We travelled into Accra from different regions of the world and arrived in the evening at our hotel. The next morning we all gathered and met the local team supporting us in the interaction with the start-ups. We got to know each other better through team building exercises and received even more information about the projects we will work with. Details to follow.
In the afternoon we went to a city tour through different parts of Accra. There are really nice areas with decent houses, there are lively streets with shops, restaurants etc., and there are crowded markets of all kinds. All very, very colorful. Towards the end we visited Jamestown, which is the area at the seaside where the fishermen reside with their families. Puuh, that was a really different experience. Adults there live on 1 US Dollar or less per day (like some 50% of the population in Ghana). They work very hard to make a living with fishing. They reside in direct neighborhood to their wooden boats in all kinds of sheds. All live on limited space. I attach a picture. If internet is stable enough I will be successful in up-loading them to this blog.
We were there for some 20 minutes and everyone had the urge to leave the place. Partially because you could sense that many fishermen did not like us looking around. It was not always adequate to take pictures, especially portraits of individuals. They did not want us to document their poverty and maybe were suspicious that we show the pictures back home, making fun about them.
Back in our little bus silence was the motto. My initial thoughts were: The next colleague in Walldorf who approaches me to complain in an inappropriate manner about the quality of our free lunch at SAP will be send on a free ride to Accra, in order to spend 48 hours in Jamestown…
Ok, ok, I will of course never do this, I was simply sharing my initial thoughts.
Back to reality. Clear learning is to be thankful and sensitive about what we as SAP employees all have, to be conscious in what luxury position we are. It is surely ok to criticize things at SAP in a constructive manner. But it should always be clear that it is about the last 5%.
More to come, Wolfgang
