World at Your Finger Tips

Date Written: 4 February 2011

As of this very moment, I am sitting in my room, enjoying a cup of coffee and surfing the internet for the news of the day in addition to cranking out this post. Getting to this point has taken more far effort than I initially anticipated. Perhaps overstating things but Americans—myself especially—are so used to being able to connect to a fast internet connection in so many places. Ghana is getting there but is not there yet; representing my biggest scrape with culture shock.

Last week while at the Accra Mall with the group, I inquired at every cell phone shop for modems. Only Vodafone had them in stock. I was waiting to ask about pricing and two people were in line for customer service. An American girl with a Mac said that hers was not working and her friend said that it was sluggish. I asked the Ghanaian in front of me about what his issue was. He said it simply needed to be fixed (his modem) and that if he had not already invested in his Vodafone modem, he would have purchased AirTel or MTN. That being said, I put off the investment for a week.

Thus today, my first stop was MTN, a South Africa telecom which spans most of Africa and parts of the Middle East. Their answer was unchanged from last week, in that they would have them in a week.

AirTel, an Indian telecom (one of the largest by subscribers), luckily had modems. I joked that I wanted to hug the guy (corny I know). In fact, a fellow New Yorker was just leaving with one as his driver’s license was visible. With a matter of minutes, I had the web! Speed was around Western standards at the Accra Mall. In my room, it is comparable to the wireless internet on campus. It seems to slingshot between somewhat speedy and excruciatingly slow. I could have purchased the Wifi signal from the Internet Café up the hall but I was told by a student who was here last semester that at least for him, it was unusable and he bought an MTN model that lasted him the semester (Thanks Adam!). I am relatively happy with it thus far. I am able to Google Chat but it is at the moment struggling to load some Christian Science Monitor articles. It is a bit of a relief however to finally be better connected with the world!

First Solo Ride in the Tro-Tro

Walking to the Mall was not a reasonable option so I had to take the tro-tro. It was also the first time I had taken one by myself. They are actually quite amazing really as few other cities/countries can boast of such a comprehensive private transportation network. Vaguely resembling a mini-bus that was built some time ago, each offers Spartan accommodations (i.e. a seat space) and safety is questionable; especially if one listens to the loud squeal of the brakes. I quickly discovered that one has to be somewhat forceful otherwise getting onto one will be impossible. Since the mall is on the route of most the tro-tro’s going by the Legon stop, finding one was easy but it took several tries in order to push one’s way into the front of the line in order to get in. It only cost me 20 pesawas ($0.13) to get to the mall so it is little wonder why they are so popular. The mate hangs out of the window, shouting the destination and collecting fares. I got back and forth with success although it took a bit of time to do so.