Flying for Kosovo

I had a very long and nerve-wracking flight from Liberia to Ghana today when I had to fly over lots of jungle and spent over four hours flying over the Ivory Coast, a country that is on the verge of a civil war.  Friends, it felt very strange to fly over a country where there is a lot of killing going on.  Before this, I thought that flying over some of the Latin American countries was bad, with all of the coca fields that they had below.  But it was  definitely more scary to fly over a country where I know that people are killing each other.  I was really hoping and praying that no one would shoot me down up here in the sky.
Thanks to god that I made it to Ghana in one piece and landed in the early evening with no big surprises.  After I secured the airplane for the evening, I entered the VIP exit of the airport.  It looked very nice and it reminded me of the comfort of being in an FBO (fixed base operation station) in the USA.  This was my first experience of Ghana.  It was refreshing to have a pleasant entrance into a country and into an airport where everything was working correctly and not broken down.  In no time I was out the door and trying to find a taxi driver.
As soon as I was out the door, there was a taxi waiting to take me to the downtown area.  I always ask to go toward town upon arrival to a new country because I want to be close to everything that I need the next morning (media houses, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, etc.).  Otherwise, I would waste too much time trying to get from place to place.  So the taxi driver takes me to a hotel within my budget, the Niagara Inn, which turned out to be an excellent choice and had all of the things that I look for in a hotel (cleanliness, friendly people, coziness and an okay location).  Again, a refreshing experience!
Once at the hotel, I was able to meet the owners right away.  They were very warm upon first impression and they live there as well, which always makes me feel more secure.  Mr. Wajih El-Mawas is the owner.  He is a very nice gentleman who is originally from Lebanon, but has spent most of his life right here in Accra, Ghana.  I felt very comfortable staying here with the owner and his wonderful family on the premises.  Mr. El-Mawas is a successful businessman who owns many hotels and jewelry shops here in town.
The next morning, I woke up early in order to get to work right away.  Luckily, Wajih’s son, Ammar, offered to drive me around for the day in order to get my mission work done.  The day went well and I was able to meet with the excellent Ms. Reina Baah Sackey, the Deputy Chief of Protocol of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and hand delivered Vlora Citaku’s letter to her.  Ms. Sackey promised that the letter would reach the Minister’s hands promptly and that she would do anything within her power to help as far Kosovo’s independence is concerned.
As far as the media,  I am very pleased to report that I had great luck.  Since freedom of the press is guaranteed in the Ghanaian constitution, I had no problem finding journalists who were willing to cover our story.  I owe a big thank you to the following people, who were all excited to share some news about Kosovo with their people and their government: Mr. Musah Jafaru and his boss at the Daily Graphic newspaper were great.  Kingsley Asare with the Ghanaian Times; Justice Appiah and his boss at the Daily Dispatch; Ben Ephson and Mr. Umaru Sanda with the Citi FM radio; Ms. Perpetual Quaye with Sky TV; and my great friend Mr. Sedem Ofori, a wonderful intellectual who gave me a great interview with the radio station Joy FM who helped me to get everything organized at his station very quickly.  Finally, let’s not forget Mr. Kofi Akpabli, a journalist who recently won the 2010 CNN Multichoice African Journalists Arts and Culture award and who is a good friend of Ms. Lamia Tagzout from Algeria (who is also still trying to help our mission).
Since I left Morocco, Ghana seems to be doing the best so far economically.  There is great infrastructure here and the people appear to be well-educated and open-minded, with lots of talent everywhere.  This makes sense when I learn that Ghana is one of the world’s top producers of gold, cocoa and oil and has a very strong agricultural economy (almost ½ of the population is employed in agriculture).  It also  has one of the highest school enrollment rates in West Africa and all classes are taught in English.
Though I’ve only been here a few days, I can already see that the Ghanaian people are trying very hard to better their lives and are interested in having their country progress.  The mentality here seems to be that if anything can be done to improve their nation, they are willing to do it.

Newspaper

Radio Interview

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