fully recovered
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!
