Food Processing -- Maadwo from Ghana!

Day 1:

A view from the tarmac at the airport in Accra

After months of preparation we are finally in Ghana! The team converged in JFK from across the U.S. (Alejandro - DC, Ben - Boston, Cullen - San Francisco, Luke - Orlando) to board our redeye to Accra, the capital of Ghana. There we met with Giulia who came in from Rome.

On the van ride from Accra to Kumasi

We were greeted in Accra by Asante, a member of the ADE Food Processing team, and Sammy, our longtime friend and driver. We then hopped in the bus and drove to Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) in Kumasi. This will be our base of operations for the next two weeks. We grabbed dinner at the Engineering Guest House and made plans for the next day. After over 24 hours of travel, on New Year’s Day no less, we called it a night and went to bed.
Harmattan is dust blown off the Sahara into West Africa

Day 2:

Today marked our transition from travel mode into the full hectic excitement of the trip. After an early breakfast, the team hunkered down in the lobby of the KNUST School of Medical Sciences Guest House to plan out the next two weeks. After refreshing ourselves on big-picture trip goals, we sorted through the tasks we hope to accomplish and compiled a preliminary itinerary. It’s definitely going to be a packed few weeks. We’re very excited about all we can get done and as always are ready for whatever coming surprises will surely tweak our schedule.

After we settled on a tentative schedule, we were joined at the Guest House by Deborah, the leader of our venture in Ghana. She debriefed the business team on details of the venture that had changed since our last Skype conversation, while the technical team hammered out a few grater design tweaks so that we can put the most recent model into production with our fabrication partners at the Intermediate Technology Transfer Unit (ITTU) tomorrow.

Once we had finished meetings we decided that since it is a federal holiday and ITTU was closed, today was a good day to go out and experience some of Kumasi first-hand. We took a tro tro (a minibus taxi) to Kejetia market, the largest market in continental Africa. It was an unforgettable experience full of colors, smells, and movement, and we returned to the Guest House ready for dinner and bed.

Piles of gari at a vendor's stall in Kejetia market

A lane lined with fabric stalls in Kejetia market

We saw a monkey!!