Amy’s adventures in Ghana

I just got back from an amazing weekend at Mole National Park, which unfortunately isn’t full of moles, but has got loads of  elephants (among other beasts). it was so exciting.  We arrived late on Friday night. The bus journey was pretty funny - far too many people crammed in a small bus along with bikes, cement, goats..  Anyway we got up early on Saturday to do a 2 hour walking safari and we had only been walking 5 mins before we saw 3 massive elephants walking by. It was amazing. I was like a wee kid.  They are huge!  and  they make practically no sound.

Our guard, DK was armed and almost had to use it on one of the elephants which nearly charged us, but then decided not to! 

We also saw lots of bush buck, water buck, warthogs and vultures.  Just as we  were returning to the hotel at the end of the walk we went past a waterhole and there were hundreds (well around 30 maybe…) elephants in the water, washing and drinking.  It was spectacular.

As well as that, the hotel had a swimming pool which was good fun and we attempted to teach our Ghanian friends to swim, which was fairly scary as the  pool sloped really steeply…  The hotel is on a small hill so from the pool we could see the park below and elephants walking by - amazing.

The bus left for Tamale at 4am on sunday so by the time we got back yesterday we were all totally knackered and slept for the rest of the day. Also my hair has gone crazy, I guess it’s cos it’s so hot and dry, plus the chemicals in pool. So I am thinking of getting it braided, as I cant even brush it at the moment. 

Wow, I just bought a big block of chedder cheese in town.  I was actually in search of some chocolate but was amazed to see a fridge full of cheese - they had chedder, mozzarella, emmental, edam.  It was beautiful.  I ate about half the block there and then!  Lovely.

It’s kind of strange that even though there are loads of cows and goats around, there aren’t any dairy products.  They don’t even use the milk.  The only milk is imported powdered milk. 

Other foods which I miss: Bacon, crisps, toast, brocolli, cake (I had a real craving for banoffie pie earlier), black pepper, bran flakes, curry…

Yep, I got ill again.  Can you believe it?  I’m starting to think that Ghana really hates me.  I got sick and feverish really suddenly and at first thought I was getting malaria again.  Decided to go to the hospital, as it just got worse so quickly and ended up staying a night. They put me on a drip and anti-biotics and I was feeling a million times better in the morning. Turns out it was dysentry…   Honestly, I cant believe my bad luck and I just really hope that I’m getting all this out the way and I wont get sick again.  It’s so annoying as well, cos I keep missing interesting things at work.  So this week I am determined to stay healthy and get some things achieved! 

I did manage to visit some of the community projects on Wednesday, before I got sick.  That was really great and so nice to get out of the "city" and see some rural villages and see what Simli Aid is actually doing. We’re going to visit some more tomorrow.  I took some photos and the kids were so excited about seeing themselves on my digital camera! 

I’m officially malaria free now - had  a blood test to make sure a few days ago. 

So I can now start work and settling into life in Tamale.  Work has been a bit slow and we have really had to push to get things to do.  But I think they now realise that we actually want to work and I now have a million things to do - that’s the reward for being too keen!  It’s crazy cos their funding runs out at the end of March and they have nothing to replace it so lots of the projects are going to have to be reduced.  I am researching lots of different funding possiblities - there are a couple of Japanese funds and some American funds, but I have told them that there is no way we will be able to get funding by the end of the month!! 

I’ve already emailed about this, but it would be really useful for all the field officers at SIMLI aid to have mobiles as it can be difficult to contact them. The handsets are expensive to buy here so if you have any unwanted handsets they would be very gratefully received!

We eventually got bikes on Saturday which is great and means we are able to explore a bit more.  It’s too damn hot to walk anywhere, but the bikes are good cos you generate a bit of a breeze cycling!   We cycled up to the one and only swimming pool in Tamale on Sunday which was great.  I actually felt cold for the first time in Ghana when I got out. I forgot my swimming costume so had to buy one here, which was less than flattering to say the least!  No photo evidence thankfully..

Some colleagues invited us (me and Pam do everything together at the moment!!) round for lunch on Saturday and they made fufu and fish soup, which is kind of the traditional dish.  Fufu is pound yam/cassava which has a texture a bit like play dough.  It’s alright, but the folk here LOVE it and eat it for breakfast lunch and dinner!  There’s loads of fruit and veg avaiable in the market, especially tomatoes at the moment, but also pineapples, bananas, plantain, oranges, papaya, mango, avacado, cabbage…  There are hundreds of mango trees in this area and the mangos are just coming into season so soon there’ll be many more!

Our water situation is a bit better as we now have a plastic tank to store it.  The water came on for a few hours on Sunday so we were able to fill it.  Everyone is looking forward to the rains as there is a real shortage of water.  It did rain briefly last week and it was so heavy it sounded like our tin roof was going to cave in!

I think I must have created a new record for contracting Malaria in the quickest possible time.  I started feeling a bit sick on Friday but thought it was just the heat and tiredness etc.  It wasn’t till Wednesday that I went to the doctor as I was just getting worse and realised it was something more serious, but I have to say I was surprised to find I had malaria.  Bastard mosquitos, I am so annoyed. I swear I’ve only had about 3 bites.  I must have been bitten pretty much as soon as I arrived in Ghana. And I’m on Larium and using a mozzie net and repellant. 

The thing with Malaria is that it comes in cycles, so you start to doubt yourself. Like I knew I felt shit on Fri evening, but it was sooo hot that day and I woke up on Sat feeling much better so thought no more of it. Then again on Sunday I felt a bit crap but I’d had dinner at someone’s house and thought maybe I’d just eaten something dodgy, again I felt much better in the morning.  Anyway on Tuesday night I was just feeling awful - the best way I can describe it is like having the worst hangover of your life that doesn’t get better with sleep/water/fry up/tea…  I couldn’t sleep, or even sit up, I felt like I was going to be sick with every movement I made and my whole body was aching and the room was spinning, but I was never sick..

Hey ho, I’m feeling loads better today. It’s so frustrating though cos I have missed an important meeting at work and yesterday I was meant to go and visit a rural project but I couldn’t go and I am also missing a trip to the National Park this weekend -bloody malaria.