Tis The Season

Merry Christmas Everyone! This is my official Christmas Card to you all (it's been a while since I sent cards!).
There are no jingles, puns or catch crys from me, just well wishes and merryment! xxx

Tamale is not in the Christmas spirit as much as I am used to, but then again, who really likes Christmas carols and fake snow paint? Right now I am at work on Friday, staying back late because my boss insisted we finish the Annual Work Plan that we have been talking about doing since I arrived! I do love a good procrastination, guess it seems I'm learning from the best! The UN organisation next to me has left early, and there seems to be a rave party happening at the bank next door (techno beats coming up 3 stories to greet me), but it is a festive atmosphere regardless and I've done my part of work so really I'm just here for moral support and the fun! So take note: I'm not complaining, this is the life!

We had our staff Christmas party on Monday, the highlight being the agenda (that yes, it was followed, but I have not received the minutes yet);

 

Like I said earlier, an agenda is vital for all meetings - even of the party variety

I just heard that for our dinner tonight someone is busy putting together an agenda for it now!

I am heading south tomorrow for a beachside Christmas. Spending it in Busua where I hear you can actually swim in the ocean! It will be a welcome sight, the dusty, desert air isn't the best appetiser here in Tamale.

So a Merry Christmas to you all, I hope everyone has a safe and happy holiday. It's been a great year, with an interesting 6 months ahead for me, hopefully the same for each and every one of you. You will have your Christmas and New Years in Australia before me in Ghana, so double the fun! Please send me an email if you are so desired - tell me a story or two - or a photo or 3....

To the Family and my Friends: Thanks for all the love and support, I can feel it all the way across the world! Sending mine back, and maybe a few presents too!

Photos: You use what you have: Water Sachet Christmas tree! Was a great Crafternoon making it! Thanks to mum for all the presents to put under it!!
and a house garden breakfast - eggs from our chickens, tomatoes from the garden.....YUM!

Getting On My Goat

I had an awful realisation last week. The once numerous goats that gave me such amusement and happiness have severely diminished in numbers. Yes yes, it's called the Circle of Life or survival or culture, and I know it (and love the song too), but now I am sad I can no longer make exclamations such as; 'look at that cute goat standing on the tree!', 'that is the smallest goat I've ever seen!', 'a goat with a beard!', 'a goat sitting on the roadside!', 'there is a goat on the roof of that moving bus!', 'look, lots of goats!' and other important observations. I know my friends and colleagues will probably be happy with that (I have already been asked how long it will be until I'm not so excited about the goats....what has it been...5 months?....mmmm, not yet.). 

I have finally figured out how to tell the difference between goats and sheep here - don't laugh, they do look the same (goats have pointy ears, and sheep have a long tail), managed to dodge them when they jump out on my bicycle rides, and (mostly) avoid stepping on their droppings that are everywhere, so when the numbers suddenly dropped its become a totally different Tamale. And so the seasons change. The lush green crops and plants have disappeared, all the fields have been burnt to the ground, the red dust of the Harmattan has set in (particularly into my hair - and my throat), the water shortages have lengthened, and the rains completely disappeared. What a difference this place can be in the space of 5 months. Now starts the lean period for the Northern Regions, when there are no more harvests until mid-next year, so living off the stores is survival. Lucky the house garden is producing the most delicious tomatoes I've ever tasted!

This is dedicated to all the goats of Ghana, I miss you come back!

LOOK! A day old goat!

LOOK! A goat with its mum!

LOOK! A goat on a tree stump!

Food Glorious Food

Being a vegetarian can be a difficult thing in Ghana where meat is the main ingredient of most things. Asking 'does that have meat in it?' may not always give the real details. eg the answer 'no' could mean a) there is no meat in it, b) there is a little bit of meat in it, or c) meat is the main ingredient... 

but here are a couple of dishes that so far so good, I can eat!

Waakye (pronounced Waachee). Is rice and beans mashed in together. You can get smelly fish with it or egg too. It is often taken at breakfast, or with a good dose of palm oil spread over it for lunch

Yam and Beans. This is about 50c for a massive serve. The best is right near my work - basically baked beans and chips with pepper (ie. chilli) and ground peanut powder is served on top, but Ghanaian style. Of course, it comes served in numerous plastic bags too. Yams aren't as good as potatoes, but they make do, especially when fried. The beans are real winners, but mostly you are served more yams, for filling up on.

Fried Rice. Comes with random spaghetti type stuff on top, and the 'salad' of cabbage and grated carrot is always served with tomato sauce and strange mayonnaise on it. Costs about 50c too. Filling stodge.

Kose (pronounced cos-ay) is a fried bean cake. I am not sure what sort of bean. But served with salt and chilli powder and it is fantastic. Fried goodness. The dollops of stuff on the styrofoam package is Koko - ie. porridge, made on various grains (mostly made on maize here). The Kose is different in each town - depending on which grain is most prominent (ie cheap) and what else they want to add in. In Tamale I've found some with onion, and/or egg added in.

I forget the name of this, and I haven't seen it since. But it is steamed bean cake (like Kose but not fried) and served with a sesame sauce, very delicious

A Day in the Field

I jumped onto an education field trip yesterday, trying to do my bit to integrate the health sector with others. We visited the district of Savelugu to meet 6 children that have been out of school for various reasons, and have started a program to integrate them back into the school system. The program offers 30 children from each community a place at the community school program which is made up of 3hrs of classes, 5 days per week. The project I was participating in is to look at why these children are out of school and try to access more of these kids.

The first child was knock-kneed, and living with his grandfather. He was ‘useless’ to the grandfather on the farm as he couldn’t do even basic errands (because of his disability), so he hoped sending him to school would help him be useful. He could not walk far, and was missing these classes so the teacher now picks him up from his house so he could make it to class.

The second child was a Fulani girl. These are the people of the nomadic tribes of West Africa. They are heavily discriminated in Ghana, and we went to the family home which was just out of town, a common occurrence for Fulanis. The 14 year old girl was the main cook for the family, and over the hour would not talk to us because he father/superiors were there, and would do the talking. There were many Fulanis there, however they could not all go to school because the community did not want the Fulanis to dominate the classroom. So they could only choose a selected number of children to go to school. This girl was one of the ‘lucky’ ones, however she was learning in Dagbani, a language she does not speak, so I can imagine how hard her day was. The Fulanis marry the girls from the household off young as they are not ‘useful’ to the household. The community is trying to change this, and the program has been successful, the fathers are waiting to see if having an educated daughter is worthwhile.

All the children were really quiet, and respectful of elders. None of them were living with their parents. It is a Dagmoba tradition to give a child to your mother and father so they have ‘help’ as they get older. The children leave home aged about 5 years to work for their relatives, and may never see their parents again. These children are sent to school if they are lucky, but only when everyone else in the house gets to go to school, they are the last choice. It seemed like a tough life, but it is a common scenario in the Savelugu district, so not the main reason why the kids aren’t in school. It isn’t financial, as school is free, maybe time at school is time lost working for the family. It will be good to see the results of the study being done, the adults kept mentioning how helping at home is more important than schooling, so it is hard to work around these values.

The diet is SO basic;

Breakfast: ‘Koko’ - porridge made out of maize – taste pretty bland; Cornflour, water, sugar and salt.

Lunch: TZ– a glutinous ball of maize and water and salt. Taken with a soup of some sort- because it is the dry season it is mostly okro (okra) soup.

This is also taken for dinner.

No one took any meat or dairy unless it is a special occasion – maybe once per year. And if they are given rice or some other sort of generosity they will sell it and buy maize, it is cheaper and therefore can stretch a lot more for the large families. Amazingly the families that I saw and the children in the villages all looked well-nourished and had clean sources of drinking water.

Teachers attend because the community keeps a close eye on the classes and the teacher will have to answer to the community if they are absent. This was such a good sight, as my only experience with government schools has been absent of all teachers. The school works around the children’s working lives, so it makes it more accessible for the vulnerable children. It teaches practical things that these children will use throughout life, and is accepting and understanding of home commitments.

We were farewelled by a school song. It wouldn’t be Ghana without some booty-shaking, and of course the head of the program was dancing away as the children sang and clapped.