Welcome to Ghana!

First sign I see, stepping off the plane in Accra:

Unbelievably excited to be here for the Institute of Healthcare Improvement's "Improvement Advisor" course, which starts first thing tomorrow morning. As an added bonus, am here during World Cup -- and Ghana plays on Wednesday (right after the big US-Algeria and UK-Slovenia games)!!

The build-up was well underway when I was in Kenya a month ago (despite the fact they don't even have a team!), but the World Cup energy here is completely contagious. The cynical can cough it up to good advertising (I've had Coke's "Wavin' Flag" song in my head all day), but there's something about the World Cup that feels so uniting. Signs all around Accra read: "Let's go Africa! Let's go 2010!" and "Africa United!"

The poolside hotel bar is packed tonight with people watching Brazil play Cote d'Ivoire -- with everyone cheering for the Ivory Coast. My favorite commercial is one that shows players from all the African teams, all going to South Africa together. The energy is optimistic and happy. The Shakira song, "This time for Africa," comes on, taken from an old African lullaby. Some in the bar sing along. I'm grateful to be here, and can only imagine what it must be like in South Africa.