Amy’s adventures in Ghana

It really knows how to rain here.  Just before the rain  starts it suddenly becomes really windy and then goes dark and then it pours down. Usually you have about 5 or 10 minutes warning before it hammers down. Everyone here is scared of the rain, or that’s how they put it. So when the warning signs come, everyone rushes around trying to get everything indoors and close the windows etc before the downpour. 

I was at Sahadatu’s shop the other day and the warning came, I wasn’t sure if I should stay and shelter in the shop or try and make it home before the rain started. It was just getting dark so I decided to try and get home cos I didn’t have my torch.  I have never cycled so fast in my life!  I could see the rain approaching and people kept shouting at me, "the rains coming"!  Anyway, I made it home before the rain luckily. It was really heavy and the thunder cloud must have been right overhead cos the house actually shook when it thundered.  I know kind of understand why people fear the rain, cos apparently the rumbling thunder can cause the local mud houses to collapse. 

I tried to take a photo to capture how hard the rain is, but I don’t think it does it justice.

And here is the family I share my house with.

There was no power in the office yesterday so I took the opportunity to go to Tamale Children’s Home to take them the donated clothes and blankets and to enquire about volunteering.  I think I was expecting it to be really grim - like you see on documentaries about Russian orphanages - but it was surprisingly nice.  It is like a little community, with a school, clinic, day rooms and bedrooms.  It had been painted brightly with murals on the walls and the grounds were nicely kept with lots of trees and a little play ground.  There were about 4 other volunteers there when I visited, from Denmark and Holland.  I am going to try and go one day a week.  They told me that most of the babies are handed in by people who just find them abandoned. The culture of extended family here in Ghana means that usually an unwanted baby would be given to another family member to bring up.  In fact nearly everyone I know has at least one child that was "given" to them.  So to  end up in an orphanage is fairly rare and I guess the situation would have to be desperate to send them there.   There are about 20 newly born babies at the moment.

I have just been to Sahadatu’s shop and was asking her about this business of giving children away, and she told me that she has given one of her sons away to her brother.  Crazy.  She said it is s o the family remain close and the relationships are strong. 

I am very excited as I have moved into my new house in Tamale.  It’s great, I love it.  No more moaning from me you’ll be pleased to hear!  It makes such an enormous difference having somewhere that feels like home.  I’m so proud of it too, and am planning a wee house warming party at the weekend. 

I share the compound with a lovely family with 4 kids who are great and seem to think I’m hilarious. It’s just so nice to have people around all the time and feel safe and secure.  This is Razak, the dad who owns the house. He’s even given me a TV and DVD player that he doesn’t use, so it feels like total luxury.  Plus, the house is close to the Army barracks and so is on the same water and electricty lines, which means we never get our power or water cut off.   Especially good at the moment when there is power off every 4 days in the rest of Tamale. So all in all, it’s grand and I feel so much happier.   

I arrived back in Ghana on Tuesday 12th.  It is so much cooler than when I left, so that was a lovely surprise.  My friends met me at the airport and immediately told me that I was looking fat, which is true I suppose! I had a few days in Accra before flying to Tamale. I finally got the chance to go to the beach near Accra, having been too ill the other times.  It was really beautiful but hardly anyone was there. The problem is there isn’t the infrastructure to make it a very appealing Tourist destination. 

At the insistance of my mum, I flew up to Tamale.  The roads are pretty terrible and it takes around 15 hours by bus from Accra to Tamale, so the 1 1/2 hour flight was much more pleasant!  It’s the rainy season just now and it was cloudy when I flew, but I did get a few glimpses between the clouds and I took this as we were coming in to land at Tamale. 

This is a village near Tamale, so there is a mix of traditional housing and new houses with corrugated iron rooves.  You can also see how green it is since it’s the rainy season.  I couldn’t believe the red dirt could be so transformed!

Arriving back in Tamale, I had the sensation of returning somewhere I’d visted as a child.  It was the same, but different.  It felt like years since I’d been there but I knew where everything was.  I guess the physical differences like all the new vegetation have made my absence appear longer.  Also, somehow I feel much more grown up this time - I guess I know what I am letting myself in for and am more aware of the risks etc, compared to when i first arrived it was just so exciting.  hmmmm. 

It was lovely to see Sahadatu and all the family.  Here she is making banku at her shop. Banku is one of the main foods, made of fermented corn (I think).  It has a slightly tangy taste.  Here’s the final product, with beef soup.  

I took a few shots around Tamale which I thought would be interesting to give a better picture of what the town is like. 

This was taken from the top of the building the other day when there was a nice sunset. It’s so flat you cant really see anything unless you are up high.   

Yes, VSO have decided that I need to see a doctor in UK, as the doctors here don’t seem to know what’s up with my stomach.  So I’ll be home for at least 2 weeks, possibly more depending what happens with the docs. 

I’m flying on Tuesday evening, so get to see the Ghana vs Italy match on Monday here in Ghana which is perfect cos it is going to be amazing, and then I will be free to watch all the games at home whist "resting" woohooo.

See yous soon

Yes, now that my mum’s found out, I’m free to tell the whole world (!) that I yet again got sick.  I think I am probably the illest volunteer VSO have ever had.  Possibly.

It’s a long story but basically I got malaria again, had to go to hospital cos I reacted to the drugs, got some sort of bacterial infection in the hosptial (which is disgustingly dirty - no running water… yuck). Then somehow got another infection - Enteritis ? - almost immediately after recovering.  So I have been sick for about 2 weeks.  I am currently in Accra, I came here to see the doctor as the doctors in Tamale didn’t seem to have a clue what was wrong with me and why I wasn’t getting better.  Thankfully the facilities here are much better and they diagnosed the problem quickly and I’m, touch wood, feeling much better. 

I am honestly getting tired of being sick and I’m not really achieving much.  I’m also getting more and more annoyed with VSO, who have been totally unsupportive. I had to organise my own trip to Accra to see the doctor, relying on my friends brother to take me to hospital (thanks Charles!)  On top of this, VSO have still not sorted out our housing problem.  So what with all the problems I am seriously considering coming home early.  We’ll see anyway.

Anyway, on the plus side, I will be in Accra for my birthday which means I can spend it on the beach and eat decent food.  It’s amazing the difference between Tamale and Accra - Accra feels so cosmipolitan and developed.  You can buy just about anything - I got such a shock going into a shopping mall, there was a food court with pizza, mexican food, burgers, italian, chinese, and a bakers with sausage rolls, danish pastries etc.  I wanted to eat everything, but managed to restrain myself as my stomach was still playing up.  I’m biding my time and hopefully will be able to go on a full scale food binge on my birthday. woohooo. Unfortunately I’m not allowed to drink any alcohol with the drugs I’m on but I’m planning on smuggling a few bottles of red wine back to the alcohol free Islamic north.

The other excitement is obviously the world cup.  I cant wait, everyone is totally football crazy here and already everyone is so excited, especially since Ghana performed pretty well in the friendlies, so although they have probably the toughest group, hopes are high of a surprise from the Black Stars. 

On Sunday I went to visit one of the communities that SIMLI works with called Kpano.  SIMLI’s work revolves around "REFLECT" circles, which are basically community meetings which allow everyone to participate and discuss issues concerning them.  Each community meets 4 times a week in the evening and they decide on their own discussion topics and any action to be taken etc.

So I went to observe one of these meetings taking place.  It was great!  They start at 8pm, as by this time everyone has finished cooking and eating and is free to attend.  Obviously it’s dark and there is no power in most of the rural communities, so we all met around 1 kerosene latern.  They start the meeting with singing and dancing. 

On Sunday the topic was water.  They are particularly concerned because the rains are late in coming this year which affects their farming.  So there was some general discussion about this and some key points were written on a blackboard.  These points were then used to practice reading and writing, as adult literacy is less than 10%.

It was really amazing to watch - women, men and children all equal, trying to read the words.  Then they got me up to read it, in Dagbani, which provided some entertainment!  They also forced me to dance some traditional dances and play some games which was pretty funny too, but everyone seems to appreciate me trying!

I even got to meet the village chief who was lovely and spoke amazing English.  I had to present him with some money and kola nuts.  Also, when you greet an elder, especially a chief, you have to crouch right down as a sign of respect.  The chief was sitting on a raised platform, which accentuates this submission to him, I guess.  This particular chief has a horse which has it’s own house and you even have to crouch down and take your shoes off to greet the horse!! 

Here’s me trying to be a "Dagbonpaga", Dagbani lady, carrying water on my head. 

1st of May was Workers Day, which meant we all got the day off work..

There was a parade through Tamale which ended at the Police park where there were some traditional dancing displays and speeches etc. We stayed for the dancing which was excellent.  I took a wee video clip on my camera and am going to try and put up on the web so you can see the dancing as it’s amazing.

My life at the moment revolves around trying to find a new place to stay as we’re having lots of problems with the house we’re in just now.  Don’t want to go into it all as it’s getting boring.  I have looked at loads of houses and rooms but still not found one that is suitable - mainly cos Tamale is so big they are all too far away from the office for us to cycle.  So it’s hard to really concentrate on doing anything until I get my housing situation sorted, but everything here takes so long, I’m starting to get pretty frustrated with it all.  Anyway..

Here is a photo I managed to take in the central taxi rank with the central mosque behind. You can see some women and children carrying stuff on their heads - mainly fruit/food being sold to passengers. 

Easter weekend was a bit of a let down to be honest. We got Friday and Monday off and I was looking forward to some celebrations, but there wasn’t much going on. I guess because most people here are Muslim and so don’t celebrate Easter. We had talked about going to visit some waterfalls nearby, but 2 of our friends got malaria so that plan was scrapped.

On Easter Monday we went to a picnic at the Army barracks with some colleagues. I didn’t know what to expect and after a pretty boring weekend, it was a really nice surprise. It seems that most of Tamale were there. There was traditional drumming and dancing and lots of food and drinking and swimming. So that kind of cheered me up after feeling a bit down.

There was a big storm on Wednesday night which was quite exciting. Pam said it was just like a tropical hurricane, but only lasted for an hour or 2. There was loads of rain which is very much needed. The only problem is that it seems that some power lines got damaged during the storm so all the power in the whole of the Northern Region was off as of Wednesday night. So with no power in the office there was nothing really to do – amazing how much we rely on computers… A consequence of no power is that there has also been no water, as the pumping equipment isn’t working. This didn’t really affect us too badly as we are used to not having water during the week and had stocked up enough to last till the weekend. But, althougt the power is now on, there still isn’t any water. It’s been kind of crazy this weekend. Everywhere you look there are people with water containers trying desperately to find water. All of the shops are sold out of bottled water. Some of our neighbours cycled 3 hours to a dam to collect water there, which is too dirty to drink. Thankfully it rained again last night so at least the dams will be restocked.

Water has been a difficulty since the day we arrived in Tamale, but up till now its been more of a nuisance than a real threat. We’ve always been able to get water somewhere, either from a friends house or buying bottled water to drink. But those options have been taken away and nobody has water. At the very least I’m sure more bottled water is on it’s way up here from the south and I’ve been told the VRA (water board) are promising the water will be turned on today. Other than water concerns, this weekend has been kind of boring too. We were planning on going swimming on Saturday, but that had to be cancelled due to lack of water. Lot of places in town were closed also cos of the water shortage. I did go with my friend Sahadatu to visit her mother. It’s always lovely to go to visit normal local houses. They are such a lovely family and really make me feel welcome. I was surprised by how big their family home is. It is a compound with about 10 rooms all facing the central courtyard where the cooking/eating/socialising etc is all done. There is a huge mango tree in the middle which provides shade so it was pretty cool and comfortable. I didn’t take my camera, but I wish I had as Sahadatu and her mum look so alike! No doubt I’ll go back again soon.