Mixed Blessings?

yesterday, i accompanied my energizer-bunny, field-working better half to two interviews, figuring i could do my own work and help if needed. the first meeting, at a fancy hotel (named shangri-la, perhaps for the absence of view of accra's main road just beyond the gate), was with a nigerian community business leader. i sat nearby with my own reading, and then went on a little investigative exploration. i had seen a sign out front: shangri-la goes solar! "no way," i thought, and having read a lot of papers recently about the role (and fate) of PV/solar in developing countries, i thought, "let's find out how the system is doing." of course, no one could really tell me much. person 1: the system is for water heating...nice, i thought, though truth be told, i haven't missed hot water in the slightest. it's probably a must for a hotel catering to the elite, though. person 2: the system is partially installed but not fully working...uh-oh, i thought. "when was it installed?" answer: oh, about a year ago. mmmm. me to person 3: "can you show me the system?" person 3: blank stare and giggle. no one really knows where "it" is, though i try to explain that "it" might have several parts that look like...in the end, the idea of the obruni trolling around on the roof was just too much.

after the interview, the businessman offered us a ride to the next meeting location. ghana is a land of incredible hospitality. this man absolutely expected that he would take us; people we meet simply have it ingrained in their bones that they will offer us a soda or snack and we will accept. this notion of how to receive guests is foreign to even the most welcoming westerners. any doubt or polite refusal on our part--from "are you sure you don't mind giving us a ride 40 minutes away?" to "thank you so much but i am not thirsty right now"--is confusing, insulting, or both. here, you accept the drink, and if you don't want it, you leave it aside. here, you accept the ride, even if it puts you where you were going 2 hours early.

so we accepted the ride, in what turned out to be the most tricked out vehicle i've ever seen-- the mercedes version of a land-rover, with all possible gizmos included--video screens on the backs of the headrests, thumping audio system, controls everywhere. and then we rolled across town to a very run-down neighborhood. as is frequently the case, such juxtapositions are hard to stomach. the man, devout in his right (he'd come to the interview after early morning mass) was telling us that religion is peripheral in ghana, it has no political relevance. as he spoke, however, along a 3km stretch of shanty-town, we passed over 30 signs for churches, and every -- literally, every -- tiny shack, curio store, and food stand bore a name with some religious reference. from the top down, it's good to hear that politicians are not obviously using religion for leverage. from the bottom up, however, separation of church and state seems to have taken on a different meaning entirely. i fear--based on tv, radio, sermons blasting out into every neighborhood--that the poorest of the poor are being told from the pulpit that their personal is not political.