A Day in the Life of a Kwamebikrom Visitor

Bicycle Transport
Motorbike transport
Today I bring you a day's life of an inhabitant of Kwamebikrom, a community in the Bia District - 6 km from Essam/Debiso (the district capital) - of the Western Region.


Transportation: The usual transport system between Kwamebikrom, where I am staying and Essam - where we go to eat - is taxi (though I went with a pick-up truck). However, most of the inhabitants have motorbikes and bicycles. These two are the most common form of transportation within the community and between towns.

Phone-Charging Shop
The road leading to the community from Essam is mostly made of laterite. It's fun to drive on with all the 'grrr' sound created when the truck's tires pass on the gravels.

Small Scale Enterprise: There are innovative ways inhabitants of this community are employing to generate income. Electrical power went off on Thursday morning and after running-out my laptop's battery I went in search of a place to charge my battery. After searching for sometime I was introduced to a charging shop. There were numerous phones being charged with a petrol-powered generator.
DSTV

I looked back to my area at Madina. Where would I get a place to charge my phone if electrical power goes off? This is genuine innovation.

Wealth Measure: Researchers had used the presence of cable TV as a measure of household wealth. It's one of the indicators of wealth, even in developed locations in the country's capital. DSTV, one of the first cable TV, has ridden high amongst all the available cable TVs. And even with the current influx of 'payless' cable TV, the people in the community still opt for the relatively expensive DSTV. This is a money-generating investment as owners charge prospective viewers on major match-days like a Chelsea-Manchester United match or an El-Classico.

All-Purpose Shop
All-Purpose Shops: Regarding small-scale enterprises, there are two multipurpose shops that sell several basic items from Coca-Cola to Hair Products and flip-flops. After a hard day's work we went to this shop for a bottle of coke (the soft-drink) each. The picture on the right shows the lady selling an item to a client. The shop contains canned fishes, liquid soaps, powdered milk, and others.

Yesterday I had a call to meet my boss in Kumasi today. Thus, I am currently in Kumasi and would be going back to the community on Monday or Tuesday. I would be enlisting the services of enumerators, train, finish the questionnaire and get it printed before going back to the Community. Though this work is tedious, I am trying hard to juice-out the fun. My boss took me out to eat and share a drink before flying back to Accra.

Comments

  1. Amy17 May 2011 at 12:32

    Thank you for sharing some information from your travels! I hope that all is going well.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Geosi17 May 2011 at 12:56

    Big, big, revelations here! I like the job your doing and I see you've been enjoying your trip.

    ReplyDelete
  3. ImageNations17 May 2011 at 22:28

    @Amy. Yes all's well now. Everything is in order now and actual data collection begins tomorrow. I've my enumerators and all the questionnaires are in order. I've fifteen working days to cover fifteen communities.

    ReplyDelete
  4. ImageNations17 May 2011 at 22:38

    @Geosi thanks. I try to find enjoyment in the stress and tiredness. Just got back to the community from Kumasi.

    ReplyDelete

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