The usual flying hassles- sitting on the tarmac for 2 hours at Heathrow, second flight delayed, and then they lost the luggage of about 40 passengers. I stood in line for about an hour to be told to come back tomorrow evening. Looks like I'll be in Accra for three days, because the road to Kumasi is too bad to attempt at night.

Left the airport to see no "Payphone" among the dudes holding signs. So, a simple matter of brushing off the taxi drivers, greasing some palms to get back into the airport (fortunately packs of gum seemed to do the trick), yet another bribe to have someone watch my stuff so I could go back through customs to where the payphones were, and I got ahold of Osei on his cell. For a moment I had been terrified, all alone, stranger in a strange land. As soon as I was in his car I felt a lot more excited. My emotions have run from panic (What am I doing?) to excitement (What will happen?) to extreme motivation. His plans are so exciting to me that I need to see it in action to believe he's not bullshitting me:

There are only two places in Ghana where you can receive formal training in bicycle repair and maintenance. Patriensa is one of those places. The population of this country is 70% farmers, and most of them transport crops on their heads, by foot. So Osei wants to provide a rural option, all over Ghana, for a career that is not farming. At this stage, that option is bicycle mechanic. He also wants to give a bike to every teacher in Ghana, then every policeman, then every banker, in that order. I like this guy, he thinks like me.

So here's where I come in: Currently, if there are specialty bikes being made and converted, it's being done on an individual basis. Osei wants Patriensa to become THE place in Ghana for custom and cargo bikes. I will teach the mechanics here how to do like we Rats do (see www.johnnypayphone.net/cargo) and the Center will start churning out these trikes, sidecars, basket bikes, trailers, etc etc.

This is so unreal to me... back home I'm that wacky guy who thinks- getta load of this- that the best way to cart stuff around is by bike! Here I am given the means, material, and money to do what I love, and it will transform the area. The only difference is that America has its priorities fucked up. There I'm some scrub, here I'm meeting with the Minister of Transportation.