Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Photo of the week, November 30th
Here we see a compound on the outskirts of Koforidua where the clothes are carefully dried on the ground making interesting patterns and shapes. In fact as we look around the whole area we see 'ground drying' as the common theme. With a little effort a 'drying line' could easily be installed in most places in Ghana, making drying faster and reducing some of the infection risk that ground drying may carry. We should consider ourselves fortunate to have such wonderful weather for drying our clothes, on the line, getting the breeze through it and receiving natural sunlight on both sides. How were your clothes dried? Photo courtesy of WAASPS Ltd. www.waasps.com
Monday, November 28, 2011
November 28th, 2011
Fresh Air Matters... with Capt. Yaw
I fly overhead a particular little farmyard tens of times each week. There are six small mud built homes planted haphazardly around the dust swept yard. The agro-hamlet is located right under the turning point onto base leg, for an approach to runway one-niner, at Kpong Airfield, and since that is a right hand circuit, and I sit on the right hand side whilst instructing, I get a perfect vertical view on that turn. An average ‘circuits lesson’ covers about eight of the turns – and since circuits are the ‘bread and butter’ of learning to fly, I get to see that little farmyard a lot – an awful lot.
However, last week there was increased activity in that small place, located at the end of a twenty minute trek into the bush down a narrow footpath. I did not know that the families there kept guinea fowl; those grey birds that look like a short, arthritic old lady from the late 1800’s, wearing a Victorian bustle gown! The common pearl-grey guinea fowl is incredibly bountiful, in the wild and in the farmyards, but there are also the white ones – possibly albino, probably just ‘different’.
Guinea fowl tend to move in a crowd, and to make a lot of noise. From my observation post at five hundred feet above, and with an eighty horsepower engine drumming its tunes ahead, I could not hear the commotion on the ground, but I was certain that the ‘noise was plenty’. Starting in one corner it seems that a pearl-grey had caught some tasty morsel of invertebrate, and was making a dash to get away from the crowd for a more ‘private snack’. The accompanying pearl-greys put up a pursuit in hope of a morsel of the mouthful of such a gastronomic bug. Meanwhile, the commotion attracted the attention of the white guinea fowl on the other side of the rough swept dirt pitch; and a large, somewhat intimidating, group of white guinea fowl dropped their heads and charged at the bug-bearing champion. Bear in mind, I was watching this during a turn, a time span of around twenty seconds, but, as I twisted my head out of the window, round and down, I could see that the commotion was continuing and the entire cosmopolitan flock of pearl-grey and white birds were pursuing their so called ‘friend’ in a hope of snatching a leg off of the small nutritional discovery in the bush. The combined energies were massive and the dust lifted off of the feet of the flock as if they were playing a very aggressive game of rugby!
Nobody was home in the agro-hamlet, nobody but the fowls and the other livestock. My student could not see the event, but simply wondered what had caught my attention. Therefore, I am probably the only witness to this particular event, and certainly the only one to see it from above – the best place to watch such a spectacle. It still makes me smile when I replay the images in my built in visual-memory player!
Of course, being who I am, I relate such events to the world around me. I see all too often a community of happy folks, all living alongside one another, scratching for their livings, making ends meet and moving as one flock. Then, an individual strikes it lucky, they find the nugget of gold and knowing that the others want it, try to make a run for it, hoping that nobody else will see them. The crowd then spends more energy chasing the lucky one than it would take to find their own nugget, and, eventually, the one with the nugget is so tired from running that the nugget gets split into many pieces resulting in nobody feeling satisfied. Does that sound familiar?
Far too often in all societies, and all families, jealousy destroys development and growth. I was once told that the only difference between two people with the same backgrounds and abilities and their subsequent success is ‘hard-work’. ‘What about luck?’, I hear you ask, ‘Some people are just lucky’. But of course, we all make our own ‘luck’ through our hard work… So, if we work doubly-hard we are twice as likely to find some ‘luck’, and with it achievement.
As per the guinea fowl, we can see that those who have scratched hard, and in the right place, will find some morsel that will create jealousy. It is impossible to avoid it. So, if you don’t want people to be jealous of you, don’t make the effort to succeed. Of course, then the same folks will accuse you of being lazy! If you do succeed, it is amazing how much destructive energy can come from those who feel ‘affronted’ that you have ‘won the prize’, and even more surprising is the number of couch potatoes that can suddenly find the energy to pursue what they perceive as easy pickings – but spend more energy on scheming than they would on ‘making it straight’ through personal efforts.
Seeing it from the air is most amazing. The white fowls ran a greater distance in twenty seconds than they had probably moved all day. IF they had spent as much energy scratching at the edges of the dirt to shrub-land they would have found more than what they were chasing! There is no substitute for personal effort for personal achievement; there is no glory in chasing down a fellow flock member and stealing their gains – none whatsoever.
I was heartened this week to fly a young man who is working on a housing project. He a member of land-owning family who have traditionally sold their land for ‘cash-now’. ‘Cash-now’ is not good. Well, it is good NOW, but it is not good TOMORROW. The traditional land sale system results in a pot of cash and a family-fowl-dash to see who can grab the most and run into the bush with it. This is a scenario I, and I am sure you, have seen far too often. This young man stated that he would not be taking any cash from the sale of the land to the developers. He wanted a share in the company. He wanted to use the collateral of his portion of land to create a long term asset that would provide a trickle of income. Smart, but it creates all sorts of other ‘issues’ – such as ‘you should have taken the cash – you are putting yourself at risk in case it does not work out’. Personally, I think that the young man would have been more at risk of all sorts of family members chasing him across the country wanting their ‘titbit’ NOW, and is more likely to be able to ‘calm the flock’ by having a steady supply of nutrition from judicious decision making and appropriate use of resources.
So, next time you feel pursued for your success, imagine the view from an aircraft of the mayhem on the ground, and then try telling the rest of the flock to ‘go dig up your own invertebrates’!
Capt. Yaw is Chief Flying Instructor and Chief Engineer at WAASPS, and lead Pilot with Medicine on the Move, Humanitarian Aviation Logistics (www.waasps.com www.medicineonthemove.org e-mail capt.yaw@waasps.com)
I fly overhead a particular little farmyard tens of times each week. There are six small mud built homes planted haphazardly around the dust swept yard. The agro-hamlet is located right under the turning point onto base leg, for an approach to runway one-niner, at Kpong Airfield, and since that is a right hand circuit, and I sit on the right hand side whilst instructing, I get a perfect vertical view on that turn. An average ‘circuits lesson’ covers about eight of the turns – and since circuits are the ‘bread and butter’ of learning to fly, I get to see that little farmyard a lot – an awful lot.
However, last week there was increased activity in that small place, located at the end of a twenty minute trek into the bush down a narrow footpath. I did not know that the families there kept guinea fowl; those grey birds that look like a short, arthritic old lady from the late 1800’s, wearing a Victorian bustle gown! The common pearl-grey guinea fowl is incredibly bountiful, in the wild and in the farmyards, but there are also the white ones – possibly albino, probably just ‘different’.
Guinea fowl tend to move in a crowd, and to make a lot of noise. From my observation post at five hundred feet above, and with an eighty horsepower engine drumming its tunes ahead, I could not hear the commotion on the ground, but I was certain that the ‘noise was plenty’. Starting in one corner it seems that a pearl-grey had caught some tasty morsel of invertebrate, and was making a dash to get away from the crowd for a more ‘private snack’. The accompanying pearl-greys put up a pursuit in hope of a morsel of the mouthful of such a gastronomic bug. Meanwhile, the commotion attracted the attention of the white guinea fowl on the other side of the rough swept dirt pitch; and a large, somewhat intimidating, group of white guinea fowl dropped their heads and charged at the bug-bearing champion. Bear in mind, I was watching this during a turn, a time span of around twenty seconds, but, as I twisted my head out of the window, round and down, I could see that the commotion was continuing and the entire cosmopolitan flock of pearl-grey and white birds were pursuing their so called ‘friend’ in a hope of snatching a leg off of the small nutritional discovery in the bush. The combined energies were massive and the dust lifted off of the feet of the flock as if they were playing a very aggressive game of rugby!
Nobody was home in the agro-hamlet, nobody but the fowls and the other livestock. My student could not see the event, but simply wondered what had caught my attention. Therefore, I am probably the only witness to this particular event, and certainly the only one to see it from above – the best place to watch such a spectacle. It still makes me smile when I replay the images in my built in visual-memory player!
Of course, being who I am, I relate such events to the world around me. I see all too often a community of happy folks, all living alongside one another, scratching for their livings, making ends meet and moving as one flock. Then, an individual strikes it lucky, they find the nugget of gold and knowing that the others want it, try to make a run for it, hoping that nobody else will see them. The crowd then spends more energy chasing the lucky one than it would take to find their own nugget, and, eventually, the one with the nugget is so tired from running that the nugget gets split into many pieces resulting in nobody feeling satisfied. Does that sound familiar?
Far too often in all societies, and all families, jealousy destroys development and growth. I was once told that the only difference between two people with the same backgrounds and abilities and their subsequent success is ‘hard-work’. ‘What about luck?’, I hear you ask, ‘Some people are just lucky’. But of course, we all make our own ‘luck’ through our hard work… So, if we work doubly-hard we are twice as likely to find some ‘luck’, and with it achievement.
As per the guinea fowl, we can see that those who have scratched hard, and in the right place, will find some morsel that will create jealousy. It is impossible to avoid it. So, if you don’t want people to be jealous of you, don’t make the effort to succeed. Of course, then the same folks will accuse you of being lazy! If you do succeed, it is amazing how much destructive energy can come from those who feel ‘affronted’ that you have ‘won the prize’, and even more surprising is the number of couch potatoes that can suddenly find the energy to pursue what they perceive as easy pickings – but spend more energy on scheming than they would on ‘making it straight’ through personal efforts.
Seeing it from the air is most amazing. The white fowls ran a greater distance in twenty seconds than they had probably moved all day. IF they had spent as much energy scratching at the edges of the dirt to shrub-land they would have found more than what they were chasing! There is no substitute for personal effort for personal achievement; there is no glory in chasing down a fellow flock member and stealing their gains – none whatsoever.
I was heartened this week to fly a young man who is working on a housing project. He a member of land-owning family who have traditionally sold their land for ‘cash-now’. ‘Cash-now’ is not good. Well, it is good NOW, but it is not good TOMORROW. The traditional land sale system results in a pot of cash and a family-fowl-dash to see who can grab the most and run into the bush with it. This is a scenario I, and I am sure you, have seen far too often. This young man stated that he would not be taking any cash from the sale of the land to the developers. He wanted a share in the company. He wanted to use the collateral of his portion of land to create a long term asset that would provide a trickle of income. Smart, but it creates all sorts of other ‘issues’ – such as ‘you should have taken the cash – you are putting yourself at risk in case it does not work out’. Personally, I think that the young man would have been more at risk of all sorts of family members chasing him across the country wanting their ‘titbit’ NOW, and is more likely to be able to ‘calm the flock’ by having a steady supply of nutrition from judicious decision making and appropriate use of resources.
So, next time you feel pursued for your success, imagine the view from an aircraft of the mayhem on the ground, and then try telling the rest of the flock to ‘go dig up your own invertebrates’!
Capt. Yaw is Chief Flying Instructor and Chief Engineer at WAASPS, and lead Pilot with Medicine on the Move, Humanitarian Aviation Logistics (www.waasps.com www.medicineonthemove.org e-mail capt.yaw@waasps.com)
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
Photo of the week, November 23rd
Our countryside is wonderfully varied and intriguing - with isolated communities hidden like nuggets of gold in the patchworks below. This community is nestled in the Akwapim-Togo ridge above Koforidua. Access and communications are challenges despite being only a few kilometres from the regional capital, as the crow flies, it may still take a half-day or more to make the journey to market. The ridge itself enjoys higher levels of rainfall, much of it relief related precipitation, coupled with the slightly cooler conditions of altitude this is an ideal area for agro-forestry, agri- and horti-cultural developments. Photo Courtesy of WAASPS Ltd. www.waasps.com
Monday, November 21, 2011
November 21st, 2011
Fresh Air Matters... with Capt. Yaw
When it comes to making a purchase of any significant item, we all take a little more care, interest and exercise more caution, prior to parting with our finances in return for goods than when we seek a less substantial acquisition. However, it always amazes me how difficult it actually can be to make a purchase of such items in the local environment. Far too often the ‘seller’ considers themselves as the one in a position of strength, and yet it is the ‘buyer’ who holds the so called ‘purchasing power’. I cannot count the number of times that I have walked out of a vendors premises without making a purchase, frustrated at the ‘lack of co-operation’ in my wanting to hand over money in return for goods. Does that sound familiar?
Let us go shopping together. We walk into the showroom of ‘Sell-em-quick’ to ask the price of a (as is far too often the case) non-price ticketed item, worth a few thousand Ghana Cedis, and stand by the item. We watch patiently the ‘sales person’ sit and finish a ball of kenkey and some fried ‘Keta-School-boys’ (that would be the small fish, not the young males of our coastal town!). Eventually they walk over to us and say ‘Uhhhh’. We ask the price. ‘Ohhhh, I cannot tell.’ Comes the reply. ‘Can you find out?’ we probe. ‘Unless tomorrow…’ OK, so that is not unusual, but to then watch the representative go back and sit at the makeshift desk, carefully laying their head on their arms for their ‘well-earned’ siesta, goes beyond a marketing joke.
No request for a name, where we are from, what else we might require and the questions that go with ‘good practice’. Why? Because, the seller believes that they hold the ‘power’ over the transaction. Hence, when I have a major purchase to make, I gear up for it, ready to face the challenges and frustrations of ‘attempting to use my purchasing power’ in the current market conditions.
Fortunately, ‘serendipity’, which not only sounds like a nice word, is a wonderful thing. Meaning that someone finds, or comes across, something that they were not expecting to find, or come across. No other word carries the same potent, instant and undisputable message of an "unexpected pleasant moment". The interesting thing is that serendipitous moments surround us, if only we can open our ears, minds and hearts to embrace them and enjoy them and are not too frustrated and flabbergasted by the challenge moments that punctuate our lives. We are also in possession of the power to impart serendipity to others.
Whilst flying circuits, last weekend at Kpong Airfield, I was looking at the runways, workshops, hangars and just under construction mini-clinic-treatment centre, pondering the challenges of electricity. Electricity in the environs of an airfield is a challenge. Buildings are far apart, and power needs tend to be quite substantial. Kpong Airfield has been trying to get a quotation for mains power to the airfield, but of course overhead lines can only come to within a certain distance of the operational areas – for airplanes and overhead wires are immiscible at all times! Add to that the distance of a rural airfield from built up areas, by obvious design, and you quickly understand that the cost of bringing the mains power to rural aviation has the habit of being prohibitively expensive, without the grants and subventions that accompany developments in the ‘developed world’ that are so ominously absent in the ‘developing world’!
Flying on the downwind leg, I was planning the location for a gen-set to provide power and potential routings for the underground lines, as well as contemplating the wire cross-section that may be needed for each segment of the layout. I had already ‘tried’ to obtain and actually obtained some quotations for wire, cables, etc. and realized that this was going to be a challenge to accomplish without some support from different organisations, including keen pricing and a ‘desire-to-sell’ from the suppliers. I had already decided that any vendor eating kenkey would not be requested to quote!
Then as we turned from base-leg to final on the fifth circuit of the training session, I saw a white pick-up pulling out from the airfield car-park. As we descended to cross the road at two-hundred feet my eye captured, partially, the bold red writing on the side of the vehicle; ‘Trop… Cable’. We continued the approach, the words held in suspense in my mind as we concentrated on the flare, touch-down and go-around components of the training exercise.
Climbing out, and turning to the cross-wind leg, I keyed the Push-To-Talk (PTT) and asked ‘confirm vehicle departing from main gate’s intentions’. The young lady on the radio, responded ‘he sells electric wire and will come back later’. Serendipity hit me in the headset as we rounded onto the next downwind section. ‘call him and ask him to return’, I requested, receiving a ‘wilco’ from the ground.
Three more circuits, my student gaining in confidence and competence, and we touched down on a ‘full-stop’, and taxied back. After my de-brief with the student, I sat with the young man, whose name I learned was Samuel. His eyes were bright and unable to meet mine through searching for glimpses of the aircraft beyond me, but his ears were well focused on our conversation. Thinking he came from one of the quoting companies, I waxed on about how expensive his quote was. He declared no knowledge of my contacts. I forgave him, a little, and suggested that he takes a look at the area, gave him a sketch of the planned installation, and asked for a quote.
Apparently, Samuel immediately started looking for a cost-effective solution to get power under the runway to the clinic building. When, at the opening of the next working day, I called and said, ‘I am coming to Tema’, he responded ‘and your quote is ready’. Little did I know that real serendipity would occur within the next hour. He had prepared the exact amount of cable, on drums, a keen price and a swift and effective payment system that did require me to spend an additional hour at an ‘accounts office’.
The serendipity did not end there. The twenty-something young man, trained in Electrical engineering at Accra Polytechnic, came out to the expansive yard and jumped onto a forklift, in his collar and tie. He loaded my truck carefully and with a smile. He never asked for any ‘thank you’ and was ‘happy to have served a customer’.
From the sighting of his truck from the cockpit, to the loading of my own was a pleasant, stress free, professional exchange between a buyer and a seller – one that demonstrates it can be done, and should be the norm.
How do your customers feel about coming to your business or organisation? Is today going to be a serendipitous day for them – if you can help to make it so, then perhaps, just perhaps, it will become a serendipitous moment for you and your colleagues too!
Capt. Yaw is Chief Flying Instructor and Chief Engineer at WAASPS, and lead Pilot with Medicine on the Move, Humanitarian Aviation Logistics (www.waasps.com www.medicineonthemove.org e-mail capt.yaw@waasps.com)
When it comes to making a purchase of any significant item, we all take a little more care, interest and exercise more caution, prior to parting with our finances in return for goods than when we seek a less substantial acquisition. However, it always amazes me how difficult it actually can be to make a purchase of such items in the local environment. Far too often the ‘seller’ considers themselves as the one in a position of strength, and yet it is the ‘buyer’ who holds the so called ‘purchasing power’. I cannot count the number of times that I have walked out of a vendors premises without making a purchase, frustrated at the ‘lack of co-operation’ in my wanting to hand over money in return for goods. Does that sound familiar?
Let us go shopping together. We walk into the showroom of ‘Sell-em-quick’ to ask the price of a (as is far too often the case) non-price ticketed item, worth a few thousand Ghana Cedis, and stand by the item. We watch patiently the ‘sales person’ sit and finish a ball of kenkey and some fried ‘Keta-School-boys’ (that would be the small fish, not the young males of our coastal town!). Eventually they walk over to us and say ‘Uhhhh’. We ask the price. ‘Ohhhh, I cannot tell.’ Comes the reply. ‘Can you find out?’ we probe. ‘Unless tomorrow…’ OK, so that is not unusual, but to then watch the representative go back and sit at the makeshift desk, carefully laying their head on their arms for their ‘well-earned’ siesta, goes beyond a marketing joke.
No request for a name, where we are from, what else we might require and the questions that go with ‘good practice’. Why? Because, the seller believes that they hold the ‘power’ over the transaction. Hence, when I have a major purchase to make, I gear up for it, ready to face the challenges and frustrations of ‘attempting to use my purchasing power’ in the current market conditions.
Fortunately, ‘serendipity’, which not only sounds like a nice word, is a wonderful thing. Meaning that someone finds, or comes across, something that they were not expecting to find, or come across. No other word carries the same potent, instant and undisputable message of an "unexpected pleasant moment". The interesting thing is that serendipitous moments surround us, if only we can open our ears, minds and hearts to embrace them and enjoy them and are not too frustrated and flabbergasted by the challenge moments that punctuate our lives. We are also in possession of the power to impart serendipity to others.
Whilst flying circuits, last weekend at Kpong Airfield, I was looking at the runways, workshops, hangars and just under construction mini-clinic-treatment centre, pondering the challenges of electricity. Electricity in the environs of an airfield is a challenge. Buildings are far apart, and power needs tend to be quite substantial. Kpong Airfield has been trying to get a quotation for mains power to the airfield, but of course overhead lines can only come to within a certain distance of the operational areas – for airplanes and overhead wires are immiscible at all times! Add to that the distance of a rural airfield from built up areas, by obvious design, and you quickly understand that the cost of bringing the mains power to rural aviation has the habit of being prohibitively expensive, without the grants and subventions that accompany developments in the ‘developed world’ that are so ominously absent in the ‘developing world’!
Flying on the downwind leg, I was planning the location for a gen-set to provide power and potential routings for the underground lines, as well as contemplating the wire cross-section that may be needed for each segment of the layout. I had already ‘tried’ to obtain and actually obtained some quotations for wire, cables, etc. and realized that this was going to be a challenge to accomplish without some support from different organisations, including keen pricing and a ‘desire-to-sell’ from the suppliers. I had already decided that any vendor eating kenkey would not be requested to quote!
Then as we turned from base-leg to final on the fifth circuit of the training session, I saw a white pick-up pulling out from the airfield car-park. As we descended to cross the road at two-hundred feet my eye captured, partially, the bold red writing on the side of the vehicle; ‘Trop… Cable’. We continued the approach, the words held in suspense in my mind as we concentrated on the flare, touch-down and go-around components of the training exercise.
Climbing out, and turning to the cross-wind leg, I keyed the Push-To-Talk (PTT) and asked ‘confirm vehicle departing from main gate’s intentions’. The young lady on the radio, responded ‘he sells electric wire and will come back later’. Serendipity hit me in the headset as we rounded onto the next downwind section. ‘call him and ask him to return’, I requested, receiving a ‘wilco’ from the ground.
Three more circuits, my student gaining in confidence and competence, and we touched down on a ‘full-stop’, and taxied back. After my de-brief with the student, I sat with the young man, whose name I learned was Samuel. His eyes were bright and unable to meet mine through searching for glimpses of the aircraft beyond me, but his ears were well focused on our conversation. Thinking he came from one of the quoting companies, I waxed on about how expensive his quote was. He declared no knowledge of my contacts. I forgave him, a little, and suggested that he takes a look at the area, gave him a sketch of the planned installation, and asked for a quote.
Apparently, Samuel immediately started looking for a cost-effective solution to get power under the runway to the clinic building. When, at the opening of the next working day, I called and said, ‘I am coming to Tema’, he responded ‘and your quote is ready’. Little did I know that real serendipity would occur within the next hour. He had prepared the exact amount of cable, on drums, a keen price and a swift and effective payment system that did require me to spend an additional hour at an ‘accounts office’.
The serendipity did not end there. The twenty-something young man, trained in Electrical engineering at Accra Polytechnic, came out to the expansive yard and jumped onto a forklift, in his collar and tie. He loaded my truck carefully and with a smile. He never asked for any ‘thank you’ and was ‘happy to have served a customer’.
From the sighting of his truck from the cockpit, to the loading of my own was a pleasant, stress free, professional exchange between a buyer and a seller – one that demonstrates it can be done, and should be the norm.
How do your customers feel about coming to your business or organisation? Is today going to be a serendipitous day for them – if you can help to make it so, then perhaps, just perhaps, it will become a serendipitous moment for you and your colleagues too!
Capt. Yaw is Chief Flying Instructor and Chief Engineer at WAASPS, and lead Pilot with Medicine on the Move, Humanitarian Aviation Logistics (www.waasps.com www.medicineonthemove.org e-mail capt.yaw@waasps.com)
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
Photo of the week, November 16th
Patchworks of strip farming and apparently haphazard land usage belies the developing challenges in food security in many areas of the world, including Ghana. Lack of co-ordination for irrigation, use of mechanical land working and integrated crop management are hampering increases in yields (quantitative and qualitative)and socio-economic growth in many rural areas. Ongoing land ownership challenges and the resulting lack of land security compound these matters. Meanwhile, the consumers in the urban zones continue to raise their demands for produce and at the same time attempt to depress farm gate pricing, whilst raising the market price at retail outlets. Next time you purchase some agricultural produce, think about the work that went into it - or better still, seek fresh produce at a rural market when you can - and pay a respectable price, don't haggle so much - they have school fees to pay too! Photo courtesy of Medicine on the Move. http://www.medicineonthemove.org/
Monday, November 14, 2011
November 14th, 2011
Fresh Air Matters... with Capt. Yaw
The so called ‘Whites Only Restaurant’ in Ghana seems to have caused quite a stir recently – and quite rightly too. Whether the comment was made in jest or not, there is no place in today’s world for ‘such bigoted nonsense’. The only ‘colour coded’ message that I agree with is in Rugby, where the All Blacks is the name of New Zealand’s National rugby team, without any racial connotations – and mainly white players!
Throughout my time on this planet, I have constantly been reminded that ‘colour differentiation’ is common practice – in fact discrimination is common practice – in one form or another. I abhor all such behaviour, so much so that, on a recent interview, when I was asked about my ‘colour’, I replied, as I opened my Leatherman knife, ‘let us cut your arm and my arm and we can then compare the colour of our blood – if it is the same, we are the same….’ – the colour question was withdrawn post-haste! In Europe, one is NOT allowed to discriminate on colour – in fact there are strict laws on racism and sexism. Discrimination is not tolerated, not on the colour of the skin, disability, gender creed nor social background of the individuals – for such things are personal and sacrosanct.
However, for restaurants there are ‘methods that distinguish’. For example, McDonalds Restaurants, have a ‘bring ‘em in’ structure that makes the restaurant open to all – from all walks of life and all means. It does not mean that they have a great product – but it does mean that they are very popular and make a lotta lotta money! In the same street as a McDonalds one may find a ‘Cordon Bleu Restaurant’ charging ten or more times the money for a meal. Such a restaurant, by nature of its décor, pricing structure and ‘approach’ establishes its ‘clientele’ – not by colour but by ‘accessibility’, and they will make less money at the end of the day than the McDo! Once again, in the same street one may find a ‘Joe’s Café’, (my sort of place), it will cost less to eat in than McDonalds, it will not have uniforms, it will have beans on toast and mug of tea, be patronised by all nationalities, and it will be very affordable and accessible. It is the sort of place that you can enter wearing oily trousers and steel capped shoes and feel right at home – regardless of the amount of oil or paint colour on your clothes and skin! It is a place where ‘tuxedo’ is a no-no, and those from the ‘upper echelons’ of society may struggle with, regardless of their colour – unless they have just finished changing the oil in their 1949 Rolls Royce!
Colour-ism, racism, xenophobia (fear of foreigners/strangers) and related prejudices, seem to me, to be about perceived ‘what is better’ and such sentiments are not alien to the world of aviation.
Aviation, it seems particularly in the developing nations playing fields, suffers at the hand of ‘exclusiveness-ism’, ‘fake hierarchy-ism’, ‘uniform-status-ism’ and ‘my-job-is-more-important-than-yours-ism’ - then almost any other industry.
There is a saying in aviation that expresses much of the ‘attitude’ that can create divides and chasms in the working environment: ‘What does an airline pilot use for contraception?’ – answer ‘their personality’. It is true that all pilots have an ‘attitude’ caused by their ‘status’ of ‘Commander – Pilot in Command’ – the ‘it is my plane and you will do as I say’ approach. This is a needed mentality at times, but it tumbles outside of the cockpit far too often (and I am not exempted, not by any means!). This is not altogether a bad thing, but it can be ‘misinterpreted’ by those who do not grasp the mental position that being in control of an aircraft requires for safety.
Air Traffic Controllers have a similar approach to ‘I have looked at the situation, summed it up and made a decision – now do as I say…’ which is also born out of their working environment and methods. Add to that the security personnel around any aerodrome and their ‘protectiveness’, couple it with the aircraft engineers and maintenance personnel who realise that their jobs are what enables safe flight, and quickly you have a lot of ‘type A’ personalities in one industry… an explosive combination, if not handled with care and real understanding of where each individual is coming from. That is without considering the ‘Airline Pilot attitude’ against the ‘military pilot attitude’ or the ‘light aviation pilot attitude’ – the industry is rife with ‘attitudes that clash’.
Fortunately, the ribbing and teasing mentality in the industry helps to overcome most of the attitudinal differences. The other day a new pilot came to the flying school at Kpong Airfield to convert from flying one type of light aircraft to another. They had learned on a Cessna – a very popular and very easy to fly aircraft. Within the ‘flying-fellowship’ there are the ‘Cessna-ites’ and the ‘non-Cessna-ites’. I definitely fall into the ‘non-Cessna-ites’. We teased the poor chap, and he laughed with us as we celebrated the differences in piloting. (Technically the Cessna has a lot of differential aileron making certain manoeuvres ‘too easy and potentially rudderless’ for the non-Cessna pilots)
I actually started learning to fly in a Cessna in the late 1980’s. At the time, I thought they were the ‘bee’s knees’. Then, in the 1990’s I discovered ‘real-planes’ (you can already hear the Cessna-ites growling!) and never looked back. Of course, Cessna is great little plane, if you like a ‘spam-can’ (the non-Cessna-ites term for the metal can without any flavour), which also adds insult to injury – in a fun-poking manner. Interestingly, once the Cessna pilot embraces the ‘non-Cessna’ they rarely turn back, apart from the odd ‘melancholy moment down memory lane’. Oh, dear, it seems that I have prejudice in my approach to an icon of aviation – all offended people, please come and fly!
We all have prejudices – some are founded, some are not. As I really wanted to say to somebody in high office recently ‘If you are offended by my opinion, you should hear the ones I keep to myself’. Ultimately, we need to acknowledge and accept that we are never going to agree on opinions and certain matters – and we should keep some things inside our heads! We will always be ready to criticise the ‘Mercedes Benz driver’ over the ‘Ford driver’ or the ‘BMW driver’, have a ready quip about the altitude achieved by the extremely high heels being worn by the lady walking past, make comments about the type of foods being eaten by the person sitting next to us, and more. BUT these are all ‘prejudices’ about things that can be changed – and that is perfectly normal – and if done in a fun and appropriate manner, add to the spice of life as we breathe a few tonnes of oxygen prior exiting this departure lounge called ‘Earth’.
However, prejudice, even with (generally bad) humour, about certain things – things that cannot be changed or are extremely personal are NOT acceptable ever - be it skin colour, disability, faith, gender, facial features or the need for reading glasses – such differences must be embraced, with love and understanding or humanity is doomed.
Capt. Yaw is Chief Flying Instructor and Chief Engineer at WAASPS, and lead Pilot with Medicine on the Move, Humanitarian Aviation Logistics (www.waasps.com www.medicineonthemove.org e-mail capt.yaw@waasps.com)
The so called ‘Whites Only Restaurant’ in Ghana seems to have caused quite a stir recently – and quite rightly too. Whether the comment was made in jest or not, there is no place in today’s world for ‘such bigoted nonsense’. The only ‘colour coded’ message that I agree with is in Rugby, where the All Blacks is the name of New Zealand’s National rugby team, without any racial connotations – and mainly white players!
Throughout my time on this planet, I have constantly been reminded that ‘colour differentiation’ is common practice – in fact discrimination is common practice – in one form or another. I abhor all such behaviour, so much so that, on a recent interview, when I was asked about my ‘colour’, I replied, as I opened my Leatherman knife, ‘let us cut your arm and my arm and we can then compare the colour of our blood – if it is the same, we are the same….’ – the colour question was withdrawn post-haste! In Europe, one is NOT allowed to discriminate on colour – in fact there are strict laws on racism and sexism. Discrimination is not tolerated, not on the colour of the skin, disability, gender creed nor social background of the individuals – for such things are personal and sacrosanct.
However, for restaurants there are ‘methods that distinguish’. For example, McDonalds Restaurants, have a ‘bring ‘em in’ structure that makes the restaurant open to all – from all walks of life and all means. It does not mean that they have a great product – but it does mean that they are very popular and make a lotta lotta money! In the same street as a McDonalds one may find a ‘Cordon Bleu Restaurant’ charging ten or more times the money for a meal. Such a restaurant, by nature of its décor, pricing structure and ‘approach’ establishes its ‘clientele’ – not by colour but by ‘accessibility’, and they will make less money at the end of the day than the McDo! Once again, in the same street one may find a ‘Joe’s Café’, (my sort of place), it will cost less to eat in than McDonalds, it will not have uniforms, it will have beans on toast and mug of tea, be patronised by all nationalities, and it will be very affordable and accessible. It is the sort of place that you can enter wearing oily trousers and steel capped shoes and feel right at home – regardless of the amount of oil or paint colour on your clothes and skin! It is a place where ‘tuxedo’ is a no-no, and those from the ‘upper echelons’ of society may struggle with, regardless of their colour – unless they have just finished changing the oil in their 1949 Rolls Royce!
Colour-ism, racism, xenophobia (fear of foreigners/strangers) and related prejudices, seem to me, to be about perceived ‘what is better’ and such sentiments are not alien to the world of aviation.
Aviation, it seems particularly in the developing nations playing fields, suffers at the hand of ‘exclusiveness-ism’, ‘fake hierarchy-ism’, ‘uniform-status-ism’ and ‘my-job-is-more-important-than-yours-ism’ - then almost any other industry.
There is a saying in aviation that expresses much of the ‘attitude’ that can create divides and chasms in the working environment: ‘What does an airline pilot use for contraception?’ – answer ‘their personality’. It is true that all pilots have an ‘attitude’ caused by their ‘status’ of ‘Commander – Pilot in Command’ – the ‘it is my plane and you will do as I say’ approach. This is a needed mentality at times, but it tumbles outside of the cockpit far too often (and I am not exempted, not by any means!). This is not altogether a bad thing, but it can be ‘misinterpreted’ by those who do not grasp the mental position that being in control of an aircraft requires for safety.
Air Traffic Controllers have a similar approach to ‘I have looked at the situation, summed it up and made a decision – now do as I say…’ which is also born out of their working environment and methods. Add to that the security personnel around any aerodrome and their ‘protectiveness’, couple it with the aircraft engineers and maintenance personnel who realise that their jobs are what enables safe flight, and quickly you have a lot of ‘type A’ personalities in one industry… an explosive combination, if not handled with care and real understanding of where each individual is coming from. That is without considering the ‘Airline Pilot attitude’ against the ‘military pilot attitude’ or the ‘light aviation pilot attitude’ – the industry is rife with ‘attitudes that clash’.
Fortunately, the ribbing and teasing mentality in the industry helps to overcome most of the attitudinal differences. The other day a new pilot came to the flying school at Kpong Airfield to convert from flying one type of light aircraft to another. They had learned on a Cessna – a very popular and very easy to fly aircraft. Within the ‘flying-fellowship’ there are the ‘Cessna-ites’ and the ‘non-Cessna-ites’. I definitely fall into the ‘non-Cessna-ites’. We teased the poor chap, and he laughed with us as we celebrated the differences in piloting. (Technically the Cessna has a lot of differential aileron making certain manoeuvres ‘too easy and potentially rudderless’ for the non-Cessna pilots)
I actually started learning to fly in a Cessna in the late 1980’s. At the time, I thought they were the ‘bee’s knees’. Then, in the 1990’s I discovered ‘real-planes’ (you can already hear the Cessna-ites growling!) and never looked back. Of course, Cessna is great little plane, if you like a ‘spam-can’ (the non-Cessna-ites term for the metal can without any flavour), which also adds insult to injury – in a fun-poking manner. Interestingly, once the Cessna pilot embraces the ‘non-Cessna’ they rarely turn back, apart from the odd ‘melancholy moment down memory lane’. Oh, dear, it seems that I have prejudice in my approach to an icon of aviation – all offended people, please come and fly!
We all have prejudices – some are founded, some are not. As I really wanted to say to somebody in high office recently ‘If you are offended by my opinion, you should hear the ones I keep to myself’. Ultimately, we need to acknowledge and accept that we are never going to agree on opinions and certain matters – and we should keep some things inside our heads! We will always be ready to criticise the ‘Mercedes Benz driver’ over the ‘Ford driver’ or the ‘BMW driver’, have a ready quip about the altitude achieved by the extremely high heels being worn by the lady walking past, make comments about the type of foods being eaten by the person sitting next to us, and more. BUT these are all ‘prejudices’ about things that can be changed – and that is perfectly normal – and if done in a fun and appropriate manner, add to the spice of life as we breathe a few tonnes of oxygen prior exiting this departure lounge called ‘Earth’.
However, prejudice, even with (generally bad) humour, about certain things – things that cannot be changed or are extremely personal are NOT acceptable ever - be it skin colour, disability, faith, gender, facial features or the need for reading glasses – such differences must be embraced, with love and understanding or humanity is doomed.
Capt. Yaw is Chief Flying Instructor and Chief Engineer at WAASPS, and lead Pilot with Medicine on the Move, Humanitarian Aviation Logistics (www.waasps.com www.medicineonthemove.org e-mail capt.yaw@waasps.com)
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Photo of the week, November 9th
Transport of goods and people on the lake is principally by canoe - and, as we can see here, all sorts of items are carried aboard locally manufactured boats. Our 'barely fifty year old National Resource of Lake Volta' is beginning to come of age. However, accessibility to take basic healthcare, education and 'safety at work' messages to these communities is not easy, and yet, these lake edges are key areas for Agricultural and Piscicultural developments. Without health, safety and education development of these vast areas will be slow. When did you last visit one of the picturesque villages around the lake - or better still fly over a part of the lake to appreciate the magnitude of it all? If you have not made that effort, you are missing out on so much that Ghana has to offer! Photo Courtesy of Medicine on the Move http://www.medicineonthemove.org/
Monday, November 7, 2011
November 7th, 2011
Fresh Air Matters... with Capt. Yaw
It is infinite, and yet I can never get enough of it. It has kept the same speed since Adam and Eve, and yet it seems to be going past faster than ever. I use it to calculate my own speed, and my own progress, and I sell it, but never touch it, move it nor ingest it, and still it is gone - it stretches immeasurably behind me, and immeasurably in front of me, and yet I seem unable to master it.
Time. Time is an asset that we all have, it is just there, whether you want it or not, endless in its nature. Once it is gone, it is past us and we cannot change it or alter any of it, we all have the same amount in each day and thus we have to master the use of it as we pass this planet’s surface, guardians of our grandchildren’s assets.
I look around me and realise that in West Africa, time appears to be passing more quickly – mainly due to the constant (well almost) day length, and the environmental factors. If you compare what gets done in a day in Europe in the summer, it is generally more than is achieved here, by far. There is more ‘day length’ and I am sure that is a part – practically and psychologically – in the effect. I will often say ‘there are not enough days in the hour’; a corruption of the ‘not enough hours in a day’ to express my personal frustrations at not achieving all that I seek to in a twenty-four hour West African time period.
It is not just the passage of the time, as many people express the same common ‘surprise’ at learning that we are ‘more tired’ living in West Africa than elsewhere. Most of the people I know like to be in bed before nine in the evening – yet in the temperate climes they would add another two hours to their ‘time for bed’. It is very clear that the environment has a tiring effect on our bodies – far more than in the temperate zones, and that leads to a reduction in our ability to achieve our objectives… unless we modify our approach to the use of our time in the achievement of our goals.
Of course, the ‘incredible slowness’ of ‘administrative activity’ is crippling to the time conscious. Recently I spent over ninety minutes in a bank ‘of international connection’ in Accra waiting for a bankers draft – it is simply the pace at which it happens. I have (noisily) walked out of many banks in Ghana – exasperated at the waste of my limited time – it seems that they fail to understand that we have to actually EARN the money to put in the bank! If you stand in an average bank in Accra on a busy day you will witness a crime, punishable by law (if only we could make it stick) – that of ‘causing financial loss to the state’. Imagine the hundreds of people who visit a bank in a day, and add up the ‘time spent waiting due to lack of efficiency’. If it is just twenty minutes per person and two hundred and fifty people per day visit the bank, that makes over eighty two hours ‘of wasted time’ in a day or over twenty one thousand hours in a year… that is two thousand six hundred and eighty ‘eight hour days’ or a total of five hundred and thirty six working weeks – about ten person-years of working…. PER Branch…. The must be hundreds of branches across the nation contributing to this ‘productivity’ leakage – and with it, the loss of productivity to the enterprises, and hence loss of tax revenues – or, as we started ‘loss of finance to the state’.
In aviation we have to take time very seriously. Pilots are limited in the time they are allowed to fly in a week and in a year. Aircraft are serviced on ‘hours’. Times for departures and trip times are the ‘measurement of success’ in the industry. Fuel burn per hour is key to a safe calculation of the trip requirements – and it goes on ‘time to climb’, time to waypoint, time-over-distance (a fascinating navigational tool), etc.
My surprise (or was it really) this week was when a ‘Director’ of a state institution was ‘unable’ to make a meeting before his leave. I was unperturbed, for a week or two out on the particular project would be OK. Then I heard the most incredible announcement ‘He has taken thirty working days’. Which, if you consider this time of years ‘other holidays’ means that his presence in his office will be negligible – if any – prior to the new year.
My immediate reaction to the ‘poor messenger’, at whom I opened fire, was ‘So, if he can take that long off of work, he is not needed.’ The reply of ‘Oh, it does not matter, the technicians are still working, so it won’t change anything.’, simply added to my conviction that ‘he was unnecessary’. I come across many ‘managers’ who do not seem to use their time wisely – the ominous presence of a television often a tell-tale sign of ‘judicious time-wasting’. It is one thing to listen to the news on the radio at the top of the hour, but it is another to watch the latest Nigerian movie during ‘supposedly productivity hours’. Just imagine if you found a doctor watching a movie instead of concentrating on the surgery in hand!
Over the past seventeen plus years in Ghana I have seen some really hard working individuals make it to the ‘big man’s chair’. Sadly, some of them see that as ‘early retirement on full pay’. The other, fortunately, are seen to redouble their efforts and are often not found in their office, but rather on the field, or in the factory – chasing the jobs and inspiring the next generation towards achievement and outstanding use of the limited time we have on the planet.
Today’s edition is on a ‘holiday’ – another one. Ghana has a lot of ‘holiday days’, and I really do not hold with the concept at all. We are a developing nation – we need to work hard, dedicated to our tasks, not taking extended leave periods or enduring the disruption of yet another ‘national holiday’ and the knock on effects on traffic, productivity and growth.
Even the hawkers in Accra have a better understanding of these things than most. In 1995 one of them, when I asked why he was ‘working’ on a national holiday, responded ‘stomach no holiday’. That simple fact should focus all of us onto the need to use time wisely, effectively and to remember that ‘no one can ever change the past, but we can all change the future’ provided we all make good use of the time at hand, all of the time!
Capt. Yaw is Chief Flying Instructor and Chief Engineer at WAASPS, and lead Pilot with Medicine on the Move, Humanitarian Aviation Logistics (www.waasps.com www.medicineonthemove.org e-mail capt.yaw@waasps.com)
It is infinite, and yet I can never get enough of it. It has kept the same speed since Adam and Eve, and yet it seems to be going past faster than ever. I use it to calculate my own speed, and my own progress, and I sell it, but never touch it, move it nor ingest it, and still it is gone - it stretches immeasurably behind me, and immeasurably in front of me, and yet I seem unable to master it.
Time. Time is an asset that we all have, it is just there, whether you want it or not, endless in its nature. Once it is gone, it is past us and we cannot change it or alter any of it, we all have the same amount in each day and thus we have to master the use of it as we pass this planet’s surface, guardians of our grandchildren’s assets.
I look around me and realise that in West Africa, time appears to be passing more quickly – mainly due to the constant (well almost) day length, and the environmental factors. If you compare what gets done in a day in Europe in the summer, it is generally more than is achieved here, by far. There is more ‘day length’ and I am sure that is a part – practically and psychologically – in the effect. I will often say ‘there are not enough days in the hour’; a corruption of the ‘not enough hours in a day’ to express my personal frustrations at not achieving all that I seek to in a twenty-four hour West African time period.
It is not just the passage of the time, as many people express the same common ‘surprise’ at learning that we are ‘more tired’ living in West Africa than elsewhere. Most of the people I know like to be in bed before nine in the evening – yet in the temperate climes they would add another two hours to their ‘time for bed’. It is very clear that the environment has a tiring effect on our bodies – far more than in the temperate zones, and that leads to a reduction in our ability to achieve our objectives… unless we modify our approach to the use of our time in the achievement of our goals.
Of course, the ‘incredible slowness’ of ‘administrative activity’ is crippling to the time conscious. Recently I spent over ninety minutes in a bank ‘of international connection’ in Accra waiting for a bankers draft – it is simply the pace at which it happens. I have (noisily) walked out of many banks in Ghana – exasperated at the waste of my limited time – it seems that they fail to understand that we have to actually EARN the money to put in the bank! If you stand in an average bank in Accra on a busy day you will witness a crime, punishable by law (if only we could make it stick) – that of ‘causing financial loss to the state’. Imagine the hundreds of people who visit a bank in a day, and add up the ‘time spent waiting due to lack of efficiency’. If it is just twenty minutes per person and two hundred and fifty people per day visit the bank, that makes over eighty two hours ‘of wasted time’ in a day or over twenty one thousand hours in a year… that is two thousand six hundred and eighty ‘eight hour days’ or a total of five hundred and thirty six working weeks – about ten person-years of working…. PER Branch…. The must be hundreds of branches across the nation contributing to this ‘productivity’ leakage – and with it, the loss of productivity to the enterprises, and hence loss of tax revenues – or, as we started ‘loss of finance to the state’.
In aviation we have to take time very seriously. Pilots are limited in the time they are allowed to fly in a week and in a year. Aircraft are serviced on ‘hours’. Times for departures and trip times are the ‘measurement of success’ in the industry. Fuel burn per hour is key to a safe calculation of the trip requirements – and it goes on ‘time to climb’, time to waypoint, time-over-distance (a fascinating navigational tool), etc.
My surprise (or was it really) this week was when a ‘Director’ of a state institution was ‘unable’ to make a meeting before his leave. I was unperturbed, for a week or two out on the particular project would be OK. Then I heard the most incredible announcement ‘He has taken thirty working days’. Which, if you consider this time of years ‘other holidays’ means that his presence in his office will be negligible – if any – prior to the new year.
My immediate reaction to the ‘poor messenger’, at whom I opened fire, was ‘So, if he can take that long off of work, he is not needed.’ The reply of ‘Oh, it does not matter, the technicians are still working, so it won’t change anything.’, simply added to my conviction that ‘he was unnecessary’. I come across many ‘managers’ who do not seem to use their time wisely – the ominous presence of a television often a tell-tale sign of ‘judicious time-wasting’. It is one thing to listen to the news on the radio at the top of the hour, but it is another to watch the latest Nigerian movie during ‘supposedly productivity hours’. Just imagine if you found a doctor watching a movie instead of concentrating on the surgery in hand!
Over the past seventeen plus years in Ghana I have seen some really hard working individuals make it to the ‘big man’s chair’. Sadly, some of them see that as ‘early retirement on full pay’. The other, fortunately, are seen to redouble their efforts and are often not found in their office, but rather on the field, or in the factory – chasing the jobs and inspiring the next generation towards achievement and outstanding use of the limited time we have on the planet.
Today’s edition is on a ‘holiday’ – another one. Ghana has a lot of ‘holiday days’, and I really do not hold with the concept at all. We are a developing nation – we need to work hard, dedicated to our tasks, not taking extended leave periods or enduring the disruption of yet another ‘national holiday’ and the knock on effects on traffic, productivity and growth.
Even the hawkers in Accra have a better understanding of these things than most. In 1995 one of them, when I asked why he was ‘working’ on a national holiday, responded ‘stomach no holiday’. That simple fact should focus all of us onto the need to use time wisely, effectively and to remember that ‘no one can ever change the past, but we can all change the future’ provided we all make good use of the time at hand, all of the time!
Capt. Yaw is Chief Flying Instructor and Chief Engineer at WAASPS, and lead Pilot with Medicine on the Move, Humanitarian Aviation Logistics (www.waasps.com www.medicineonthemove.org e-mail capt.yaw@waasps.com)
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
Photo of the week, November 2nd
Last week the Volta Lake was graced by the largest vessel ever to float upon it, as six barges were magnificently navigated from Buipe to Akosombo by VLTC's Captain Abdulai Seini and his crew. The Volta Lake is one of our Nations under estimated, under utilised resources. Whether as a source of transport, irrigation, fish farms or tourist attractions, the Volta has 'gallons' of potential, with its estimated eight thousand kilometer coastline, thousands of villages, ecological diversity and aesthetic beauty that can hold you spell bound for months on end. Discover more about our nations lake resource - and prepare to be surprised! Photo by WAASPS Ltd (http://www.waasps.com/) courtesy of Volta Lake Transport Company.'
(Selassy, I have sent this at FULL resolution, in case you want to make a slightly bigger image, since it is magnificent and a great achievement.... we have many more HQ photos of this and other 'sights' around the Volta should you want to run a 'special' on Lake Volta in the future - perhaps a centre-fold? Perhaps with some advertising from VRA, VLTC, etc.... just an idea, and perhaps a solution for us to 'raise some revenue' from all we provide you too!!! )
(Selassy, I have sent this at FULL resolution, in case you want to make a slightly bigger image, since it is magnificent and a great achievement.... we have many more HQ photos of this and other 'sights' around the Volta should you want to run a 'special' on Lake Volta in the future - perhaps a centre-fold? Perhaps with some advertising from VRA, VLTC, etc.... just an idea, and perhaps a solution for us to 'raise some revenue' from all we provide you too!!! )
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