Remembering Visit with Chair of Toronto Star

From left: Michelle Newlands (me!), Mr. John Honderich, Sandra Ferrari and Cheryl Oates.

With high standards, Journalists for Human Rights brought chair of the Toronto Star Mr. John Honderich to Ghana. During his ten day visit, Mr. Honderich lived with us. 

By 'us', I mean three of four jhr trainers in Accra, and all ladies. For the first three months of our stay we didn't have flowing water, which meant everything we did was done by retrieving buckets of water from an outside polytank and filling a smaller tank inside. 

Upon Mr. Honderich's arrival, we had finally negotiated with our landlandy, or Auntie, to let us fix the water pump. Yes, all of this time it was an easy fix but it was convincing our landlady to let us which was a struggle. She says she wanted us to experience 'real Ghana' and not all Ghanaian's have access to running water. 

Fair enough.

So, we managed to fix the tank the day before the grand arrival and we would soon have running water for the first time in three months. But not quite yet!

 

What this meant, was for the first few days of Mr. Honderich's visit he had to endure the enticing process of bucket showers at the jhr residence. 

In addition, he ate Talapia with his hand, shopped on Oxford Street, met with students at the AUCC, worked with local journalists and editorial staff at Ghana's largest independent newspaper and spend every evening on the front porch catching up on daily events.

It was an incredible opportunity to share an experience with such an acclaimed media professional and show him a little bit about our lives in Ghana.

Thanks for the visit, and thanks for being great!

To read a blog of John Honderich's visit in Ghana visit JHR's Field Notes blog or click here.

To read a column on gay rights written by Mr. Honderich during his visit click here.http://www.thestar.com/news/article/1088441