I’m currently part of the Micro Finance Brigade under the LSE Global Brigades going down to Ghana in June 2011 to provide Micro Finance consultation and business support to the local businesses at the Ekumfi-Ekotsi village in the Central Region of Ghana. This village is the site of much volunteer support group and the Global Brigade has just started operating in Ghana (read their Expanding to Africa Report); global brigades target regions and locales based on their needs and potential for development. This is going to be a really exciting project for the brigade here at LSE (which is our first time working on Micro Finance).
And while we are all keen to get started on the actual brigades work, it would be impossible without support from the outside; we are raising funds towards this wonderful project over at empowered.org and this is my fund-raising page, which I hope you could contribute to, no matter how small the sum is. It will definitely make a difference to the project and the people we’ll be helping.
Imagine you are a baker. An inventor who tells you he invented a wonderful new technology that can turn biscuits into cars. Of course, you need many many biscuits to get a single car but as a baker who can produce only biscuits, that would do. But the inventor wants to keep his technology a secret and so he has his production line in this secret factory that accepts biscuits and then churn out cars at the other end.
One day, you decided to sneak into the factory to steal the technology for yourself. You sneaked into the factor in the middle of the night; and when you enter the factory, you discover nothing but 4 doors. Two doors are where the goods enter and exit, and the other 2 doors leads to a pier with ships parked along it. You are confused. You waited till dawn for something to happen, and true enough, the doors facing the pier opened and the workers brought in cars and started pushing biscuits out to the pier, loading them to the ships!
Trade, is just like a technology that converts your biscuits into cars – or even better, it converts anything you have to anything you don’t that is humanly-possible to produce. And to shun trade, is therefore to ignore a technological innovation or a new production process. After all, diary farms are technological innovations as well; they take in grass, hay, all the greens that you don’t like and churn out stuff you love: beef, milk, cheese, butter and ice-cream.
1) Locked out of the room (again) because of the faulty lock for 5 hours just before Christmas came. We got back in almost exactly at 12am.
2) Ceramic Cup broke first thing in the morning when attempting to prepare cereal for breakfast
201210 1820 GMT+1 We arrived at Bruxelles Midi, preparing to board a train that departs at 2029, thinking we are early.
201210 1830 GMT+1 We realised there is a really long queue (of about 200m) to check-in for Eurostar trains. We joined the queue and verified that we indeed need to queue up to check in.
201210 1930 GMT+1 We are in the queue and discovered that a previous train bound for London St Pancras that is supposed to depart at 1850 will be delayed for an hour.
201210 2000 GMT+1 That train has yet to depart and we are still in the queue. The departure information board shows our train suggesting it will depart 2030 without delay. We were happy but started worrying if we would check-in in time to board the train.
201210 2030 GMT+1 We are still in the queue and about 50m from the check-in gate; the departure information board shows no delay but a Eurostar service screen declares that the boarding gate for our train will only open at 2129. People start being anxious about whether their train will arrive and Eurostar staff started going around telling people that trains are delayed due to the snow and speed restrictions.
201210 2100 GMT+1 We are still in the queue but moving front quite rapidly. Staff of Eurostar is asking if anyone wants to stay in a hotel in Brussels for the night. Another staff pushes a cart and offers coffee or tea to the people in the queue (They should have done it long ago).
201210 2130 GMT+1 We got through the check-in; they allocate new seats for us in the next train bound for London. It took a while to clear the customs and get through the immigrations. UK Border Agency was really strict with the people entering. We were worried the delay means nowhere to find dinner when we get to London.
201210 2200 GMT+1 We got to the departure lounge and is told to wait for the announcement for boarding. Eurostar service screens shows that the train will depart only 2359. People filled up the entire departure lounge and started resting. Some slept on the chairs, others took out chips, played balls, did sit-ups. One guy took his guitar and played in the middle of the lounge. Staff pushed a cart of water into the lounge and people started grabbing the water. Shortly, a harmonica melody is heard in a distance accompanying the guitar. People are tired, we’re tired. We sip on the water from our cups and continue the wait. We knew we won’t be having proper dinner that night but wondered what transport to take from St Pancras International if we arrive in London in the middle of the night.
201210 2330 GMT+1 Announcement: “Due to severe weather conditions in France and Britain, trains to and from these destinations are delayed by 4 hours”. Meanwhile, we noticed the service screens showed that our train will depart at 0129, a delay of 5 hours so far. We wondered to ourselves if the 4 hour delay starts from now or from the original departure time. We briefly wonder if we should have taken up the offer to put up in a hotel for the night in Brussels.
211210 0100 GMT+1 Announcement: “We have been informed that the next train bound for London St Pancras will arrive in about 25 minutes time.” There was a little clapping and cheer in the departure lounge. People start waking up or packing their stuff, putting on their socks as if to prepare leaving their seats.
211210 0135 GMT+1 Train has arrived but announcement informed commuters that staff needs about 25 minutes to prepare the trains for boarding. We all continued our wait but a line started forming to go on to the platform.
211210 0200 GMT+1 Train is ready for boarding and we joined the queue to get up to the platform. A Eurostar staff warned us that the platform will be slippery because of the snow and told everyone not to rush when they get up there but to board the train in an orderly fashion.
211210 ~ 0220 GMT+1 Train leaves Bruxelles Midi and the crew manager Jenny happily greets the passengers and thank everyone for their patience in this long night. She also announced that due to speed restrictions, the 2 hour journey will take about 3.5 hours, meaning that the train should arrive in London around 0500 GMT.
211210 ~ 0430 GMT Train stops at Ashford International, United Kingdom for a service stop. Passengers who wish to alight are allowed to do that. Jenny announces that the train is experiencing technical difficulties and onboard engineers will fix the problem.
211210 ~ 0445 GMT Jenny announce that the train cannot be serviced and we will all have to wait for another train to fetch us back to London. She goes down the aisles telling passengers to get food from the bar on the train and assuring passengers that it is free. The replacement train is estimated to arrive in about 30 minutes time. We realised we’ll probably make it for the first tube ride back to our halls from King’s Cross St Pancras Tube station.
211210 ~ 0520 GMT Replacement service arrives and we all disembark to board the train; everyone was tired and many people were really angry. There was passengers who simply got off and out of Ashford International. While on this final 40 minutes of train ride back to London St Pancras, Jenny explained that we will all be compensated for this breakdown and disruption. We stopped briefly at Ebbsfleet International before going on to St Pancras International.
211210 0610 GMT We arrived at London St Pancras. It felt like a dream. Mars Bars lined up with bottles of water at the customs counter and staff direct passengers out to the arrival hall. We walked into the St Pancras International hallway which we were at a couple of days ago while preparing to check in for a train to Brussels. We know we’ll make it to the first couple of tube trains. And we know if we wanted our dinner/breakfast, the supermarkets will be opening pretty soon after a bath back in our rooms.
211210 0630 GMT I got back to my hall. And I know I will be in time for my doctor’s appointment at 1000 that day.
4 December 2010 in London is a pretty nice day; the weather is finally turning warmer (hopefully not just for today) but unfortunately, Nick left his card key in the room and I locked myself out with both our card keys in behind the room door.
4 December 2010 marks the day I coined the term ‘Fair Weather Tax’ to refer to the fines we pay and lessons we learn for taking great things in life for granted.
4 December 2010 is the day I paid my Fair Weather Tax officially for the first time. It was 50p and consisted of 2 twenty-pence coins, 8 one-penny coins and a two-pence coin.
