at the airport (I assume!) but, after some initial introductions, it will be just me and the city. Of course I am very excited but I cannot deny I am also a bit scared. It's not a very tangible fear as I know next to nothing about Ghana, nothing either good or bad. I don't know if I am afraid to get lost, robbed or to simply find myself out of my depth. Whatever it is, I better get over it as this will not be my last trip alone. The next one has been scheduled as well.

In April or May I will at long last get to travel to Russia and then again in June. Astute readers may have picked up that by then the original 6 months that I had mapped out for this job will have long since passed. It took a while for the really good stuff to materialise but now that it is happening, I am not about to jump ship just yet. This is too good an opportunity to pass up on. I want my passport to look like this:

Dodgy degrees

O in these quadrangles where Wisdom honours herself
Does the original stone merely echo that praise
Shallowly, or utter a bland hymn of comfort,
The founder's equivocal blessing
On all who worship Success?

Oxford - W.H. Auden

Universities are not what they used to be. Once they were noble institutions of learning, filled with scholarly students drinking from the cup of Wisdom. Well, maybe a few other cups here and there as well but you get the picture. But then universities had to become market focussed, profit oriented, competitive. Students these days are selected more for their financial than their intellectual capacity. It is hidden behind phrases like "investing in your own future" but basically you need deep pockets to do advanced degrees unless you are one of the lucky few eligible for sponsorship. My own university celebrated its centenary by upping the tuition fees even further. Especially business degrees have become the cash cow of the academic system. At least at this university, however, you get value for your money. The degree is an expensive key unlocking many doors. Enter the world of dodgy degrees...

Anybody with a Gmail account out there may know what I am talking about. After the first email you send talking about your thesis, the ads on the site of your screen flash out at you 'Buy Your Degree Online'. I cannot say I have been tempted to take this shortcut but it makes you wonder how many people have. It's a scam but the scam is being played only on employers silly enough not to check the credentials of their applicants. The students are wholly complicit in this deceit.

Far worse is the story shown on the BBC today. It shows bogus universities preying on unsuspecting overseas students. Students get lured in with a flashy website, imaginary accreditation and even a graduation ceremony in Oxford or Cambridge. The Irish International University was exposed as an organisation accredited only by the Quality Assurance Commission UK, a body set up by... the director of the IIU himself! The honorary chancellor is a man who bought himself a baron title and who readily admits "the whole thing is dodgy" when caught on hidden camera. It is disgusting to see how poor students are taken advantage of. Their degrees will be next to worthless when applying for a job at any serious company. Unless maybe they try applying at a dummy corporation?

Happy New Year

I know, I know, the 6th of January has passed and the window on New Year's wishes has officially closed. The discarded Christmas trees are floral road kill lining the Chelsea streets and the oliebollen have gone stale. My ears have even stopped ringing from the €20,000 fireworks one of the neighbours set off, sending the cat into near hysteria. But I will not be bullied by petty, small-minded conventions. If I want to wish my friends a Happy New Year on the 7th of January I will just do so. I will not let this yearly opportunity of sounding like a Hallmark evangelist pass me by. So to all of you my dear friends and family, may 2008 bring you:

• generous laughter
• stimulating discussions
• plenty of relaxation
• a sun-filled summer
• a snow-filled winter
• rewarding jobs
  
• brilliant theses
• deep, requited love
• the fulfillment of your old dreams
• the sprouting of new dreams &
  
• health and happiness to you and all those near to you

Wishing you all a very happy 2008!