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........

When a Ghanaian driver does a 'Hit and Run'

Here's the situation I found myself in on the way back from Accra to Kumasi recently. It's pitch black outside. I'm in a 22 seater ramshackle van (nominally a Mercedes but in reality about 100 hundred machines have been tor n asunder and gelled together to make it semi road worthy). A truck is in our way. The stretch of road is quite good, but as always when night has descended, one can never tell what may appear out of the blue. Fog has descended in patches. But our driver nevertheless decides to give it a go, overtaking the truck, and getting home 1 minute earlier than if he waited for a safer opportunity. He moves into the oncoming hard shoulder to manouevre outside the truck. Then, all of a sudden a loud BANG. All the passengers scream.

I'm near the front of the vehicle and think I saw what appeared to be a bicycle light before the light disappeared alongside the left-wing mirror. The driver passes out the truck, and to my surprise keeps driving, not seeming to give a damn that he probably just hit somebody.

I shout at him, 'Stop driving, you just hit a cyclist.' The woman in the front seat ahead of me turns her head and agrees. But he just keeps driving. Nobody says anything. So I shout again 'Pull over, you may have killed an old man for all we know'. Silence. He slows down from 80kms per hour to about 40 kms p/h and moves into the hard shoulder to allow the truck he had just passed out to overtake us. About 3 of the passengers say something within 10 seconds, at last breaking their silence. But immediately after they talk, the driver, obviously reassured by his fellow passengers, moves back onto the main road and speeds on. I turn to the young, well dressed woman beside me, and offer my phone for her to ring emergency services. She turns her head the opposite direction. So I send an sms to Dorota to ring emergency services (at this stage I am a bit reluctant to do it given the passive nature of my fellow passengers and the fact that the driver and his mate (helper) may feel threatened by such a call).

I've noticed that we just passed the village of Yawkwei, about 100kms from Kumasi. After repeated attempts to call the police or ambulance to no avail, I arrive in Kumasi. I have our vehicle registration number in addition to the place where the accident occurred and the registration number of the truck we passed out, just in case the driver of that vehicle has witnessed something also. I call over a police officer and tell him what I saw. He calls a colleague and within 2 minutes there are 2 police officers in uniform and 2 plainclothes officers questioning the driver, his mate the more senior policeman turns to me and says „Please forgive him”.

At this stage I know it's a useless effort on my behalf. These cops are probably using the opportunity to extort money from the driver not to bring the case further. I travel back home as its late. Consulting fellow Ghanaian workers the following day, I am advised to drop the situation, that my concern will come to nothing. But as someone who has probably witnessed an accident where a cyclist was hurt, that just ain't something to leave one's head over night. So I make a 2nd attempt at the cops. I go to the main police station and am directed to the control centre. At last I meet two cops who take the issue seriously and call the local police stations and hospital admissions to give them feedback if anybody reported an accident in the area. I have had no contact from the cops, so either the cyclist survived unscathed, or else they just dropped the enquiries and the driver of vehicle GS 4900 Z continues to drive dangerously on the Accra-Kumasi road.

And what about the passengers silence. Well, it appears that the 3 who broke their silence may have encouraged the driver to keep going just in case it was a trick to stop him by robbers. I had just read of thieves who shot out the tyres of a bus in the Upper East region of Ghana, subsequently robbing all on board. But this did not appear such an attempt. Unless a thieving cyclist was willing to get killed in the process, that is.

Silence. It's amazing what fear can do to the most normal human being. We're all capable of keeping our mouths shut when we see something that we deem plain wrong, myself included. Having over 20 people willing to keep their mouths shut was something that I hadn't expected witnessing though.

Ghana Immigration's extortion racket

Corruption is often declared a cancer in African States, one which bleeds the official State coffers of much needed funds and lines the pockets of a few nasty elites. That these few nasty elites behaviour then sanctions small fry officers to engage in such practices is something that affects the vast majority of people who have ever tried to get a service rendered in places like Nigeria or Ghana.

For example, I have just fallen to threats that I should buy my ticket and get out of the country as my visa will not be extended for another 2 months. This despite the fact that I have done everything by the book. My project manager received a phone call full of threats from a senior member of the immigration department in Kumasi shouting at him that I should get a flight and leave immediately. But any of us who have been in this game for a while knows what that means. Translated into plain language it could be versed as follows: You son of a bitch, who dare you go offical routes and deny me my bribe. So now I will resort to extortion and make you shit in your pants until you pay up."

Unfortunately the officer in question has met the wrong client. He didn't get a penny, I got my passport back, but I still only have until May 17th then I've gotta find a way to stay and finish my teaching, fundraising work for the students at Edwenase. That's what I came here for, and that is what I intend to do once I don't have to pay off some idiot in a dark green military uniform who bleeds Ghanaians and foreigners alike so he can feed his greed.

Life for those who have ever wanted something from an immigration office can be pretty frustrating at the best of times. In Europe and the US I've been lucky enough. The colour of my skin has prevented me from the harshest treatment. I've had my fair share of bad experiences with officials at borders or checkpoints though. Lots of hassle and violence from Israel border guards during non-violent conflict work in the West Bank, Palestine. More hassle entering and leaving the country. They wanted to know what Arabs I knew and why I was helping muslims! Deportation from the US in 2008 at Chicago airport by Homeland Security officers due to my legal (I was fully acquitted in 2006 by an Irish jury) assistance in disabling a US warplane at Shannon Airport, Ireland prior to the outbreak of the Iraq war. Witnessing heartless Irish immigration cops being bastards to foreign women and children at Dublin port. I'm sure you could add many more to this if you wanted.

Now when it comes to Ghana's immigration, well, Nigerian novelist Chinua Achebe hits the nail on the head in his classic novel 'No Longer at Ease', charting the fall of one Nigerian State official to embody a new age of rampant corruption in Nigeria's State services. Ghana appears to be little different, although it would be hard to surpass Nigeria's brutal record of crookedness and bureaucratic multi-coloured tape. An envelope of cash brings an immediate response to an official and kickstarts them to work on your case. The absence of a 'dash' means you will wait, and wait, and fall into a lot of frustration as you are sent from this office to that office only to find that they won't give you what you are legally entitled to. They are a State mafia, extorting money from both professional ex-pats who come to work as either volunteers or business people to do work which, and here I quote one less corrupt junior immigration officer, „will do work for free that Ghanaians won't do even if you pay them”. That is a rough, generalised remark, that I have come to observe to be a half-truth.

To get my final 2 month extension I was expected to pay at least an 80 (50 Euro) cedi bribe, which I refused. Most other vounteers I know of are taken care of by their NGOs, whose representative must depart with a nominal sum depending on how many volunteers passports they want stamped. Due to the fact that I came here independently and am rendering professional services as an experienced teacher and social worker, they are trying to screw me similarly. Whether it is scholarships which have been gained due to academic brilliance, or deserved promotion due to hard graft, nothing will transpire in Ghana unless you pay some extra money to feed the greed of the lecturer, immigration official, administrator, etc.

Even when I lend an extra basin here at our centre from the kitchen staff, a basin which belongs to the centre, I am asked to bring them something in return. Handouts and back-scratching are the name of the game, but the true essence of mutual aid is one lap behind when it comes to some people's greed.

It's a frustrating process, one which drives most people to pay up and just get what they need and deserve. So when I go to Accra to try another avenue for my visa to be extended, I expect to asked for a 'dash' in a white envelope again. I already paid a futile 20 cedi sum to try and get a previous extension. It didn't work and I did it against my better judgement. In fact I did it as that is what my centre manager told me was the only option. We know know that they thought it was too little and even very big sums were rejected by them - so many volunteers have had to leave Ghana ansd re-enter through Togo to continue their projects.

If I am expected to give 'a little extra' yes, they can stick it up their holes. I'll leave the country and try and get back in by land rather than paying these corrupt wasters anything so they can sit on their arses and play all day with a hi-tech mobile phone purchased from the profits of their racketeering.

Is there any solution to this racket? I doubt it will change for a very long time, if it ever does.