Favourites

My time in Ghana has finished, so I thought some lists of things was a good way to close.

Favourite Things To Do:
 * Being a fashion designer - you buy the cloth, then you create whatever you want. Could be a disaster, could work out. I had both experiences.
 * Riding my bicycle. I can happily say I had the best bike in Tamale. And it was the best bike I've ever owned. I loved cruising around on it, and it gave me small freedoms that kept me sane.

Mine is the middle bike (obviously the best) and was red for speed

 * Going to Ghana Health Service and viewing their public health tactics - my favourite is using clothes as a public health message. 'Stop TB' or 'Roll Back Malaria' or 'Guinea Worm Eradication Program' is everywhere, what a way to sensitise a nation?!

Jervaise in his Stop TB - use DOTS shirt. I tried hard and hinted much that I wanted one!

 * Read local media articles. It is a different form of reporting, and so sensational you can't help but get caught up into the hype. Here is a personal favourite. Take the time to read it, you'll be rewarded.
 * Greeting everyone. I learnt greetings in quite a few languages, and enjoyed using Fra-Fra with the work guard, Dagbani with locals around the neighbourhood, Twi when in Accra/south, Walle when I was in the Upper West and having a go at anything really, including the many languages of the expats in Tamale. It's extremely rude if you don't greet everyone, so sneaking into your office late in the morning never goes unnoticed.
* 'Creating good relationships' with key people at Ghana Health Service. I thoroughly enjoyed and was welcomed openly by the Upper West Team, I was sad to leave.

Friday afternoon in Wa - the Regional Health team and I discussing my mother's arrival, and possible marriage proposals

  * Buying single serves of everything. Why buy a tin of milk powder when you can have a small sachet?

My local store. Rita looked after my every need, and if she didn't have it in stock she'd get a small boy to get it for me.

* And of course, having fun with friends. I made some (hopefully) lifelong friends, and had such a great time.
 

Favourite Observations:
 * Watching what you can fit onto a motorbike. I saw everything from live goats, up to 5 people, bicycles and many more things. Unfortunately you have to be quick with a camera!
 * Carrying things on heads - observing just what the body is capable of. Up to 5 large bowls of charcoal, raw egg trays, litres and litres of water, ice creams, handbags, you name it. Frees up the hands..
 * Babies everywhere - so well behaved. Strapped onto mother's backs. Easily amused by a piece of paper or a small wave. Taken into the workplace, everywhere is child friendly.
 * No smoking. It is highly frowned upon and just does not happen much. Great for an entire population, I wonder how this can translate to other places. As soon as you cross the borders to the Francophone countries, you get delicious food, but also smokers.
 * Sleeping in meetings. It became a game to see who would fall asleep, how long, and who would notice. It kept me occupied and made the meetings more interesting.
 * Being in a work car with someone who had never been in a car before. He was so shocked by the concept of wearing a seatbelt he almost didn't come for the ride. He thought we were tying him down in the car. Very amusing. He also spoke about how he had never been in a plane. It made me think about first times for everything, it is so much more pronounced in Ghana.

I'll take many memories home with me, all of them good. I will write a few more posts, and maybe about how well I'm fitting back into Newcastle - but if you are in Aus - drop me a line!

I Wish I Had A Mango Tree...In My Backyard...

Mango Trees. Best invention ever.

Mango trees are the perfect creation. The best infrastructure in northern Ghana for so many things. They are the best designed tree that I have seen. So multipurposeful.

They 1. Provide delicious fruit. And so many too; enough for a small business (or full belly). 2. Give far reaching shade. So much that they house many school classes, and if you pass by a community it is almost guaranteed that all the men will be sitting under one. 3. Are the perfect height. You can stand/sit under them, reach for a mango, and still get some solid shade, never a problem of hitting the head. 4. Provide some life to the desert. Green all-year round. In the dry season in flat Ghana you can see lone mango trees kilometeres away, they are the only relief from the heat.

There are 3 in my backyard. All currently bearing the most delicious fruit. It feels so indulgent to be able to add the most tasty mango to any meal at the moment, and dream up cocktails, recipes and other uses for the plentiful fruit. Ghana food, you aren’t so bad…

mangoes mangoes mangoes

Ripe for the picking

dam! have to wait for it to ripen, life is so hard...

Nightlife

There are now three clubs in Tamale to go to if you want a night out…. Over the year I think I’ve been to each twice. It takes a while to get motivated to go there! But it is definitely worth a visit if you are a newcomer to town. And great stories.

Giddipass is a restaurant and rooftop bar with the best music to dance to, and is a guaranteed dance fest. The people who frequent this place really know how to dance (well, I guess from my observations, all Ghanaians are amazing dancers) so it’s fun to watch some moves, probs fun for them to see us murder the dance floor. It’s the best place in town to watch the sunset, you are on one of the highest buildings in town (3 stories) and can watch over the city – people watching is so much fun, and it’s free! No entry fee. It closes at midnight, so guarantees you an early night (unless you head on to the next place!).

Drawbacks include;

no toilet; so you squat in a corner of the carpark and hope no headlights turn on you (and you are dressed appropriate, a skirt is best)  - this can be good to stop you from drinking/having a big night. I tend not to drink here, to avoid the toilet excursions, it was quite an ordeal the first time.

and groping; this is constant and goes for both sexes. You may enter the dance floor on your own, but soon there will be a ‘sillyminga sandwich’ with you surrounded by men instantly, to make it more interesting, you could time it…. Quite amusing to see male friends get ‘sanga’d’ by so many men too. The Ghanaians that have cottoned onto the idea (shock horror) that it isn’t nice to be surrounded and squashed when trying your best moves out really get the tourists onside when they shoo the men away from you. It’s a full time job.

My favourite review of this place;

“…we went upstairs to check out the dance floor. It was a crowded sausage-fest, and I didn't feel safe. Seemed like a lot of people were brushing against my pockets (aka pickpocketers)….. It's the most happening place in Tamale which isn't saying much because Tamale is absolutely not happening... No real reason to come here”

Hahaha. It’s true. There are also some nice reviews, but this sets the scene best!

When I’ve been there, apart from my friends, there was one other female there. The crowded dance floor was all men. And my male friend had his wallet removed from his pocket 3 consecutive times in a row, each time he was holding onto it saying ‘no, I don’t think so’… 10 points for persistence!

The Royal (for some reason pronounced ‘roy-yal’ – like Samuel L Jackson mentions the ‘Royal with Cheese’ in Pulp Fiction)… Anyway, the music is awful and the smell of toilet permeates, but it was up until a few months ago, the only thing in town open past midnight. And there are noodles available outside. It’s free for the ladies, but recently increased the cover charge for men to GHc10 (AUD$5). High rollers only!

And the new hotel/nightclub/leisure place is Discovery, it has a pool shaped like a mirror image of a map of Africa (who knows why it’s not the right way around) and both a nightclub and a VIP nightclub. Originally priced at GHc40 (AUD$20), it had absolutely no customer for the first few weeks (except for me who went for a look, and found it empty – seriously not a single person inside…awkward!), they have stopped charging entry fee and now it seems to go off. Smoke machine complete with fluoro lights, can be quite confusing on the inside… and the VIP nightclub is still empty. Not sure if I will venture there again to see if this changes.

My colleagues always tell me to be at home by 7pm because that is what they do, and it’s unsafe being away from home after that time…. I can’t say I adhere to this, but I listen. Mum is visiting in a few weeks…. Watch this space to see which one I take her to, any suggestions??

That's Rubbish!

The rainy season makes everything look so nice. The maize is two times taller than you and as green as can be, so you just think fertility, new growth and all these positive nice things. Then comes the dry season. Everything dies and Tamale is all red dust and plastic bags. I didn’t realise how the trees and bush was hiding such a mess!

The rainy season - the maize hides this... until you turn the corner and are standing on it! The pigs do a good job of halving the size of it daily

When you buy something here it comes in a ‘rubber’ or plastic bag. I heard the black bags are used so people can’t see what you have purchased. Because you may get jealous if you can see someone’s egg and bread – better hide it in a black plastic bag. Fine. But then what happens? You chuck it out the window into either a pile of already discarded rubbish, or start a new pile of rubbish yourself. It’s easy!

And often it’s not just one or two plastic bags you get with a small purchase, but my personal favourite is a pack of lollies you get here – guide to opening them;

1.      The lollie is encased in it’s own individual wrapper for each lollie

2.      About 10 of these are encased in a paper wrapper

3.      This paper wrapper is encased in a plastic wrapper

4.      You will be given a plastic bag to carry this small lollie treat home

So there is rubbish everywhere and of course no recycling. If you are lucky enough to find a bin to dispose of things, you watch the men come and collect the bin, and see it just goes to a larger pile somewhere else and burnt. The educated answer here so far is to just burn all the rubbish. Including the plastic. Makes for a lovely aroma, especially on dinner time. The rubbish near my house creates a large pile for the animals to fossick through and get the best parts, but there is no end in sight for the plastic bags. It is interesting how revolutionary the plastic bag has been for people here (making things so accessible and easy to sell/buy) however, the bigger, longer problem of waste collection is a long way coming. I take a stand and collect my bags, and give the re-useable ones to the ladies who run the shop down the street. But Ghana is choked by rubbish and no means to deal with it.

Sheep spotting - is it an animal or rubbish?

A pretty standard/clean sight. The view from my guest house. oh, the guest house didn't have a washroom, so this was also the toilet...

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!