Day 84

Today I went back to work after Boxing Day and Christmas Day holidays.

Early in the morning (about 10.30am), an Emergency meeting was called at the education office. A case of child abuse? No. A roof come off a school? No. Bad exam results? No. No emergency meeting was called when any of these things happened last year; the emergency meeting was to discuss when the Christmas holidays should be and when the end of year get together. Baring in mind that this meeting was held on the 28^th of December…?

Eventually, we agreed that next week would be holiday – so we get new year week off – great – though would have been good to know before now, and perhaps have a few days off between Christmas and new year.

Then the end of year get together. The last two years we’ve had a get together at a restaurant but brought our own food in – people from the office buy and prepare chicken and veg and we buy two bottles of drink from the venue. It has cost Ghc10 and then Ghc12 (about £4-5).

We discussed what we should do this year – various discussions came up such as having half a chicken or a whole chicken would be better, whether we should have rice or not, and where it should be. The directorate told us that they were donating Ghc700 to the event (goodness knows where this money is coming from/should be being spent) and we also discussed collecting money for someone who has retired. The director asked about why some people hadn’t come to the get together; it was mentioned in passing that some people found it quite expensive, but that was brushed aside saying it wasn’t that much, people could afford it. The director suggested half a chicken per person but no-one seemed to want to commit to this.

Present at the meeting were education officers. No cleaners, only one driver, no labourers, no watchmen. I don’t know exactly how much these people earn, but certainly some watchmen would only get Ghc50-60 a month. Again, I don’t know how much the Assistant Directors etc earn, but I would imagine in the region of Ghc700-Ghc1000 a month – at the very least.

The people working at the GES are not stupid – but either are not thinking properly or are choosing not think things through fully. The people who would complain incessantly if watchmen or cleaners were going out to spots to drink and not paying their children’s school fees are the same people who say “ah, they can pay Ghc10” (with very little notice) to join a staff gathering. I didn’t speak up. I wish I had. When people get to an elevated status, they seem to (often) think that they deserve what good has come to them, not thinking about how they got to this place in the first place. The “professional staff” at the GES were probably never cleaners, labourers or watchmen themselves, but their parents or grandparents may well have been.

Now some money has been donated for the cleaners, labourers and watchmen… I just hope they get it and it doesn’t get “chopped” by someone else…

Day 85

Today I went to visit Donald, a colleague who works in the general office. He fed me VERY well – rice, stew (tomato based sauce), smoked salmon (not the type we have but also tasty!) and sausage and chicken.

It was nice sitting with Donald and this type of thing is one thing I’ll miss most about Ghana. Ghanaians are very hospitable and generous and normally easy to be around. Silences aren’t a social problem the way they are at home – people are happy to sit and be. So it was a very easy day – eating, then watching a bit of a Ghanaian film and then Nigerian films (parts 1 and 2 of goodness knows how many!)

Films in West Africa can be quite explicit and ratings don’t really happen here. The Ghanaian film was about a group of 6 armed robbers, men and women in their 20s who seemed to be blackmailing a family. The Nigerian films were about trafficking women into Europe for prostitution… I didn’t quite follow as I kept dozing off after the feast, but it seemed to be one of the better Nigerian films I’ve seen. I’ve seen more films than I’d like to have seen, Nigerian films being a staple on most bus journeys to the south. The bus journey to Accra takes 14-18 hours if you do it in one (which we’re not allowed to anymore.) For some reason bus drivers seem to like to put them on after you’ve already been in the bus for about 8 hours and have just decided to have a wee sleep…

Day 86

Boxing Day.

Hannah and I were looking forward to a trip to Navrongo to visit Mary, a former volunteer from Ireland, and eat TURKEY! However, my tummy wasn’t in agreement, so we had a quiet day in the house watching Christmas films then drinking pito.

Pito is a local beer made from red maize. It is drunk from a calabash. It is normally a bit warm and has sediment in it, but is quite tasty. I’m not sure all of my education office colleagues would agree with drinking it as it’s a bit of a working man’s drink, but I indulge from time to time. 20 pesewas for a wee calabash (about 8 pence).

Day 87

Stuffing the chicken

Merry Christmas!!

It was a busy Christmas day! It started with an evening service at the Catholic Church. Unfortunately, we didn’t realise that the 9.30pm service was in Gurune. However, it was still nice to go and listen to a couple of carols in English, some drumming and a sermon in Gurune. The church – which isn’t small – was packed and had as many people outside as in, wrapped up in blankets from the cold (maybe about 18 degrees). We sat on a wall beside all the motorbikes. I wish I’d taken my camera but decided to not cart around things I didn’t need, not knowing how busy Bolga would be and how easy it’d be to get home afterwards.

After a night sleeping on the roof, we had breakfast and went to Mama Laadi’s. However, the children were at church, so we gave Mama Laadi some celebrations, had a nice cup of tea and went back to my house to start cooking – not nearly so stressful as I’d imagined… in fact I was on several occasions worried that we’d forgotten something vital. We had a little stress when we realised the power’d been off for a good 25 mins and we’d not noticed, then settled to eat.

Christmas dinner was: roast chicken, roast guinea fowl, carrots, green beans, bread sauce, stuffings (basil, parsley, thyme and onion (R and H); apricot, apple, sausage and groundnut (D)), roast potatoes, sweet potato chips, sausage, papaya chutney, D’s mum’s gravy, roast onions. We also made Christmas cookies, Damien made a pineapple dessert, and we had prawn crackers… multicoloured prawn crackers. After dinner, we watched “It’s a Wonderful Life”, sang carols and watched “Yes Minister” and spoke to family.

A pretty good Christmas J.

Day 88

Happy Christmas Eve!

This evening as I was trying to finish making preparations for Christmas and decide which service to go to, the power went out – or “lights out” as we say here. It didn’t last long – though I wasn’t sure how long it would last – and it reminds me how we take fore granted how lucky we are to have constant power in the UK, day in day out. The power here’s pretty good, but every so often you’ll get a few weeks when it’s out all day for several days.

Day 89

Today I went to see a neighbour in what had been described as a “cultural performance” or competition between different junior high schools.

On arrival at 10am when it was meant to start, the place was almost deserted. After an hour away and returning, nothing happening. Finally, after 12.30, they started.

The event was hosted by JHS teachers; the two in charge looked like they were in charge of some MTV awards or something; the lady was wearing a very figure hugging white dress and very high shoes and the man in black trousers, white and red t shirt and red accessories.

So, first up was the dancing. Lots and lots and lots and lots of girls and some boys coming up and dancing alone. The dancing was quite provocative and the male teachers seemed to be enjoying it more than they should. After that, there was what can only be described as some kind of Miss Ghana competition – girls walking up and down in high heels, then singing or dancing.

At this point it was about 3.30pm, and they were about to start on the singing. A teacher came over to see if we were enjoying it, and we asked when the drama was coming on. They, thankfully, switched things over so I saw the drama and then left about 4.15pm to do everything else I was planning on doing on that day. The drama performances were more educational than the other things – covering issues such as teen pregnancy, inappropriate relationships with teachers and going to earn money away from home and ending up in prostitution.

I’m not convinced that some of the items on the programme were really appropriate for children at JHS (12-16 year olds), certainly some of the dancing. But it was an interesting day and nice to see Emmanuel in his role as father in his school’s performance.

Day 90

With Hannah, Marc Anthony, Josephine, their baby Jordan, and another lady.

Josephine’s wedding.

In Ghana, getting married is not as simple as it is in the UK. It’s not simply a case of being married or not, it’s much more complicated than that. In Ghana, you can have a traditional marriage, a court marriage or a church marriage. The only one recognised by the law is the court marriage (or so I’ve been told.)

A traditional marriage involves your husband buying several different things for your father – fowls, cows, alcohol – it seems to vary a bit. After that has happened, then you are married. This is, as I said, the traditional way, and so men can have more than one wife in this manner.

A court marriage is like a registry office ceremony in the UK, but is in front of a judge.

A church marriage is made in a church. However, according to a colleague, this is not legally recognised by the law, so you’d need to also have a court certificate.

So, I went to Josephine and Marc Anthony’s wedding. They’re already traditionally married but wanted to be legally married too.

I turned up at the allotted time – 8.45am. The bridal party started to come around 9.15, with the bride and groom arriving closer to 10am. While this went on, I watched several cases in front of the judge. Most involved them deferring the judgement to a later date and then spending a lot of time discussing which date this would be, with the judge saying things like “ah, but they (defendants/accused) might be travelling then, so that date might not be good.”

Finally the time came for the wedding. The couple were told about what being married meant, then did their vows. Then the judge :

“Having a court marriage means that you are legally married. You can only be married to one person. The lady can only marry one person and the man too can only marry one person. So [to Josephine], you can’t take another husband. And you [to Marc Anthony], can’t take another wife. The only way to dissolve your marriage is by getting a divorce. You have to come to the court and get a divorce. Even if you are a chief – oh, or an MP – oh, you still can only take one wife. And the only way to end the marriage is to get a divorce. You need to come to the court and get a divorce. You can’t burn your marriage papers, you are still married under the law. We have copies. So if you lose your papers, you can come here, we’ll copy them and you can have another copy. The only way to end your marriage is to come here, pay the money and get a divorce.”

After this, we went back to Josephine and Tony’s house and had some food – presented in the way it always is at marriages, funerals and workshops – in a takeaway box.

Day 91

Another day in the house, not doing very much and trying to feel better. I watched episodes of “How I met your mother” and did some sewing – making a stocking for a friend who lives nearby which we’ll fill with some wee goodies.

One thing I’ve really enjoyed/appreciated in Ghana is how little commercialisation there is of Christmas. Yes, I do miss Christmas lights, and Christmas music in shops or at church so I do wish it was a bit more Christmassy at times. But it is so nice to be somewhere where people actually remember what Christmas is all about, and people spend it with the people they care about. Christians will go to church (in huge numbers) and Muslims will probably be given Christmas food by their neighbours and spend time with their families.

Day 92

(trying out my food photography today too...)


Malaria times…

Well, day 92 was a bit of a dull one… I watched “The Constant Gardener” and was really quite confused by the plot due to what is commonly known as “malaria brain”. Later, Hannah, Ellie and I made the “noodle thing” or “Accra noodles” – a delicacy I discovered with Hannah and Vic last Christmas. It’s basically instant noodles with veg, sardines and egg – but really tasty and very quick. Then we watched “The Holiday” though I didn’t get to the end of it and had an early night.

Day 93

I’m off work today with suspected malaria – suspected as I have no medical confirmation and the test I took was negative but I’m treating it as now I’m on the fourth time, I’m pretty sure that when I feel like I have malaria, then I have malaria!

So my pictures, not very exciting, are of my medical test and drugs I’m now taking – malaria treatment drugs, blood tonic which is thick dark brown syrup with orange, honey and malt flavourings, some paracetamol and some vitamin C.

I went to get the Lonart from the chemical shop, which came to Ghc5. I then asked for paracetamol, which was another Ghc0.40. I gave over Ghc7, and he gave me back the Ghc2, saying the paracetamol was for me. I found Ghc0.40, which he refused, while giving me some vitamin C as a “dash” too – can you imagine that happening in the UK.

Being ill is never nice, and being ill in a hot country, especially if you have a temperature, is not nice at all. However, the pleasant 30 degrees or less we’ve been experiencing these last few weeks is, in my opinion, a much nicer climate than the minus temperatures that I’m sure you’re having at home just now.

The other thing about being ill in Ghana is it brings home how important your “Ghana family” are. When you don’t have your parents telling you to go to the doctor, you can think “I’m ok” when really you’re not. Thankfully, the vols in Bolga are good at looking after each other; a kind friend made me go and get tested and is making sure I’m drinking enough water and eating regularly. Colleagues have done the same in the past too.

And just as I sign off – please don’t worry about me! I know malaria isn’t good, and it gets a bad press at home (understandably), but I’m healthy, in my 20s, and taking the recommended treatment and will be fine in a few days with some rest, drugs and chocolate!

Day 94

This morning, I went to church. Towards the end of the two and a half hour service, I started to feel a little woozy, so haven’t done all that much today. However, I did go up on some friends’ roof to take some pictures this evening.

The small booth on the left is a shop – there are hundreds like this in Bolga alone. There are a few larger “supermarkets” in Bolga, which are really not much bigger than your average Spar – I was very surprised when I was first in Bolga and looking for “Daily Needs”, and was expecting something akin to the Swaziland supermarkets I’d been to previously. This one is pretty good and sells a lot of foods and other products. Smaller shops often only sell biscuits, bread, eggs and tomato paste! The lady on the left is breaking and bagging charcoal. Between them is a house – a pretty nice one, belonging to the family who own the shop. The storey building behind that is Zamstech, a Senior High School.

Day 95

Today, I couldn’t decide what to put photos up of, so I’ve just a few taken from different things that I saw today.

Firstly, the children playing near a friend’s house. You rarely see children with toys in Ghana and I’ve seen few teddy bears. This little girl was delighted to be photographed “backing” her baby. I asked its name – she said Josephine. Then I asked her name, and she said Josephine…!

Next are some Christmas cookies we baked for the little Christmas gathering I had last night, doing my usual of using several different recipes and changing them to suit my Ghanaian ingredients. I don’t think my first time making my own icing was that successful, but the colour of the icing didn’t put people off too much.

We had a go at charades last night, but I realised that this is not my forte when I had trouble with miming Christmas.

And then Laylo the cat – after trying very hard to eat the donkey in the nativity scene, he gave up and slept, while others (not me!) dressed him up for the occasion.

Day 96

One of my favourite things to do is going out for the evening, taking some drinks and some meat with Francis and Michael, two colleagues from the office.

They first invited me for a drink when I’d been in Ghana for about 6 or 7 months, and every few months we go out. Hannah joined our wee posse when she arrived last year.

Francis and Michael are both married and a bit older, so it’s a safe friendship – they are not trying to marry us like some (not all!) men. We can have real, honest conversations about Ghana, often talking about education and the problems of working in the education office in Ghana. Michael and Francis are Circuit Supervisors, so are middle management, often thought of as one of the hardest positions to be in. They supervise the work in a large cluster of schools – kindergarten, primary and junior highs. They have a certain level of authority, but not nearly as much as they’d have in a similar position in the UK.

We’re eating baa neno… and no, it’s not lamb…

Day 97

Working hard at maths

Today I was at Mama Laadi’s with a friend, helping some of the junior high children with maths. We’ve been working with the younger children for over a year with reading once a week, but recently Mama Laadi said that many of the children were falling behind with maths at high school. Some of the stuff they do is tricky – I had a bit of a time trying to remember how to do inequalities today (reversing the sign when multiplying or dividing by a negative number – anyone remember that?!) It’s a bit ad hoc at the minute as everyone tells us what they want help with, but I hope we’re making a difference to their understanding.

You're never to young to start using crayons to have fun... taken a month or so ago.

Day 98

Fried fish for lunch

Yes, I managed to get to day 3 without mentioning food. It is my first but certainly won’t be my last foody entry!

I’ve never been scared of trying new foods,though my time in Ghana certainly wins for some of the stranger things I’ve tried… more on that later. Pictured here is part of today’s lunch – wee deep fried fish – and yes, Sonia, you do eat the eyes - and then oranges – prepared the Ghanaian way where they take off most of the peel leaving the pith and cutting off the top so you can squeeze out the juice. Yummy! It’s surprising how common fish is considering we’re hundreds of miles from the sea here – amini is a very common ingredient in most sauces. Amini are tiny fish, which are smoked then grinded and added as a kind of stock. Surprisingly tasty.

Day 99

Sharing skills, changing lives, drinking tea

A sight you don’t see all that often - 9 sulemias sitting around together on a week day discussing work! We had a TSO (Teacher Support Officer) meeting on Monday and Tuesday this week and discussed all sorts of teaching issues. Although we have lots of informal discussions with each other, it’s important to also share resources, talk about reporting and make sure we’re documenting the work we’re doing properly. It also means volunteers working more remotely can get a chance to see other people!

At our meeting were 5 TSOs, an MSO (Management Support Officer), a CASO (Community Advocacy Support Officer), a STSO (Science TSO) and a… Damien (who does something to do with Inclusion and Girl Child Education.) Most participants are new vols, so there was a lot of going over old ground but also lots of insightful conversation.

The next one is to be held on Day 2 and Day 1 of my countdown… L

Day 100

Football at Sandgardens

Today I went to see a football match. Rachel? Football? Yes, that’s right. I went to see a Chelsea-Manchester City game for the Champions’ League and Chelsea won. I think.

I’ve never been much of a football fan, but Ghana has made me a little more sympathetic to the sport. With the African Cup then the World Cup last year, both hosted in African nations, I ended up along at quite a number of games and even enjoyed some. I didn’t always pay much attention to the screen and asked endless questions about the offside rule, but I really enjoyed being around Ghanaians (mainly men) who were so enthusiastic about football.

…so apparently it was the Premier League…

Commiserating with Ghanaians when they went out of the World Cup in July 2010.

Day 101

Tomorrow, it will be 100 days until my placement officially ends. Therefore, I shall be starting a daily countdown, with a photo and some small writing for each day. Watch this space…

How did the chicken cross the road?

As the dry Harmattan season falls upon us, the roads in Ghana are becoming increasingly awash with stray animals trying to find scraps of food.  Discussion with a VSO friend tonight has made us decide that VSO motorbike training should include a section on how the animals cross the road…

Cow – if you are unlucky enough to be faced with a cow… beware.  A cow standing stationery on the road may all of a sudden decide that as you ride towards it, it really wants that specific piece of grass that happens to be across your path.  Or it might just stay still…

Either way, see a cow – slow down.

Donkeys – the thing about being as stubborn as a mule isn’t a joke.  Donkeys are stubborn.  They will cross if they want to, avoid you if they want to, and possibly run towards you if they feel like it.  Little ones like to lie on their backs in the middle of the road.  Rather cute, a little dangerous.

If you see a donkey… reverse.

Sheep – sheep are stupid.  If a sheep is crossing the road in front of you, chances are that it’s mother, father, sister, brother, cousin and great aunt will also be following.  Sheep like to do that – follow one another, like…erm… sheep.  If you beep at them, they will stop and look at you… and become even more of a hazard as they are confused as to whether to run away from you, towards you or just try and stare you out. 

So if you see a sheep, slow down, don’t bother beeping, and watch out for the rest of its village.

Goats – goats are significantly cleverer than sheep.  If you beep at a goat, it will move out of the way. 

The biggest problem is telling the difference between a sheep and a goat.  “What?!” I hear you ask – “difference between a sheep and a goat – isn’t that primary school knowledge?!”  It’s not.  Ask my sister, who spent several happy hours when she first visited saying “that one – is it a sheep or a goat… what about that one?”  The answer, I have discovered, is in the tail.  Stubby tail points up, it’s a goat.  Longer tail points down, it’s a sheep.  Probably.

So if you see something that looks like a goat… or a sheep… slow down.

Dogs – dogs are fast, but sometimes come from nowhere.  Dogs are in many ways one of the worse offenders as you have no idea where they’ve appeared from.  They also get scared quite easily, so may well cross your path, see something coming from the other direction and cross your path again.

So if you see a dog... get the brakes on fast.

Pigs – pigs are supposedly intelligent creatures.  My experience with pigs is that they might sometimes react to a horn, but rarely stray from their path.  So if you see a pig, it’ll almost certainly keep going.  Pigs seem to like moving in size order, so watch out for Big Pig, Medium Sized Pig and Very Little Pig following on behind Enormous Pig.

So if you see pigs – get behind the last one as they probably won’t turn back.  Probably.

Chickens – chickens are just suicidal.  There’s really no argument.  They see you coming and decide that they want to be run over… until you’re almost there, then they freak out, flap their wings everywhere then decide that now’s the time to see if they are capable of flying.  The good news is that if you hit a chicken, it will die and you might not notice.  So if you see a chicken, have space to brake and had a big lunch, try and avoid it.  If there’s something coming towards you or you just had a Coke, just keep on driving.

Guinea fowl – you thought chickens were stupid?  Then try guinea fowls.  They are the combination of the crazy chicken and village of sheep… also rather tasty.

Frogs – nice as it is to avoid a frog (well done Rachel!), it’s really not necessary to do an emergency stop when you see one.  Even if you thought it was a cat.

Teachers and teaching...

As you might imagine, the school system and everyone in it is a little different here to at home. Being a teacher is not a highly respected position, and many teachers, even those who have gone through 3 years of training, will often have their eye out for other employment opportunities.

There are many different grades of teacher in Ghana. Some are qualified, with a Bachelor of Education (BEd), Diploma in Basic Education (DBE) or an older, 3 or 4 year teaching qualification. Others are Teaching Assistants, National Service Volunteers or Volunteer Teachers. The latter three have little or no training and are often left in charge of a class, though they’ll ideally work alongside someone with a qualification. Some are doing a Sandwich Course, which, unfortunately for me, does not mean that the culinary opportunities in Bolga are to be improved, rather that they go to a local Teacher Training College during the school holidays for three or four years and end up with a DBE. Teachers can teach over 100 (which I’ve seen often) and rarely less than 50 children.

But how much does the training actually matter? What makes a good teacher?

One of the best teachers I’ve come across is a P2 teacher called Mary*. She’s in her early 30s and has been at the school for a number of years – I’m not sure how long but she’s always been around since I’ve been in Ghana. She is a wonderful and natural teacher. The children are well behaved, their grades improve steadily year on year and she has a lovely manner with them. She explains their mistakes to them (many teachers put red crosses); she tries new games and activities when they’re suggested; the work she gives them is age appropriate and the children are keen to learn. She is also rarely absent, which at many schools is quite unusual.

But Mary is not trained. She doesn’t have the Senior High School grades to qualify for Sandwich course, which means that for as long as she’s a teacher, she will be paid a minimal salary, not be able to go for promotion and probably not be allowed to teach in the upper school.

Education and its value have clearly gone up the political agenda in recent times. Universal basic education (Primary and Junior High School) is free though not accessible to all due to costs of uniforms, books etc. The government gives a capitation grant for schools. The grant pays for sports days, some school equipment, any cultural events. Teachers are paid separately to this. At present at primary schools in Ghana, capitation grant is Ghc4 per child per year. Translated into £, that is £1.60 at the present rate of exchange, and almost half of this is used to pay exam fees. So less than £1 for the school to spend on each child’s education each year. Compare this to Scotland where children and teachers never need worry about having enough books, materials, sports equipment, musical instruments or even school dinners. (If anyone knows what the capitation per child is in Scotland/England, I’d like to know – Dad thought about £40?)

Another comparison is the government spending figures – again hard to compare, but in Scotland, an estimated £156.9 million on “Learning” and a further £2,426.7 million on higher and further education, SAAS and Lifelong learning. There are approximately 1.5 million school age children in Scotland. Even just taking the “Learning” figure, that’s £105 per child.

In comparison in Ghana, 23.8 million Ghana Cedis – that’s about £10 million spent on educating 7.4 million children – so about £1.35 per child.

I don’t believe a good teacher has to have 5 computers, an interactive whiteboard and every colour of paint under the sun in their classroom. A good teacher will teach well with minimal resources. But what Ghana really needs is the resources, in every school, for the average teacher to teach well. School Performance Improvement Plans (SPIPs) in Ghana are full of good ideas, but 95% of activities cannot be carried out without money. Ghana is now a “middle income” country, but go into any school in northern Ghana and this is incredibly hard to believe.

And as for my friend Mary…? If she lives out the rest of her career in the same school, teaching P2, the school will remain lucky to have her. She and her husband will continue to send their children to school, and maybe those children will go on to finish Senior High and get some more formal qualifications. I’ll continue to think of ways to help her improve as a teacher and one day perhaps get the qualification she deserves.

Some sources I’ve borrowed from:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_in_Scotland

http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/ghana_statistics.html

http://Ghana.gov.gh/documents/2011budget.pdf

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2010/11/17091127/10

How much do you help?

Our night watchman was a bit tipsy last night. Not highly drunk, perfectly easy to talk to, but he’d certainly had a drink or two. He was not so pleased when I handed him Ghc8, Ghc2 less than he was expecting. He’d not turned up for a couple of nights, or if he had, he’d arrived after 11pm and left before 5.30am, which is also completely unacceptable.

But how much do you help? Our watchman is not the best. He has a drink problem, certainly. He normally turns up, rain or shine, every single day. He’s normally sober enough to do the job. We pay a pittance, but it’s the going-rate pittance that all night watchmen get, and it doesn’t stop him from doing other work in the day… if he can be bothered. He often turns up late and leaves pretty early, hasn’t done the garden as he’s sick which means that there’s a small risk of snakes, and a bigger risk of mosquitoes and bugs living in our compound. I’m not sure how sick he is – he had a small operation a month ago. He is normally paying back a loan from us for something or other – a bicycle once, this time “seeds” which I think was actually dowry money for his wife, a poor 18 year old who was probably given no choice about marrying this man twice her age.

Our neighbours, fellow volunteers, have a night watchman too. He gets paid a little bit more. He comes at dusk and stays until dawn. He is absent more often, but always tells them in advance, or gets his son to, and has never once asked for a loan. He tends the garden and keeps himself to himself.

There are lots of men who would love the chance of an extra Ghc35 each month to buy food for their family. Should the job belong to someone else?

Yet still I feel bad for taking Ghc2 from our man. I know I don’t often mention religion, but I keep thinking what would Jesus do? Taking Ghc2 from this man means that he might not be able to eat for a few days. However, it also gives him less money to drink. If he was working for a Ghanaian family, he’d be long gone, and we’ve been told by Ghanaians that he takes advantage of our niceness. Would Jesus have given him some money?

Shortly after our troubles, our friend Louis (a Ghanaian) spoke to him, I think threatening that we were looking for someone else to fill his position. Our watchman improved… for a while… then he brought a lady into the compound (his wife? not sure!) and got another Ghc5 off his pay.

Will we ever sack him? I don’t know. He’s attendance is almost perfect, he does a good job of cleaning the bins and always has a smile on his face. Because he doesn’t really do much other work, he’s around a lot, a deterrent to thieves and it’s nice to know someone’s around at night.

Just another part of the Ghana experience!

Small hills, big mountains

Success!

One of the things you realise when doing something like a VSO placement is that you’re not going to change the world – because if it could be changed that easily, why hasn’t it happened yet.

However, the other day, I had what I can only describe as a very surprisingly successful day. In order to explain it, you need to know a few things about workshops in Ghana and how they work.

If teachers are invited to a workshop, they will normally receive either lunch or a snack, or a snack and lunch if it’s an all day event, a mineral (soft drink) and water. This is provided by the organisers; participants pay nothing. The organisers are also expected to pay T and T – travel and time. This can vary from Ghc5 to Ghc10 normally, and I’ve heard a case of some giving as as much as Ghc35 for one day’s work. (£1=Ghc2.40)

In early 2010, I wanted to do a series of 1 hour workshops at one of my schools, but not provide any snack (one hour doesn’t honour a snack in my miserly opinion) and no T and T (the workshops were during the day at the school). When I told the Head this (let’s call her Janet – she’s not!), she was not very pleased, until her depute said “she is helping us, why should she pay us!”

Earlier this year, I organised another workshop at her school. This time, 3 other schools came along too, and I did give them mineral, snack and water as it was a 2 hour affair (I’m not that mean.) I gave T and T to the other 3 schools, as they’d all had to travel a fair distance, but not to the host school – all they were providing was an empty room, so I thought that was fair enough. At the end, several teachers from the host school and the head asked about T and T but I explained my reasoning. The head seemed ok with it, I think I annoyed some of the teachers a little.

The other day – another workshop, for 3 schools, same host school. The head teacher 1. willingly provided school funds for the workshop for snacks – first time in any school; 2. did not ask about T and T – and in fact seemed highly understanding about it and 3. thanked me over and over for coming. Success!

The workshop was on phonics, and was a real success – lots of games and teachers knowing their stuff MUCH better than a year ago. = Happy Rachel.

A sad day at a school...

I went in to one of my schools last week to support two of the teachers. The head came along to say that she was off to a funeral as someone in the community had died yesterday, and that she and some of her teachers were going to attend. The young man was father to two children at the school, and uncle and guardian of some others. He was a well educated man, with some money, and clearly a pillar of the community.

I was in P3 when we saw hundreds and hundreds of people coming down the dirt track to the makeshift church – a building without a roof which is also home to two P1 classes. Men, women, old, young, on motorbikes, bikes, in cars, going to pay their respects to this young father who had died so tragically.

I spoke to one of the teachers, an intelligent lady in her 50s, the depute head and teacher in P2, about what had happened. “He was coming home from town,” she said, “and an insect stung him in the neck. He was taken to hospital, but he just died. So we think it must be witches, how else would a healthy young man die from that.” Sadly, this response didn’t surprise me, a common belief being that witches are responsible for all sorts of misfortune. Initially, I thought it was only those with traditional beliefs that believed in witchcraft, but actually the majority of Ghanaians do still believe, even the most orthodox of Christians or Muslims. “Perhaps he was allergic to bees or wasps,” I suggested. “Many people don’t realise until they are stung or bitten that they are allergic.” “But he died quickly, how?” the teachers asked. I explained that if allergic, your tongue can swell up and you just can’t breathe anymore, and that although the adrenaline they give you is not a complicated drug, if you don’t take it fast enough, it’s too late.”

I hope that perhaps my explanation will slightly change what those teachers believe but I doubt it.

One wonderful woman I’ve met is Mama Laadi. She runs a foster home for children who have been accused of being witches, or those whose mothers have been accused and often killed. She’s taken in many children that no-one else cares one bit about, or are scared to care about.

I hope the family is able to understand this man’s death and seeks some solace from the church, as many people do; and that there is soon a greater understanding of medicine in these rural parts of Africa so that innocent women and girls, and men and boys, are not punished unjustly.

A trip to the doctor

One of the not-so-good things about being in Ghana is what it does to your health. Luckily, I’ve been much well-er this year than last, and, fortunately, much less sick than a lot of friends. (I hope I’ve not just jinxed my future wellbeing!)

A friend was sick yesterday, so, after a little convincing, we went to the doctor for her to get checked out. By the time we went it was 3pm, and it had been raining earlier, so I had hoped that things would be quieter and fortunately they were.

3.15pm - On arrival at the clinic, you put your card in a box and wait. Everyone has a card with their details on it that the clinic use to find your file. So long as the person with the key has come and opened the room that your file happens to be in that is… Luckily for us the room was open yesterday (unlike another friend’s experience recently). Your file details your name, date of birth, age (apparently I’ll be 26 forever!), religion (“None” is not an option as a friend discovered…) and then any investigations they do. We sit and play Yatzee!

3.45pm - My friend was given her file.

3.55pm – We joined the queue for being weighed and blood pressure. This is done in the reception area surrounded by other people – who said privacy was important?!

4.05pm – We then joined the queue to see the doctor. The last time I was here, this queue was over 20 people long and took well over an hour. This time, the queue was decidedly shorter, but didn’t really have a start or end… My friend was seen after a 5 minute or so wait. I start playing Yatzee with a young man – I don’t think he understood it but we played a game.

4.15pm – Lab tests. Pretty much anytime you go to the doctor, they send you for lab tests for malaria, typhoid and goodness knows what else. Yesterday, the lab had run out of the solution they needed to test for anything other than malaria. We almost give up and go home!

4.45pm – Lab test results are given. You then join the queue to see the doctor again to interpret the results (medical practitioners the world over must be given training in illegible handwriting). A male nurse comes and chats to me.

4.55pm – Malaria +1 diagnosis. This is not as bad as it sounds, and, God-willing (as Ghanaians would say) it should clear up after 3 days of drugs.

5.00pm – Go to the pharmacy in the clinic to collect and pay for the drugs. Try and ask the pharmacist any questions about these strong drugs you’re about to put in your body and they will be highly offended – I think it’s like questioning their professional judgement.

5.05pm – Go back to the doctor to get a prescription for the drugs so that she can claim back from VSO.

5.10pm – Leave the clinic.

A less-than two hour turnaround is pretty exceptional in Bolga, and normally a trip to the doctor takes an entire morning.

Fingers crossed I will continue to be strong, God-willing!

Laylo......(cue guitar riff...)

We have a cat. He is called Laylo.

It wasn’t quite my intention to end up with a pet in Ghana. However, cat-sitting a very tiny kitten turned into looking after a slightly bigger kitten. Now the kitten adopter has left (thanks Vic!) we have Laylo. It’s not like Vic forced us to keep him – I for one was getting a bit attached anyway, so I/we decided to look after him for a wee while, only a small reason being that we were slightly concerned if he went to a Ghanaian family he might end up as dinner as their previous two cats had (both, ironically, named “Wish”).

Laylo is a slightly odd name for a cat, I know. Originally, Laylo was Layla, but after a visit from Laura, fellow VSOer and vet, we discovered his true sex. Now he is normally referred to as Laylo and him, though occasionally, also quite Ghanaianally, he is she. (Even people in the education office get he/she mixed up a lot of the time.)

Poor Laylo has made an enemy in our garden L. Godwin (our night watchman and the cause of many a trouble!) is keeping guinea fowl chicks and a hen in the garden (but a chicken hen, I think – apparently they often do that as guinea fowls aren’t good at looking after their own chicks). Laylo is terrified of the hen! She has the cheek to come and eat his rice, then looks at him with a bit of an evil look in her eye, squawks, spreads her wings and poor Laylo runs inside.

I keep explaining to Laylo that the “nasty hen lady” is a bird and really Laylo should just attack her, but my reasoning doesn’t work. Maybe I should try Frafra.

I explained Laylo the scaredy cat to a friend, who thought Laylo small pathetic – until she came face to face with said hen (we were trying to help a chick that she had left behind) so now she is in sympathy with Laylo. However, my main problem is that the hen keeps eating Laylo’s food. I’ve started to leave Laylo outside during the day, and kept coming back to a totally empty bowl – before discovering it was the nasty hen lady stealing the food. Then I made a barricade with the washing bowls so that she can’t chop Laylo’s food and knock over his water. That didn’t work as my barricade was pretty pathetic, so now his food is high high up and safe I hope!

18 month Ghanaversary…

As I celebrate my 18 month Ghanaversary, I thought I’d think of some favourites, least favourites and funniest sights

Favourite food – my new lunch food of choice is Kenkey, which is fermented maize meal. It is eaten with the hands and is one of the less gooey staples. Or red red, fried plantain and bean stew.

Favourite drink: still tea, but with ideal milk, or Star and Alvaro, the drink of choice for me and the Hannahs at the moment, or Sangria (but COLD Sangria!)

Favourite things about living in Ghana – how genuinely friendly people are; greeting people; the slower pace of life (at times too slow…); the weather for a lot of the year (but not March and April); how untouristy it is; having my family here; travelling with Rachael along the coast and doing Volta with Sonia and Hannah at Christmas; cooking

Least favourite things about Ghana – how people drive, March weather… April weather.

Longest journey: 26 hours, door to door, Accra to Bolga (it can be done in half that time!) which included a 6 hour wait for the bus to leave and an hour long tyre change on the way

Funniest moment – projectile coughing out a Larium tablet on the street in Accra with Vic and Hannah was quite funny, also some Larium dreams have caused a little hilarity…

Funniest message on the back of a vehicle – CRAP FOR JESUS… (I think the R was meant to be an L)

5 most interesting things people carry on their heads

Suitcase

Sewing machine

Blackboard

Computer harddrive

Very long planks of wood, bought at “B&Q” near our house.

5 most interesting things seen being carried on the back of a motorbike

Signboard

Pig

Goat

Mattress (not rolled up!)

Push bike

2 strange cycling sights

Someone cycling with their leg in full plaster

Someone carrying a large bench while cycling

Argument with a police officer

Perhaps not my brightest of ideas…

I was riding my bike to Navrongo to do a workshop for about 25 teachers. Stupidly, I decided to have the workshop at 11, meaning I was riding at 10am then again at 2pm, not great in the 40 degree heat.

I was stopped around 10km from Navrongo by a policeman. Of course when he pulled me aside, I complied.

Policeman: Good morning.

Me: Good morning sir. How are you?

Policeman: Fine thank you, and you?

Me: Fine thank you.

Policeman: Where are you going?

Me (slightly worried about my workshop starting in less than an hour and panicking that my driving license was not in my purse): Navrongo.

Policeman: Can you pick this lady?

Me: Erm, who?

Policeman: This lady here (pointing to a young lady standing by the roadside.)

Me: Erm… does she have a helmet?

Policeman: No. (Sees me starting to worry…) but it’s fine.

Me: Ah, but what if I’m stopped and they charge me for carrying someone without a helmet.

Policeman: (laughing at stupid sulemia) No, it’s fine. There won’t be a problem.

Me: Are you asking me to break the law and take someone without a helmet? But you’re a police officer!

Policeman: It’s not a problem. (Looking hopeful…)

Me: But what if I’m in an accident. My insurance, oh?

Policeman: It’s fine.

Me: The NGO I work for would not be happy if they found out what I was doing. I might have to leave the country (always melodramatic Rachel).

Policeman (seeing I was a lost cause…): Ok, go.

Me: Thank you sir.

Now I'm worried what happens if I cross him again…!