On THe Road

One experience was quite traumatic during my weeks on the road. We were travelling between towns, and came across a man and his mates, who had come off his motorbike. It looked like the front tyre had blown out. And he hadn’t been wearing a helmet. The gravel road had caused much damage, and as much as I tried not to look, the man’s face had been severely injured and deformed. Being a UN vehicle, the policy is we do NOT take passengers, or stop for people. But my driver and I decided to stop, it’s a deserted road, you can’t just leave the scene, and we could help. Not to be mentioned to HQ. So we put the man in the tray of the ute (so lucky we had this vehicle and not the new Landcruisers) and started back to town – fortunately I knew the Polyclinic, I had worked there previously. His mates on motorbikes were going to escort us, but we had to keep stopping because the man was trying to jump off the ute. I was sad to see that the friends sped off, we were left with this man we didn’t know in a critical condition.

We slowly made our way back to town. The ambulance was not an option because there is rarely fuel for its use, and regardless, we were at the scene.  We were fortunate in that my driver had made one friend come in the tray with the victim, as he needed constant care and placation, I’m sure there were head injuries/shock involved. The friend must have been a ‘strong man’ and my driver also had to keep an eye on him in the mirror for fear of him jumping out. I tried not to look at the man, it was a pretty horrific sight. I don’t know how they did it, I won’t go into details, but inside the car we were so quiet and tense, despite the 40 degree temperature I was so cold.

We got back into town and as we drove into the clinic, all his mates arrived for support and help. It was such a good thing to see. I met the district health director and she assured his care, telling me that the doctor was in today. This was much relief, as you never know the treatment you are going to get in the health facilities here. We left him with half the town supporting him. They thanked us, and got the vehicle washed, it was covered in blood. My driver asked me about HIV, which I thought was so great; It’s not an easy thing to discuss here. We talked about the health facilities here, the community support and about meditation.

It was a surreal experience, one I have not had much experience with before. I thought of dad and Uncle Bob doing this with the rescue helicopter at home, seeing things like this several times per day, I was affected just by one incident. Despite being queasy with some gore, I was fine, and my driver commended me for not being scared of blood! I told my driver about our helicopter services, reliable ambulances, and healthcare. We have all that, and Ghana doesn’t, but I was so incredibly comforted and moved by the community spirit, support and kindness of this town. I could leave knowing that in some way, he will be ok.

Me and My Driver

I have spent the best of two weeks driving around the Northern Region of Ghana supervising a large scale survey. More about that later. The best part for me has been getting to know my driver. This is actually a rarity in Ghana, as most people are cautious about what information they give out to you. The colleague I’ve been working most closely with for the entire 8 months announced to me the other day that his wife had just given birth. I had travelled and worked with him constantly, daily for all that time and he’d never mentioned her or the impending pregnancy.

So my driver and I went on a mission to small communities in 3 districts. These were sometimes as small as 14 houses. He was the most cautious, safe driver I have had, so this was reassuring for the duration. He would stop and ask for directions (imagine a man asking for directions!) and his English was great, so we talked the whole time.

He told me some fantastic stories, of the highlights:

·         Recipes – he cooks most Ghanaian dishes (including cat and dog).

·         How he won a regional award for his animal farming and was so proud. Aiming for a national award now. It was so nice to see how proud he was, and also how he treats his animals.

·         He bought a ‘home used’ (ie second hand) bicycle and was so excited he rode home 40kms. He rode so fast it took the same time it does to drive, but when he got home he was so exhausted he didn’t know what was happening to him. So he took himself to hospital! He was sore in the joints and they treated him for malaria!! He said he’ll never ride like that again. People here tend to ride pretty slow and laid back.

·         We discussed many things and he said he wants me to be a Big Woman. This does not mean fat (he thinks fat women are too slow), but an important person. He kept saying I should be a lawyer… probably in relation to my arguments pro-women’s rights. He had some interesting views…

I won’t share all the conversations and details, so as to betray his trust in our friendship. But there were some gems…. and some hypotheticals;

·         F: “What would your parents say if you came home with a black baby?”

·         Dee: “Would it be mine?”

·         F: “Yes, for example if you and I had a baby”

·         Dee: “I guess they would be upset that I kept it from them for 9 months!”

·         F: “I think the best thing would be if you got in really late, in the dark and did not wake them. You go to bed, and in the morning when they come and wake you, they see the baby?”

·         Dee: “Oh! I don’t think I’d want to give them a heart attack!”

But we were talking about racism. It is an interesting topic. He was so happy when I said that it is ok to be black at home, and people do marry different races. I guess for someone who has never travelled out of your own country, and have only met 2 white people in your life, you don’t know these things.

He was such a gentleman. Buying me all types of local foods. Carrying my bags. Ensuring my room was ok before I went in, and getting me to the places I needed to go. It’s been such a wonderful experience, and my first work on my own too!

Best Driver Ever

Parts of the weeks was sort of like being on holidays. We stopped at this ant hill for a photo. Nothing work related at all!

Happy Birthday To Who…

After making a big deal of my birthday as I always do, and finding it strange that my colleagues let their birthdays pass without as much as a word, I have discovered some reasons why people here do not celebrate their birthdays….

·         Many, especially the elderly, do not know their age or actual birthday. It is only recently that people are registering births, and so getting a birth certificate. It is interesting when doing surveys that require someone’s age and you ask things like “were you born before or after Independence” or “was it during the harvest or the dry season” to try to narrow down the dates and months

·         There are no ovens, and so you can’t make a birthday cake. My driver declared he would one day love to celebrate his birthday. We discussed this and I told him how we celebrate by singing over a cake. He suggested maybe praying over a pot of stew for him.  

·         The things that are celebrated here seem more communal. Like the Harvest, or Easter/Christmas/Eid rather than celebrating the individual.

·         Entertaining with Ghanaians from my experience is a big deal and you can’t just ask a few people for dinner. A friend of mine invited a few people from work for drinks to celebrate. The whole office got wind of it, turned up, ate, took takeaway containers home of food for their family and put it on the bill, and the whole thing turned out to be hundreds of dollars! So much for close friends celebrating someone special.

·         But Ghanaians know how to dance. If you want to have a party, put on some Azonto dance music, or anything Ghanaian and you’ve got a house of quality dancers busting it out. This may be the best way to celebrate a birthday. Dancing til you can dance no more. Maybe to some classics such as ‘hey shorty it’s your birfday’ – Ghanaians are short after all….. ;)

Eggcellent Easter (oh yes! I made that joke!)

This Easter I went to Accra for a holiday. I took a large empty bag with me, an empty belly and plain palate, and came back a full, heavy, stocked up, happy person.

Highlights included;

• The BEACH! Even though I was swimming with plastic bags and rubbish around my legs (I think I approximated maybe 2 bags per cubic meter) it was so nice to be on the sand with some ocean breeze
• Great company
• Delicious Lebanese food (puts the 'Lebanese' restaurant in Tamale to shame)
• Thai food
• Spanish tapas - aahhhhhhh
• Italian pizza
• Good wine
• Cold beer on tap (and in one case, served in a chilled glass while I reclined on a beach chair with my feet in the sand……)
• New scenery
• Grocery shopping in supermarkets (‘super’ may be overkill here, but it was an air conditioned shop that was fully stocked and even had a deli section)
• The pool. Complete with fountains and complimentary towels, I spent some lazy sessions paddling about
• Croissants for breakfast (direct from Paris)
• Breakfast overlooking the beach
• A beer tower

Can you see a theme here….?

Despite mum and Kat sending me an amazing chocolate care package that arrived just before Easter (and saving it from customs at the post office when they politely pointed out “sharing is caring”), I forgot to bring any with me, so it was my very first chocolate-free Easter.

In Ghana Easter is a time to spend with the family. Busy, hectic Accra was turned into a ghost town as people returned to their villages, and I was able to walk down the main tourist street without being hassled, yelled at, asked for money, or just chatted to. It was a strange thing, it did not feel like Accra at all.

And to complete my Ghanaian Easter, I turned up to work 2.5 hours late on Tuesday, no sweat, and enjoyed my short week. So the Easter Bunny did not find me, but the Ghanaian Grasscutter (think Australian Bilby) did, I had a great holiday!

Joking Around

They say you understand the language or culture when you can tell a joke in the language. So far I am simply trying to figure out when to laugh so I look like I understand. Ghanaians have a great sense of humour and love a good laugh. There is plenty of back slapping, high fiving, finger clicking and reminiscing of punch lines going on.

Ironic humour doesn’t work. And for me, telling a funny story can result in the response of “Oh, I’m sorry-yo” when I’m waiting for a laugh. From what I gather there is a lot of tribal humour, one driver loves to tell everyone that isn’t from his clan that they are his slaves. This always brings in the laughs, just when i feel he has really insulted someone by asking them to ‘run away’ (in my mind this means ‘get lost??’) or ‘get rid of your father’s slave name’. I realise I can’t quite pull these jokes off, so I try to focus on other topics.

My new chief met with the Regional Health Director with me recently. She gave him stern words about not having been to his office yet, and how he is more committed to work than receive her in the office. Hilarity ensued with me laughing nervously by her side...how is that funny??

So my main focus now is to just follow the conversation. Winding emotional stories are used to communicate here. My humour comes mostly from watching my colleagues and friends crack themselves up and my total ignorance to the joke.

But I’ll leave you with one that made people laugh for days, I get it, but I laughed for a second or so and left it. But the joke was bought up all week, and I’m sure if I saw someone who was there now, they’d still be laughing;

JOKE:

The difference between directors and leaders; the directors write cheques, and the leaders make decisions….

?

Dee Silting

What a job! Removing the silt from a dam so the dam has better water-holding capacity, by hand!
This community group is participating in a work for food scheme, where the whole community works on this project and gets 'paid' in food rations. It is another group affected by floods and the UN is trying to improve their livelihoods.

There was much talk about the project, how it could be improved etc, it was fascinating to watch. It was a Saturday, and so many of the community were at a funeral, so I can only imagine what it is like when the full community is present.

Tough work in the hot sun, even for me just standing there taking photographs! 

The Case of the Mosque and The Missing People

Not to let work get in the way of a good adventure, the team stopped outside of Wa for a look at one of the ancient mosques of Ghana. It’s made from mud and sticks, and is reminiscent of the Mali ones, yet maybe on a smaller scale (I haven’t seen the ones in Mali). It was great. 

The mosque, looking into the women's entrance

Inside, it was very small, but it would fit many people at prayer time

We got to enter (me through the female access of course) and even go to the roof through a tiny opening. The local kids caught onto the sight of cameras and went nuts. Can’t keep them away from the lense.

Next door to the mosque

View of the local town from the roof

Exiting the roof through a small hole. and windy mud stairs backwards. quite the skill.

A 16th century mosque, I didn't actually learn all that much about it but just enjoyed being a tourist. I looked it up to maybe shed some light or interesting facts on the mosque, but the best I could find is that it is "a very solemn place". Ghana has to work on it's online tourist presence a little bit... or I should listen more. But at least I didn't go AWOL...

No shoes were harmed during filming

After maybe half an hour investigating the place, we set off in the convoy again. However our car was missing the two journalists that had come along for the day…. So the security vehicle called the convoy to a halt and we searched the town for the journos. I’m talking a tiny village with a handful of houses. I couldn’t get my head around the fact we’d lost two people in this small town. And they weren’t from here too, so I’m sure they’d be noticed. After an hour of waiting, we found that they had caught a bus back into town. Who knows why. There was mention that they probably had a more lucrative story waiting for them in town. That is how the media works here, you pay for the journalists. Crazy. So this was an interesting insight into the media world!

The team was not happy, outraged at having lost an hour of time... even though we'd just spent the morning sightseeing. But we soon set off for more work site inspections, (sans journalists).

Camera spotted! posing starts. The children love tourists.

Children and their toys.... and giant smiles

security escort courtesy of the local kids

Waiting for the journalists to appear... the town locals quite enjoyed the drama