The heart is believed to be responsible for a person's emotions, for example anger, hatred, love, joy, grief, etc. A person is said to "have a heart in his stomach," when that person is very tolerant.

The symbol teaches the importance of tolerance in the face of provocation. It also stresses the need for patience in all endeavours of life.

• adinkra symbols guide

Work has begun! I haven't had a regular office job since July 1997, so I'm getting a little taste of what life would be like if I stop working on my own. I have to admit that I already miss the ultra-flexible hours!

Working regular office hours in a foreign country provides quite a different insight than being a tourist or a student. Seeing people everyday gives you a chance to get to know them. It's only been a week, but I can say the people here at TSS are very nice and helpful (Meet the TSS people!

The office is just great, far exceeding the "expectations that I didn't have," as Tomas put it. I have my own desk and computer, which is a little slow but it's doable, in an air-conditioned office, networked and with access to the internet. It seems like a close-knit group and a mutually supportive atmosphere. They develop information management software for complex enterprises like hotels, insurance companies and hospitals. The software can track anything you might want to track in such business, and generate very detailed reports. The programmers work in Microsoft Fox Pro, and TSS is also a Microsoft Certified Solutions Provider. (My Macintosh user friends can feel my pain...working on a PC again, after all these years.) I think I have worked out a feasible plan for training and marketing projects that I will work on while I'm here.

The office is in an interesting part of town, known as Accra Central, or sometimes just as Accra. Every day, I take a walk around the area, just looking at all the vendors with their myriad choices of "stuff". There seems to be a strong presence of fabric dealers with some nice things; I might have to buy some and have a skirt or dress made--tailors are also very prevalent. While I'm walking around, I also keep my eyes peeled for other white people ("obruni"), just out of curiosity. Most days I don't see any, which makes it quite different from the part of town where we live, Osu, which is filled with tourists, students and a wide variety of ex-patriates.

(Photos: Right: The Swanmill Building, occupied primarily by Unilever, as well as TSS offices on the 4th floor. The grillwork that covers up the windows in common on big office buildings; it helps deflect the sun. Left: Some shops on Nkrumah Avenue, across the street from the office)