Saturday, 17th ... 2 Days to Go for RHAPSODY

Sitting at a pre- conference briefing
Obviously not paying full attention .... as am typing... but Christian keeps calling our attention back!!
Cant imagine that were at this Take Off stage.
Vr- max : from my aviation days - Max velocity for the take off roll - the point after which you cannot abort take off!!

Last minute Logistics!! Always a challenge.

Seat Arrangements, Hall choices, Numbers , Members Paid and Not paid... This meeting has been on since 6PM and its getting on to 10PM.

Will we have an inauguration of the Expo? Jut spoke to Jim Fitzpatrick - discus our last Beer together at Rhapsody and we laugh.  RHAPSODY ... A flashback to Accra. Christian, Jim and Me sipping some Tusker and Club Beer at Rhapsody - a great restaurant in Accra... and we joke about getting an Expo to Banjul. A secret deal is made that we work on its feasibility. . Logistics support package needed...... We've been through trials and tribulations. It's been a Learning curve. Laws of Physics and Logic have been defeated. The Exhibitors from the furthest away countries, Vietnam and Sri Lanka s containes have arrived in time .... The container from Italy...so close , but yet so far....remains stranded in Trieste, Italy. LESSONS Learnt. The rest seems history. FOUR Equipment manufacturers are participating in the Expo. Machinery from as far as Vietnam, Sri Lanka and India.

The Stalls for the EXPO being prepared

a small secret ... Big Team work! Rhapsody is underway....

An OBITUARY to a CAT

R.I.P.
YOu may wonder what an Obituary to a CAT is doing on a Cashew Conference Blog site!!

From the Family...Not THE CAT .. but 

We all know that CATs have 9 Lives.
Thus guess this Cat from Kairaba was on his(her) last one.

We offer our condolences to the bereaved family and .. honestly mourn the loss of a Cat.

Well this Story has pertinence as While it involves the Loss of a life ,loss of luck for the Cat and LIGHT going out of its LIFE.... It also caused the LIGHT going out of the Conference site. .... Well Almost!!!

This Cat almost caused a CAT-astrophe!!!

It walked into the highly sophisticated power distribution switchboard and short circuited the board!!  Took the lights out - both from its superstitious 9th life and from the HOTEL too. The switchboard was left short circuited... along with our plans too.

No NAWEC, the Kairaba resorted to its 750KVA Genset .. but alas, all machines need maintenance ... and within two days, right when the ACi was in the midst of its Steering Committee Meeting, the radiator ( a little grilled water gizmo that cools hot machines) sprung a leak... that grilled our reliable genset. Net result - the Cats curiosity killed all hopes of an event free event!!

Thanks to the round the clock effort of the Kairaba management, alls OK now and the Powers back, all cats have been informed to keep away from any thing electrical.

As guests arrive, its getting very exciting.

Ram, Kairaba Hotel, in a de-stressed mood :-)

Welcome to the 6th Annual ACA Conference Blog

WOW
It's FINALLY HERE
The 6th Annual African Cashew Alliance Conference is practically underway and ...While we WELCOME all delegates and Guest Speakers and the VIPs and VVIPs... We have also created this BLOG where we will try and update readers with some interesting and some UN interesting topics.
We will try and make this BLOG open for you to post your views and comments too.
Cheers
Welcome to The Gambia
On behalf of the Cashew Alliance of The Gambia.
On behalf of the African Cashew Alliance
Ram