Social Impact & Volunteering

SAP Blog: The Road to Janga Town: Mobility Technology Connects Ghana to New Opportunities

Oct 6, 2011 11:00 AM ET
Campaign: SAP Supports Sustainable Growth in Emerging Economies

SAP blog by Evan Welsh

Yesterday we traveled in a 16-seat bus on a sometimes paved and sometimes not so paved road in Northern Ghana, from Tamale to Janga Town. Along the way we encountered several check points, where angry looking men with machine guns curiously peered through the windows at our white faces, a rare sight in this very rural region. Our driver explained that the road is the main thoroughfare leading to Burkina Faso, and that smugglings and robberies were not uncommon. I wasn’t sure whether to be comforted or assured. 

Our traveling pack of 16 people, consisting of nine international journalists from Germany, the UK and South Africa; four people from SAP and three people from NGOs; came together 60 hours earlier from four corners of the world, to see how technology is making an economic impact in the lives of thousands of rural farmers in some of the most remote regions of Ghana.
 
The road to Janga Town was not without its obstacles and challenges. After a long day of project briefings in Accra, a car tour through the city (worthy of an article itself) and an outside dinner by the Atlantic (the restaurant, “Next Door,” – to what wasn’t exactly clear, didn’t have any running water; evidently it was shut off weeks ago and the manager wasn’t sure why or when it was going to restored), we arose before 4 a.m. on Wednesday to catch the 6 a.m. flight to Tamale, supposedly the more reliable of the few daily flights upcountry. As we were about to board we were instructed to take a seat in the waiting area. The speedometer was broken. It would only take 10 to 15 minutes to repair. An hour and half later we were on our way.

Continue reading about SAP's trip to Janga Town, Ghana on the original posting on Forbes...

 

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