The day after my impromptu media debut was spent beginning to set up an educational computer lab and medical resource center on the grounds of the Wechiau Health Center. Five of the eleven computers that were donated by schools in the U.S. were designated for the resource center, and the other six will be distributed to health centers throughout the district and used for administrative purposes.

The room that the health center prepared for the computers is perfect! Sinae and I set up tables and desks for the computers, a bookshelf for donated medical books and VHS tapes (a big thank you to the Cleveland Clinic Library!), and a couch for watching the medical VHS tapes. One of the most exciting parts of the computer lab and medical resource center is that we are partnering with EVCOAfrica to obtain a huge database of offline resources called a RACHEL server (more to come on this later). The director of the EVCOAfrica is currently in the U.S., so he mailed an updated copy of the server to their office in Accra. Thinking our ordeals with customs were finally finished, I was not too happy to get a call from the post office in Accra who wanted to charge us 125 Ghana cedis (about $100) of customs fees. My phone call with the manager of the post office was one of my most ridiculous bargaining experiences yet…

Post Office Manager: “you must pay $125’ Me: “That is too much.” Post Office Manager: “We have an official calculation. You must pay that much.” Me: "Sorry. I cannot. (insert some ramblings about donations and customs exemptions and the Ministry of Health)” Post Office Manager: “How much can you pay?” Me: “$50” Post Office Manager: …thinking I said $15...”$15 is too small. You must pay $20” Me: …pretending to be disappointed…”OK, we will pay $20”

Success!!! ☺

Emma