Hi CHRAJ

Today was my first day working at the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice. Because I was a little paranoid  and wanted to arrive on time (early), I quickly opted for a taxi after seeing the long line-up for the trotro buses going down to Tema Station; there was quite a bit of traffic and the streets were busy with people (Ghana wakes up early). On the way, I talked to the driver about the upcoming presidential elections this December, and he reasoned to me that he would probably end up voting for the current President Atta Mills despite being member to a different party because he wanted to give Mills the chance to finish what he set out to do.

At the CHRAJ office, I was introduced to Kwame, who is the Director of the Public Education department in the commission. The department conducts research in the different Ghanaian regions to help assess the level of Human Rights violations in the different areas and Ghana overall. He led me to his staff currently working on the organization´s annual report, and suggested I get involved in helping to write and edit it. A main component of the write-up, the State of Human Rights report, is also in the works right now and I´m looking forward to collaborating with the other staff to make it the best report ever.
He took me through the old Parliament Hall: 

And then to the library, where I spent the rest of the day reading annual reports from previous years to get a sense of what they encompass and how they have evolved with development. Although having recently spent many hours in the library back in Canada made me somewhat anti-library, it was actually pretty great being surrounded by stacks of yellowing books and listening to Ghanaian gospel jams while I worked. Oh, and this was my view:

That stone thing in the back is the Nkrumah Mausoleum in the memorial park. I already have a date with the librarian to go check it out sometime ; ) The things on the left and right are palm trees. I guess it´s pretty warm here. After work I went to the Tema Station and took the trotro back to Kotobabi. It was packed full and hot and noisy and wonderful. I think we´re making stew for dinner!