La Visa Touristique Entente - Cheap Travel in West Africa

La visa touristique entente - I've erased my passport number for security reasons

An ex-Peace corps volunteer just emailed an enquiry about the 5 country visa for Ghana, Togo, Benin, Niger, Burkina Faso and Cote d'Ivoire or La Visa Touristique Entente. So for those of you who havez come across this blog seeking upo to date info about travelling in West Africa, I've decided to post what I know so far from my travels.

Your best bet is to get it at any of the Togolese embassies when you get here (maybe to Ghana first). Don't bother wasting your time with enquiries in the US or European countries because it was really easy to do in the Togolese embassy in Accra and in D.C and presumably European capitals they will charge you huge sums for individual country visas. The Togo embassy office in Accra opens at 9am. You have to fill out two identical forms with all the basic info, provide 2 photos and pay 30,000 CFA (1USD is officially about 479 CFA but it seems to fluctuate a lot between 400 and 500 according to local sources. 1 Euro is 656 CFA, it doesn't change. You will be asked to collect the visa the same day at 2pm (you may have to wait an hour or so though).

The 5 country visa is valid for 60 days from the date of issue and you have 1 entry to each of the signed up countries, supposedly. My girlfriend and I have just started our travels and are currently in Togo. We crossed from Ghana at Aflao and there were no problems. It was a painless process.

We expect Benin and Burkina to be the same but Niger will probably be a problem from what I have read on the web. We expect to pay 10,000 CFA on the border. Nevertheless, it's worth getting the La Visa Touristique Entente as you will avoid having to extend a normal border visa (seems you only get 2 days at Burkina border if you arrive without a visa though it's free of charge to extend. Benin charge extra 12,000 CFA to extend from days according to the Rough Guide to West Africa) and the obvious potentially painful bureaucracy involved.

If your arrival point is Ghana you have to get a re-entry visa (10,000 CFA for 1 month or more) for Ghana at whatever country your last stop is at (e.g. Cote d'Ivoire).

You need CFA for all countries except Ghana where 1USD is about 1.43 GHc at the moment. There are no official forex's that I have seen yet in Togo, though plenty of them in Ghana. In the latter country change cash in a Forex, travellers cheques in banks. I have heard there are problems with Amex in most countries. Visa cards are your best bet. Although Mastercard works in Barclays bank in Ghana I've read and heard from others that it doesn't work so much in other countries.

Be conscious of the fact that Niger is not in the best of shape at the moment, the president recently having taken emergency powers to put down dissent over a referendum he wants to push through to allow him serve another term, etc. Furthermore, the north of Cote d'Ivoire is officially still a danger zone according to most western gvts.

I'll try keep you posted on whether we get through sucessfully to the remaining countries. Feel free to pass this info. on wherever you think it may be of help to others. I was also a bit dismayed at the lack of info on the web but it's worked out for us so far. I forgot to mention that when we asked at the Burkina embassy in Accra as to whether they issue the visa, they said no, but that they do respect it at the border. So that bodes well.

Best of luck on your travels.

Travelling in West Africa

Our friends at Immigration never fail to amaze. After all the crap I had to endure getting my visas sorted over the past few months, now it's Dorota's turn to endure their incompetence.

On Tuesday, a worker from her host organisation spent 3 hours waiting for them to check whether her visa was ready. It was due to be stamped and ready for collection on June 20th. She waited, waited and waited but all to no avail. In the end she inquired from another officer, who informed her that the person she was waiting for had gone home and the documents she was waiting for were in a locked room of which nobody present had the key. Yesterday was Republic Day, the 49th anniversary since Ghana gained full independence from the UK, so nobody in State Institutions were working. Today, we hope but do not expect the issue to be resolved.

This all means that we are loitering around Accra waiting for her passport so we can get La Visa Touristique Entente (LVTE) for Togo, Benin, Niger, Burkina Faso and Cote d'Ivoire. It costs 30,000 CFA (90 Cedi or 45 Euro) and in theory at least grants one the right to cross each border of the above mentioned countries, cutting out at least 22,000 CFA and a lot of waiting at various embassies in the process. From what I have heard though, Niger border guards do no respect it, so looks like our net saving will be 12,000 CFA each. All in alkl, it seems well worth waiting for at ther Togolese embassy in Accra which will process the application in the same day if you drop it in at 9am (collect at 2pm). For fellow travellers reading, just bring a long the 30,000 CFA, 1 photo, your passport and fill out 2 forms in the embassy. Et voila!

We inquired at the Burkina Faso embassy whether it's possible to get LVTE there but they informed us that even though they recognise this 5 country visa, they do not issue them.

So we hope to head to the Ghana-Togo border town of Aflao (4 hours from Accra, about 6.50 Cedi by trotro) on Saturday morning and stay a couple of nights in the Togolese capital Lome. Our plan is to take things as they come and focus on visiting interesting social development projects in the regions we come across.

Unfortunately, one of our friends has the connection lead for our camera so I guess I'll be unable to upload photos as we travel. Anyhow, I'll try account for them in descriptive language so you can use your imagination. That is, if we ever get out of Accra.

Edwenase's student support fund

Edwenase Rehabilitation Centre has offically closed for 2 months and therefore Dorota and my work in Ghana has come to an end. We had a closing presentation on Friday with the materials purchased through the Student Support Fund we established. 4 of the shoemaking students each received a hi-speed finishing machine and accompanying stand, punching and lasting pliers, scissors and knife, folding and ball hammer, pincers and nail remover, stamp and full set of sole numbers. These items will be sufficient for them to not only carry out repairs during recess but also to produce sandals and slippers. They will just need to get the leather stitched and then they can begin selling their goods and start practising their business skills.

In addition to the shoemakers, one dressmaking graduate received an iron and Butterfly sewing machine. A tailoring student who has a disability with one hand received an electric pedal sewing machine and iron. 3 dressmaking students received frames, thread, needles and other basic materials to learn needlework, while 2 of the haridressing students received financial support to star their own business when they return home.

All in all the staff and volunteers worked together well to ensure the students were aware the materials were granted to them as a result of their hard work at school.

We hope the next volunteers will be able to continue the programme.

Bags not packed, not ready to go

I hope John Denver isn't angry that I changed the lyrics of his classic song, but it pretty much sums up what stage I'm at here. 3 days of school left, well, actually there are only 2 full days remaining as we'll be having a party on Friday. It will be a nice send off for the students and ourselves, with rice, chicken, beverages and biscuits playing their role in boosting the students energy to dance to the surprise DJ visit after dinner.

In between these events we will be having the presentation of resources purchased from our Student Support Fund. 10 students are to benefit, receiving sets of tools and entrepeneurial support to aid them become more independent during vacation and beyond.

Today I received my long-awaited visa. So now I can head to Accra next Monday and get La Visa Touristique Entente (please forgive the accent omission Francophiles). I found out last week that the Togolese Embassy can process the application within a few hours for 30,000 CFA (about 45 Euro) though it remains to be seen whether 'officials' Togo, Benin, Niger, Burkina Faso and the Ivory Coast recognise it on their respective borders.

Out of the 5 volunteers at Edwenase who started in October, 2008 there are only 2 left, Dorota and myself. There are also 2 Dutch volunteers at the centre who came in the 2nd semester. Time has flown, lots has been achieved, and hopefully the next stock of volunteers will continue and emulate the work we have started.

Thanks to all of you have supported us over the past 8 months.

Ye de mo'asee.

Students who inspire

Since I started working in Ghana, the greatest obstruction I have come across as a teacher of Literacy and Numeracy to trainees with 'disabilities' at Edwenase has been their inability to assimilate new material. Teaching people who have had little or no formal education, and what little formal education they have had has been in overcrowded classrooms with few learning facilities, has been the greatest impediment for my students progress. Despite the fact that many of the students have intellectual learning disabilities, the fact that the Education system and society at large has all but given up on them has been a far greater obstacle for the development in Literacy and Numeracy.

Many of them have the capacity to learn a lot, and they have, I am happy to say, learned well the material they have been exposed to. When someone has not been able to write their name or numbers properly in October and they can make a great effort by June, I'd call that something they should be very proud of.

Their enthusiasm would put many of us to shame. As someone who was got in their fair share of trouble at primary and secondary school, sometimes having to be dragged out of bed to face Irish language lesson on Tuesday morning, at Edwenase Rehabilitation Cente, motivation to learn is not an issue. In fact, I almost have to drag them away from the table so they can continue their vocational skills training.

Whether I'm going to or coming back from the toilet; heading for a bite to eat or returning from lunch; at 6am or 6pm, I have countless encounters with students whose first gesture is to show me they want to write, look at a book or use some of the other educational resources we have built up since starting last Autumn. They want to bring their copybooks and take up where we left off. If you show them for a split second that you are not up to your eyeballs in muck and dirt from farming, or ink from writing reports, or chalk from conducting lessons, they will try to nab you and await a nod of the head - the all pleasing reply from a teacher signalling, "Yes, I can check your homework now, even though I only gave it to you 3 hours ago and its 3 days early".

But there remain many obstacles to some students ability to progress, to becoming a good tailor, dressmaker, shoemaker, trader. Ghana wiped four 0's of it's currency, the cedi, 2 years ago. Almost every body still says 2000 ( old cedi) for three oranges rather than 20 (pesewas), one hundred of which make a new 1 Ghana cedi. So teaching students to convert from old to new, and add/subtract mentally and in written form in both has been a difficult task. The fact that few of them have their own money to spend or opportunities to leave the school and buy something hinders their chance to assimilate the knowledge they are attaining in class.

However, all in all, the students I have had over the past 8 months have been really inspiring. Maybe I'll pick up my Polish books again and apply myself with similar discipline. Maybe I won't always have to be medicore on the guitar. Witnessing others make great steps despite all the odds is a great way for one to kick their own education into action.

Literacy and Numeracy at Edwenase – Part I

Indicators that Literacy and Numeracy education continues to need improvement throughout Ghana can be observed from many angles, apart from the hard statistics of a UN Human Development Index or World Bank report. While captions on Metro TV Evening News often have mistakes, e.g. „Government Cooporation(sic) with NGO”, adverts also frequently misspell words. The quality of journalism is generally poor, aside from the more mainstream newspapers like the Daily Graphic and Ghanaian Times, which nevertheles remain guilty of poor proofreading (sometimes my rushed writing could do with being brushed up I admit).

Almost everyday when I do a transaction on the street for food the trader has difficulty in adding up the total amount or giving back the right change (sometimes too much, more often too little). The introduction of a newly denominated cedi (minus four 0000's) has done much to confuse the masses. I recall similar confusion (and inflation by retailers) for ages when Ireland converted to the Euro. And unless you shop in a big supermarker here you'll have to both haggle for better prices and double check your change.

The traders or ordinary student can not be faulted here. This is the long-term result of systematic failures of the education system to provide them with basic numeracy and literacy education before they leave school, which the majority of people have few opportunities to continue beyond primary level due to poverty at home. Hawking goods has quicker even though meagre financial returns compared to sitting in a classroom of 50 students learning to add properly.

The Daily Graphic published a story recently stating new research that 40% of primary school teachers are unqualified. Official statistics from UNICEF claim that 65% of adults in Ghana are literate, a figure I am quite surprised by from short experience here.

Reading Cameron Duodu's New African magazine tales of his sadistic educational experiences from school teachers in Ghana helps shed light on the type of education many have been subjected to here (and from anecdotal evidence in Ireland it was not much different some years ago). So who could blame a kid or teen from trying to cheat in class or while doing their homework (a major problem here stifling students natural learning process) when the consequence of making a mistake is usually being caned or made feel as small as snake shit.

Teachers themselves, stressed to the hilt with massive numbers of students who have a wide range of abilities and difficulties, either give in and lose motivation to teach with enthusiasm and care for the educational development of their class, or else lash out and vent their frustrations on the students themselves.

Accumulated, all of these and other factors multiplied tenfold have resulted in the type of student a school like Edwenase has. Shy; afraid to make mistakes; little or no belief in their own ability to progress; no access to the basic tools for numeracy and literacy education, including motivated and patient teachers. As sure as 1+1 is equal to 2, the above factors added together ends up equal to a student and adult poor at Literacy and Numeracy. And without spelling out how, this certainly has the potential to trap you in absolute or relative poverty thus making you more dependent on others help.

Going by the sub-caption of this blog, „Tales of a volunteer teacher”, you may have expected to read more about my teaching experiences at the rehabilitation centre. So I'll try give a summary in my next few postings of how things have transpired since October last.

Literacy and Numeracy at Edwenase – Part II

As the only professional teacher (which could mean good or brutal) amongst the volunteers at Edwenase I felt like I would be able to offer a lot from my previous roles in the classroom. 3 of the volunteers had just finished high school so the transition from student to teacher was a challenge to step up to. Dorota, on the other hand, had a lot of experience speaking to classes and conducting workshops for teachers in her previous job in Warsaw with the Polish Humanitarian Organisation's Education department. I had 4 ½ years experience tormenting students and catching them at their various misdeeds, many of which I had engaged in myself whilst in school. It helps when you are a teacher who has been in a lot of trouble at school, cause you tend to have developed an instinct or student misbehaviour.

After observing a local teacher conducting Literacy and Numeracy classes we put together our own timetable and set up new groups after assessing the students abilities and disabilities.

It may be a cliche at this stage, but the lessons I observed from the local teacher were a case study in bad teaching, that is from the perspective of the professional training I had received in Ireland and Poland.

Students were grouped inappropriately; teacher not knowing students names nor being aware of the extent of their learning limitations; little or no positive affirmation; students made to feel they were to stupid to grasp the subject through comments like: „How can you not know this, it's easy?”

One thing which was obvious though was the enthusiasm of the students to try and expand their knowledge in writing, speaking English, adding, subtracting and getting used to new currency terms, etc. So we allocated part of the project money we raised through selling plaintain leaf Christmas cards (made by students and volunteers) adorned with traditional adinkra or Christmas symbols to purchase a school kit for each student (copybook, sharpener, eraser, pen, pencil).

Alongside the primarily local educational resources we purchased for the school library we know had a good starting point to capture the students enthusiasm and translate it into something more systematically more educational.

Each student was placed in groups of 2-6 student as opposed to the previous system of 12-15 per group. Each student would receive at least one period of English and Maths per week, as well as remedial and informal lessons when time allowed. Now that they had their own copybooks and pen/pencil they were constantly coming to us with their work or asking for guidance. It had become a perfect learner-led situation, one which you will rarely witness amongst those who have plenty of access to copybooks, learning resources.

Thankfully, the novelty has not worn off and the students become even more enthusiastic each day. The more they learn in English grammar, in writing letters and their names better, in adding and subtracting using real money, the greater their appetite to learn even more.

Hyperactive, but clever as a fox

K. is a 12 year old boy who has just joined the school at Edwenase as no other school would keep or accept him. He is a hyperactive boy. Mannerly, bright, well-groomed with a supportive family background and a private tutor, he is a day student at the rehabilitation centre.

He has not been assigned to learn a trade though, as he needs almost full-time attention from the time he arrives at 7am, till the time his relative collects him at 2pm. 7 hours constant attention. No wonder the schools his parents brought him to were unable to deal with his needs.

Of course it's easy to blame the schools as being discriminatory, but if there is no special needs assistant to help K. keep focussed and not run around the place, the education of 30 or 40 others is negatively affected.

So K. has been pretty much landed into a school where those who do not fit into the 'normal' education system must go. There are a 6 volunteers at our centre. But die to the programme of work we have devised in Maths and English for the other 55 students, the time we have to spend in preparing worksheets, recording our work, giving remedial lessons, etc. it is really hard to give K. the full attention he needs.

So what provisions are being made to cater for people like K? Well, given that little or no funds have been granted by the Dept. of Social Welfare to aid the school I work at, in addition to the current staff not having been paid for the past 4 months, K. will continue to be much neglected by the Ghanaian education system until such time as provisions are made for him to have a full time needs assistant.

How many more K.'s are there throughout Ghana, abandoned by schools who cannot manage their special needs? Maybe one thing to be thankful for is the fact that he has not being drugged to slow him down or institutionalised in a prayer camp to expel his 'demons', as some of our students have unfortunately experienced in the past, all because they have 'spiritual disability'.

And now that he has come with just 5 weeks left in this semester it looks unlikely that our efforts will have any lasting effect. With a long-term programme of care and education I have no doubt that K. would be able to learn a trade and have meaningful employment in the future that would allow him to become at least semi-independent. But there is little hope that kids like K. will ever benefit from Ghana's oil profits or World Bank loans.

The case of the missing 8 GB usb

3 1/2 weeks ago I left my 8 GB usb at my local internet cafe in Kwadaso district. I had been rushing around trying to get documents printed off for the idiots at Kumasi immigration office who had seized my passport. Why would they do such a thing? Well, to put pressure on me to pay a 100 Ghana cedi bribe (55 Euros). I refused to pay so they wanted an official letter for the withdrawal of my visa extension request. So my excuse for leaving the usb behind was that I was stressed out and trying to meet a deadline. Thankfully, the staff at Kwadaso know me well as I have been frequenting there for months.

One of the staff members removed it from the staff machine, put it in her purse, and brought it home with her. That is, she was safekeeping it for me to collect whenever I came again when she was on shift. But then I came to collect it, and after the 8th time without success, I became a little unnerved whether I would ever see it or her again. 3 days ago I went to the cafe and met her. She laughed when I asked her whether she had a surprise for me. "Oh, I lost it, it's missing, she said."

"Huh? I replied"

"Yes, I gave it to a client to use and then I forgot about it. I remembered the next day when I came to work but the usb was gone."

Imagine it - she's about 25 years old, pretty, and as she tells the story she is smirking all the time, with no hint of an apology coming to her lips.

Yes, I made the first mistake. I left my property behind and so it will be pot luck or thanks to the honesty of another that I retrieve it. But the fact that she took it home, that I couldn't get it back from her for 3 1/2 weeks, and now that she is causally telling me she lent it to a complete stranger and then forgot to get it back from him has really pissed me off.
Even if I detected an inkling of regret, I think I would have caved in and put it down to my initial error. But the attitude I detect is one of 'I really don't give a fuck where your usb is nor what I did with it, there is nothing you can do about it and you're white so why not just go to your usb tree and pluck another one from it', all drive me to ask the question - "where is your manager?"

After talking to both of us the manager states that she has made a serous error in not giving it back earlier and by lending it out to one of their clients. He asks what course of action I deem fair to resolve the issue. I say that I would like an 8GB usb, whether it is the same brand or not doesn't matter. Observing her clothes and mobile phone I feel it's safe to presume she's not on the breadline. He agrees, she agrees and 3 days later I collect an 8GB usb.

So why did she not even put on an act that she was somehow sorry. Is it because she did not feel anyway responsible for it going missing? Was she hoping that I might just understand? Why do I feel somewhat guilty now for pursuing a replacement? Was I justified in seeking a replacement?

A little on Ghanaian signs and African literature

Recently I saw a classic sign on a trotro, the best since I arrived to Ghana. Even in Haiti the slogans were far more subtle. Plastered in yellow on the back windscreen of a white van was the following: 'Naked I came'. Is it possible that these 3 words are written somewhere in the bible but the owner of the vehicle mistakenly took them out of context? For example, a slogan like 'Naked I came into this world and naked I shall depart' would appear to have important connotations towards not putting too much weight on the material in life.

And isn't 'One good turn deserves another fashion store', in Cape Coast, a bit of a long-winded name for a small roadside business? Yet it certainly carries a clearer moral message than 'Naked I came'. The bizarreness behind many of the slogans on shops and vehicles here never fail to amaze.

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The latter brings me to African writers who wouldn't write such odd slogans in their works of art. There are few of us who have the talent of Chinua Achebe, Ama Ata Aidoo and Ayei Kwei Armah.

There's a few books I've been reading recently and would like to mention in case anybody comes across this blog and is interested in doing some worthwhile reading of African literature. The Heinemann African Writer's Series is where you will get a good wide range of novelists from across the continent.

I am just finishing Chinua Achebe's 'Arrow of God', a detailed portrait of the trials and tribulations of Ezeulu, a fetish priest in Igboland in Nigeria'. Nigeria's most famous novelist paints the rituals surrounding the priest's daily life with his wives and children, community members – both friends and foes, white colonists, in language than can be quite difficult to follow without an accompanying glossary. Maybe if I was living in Igboland in south western Nigeria and had a reference person it would be easier to understand the terms he uses from the traditional language. Nevertheless, for anybody interested or engaged in African studies or thinking of travelling, volunteering, working in Nigeria, it's well worth a read and contains excellent local proverbial messages to chart the opinions of key characters. A laborious read from an otherwise excellent author.

Earlier in the month I completed Achebe's brilliant 'No Longer at Ease', which follows the dangerous path a young Nigerian man takes when he rejects the corrupt practices of a government minister who initally aids him socially climb his way to big Naira and lots of female friends. Becoming active in an opposition party whilst rejecting the corrupt minister, the main character's life and position in his own community becomes increasingly vunerable as he faces a politician-gangster whose party will stop at nothing to continue their dirty business practices.

The first Achebe book I read was a number of months ago, 'A man for all seasons'. It is a vivid portrayal of one educated Nigerian public officer's fall towards corruption to depict the arrival of a debilitating age of bribery, extortion and the ruination of public coffers in Nigeria.

Achebe's most famous novel 'Things fall apart' is sitting in a box in the attic of my girlfriend's parents' flat in Warsaw, so I'll have to wait a little while before I get tucked into it.

Ayei Kei Armah and Ama Atta Aidoo are two Ghanaian authors which one should read if they have an interest in Ghana. I've little time to write about their books here at the moment but will do shortly.

Kwei Armah's 'The Healers' is an excellent portrayal of the Ashanti region prior to its fall to the British, the divide and conquer policy which many local chiefs succumbed to in their collaboration with European colonists, and the strength of some uncorruptible characters who face their nemeses with the intent of saving their people from harm.

For people interested in female authors, then they don't come much better than Ama Ata Aidoo. Her insight into how Ghanaian society ticks and the minds of ordinary people is unsurpassed. Her fantastic book 'Anowa' charts the tragic downfall of a woman who rejects her family and runs off with a selfish character who treats his wife like he treats his slaves. Anowa gets her revenge by declaring his impotency, but it is not enough to redeem her from her own mistakes.

To be continued........