In other news...

Well, the bank account still has the wrong names on it, the community is still taking more money than the sanctuary can give, and the chiefs share a bottle of gin before every meeting (they meet at 6:00 am). So work is slow. It is impossible to educate the whole town and the chiefs refuse to listen but we can teach individuals who want it. There is some progress. We have spent many hours meeting with the chairman of the TMC (Tourism Management Committee) and I am confident that at least his bookkeeping will be accurate starting in the new year. We also managed to divide the 47% into a few categories: 5% to the chiefs, 10% to sanctuary upkeep/improvements, and 32% to community development. That's a big step. If the percentages are set and educated people are responsible for dispersing the money, we might be getting somewhere. But enough about work.

In other news, Mo decided she must see Togo before leaving Africa so she has been there for the last week, due back tomorrow. John and I biked to a lakeside town called Kpando (pronounced Pandu with a sharp 'p') on Friday, which involved about 5 hours on bikes and a few big hills, then hiked up the tallest waterfall in Ghana, Wli (pronouned Vli) on Saturday, an all-day hike. Both trips were absolutely worth the work, though my quads may not agree.


A few weeks back, we also discovered Mountain Paradise Lodge, located a 30-minute bike ride then a 45-minute hike (or a 10-minute drive) up a mountain. The first time we went, just to visit, we met the owner, Tony, and talked about our work at Tafi. His eyes lit up. He said he loved running the lodge but hated keeping books, so asked if we could help him find an efficient bookkeeping system. So we got to know him, the lodge, and his business style and returned the following week. From breakfast to dinner last Tuesday we went through all of his old receipts, bills, and finance books to make some sense of it. By the end of the day, we took him from 7 illegible books down to 3 new ones, and set up a simple daily and monthly routine for him.


It was a long day's work, but extremely satisfying. The effect was immediate; there was no committee meeting, no chief's approval, no signatures required. When we suggested a few small changes on the bill he gives customers, he opened his computer and made the changes. I cannot explain what a good feeling it is -next to all these days at Tafi- to see our work realized so quickly. We will continue to keep up with his progress each week. Tony is a very smart guy with a lot of passion, and he dreams big. When we asked him what his goals were for the lodge, he said (and I quote): "The day that I can sit back and drink my beer is the day we have light aircraft here. Oh, excuse me [as he takes a phone call for reservations over Christmas]". Tony is a fun guy to work with.

There is so much to tell, every post is a challenge to condense the facts, emotions, and experiences, and then put them all in words. And now here is a beautiful daily-life picture and some more adorable monkeys, as requested.