Take your Doxy

You can’t really understand Africa until you sink to the bottom of one of their biggest problems; Malaria. It was bound to happen eventually. Nearly half the world’s population is at risk of getting malaria, though prevention and treatment research has drastically decreased the mortality rate. But there is a reason why it is the #1 worst disease in the world. Maybe the amount of actual deaths has gone down, but it sure makes you feel like dying when you have it. I received treatment quickly, but for the 4 days that I was infected, death would have been a merciful option. Here is how it played out.

Day 1- Friday

I went out that morning to town to buy a few things and to make repairs on my motorcycle. I felt exhausted and weak but I attributed that to the scorching hot sun and lack of fluid intake. I also figured the lack of a real workout and the massive amount of food that the Johnsons have been giving me probably wasn’t helping either. I had some more plans to do in town but I was feeling so weak that by the time I got to the moto repairer, I just sat and waited. I sat in the corner in the shade on an old piece of engine and tried to escape the sun. There was a point where the sun arched higher in the sky and my foot was exposed. I cant and even explain the scorching sensation from just being in contact with the sunlight. I jerked my foot away and cowered in the corner. It was then I felt like there must be a real problem. I have been in Africa long enough that the sun shouldn’t bother me this month. Then I felt the joint pain, headache and extreme over heating. I sped home in time to crash on my bed and pass out. I slept for a few hours, waking up every so often in pain. Even though the sun had gone down, I began to feel burning hot. I stripped out of my uncomfortable clothes and turned the fan to full blast. I lay there briefly comforted and fell back asleep. Then the real suffering came. I began to feel like I stepped outside during the 2011 Snowpacalypse in nothing but a loin cloth. I couldn’t believe how cold it was. I struggled to turn off the fan and put on every article of clothing I could reach and lay on the bed shivering, not just normal shivering but near to grand mal seizure convulsions. I don’t know how long I lay there shaking but it felt like forever. I got up but my hands were shaking so violently that I couldn’t even open a pill bottle of some medicine. It was really quite frightening. I prayed to sleep and eventually sleep came until Sister Johnson awakened me. Next thing I knew I was in a car to a small clinic where they measured my temperature at 104 degrees. They gave me drugs and I was home again in my bed, afraid to sleep in fear of the shaking to come again.

Day 2- Saturday

I was fully awake somewhere around 7:00 am and had waves of consciousness the whole day. Because of the shivering episode of the night before, I was afraid to turn on the fan so I lay there in bed melting all day. Couldn’t keep food down , fever still as high as the sky, and a pounding headache. The night before, when listing off the symptoms of Malaria and I was nodding to each of them nervously, I was relived that when they mentioned “bitter taste in the mouth” and I could say no. But day 2 it hit. Its hard to explain, but the taste in the mouth was up there on the worst part of having Malaria list.

Day 3- Sunday

Another night of quaking shivering, but I was comforted that I was able to sleep in and feel somewhat rested. Still, I felt like a sinner for missing church. For the whole day, I still sweated, couldn’t eat and huge headache but today there was also debilitating stomach pain to add to the lot. Every time I moved, it was like a knife was slid into my abdomen. Nothing would subdue it. Laying there praying was the only way to let time go by.

Day 4- Monday

After three straight days in bed, I had to get out. I don’t know whether I was 100% quite yet, but I had to get out of there. I have been loving life in Ghana but honestly one of the biggest things I have been missing is actually rock climbing. I would have these lucid dreams of climbing and than wake up to realize it was only a dream. Probably because of that whole situation is the reason that a rock climbing gym membership was the only thing I asked for a present for Christmas. I went for a walk, just to get out, trying to ignore the knife in the gut. Then for the first night in what seemed like forever, I slept without all hell freezing over.

So moral of the story is, there is a reason why Malaria is the #1 worst disease in the world. I hated having it, but after the fact, I look back and am glad that I now have better insight into the people and culture of Africa. I now have more resolve to find innovative solutions to solve problems in this world.

Me, My Motorcycle and I

When you are in a new place, there is a certain threshold that when crossed, the place doesn’t feel so new anymore. It just becomes normal life. Once you adapt to a place, you can discover new aspects of culture that a tourist passing through with his eyes in his camera is not privileged to witness.  I am now staying with the Brigham Johnson and his family in Twifo Hemang, a village about an hour north of Cape Coast. They are an amazing family that really has their life in order. They are a powerful couple with three motivated and intelligent (though sometimes very stubborn) boys centered in the gospel and in living a happy and fulfilling life. They have welcomed me as they would their family and provided for my every need. But everyday when I go out, I am by myself. Alone. I have never really been truly alone much before. My whole life growing up I was with my family, if not with family, then in school surrounded by everyone else I knew. I spent quite a bit of time away from home prior to my mission but was always with close friends. For those two years on my mission, 24 hours a day seven days a week, a companion accompanied me like a shadow. Then college; new school, new scene, but I found my people faster than any loneliness could really settle. I guess I live by the “home is where the heart is” adage and bloom wherever I am planted. Including now. But to bloom as a single tree in an empty tundra is much different than in a sheltered forest. There are different winds that blow in new ways.

To combat any feeling of loneliness, I have tired to stay busy. In the past weeks I have been here, I have purchased and learned how to ride a motorcycle. I love Ghana and all of its little intricacies but if I could pick one thing to go without, it would have to be the use of the shoddy private transportation system. There is no government run transportation with standardized prices and fares. Every taxi and tro tro (15 passenger vans that can fit double that) is individually owned and therefore has their own individual costs. These costs can widely very, especially with the introduction of a foreign skin colour. I can’t even begin to tell you the amount of time and money I have wasted standing outside a dirty taxi window fighting over a few cents they want more than then fair price. Yes, I know it is just a few cents and I should probably just give them what they want and avoid contention. But there is an unalienable principle; you don’t treat someone differently because of the colour of their skin, no matter what country or continent one may reside. No matter the amount of education or exposure one may have had. Exposure is the key. Ignorance is a hard opponent; they don’t know when they have lost.  

Naturally, the only way to really avoid any of my principle-fighting is just to get my own set of wheels. I bought a motorcycle from a friend and oh, has it been worth it! I am free to go where I want, when I want and for the price I want. Petrol is quite cheap for a motorcycle and one tank can take me pretty far. About a week and a half after I learned to ride, I set off on a solo 100 mile journey from Agona Nkwanta to Twifo Hemang. Sure, there was some difficulty along the way, like the part where the moto completely died at a top of a hill in the middle of a rainstorm. Or the part where the mud was so thick that my wheels lost traction and I flopped to the ground like and idiot. Of course it was the one place where there were tonnes of people idly sitting and watching. Or the other part where the panel that holds the battery in place fell off and I had to squeeze it tight the rest of the way with my legs. You know, that kind of stuff. You either sit and pout about it or find a solution and move on.

It’s been an adventure driving a motorcycle around the jungles of Ghana and I’m convinced that you can never truly know true freedom until you are driving through the jungle by yourself on a motorcycle hours away from any civilization. It’s quite a feeling.

The Beginnings- October

Time seems to fly when you spend majority of your time in a crusty seat in an over stuffed 15 seater van puffing away at top speed of 45 miles per hour. I even used the odometer feature on Snapchat when it came to a point we were moving considerably faster then normal on a stretch of highway and we reached all the way up to a cruising 57 miles per hour!

Having just been in the country for a week, I have already seen a lot. Jude, my trusty sidekick and brother, and I have slept in 3 regions and had daily meetings with people trying to assess the current position of Yenso Solar. We laid a good foundation when Cole and I came the first time but there were a lot of bugs in the original model. Now I have to sort out what worked and didn't work and set up new ways of testing new models. I definitely have my work cut out for me.

Some things didn't work out so well the first time around, mainly just the process of collecting credit payments. It is clear that literally everyone wants the lamp. It is the best. Perfect, even. All except that it is just too expensive for people here to buy flat out. To combat that, we attempted to offer a two-month credit plan; a third of the price as a down payment and the rest in two-month increments. In theory it should work. Our full time employees would make the deals and follow up monthly. But this is Africa. Nothing is ever that easy.

That includes life outside of business. When Jude and I were on our way to his house, he warned me that “there was a certain fault with the washroom in the house.” I come to find out that that “certain fault” was a nice way of saying that there wasn't one. So the combination of newly being reintroduced to the Ghana cuisine plus no place to relieve oneself has brought about its own sort of adventure. I will spare you the details but next time you are on your knees at night, thank your Heavenly Father for indoor plumbing. It’s a modern miracle.

Other than meetings, the week has been spent chasing down credit payers to hold to their end of their contracts. Haven't been too successful yet, but we are still faithful. Even so, I am planning on leaving Takoradi to go work closely with Brigham Johnson in Twifo Praso on some other ideas that should help Yenso grow. Brigham is the son of the late Billy Johnson who played a major part in bringing the church to Ghana and for converting nearly thousands of people. He later became the first Patriarch in Ghana and is somewhat of a beloved legend. The legend lives on through his son and I have the honor of working and learning from him.

A perk to living at Jude’s house, however, is that I actually get to sleep in a bed by myself, which seems to rarely be the case when I come back to Ghana. This has given me the chance to do things that I have always put off doing. I have time now to sit and think and expand on ideas without added stresses of school and life. I am just a guy trying to change the world. One crazy adventure at a time.

The Secret Life of Harrison Riehle

I have now made it somewhat of a tradition to watch “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” on the airplane every time I fly internationally. It’s about a normal guy who dreams about doing great things. But when everything in his life goes wrong, he goes on an adventure that takes him all over the world fulfilling his dreams and makes him see life in a new way. I guess you could say I can relate. I have made it to Ghana after all. I probably won’t be fight off any sharks or longboarding down scenic hills (unfortunately) but I am definitely going to have my fair share of adventures.

For one thing, I have definitely converted to the backpack travelers life. Never again will I drag around a hefty suitcase like a tourist. The way I went through security like a breeze, then stowing it on the plane and taking it in the taxi when I landed. I even carried it on my lap for the 5-hour bus ride to Takoradi. It’s nice to have all my belongings all together in one place and somewhat thief-proof. So to all of you reading this thinking about international travel, I highly recommend the backpack life.

These initial few weeks are going to be cleaning up what of Yenso is still running. The inventory of lamps we started with has finished and the sellers are left wanting. The problem is that, though we have no more inventory, we also have not collected the credit payments from all the customers to buy the next shipment. That has proved to be the most difficult. Everybody wants the lamp of course, but wanting to pay for it is a whole new issue. I have effectively ceased all sales until we are on a solid foundation again. It could take a few weeks to months. But if that’s needs to be done to get Yenso to work, we will do it.

The fact of the matter is, Yenso Solar WILL work. Perhaps not in a way we have figured out yet, but we can make it work. We have talked to a lot of haters and doubters and former mission presidents trying to drag us down telling us to stop right now and never try. To that I say Bull Crap. You will never succeed at something you don’t try and you will never enjoy a tall glass of chilled water as when you drink after a long hard day of hot hard work. Don’t be like those people who don’t try something because there is a chance you can fail because there in actuality, there is no such thing as failure. Failure is a state of mind. Lets say that Yenso Solar crashes and burns and everything we have worked for falls to shambles. Would that really be a complete failure? A complete waste of time? For me, no. This adventure of starting Yenso has taught me more about business and entrepreneurship than any class I could ever take, I have learned how to network and make relationships with people and truly care about them, I will have gotten to live in Ghana for five and a half months in 2016!! That is almost half a year in Africa that I never would have gotten. That is 100s of hours spent with the most amazing people who I have only grown to love even more since living here as a missionary. I now know the culture that much more, the food, the language, the lifestyle.

So to all those wanting to do something great but just never thought they could- Nike- Just Do It. You’ll never living your dream.

What I love most about “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” is the motto of Life Magazine. I have stolen it as my motto and also the lock screen of my iPhone.

To see the world

Things dangerous to come

To see behind walls

Draw closer to each other

And to feel

That is the purpose of life.

Because You Are Free

Sometimes life takes a turn for the unexpected. If you had asked me a few months ago what my plan was, I would have easily told you. I was dating the most amazing girl I was intent on marrying, I had been accepted to a prestigious Paramedic program and I was on track to have a job as an emergency medical technician. If you had told me that I would board a plane back to Ghana for the next three months, I would have thought you were crazy. Since then, I didn't gain residency resulting in me having to drop out of school for the semester, I failed the test to make me an EMT and I felt prompted that I needed to end things with who I thought would be my eternal companion, breaking her heart in the process. She really got the short end of the stick here and I hope one day she can forgive me for it. But sometimes, God has a plan for us that we don't necessarily understand at the moment. So even after that all happening, I still don't even know what God's plan is for me and perhaps that is why I feel like writing this all down. Something is GOING to happen.

I have had the most amazing life. I have a wonderful family with parents who love me, friends who support me in all that I do, I even had the chance to travel the world from the time I was 5 and I have seen much and learned much that will always stay with me. I have had some of the most amazing experiences that I have just been lucky to be a part of and I might be perhaps one of the luckiest people in the world that no matter what endeavor I attempt, whereas it may not work the way I intended it, literally has always worked out. High School. Trying times for some. Didn't really have a problem. Looking back to the beginnings, I was a pretty average kid. There wasn't any one thing that I was overly good at. Just average. My best friend in middle school was a stellar football player and was the item of interest for all the swooning girls. Sam was one of those people who could pick up a talent in a matter of hours and master it, from ukulele to rubik's cubes, yo-yoing to juggling fireballs, it seemed like there was nothing he couldn't do once he tried it. Anson, from the time he moved in could lift a car, squat an elephant and somehow always had enough energy the next day to workout again. Cole, well, he's just Cole. He was just one of "those" people who no matter what he did, he was the best. The day he entered the number one ranked high school in the nation, he showed his stuff. Varsity football team, top dance team, State 800m champion, and even after he moved to a new school he was elected as the student representative on the county school board. But despite all of the "greatests" he had under his belt, perhaps his most admirable quality was that he was the world's #1 wingman. He knew what it meant to help a brother out. Spiritually and temporally. I guess that's why we have been the greatest for friends for so many years. He knew how to love me in a way that no friend had ever before, and as the good book says "Let Brotherly Love Continue" (Hebrews 13:1) he is the greatest bro.

It took me a long time to really understand what it was my real talent was. It really wasn't until I served my mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in the Ghana Cape Coast Mission that I found it. In a conversation with woman in a village, she told me that she liked my character and when I asked her to explain further, she said, "Because you are free." That hit me. Hard. Like a fufu pounding pestle straight to the brain. To be free. Open. Adaptable. It rang true. I had often thought of my life as fluid, changing from day to day flowing wherever I felt like I was needed. Because I feel just that, I am needed. A tool. Not the kind of tool that wears snapbacks and only drinks protein shakes, but the kind of tool that is only as good as the hand that is holding it. I decided at a young age that I was going to commit my life to Jesus Christ. So, things like waking up before the crack of dawn for seminary in order to get 100% attendance, or magnifying my calling, or even the choice of serving a mission for two years came naturally to me, logically even. I never had to search for a testimony, I feel like I was born with one. So when a thought comes to my head to go serve that person, tell that person a compliment, tell your mom you love her, I graciously oblige. I know that I am a part of a much larger picture that is being painted by the Creator of the worlds himself. It shouldn't matter what I have to say about it, as long as I Go and Do what I am told, I know that the world will be a better place because of it. So in a way, the one thing I am good at is being free and open with people and I can do what I am commanded. 

I have the utmost high degree, as high as Kilimanjaro itself, of confidence that if I do what I am told without doubt that everything will work out beyond my wildest imagination. Maybe that's why feel I am one of the luckiest people in the world, I have burning desire to do good in this world and God uses that desire to use me to do great things. And right now, I am being told that I am going to live in the land that I love, Ghana for the next few months. So buckle your seatbelt, hands and arms inside, because some crazy stuff is about to happen and I promise you it is all going to work out in the end.