Just a Sekondi

Finished distributing the surveys today, and will start the first round (of three) collections tomorrow. Not much rest for me, there. :( Today I was able to venture up to Sekondi, which is the more historical part of the twin city of Sekondi-Takoradi. The city basically consists of rather dilapidated British-colonial era buildings that are painted in somewhat cheery seaside colors. The British had also set up a colonial forward base there, which the Western Region government still uses as an administrative center.

Most of the port operations are based out of Takoradi, with its natural deepwater harbor, but fishing operations are based out of Sekondi. If you've ever seen African fishing boats, the first thing you notice after how creaky and unsafe they look is that they are all very brightly painted with many (mostly God-fearing) slogans. I got a couple of pics of the Sekondi fleet. They've also got less exciting, more standard trawlers as well as a somewhat bustling fish market with people selling all sorts of goods.

Not much else going on ... my research assistant is currently inbound from Accra, so he'll be helping me with collection/debriefings starting tomorrow. At this pace, it looks like I might be back in Accra by the end of next week. I was able to peek at some surveys that were finished early, and it appears that I'm getting a good amount of dependent and explanatory variation (despite discovering two typos in my controls section ... grrrr ... oh well...). Hopefully that pattern will hold as more departments start coming in.

Also, I've made quite a few friends (they want me to be their brother, lol) in Takoradi's garment district. Good stuff.