August 3. Countdown to Launch

At work today things were a little hectic because of the impending launch of “We Know Politics II”, a three year campaign to increase the number of Ghanaian women in decision-making positions. I was asked to create a movie/slide show to provide a look back at the successes of the first phase of the project, “We Know Politics I”, and write a speech for Bernice Sam, the head of WiLDAF Ghana, to deliver at the event.

I was able to get both tasks done to my satisfaction, despite the fact that I’d never used Windows Movie Maker before, and despite the version installed on my computer being a French one (not much good to this Anglophone, nor to any of my Ghanaian colleagues). I look forward to attending the launch of the project tomorrow, as I’m told it will be attended by hundreds of people, including representatives of donor organizations and members of the press.

After work Duncan and I decided to combine a trip to the grocery store with dinner and a movie. The theatre is at the Accra Mall, which is a really nice, modern mall on the north edge of town. We figured we’d eat at a pizza place there that does 2-for-1 pizzas on Tuesday night, only to find that the wait time after ordering was over two hours! Not willing to wait this long, we went elsewhere, then did a rushed shop before the movie started.

The film we saw was Inception, with Leonardo DiCaprio, and it was quite good. There was a brief, unscheduled intermission as the power went out for a few minutes, and there were two rather loud and vulgar verbal arguments that broke out during the course of the movie, but it was a beautiful, comfortable theatre just like any back home. I definitely plan on going back to see another movie or two before leaving Accra in October.