Nyaniba Park Renovation Project - Nyaniba Estates. Accra

It all started off with a group of Nyaniba folks living in the US, UK, Europe and in Accra deciding to put some funds together to renovate the park at Nyaniba. Actually as far as I can remember, nothing has ever been done in terms of renovating this park. I remember as a kid many years ago walking past the park on my way to school, which was then Saint Michael's International School. I do not recall actually playing on the park. I do remember stopping on many occasions just to watch other kids and adults playing on it. Football was always the main sport played on it.

Recently there has been a lot of action surrounding the park. As far as I understand, there have been several attempts by unknown parties to gain control of the park and use it for personal projects. By this I mean building of houses. Others have also tried to encroach on it for reasons best known to them. Anyway in all these illegal attempts, the residents of Nyaniba have stood up to any hostility and retained the park. Moving forward it was decided that the park should be renovated as a legacy for the kids in Nyaniba. Since returning to Ghana on a frequent basis, I have on several occasions seen the park being used as a football pitch or as an overflow area for anyone having a funeral.

The current plan layout for the project seeks to have a basketball court, a football field - one that can host five-a-side, a table tennis area, a kids playground area and a couple of sitting areas. I took my Parrot Drone out to the park a couple of days ago and did a short flight to make a video recording of the park. For those who are abroad and have not been back for quite a while, watching the video should give you an update of what the park currently looks like. If you have moved out of Nyaniba, please watch the video.

Finally if you are interested in helping out financially with the Nyaniba Project, I would encourage you to contact James "Fella" Azu. If you have any questions James will be more than willing to answer them for you. Send me a text message/whatsapp message on 0245241811 and I will get James to contact you. 

Now enjoy the video below

Back In Ghana - Lunch With James And Family - Nyaniba Estates

Yes that is right, I am back in Ghana. Last year around the end of August, I took a three break to travel to Ghana and get Project Laingoye kicked off. Despite being a gruelling three months with challenges, i managed to accomplish what I planned and get things started.

I am now back. Updates on the project can be found on the "Project Laingoye" section of this blog. Why dont you take a trip over there and update yourself with where I currently stand with the building project and what is next on the project timeline.

In between sorting things out with the project, I have been "enjoying" myself.

There is currently a Project, initiated by Nyaniba UK residents and those in Nyaniba to renovate the Nyaniba Park. I have injected myself into this project. I had the blessed opportunity of meeting James "Fella" Azu, who is the main man on the ground in Nyaniba coordinating things from his end. I had my personal donation for the project and also donations from the UK to give to him. James invited me over to his house one Saturday to enjoy some fufu and a variety of Ghanaian soups. The experience was finger licking good. With the assistance of his wife Sky, I enjoyed every moment of my two lunch with them. So this is how it all went down. I arrived at his crib around 11AM and was offered a bottles of chilled Star beer. Then I was asked if I would like to sample some Alomo Silver. Of course I said. I am never one to shy away from a little adventure. Next was the fufu. As they say, a picture tells a whole lot more than words. Check out some optics I took of dish before it got totally demolished by me

The meal was delicious and I enjoyed every "atom" of it. When I got home, I sat down hoping to just relax for a little while. I actually dozed off for a good two hours and more. Life is certainly blessed and good, in Ghana. Thanks James and Sky. Love you both.

ECG - Where Art Thou

I took a stroll to Oxford High Street, Osu. My plan was to pop into the bank and withdraw some money for the weekend. On Friday, I was informed by my Business Relationship Manager that Barclays Bank in Osu would be open on a Saturday. I wasn't. However if I had an ATM card I could have withdrawn some money from the ATM machine. I did not have an ATM card, so I was out of luck. Anyway, the trip to the bank was not a wasted one. I had packed my Nikon D5500 into my backpack. I took it out and proceeded to make my way back home heading towards Danquah Circle and then doing a right towards Labone Junction. I managed to get some shots but was kicking myself because I had not packed my SIGMA 18-35mm lens.

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I got home around 11.50 and switched the aircon on. Twenty minutes into enjoying the benefits of having an aircon, I could smell burning. I went outside and had a quick peek at the aircon. Nothing seemed to be wrong with it. Then I went back into the house. The smell of burning suddenly became stronger so I went back out again and this time I noticed that my electric meter was on fire. I was immediately transformed into a headless chicken and started running around in circles looking for something to put this fire out. Finally I found a heavily soaked rag and used that to put the flames out. I called ECG Customer Services and exactly 12 noon and gave an account of my issue. The agent - Pyke informed me that the systems was not responding and that he would have to log my issue on another platform. He went on to mention that he would not be able to give me a reference number until the system was up and running. To my amazement Pyke said I should make my way to the ECG offices at Makola to report my issue. I just could not believe what I was being told. I immediately told him that I was not going to Makola to report the issue and was expecting this to be handled by the ECG Complaints Call Centre. What if, I asked him, whilst on my way to ECG at Makola, the fire started again; who would be around to contain the fire.  

At 13.00, I called again and this time I spoke to another agent called Francis. Francis was able to locate my ticket and proceeded to give me a ticket number [91100]. He told me that the response Team at Makola had been informed and they would be dispatched to my location as soon as possible.

At 15.41, I call the ECG Call Centre again and was connected to Adobea. Adobe informed me that their system was down and hence could not pull up my ticket. I had to give a brief run down of what the issue was. I asked if a team would be dispatched to investigate the cause of the fire at the meter. She said they had been informed and would be out to my location ASAP.

At 16.51 I called ECG again asking for an update, my call was picked up by Abigail. I got the same "razzmatazz", but this time she added a "twist". She said she was doing her best to get the Team out to my property, but in the meantime, if I could call the Team at Makola on 0302664900, that would be a good idea. Guess what, I called the number three times and got no response. 

At 17.44, I was on the phone agin to ECG speaking to Erica. She was able to pull up my ticket but could not tell when the Team would be at my property. She even suggested that I go to the ECG Offices at Makola on Monday to report the issue. I decided to change the tone of my voice and demanded to speak to a supervisor. I was transferred to Evans who assured me that he was going to call the Team at Makola and find out what was going on. He also assured me that he would give me a call back.

20.40 - Still no word from Evans as promised. Called ECG again and requested to speak to Evans. I was told that Evans has left for the day. I was transferred to another supervisor called Patrick.

21.33 - Called ECG and demanded to speak to Patrick. Still no updates on when the Team will be at my property to investigate why my electric meter suddenly caught fire. Patrick assures me that the Response Team will be at my property and that the reason for the delay is due to other faults that are being looked at.

Updates to follow as and when they are available!