Ghana - The Lions on the Road: Cycling London to Cape Town - page 147

I left the newspaper's office and cycled to the recreation center where I met John,
his wife and son. They bought me lunch and during our conversation John mentioned that
Save the Children Fund (STC) had an office in Accra which I quickly added to my must-
visitlist.Afterlunch,Johnandhisfamilyhadtoleave,soaftersayinggood-bye,Iremained
at the table to plan my itinerary for the next day. At the top of my list was to visit the Ca-
nadian High Commission to get the address of STC. Then, I wanted to visit STC to see if
there were any projects I could be permitted to visit. As I began to write in my journal, a
Peace Corps volunteer, Melissa Fischer walked by. She joined me at the table and as we
chatted I mentioned that I was in the hunt for a Shimano derailleur. She suggested that I
visit the Peace Corps HQ to see if they had any spare bike parts. I flipped to the next day's
itinerary list and added it to the bottom.
I went back to my place and reread all the items on my list before I went to bed. I
was dying with anticipation for I had a lot that I wanted to do especially getting an oppor-
tunity to visit some STC projects and getting my hands on that illusive Shimano derailleur.
The next morning arrived painfully slow. I had to wait until the offices opened be-
fore I could officially start tackling the items on my itinerary. I first met Rosalyn from the
Canadian High Commission who was kind enough to give me the address to STC and to
type me a letter of introduction for the Benin Embassy to help me obtain a visa.
I left the Canadian High Commission and as I cycled to STC's office, I coincident-
allybumpedintoSTC'sdirector.Wechattedonthesideoftheroadandsetupameetingfor
10:00 a.m. the next day. I then proceeded to cycle to a few bike shops but had no luck with
the derailleur. While I was at one of the bike shops, I was having severe stomach pains and
actually moaned aloud. The shop owner bought me a 7-UP and suggested I go lie down.
Hence Ireturned to my room at the cathedral to nap and decided to postpone the rest ofmy
itinerary until the next day.
As I lay in bed, my thoughts became occupied with my derailleur dilemma. Since I
had no luck thus far in finding one in Côte D'Ivoire or Ghana, I decided that if the Peace
CorpsHQturnedouttobeadeadend,IwouldthensendafaxtoBikeChain(thecompany