A typical day at work, week 3

Got up this morning at 6am as Cam, a Canadian VSO who was staying with me for a few nights, left for the tro to Ouga. My bodyclock hasn’t adjusted to Ghanaian time yet – I am waking between 5 and 6 most mornings, but I am still in the mindset that bed before 11 is very early. Early nights and early mornings makes most sense due to light etc, but it takes a bit of getting used to.

I spent a couple of hours trying to check my emails but failing – the internet connection is very slow, but normally works best in the morning – alas not today!

I left for work just after 8 and walked the 5 mins down a dirt track to the roadside with a boy who was going into town to complete his school application for senior high school. People are generally very friendly – I think it is partly just Ghanaian nature, and partly being interested in the “sulumia” living in their neighbourhood. I went to the local shop and bought some tomato puree and biscuits to get some change for my first taxi into town – a shared taxi taking me the 4 or 5 miles into town with a selection of people – today a school girl and a couple of others. There aren’t many cars on the roads, mainly taxis, motorbikes and push bikes, with the occasional bus going past between larger towns. The first taxi costs 50 peswas and the second 40 peswas – not much, but when I am living on 10 cedi a day, it adds up over the course of a week! I then walked 15mins down the main road to get my next taxi towards the hospital.

On arrival at work I spent the first 10 mins or so greeting people. It is an incredibly important part of the day at work, and although seems quite time consuming, it makes for a very friendly atmosphere at work. Everyone knows my name, and I know about 10 names so far – I have a list of names in my notebook but matching the name to the person is quite tricky!

Today, I decided to reread some of my VSO training material. I don’t have anything assigned for me at the moment, but I know this will change soon – few volunteers have a busy time at work in the first few months, but it is important to spend time observing, listening and taking things in. I read over the VSO HIV/AIDS policies and thought about how, if at all, it will feed into the work I’m doing. The rate of HIV in Ghana is relatively low for sub-Saharan Africa, only about 2.5% of the population. That still means that in a class of 30 or 40 children, one is statistically going to contract HIV at some point. Ghanaians have been careful not get too complacent about the low levels in Ghana, so hopefully I will be able to do some sort of training/awareness at some point. I found a list of Circuit Supervisors (like school improvement officers) and noted those who are working in schools I’ll be in to see if I can arrange to go with them on their next visit. There is a fuel shortage at the moment, so I don’t know when this will be!

I wandered over to the other part of the office – in an adjacent building – and chatted to two of the CSs, very nice men in their 30s who seem quite keen to involve me in things if the Director approves. We chatted about motorbikes, cars (a real luxury I am told) and motor tests! I was talking about my parents’ and Sonia’s planned visit, and he asked where they were going to stay. He told me he has a guest house, though it turns out it is his sister’s (who is actually his cousin – like much of Africa, they don’t have cousins, aunts and uncles, just multiple siblings and parents!)

He told me that his sister runs a foster home for children, some of whom go back to their families ultimately, and some who end up living there. He said he was going to visit today, so 10 mins later, I was on the back of his motorbike going along to Mama Laadi’s Foster Home! It was not that unlike Jacaranda in Swaziland – similar accommodation, but a bit bigger and more institutional. They have 45 children at the moment, who go to a variety of schools in Bolgatanga. We had coffee and water with his sister and chatted about her work. She is always keen to have any help, so when I said I was a teacher, she was keen for me to come back and help the teacher they have for the pre-school children. I promised to return soon, once I have my own transport.

On return to the office, I tried to go and find some food – not quite as easy as popping into Boots for a meal deal! Ghanaians seem to snack quite a lot, so I finally settled on a large bag of popcorn to keep me going from a very keen shop owner! I got some “pure water” (chemically treated water in a plastic pouch – not as nice as bottled water but only 5 peswa!) and returned to the office to find something to do. This was not quite so easy! Many of my colleagues had gone for lunch, and I was getting a little bored of my chosen reading for the day. I left the office around 2.30 to do some work at the VSO office, as my office has no internet access and very few computers. I'm not taking my laptop to work for various reasons – security, the weight, and also not wanting to flash it around too much. I will possibly be getting a laptop through Let’s Read (more on that another time!) which I can use for work.

After I’d finished with that, it was 4pm, so I headed into town to see about setting up a bank account – not that easy at the moment as my passport is in Accra getting a work permit. The other problem I have encountered at the moment is knowing my address. I have a postal address, but there are no street names/house names or numbers, so I will have to find this out somehow! I then got a little lost (some things never change!) trying to find the lady selling pineapples. I finally found her, and got quite confused over the pricing – many people still use the old money, so I spent time trying to work out if 20,000 was 20p or 2 cedi – the latter unfortunately, but it will keep me going for a while!

I “picked” a shared taxi home, and decided tonight to get some kebabs. It is hard to buy raw meat here, and it seems safer to buy it when you see it cooking on very hot BBQs on the street. It was sheep tonight – it is often goat, which tastes pretty similar, a bit tougher perhaps. As I sat waiting, a little child (who turned out to be a boy – hard to tell as most children have very short hair!) of about 3 came over and stared and laughed at me for a while, when we played peak-a-boo around a chair. He was speaking to his mother about me but I’ve no idea what they were saying – I just heard sulumia many times over – whether she was saying “get out of the white lady’s way” or “are you having fun playing with the white lady” I am not sure!

I came home and made some ride and stir-fried some pepper and cabbage to go with my kebabs. I must try and do something about our ants – there are lots of tiny ones in the kitchen and living room at the moment – just so long as they stay out of the fridge!

As I was finishing up, the night watchman, Godwin turned up. I wish I could speak better Frafra to chat to him, but it will come in time I hope. I then went to turn on the water – we have a polytank which I am trying to keep filled so that when the water goes off – as it does several times a week – I still have running water.

The lightning has just started again – I hope we have another big downpour – it means it’ll be a bit cooler tonight! The other day, it was still raining in the morning, so I didn’t go into work til 10 – Bolga seems to stop when it rains, probably because so many people go around on bikes and motorbikes. I wish I could use that excuse in Scotland – sorry I’m late for work, it was raining!