Day 58

Another nice Ghana tradition is the washing of hands before meals. If you are in a chop bar or other eating place where you will be eating with your hands (as much Ghanaian food is), then they provide you with a jug, bowl and washing up liquid.

Ti di!

(You’re invited, what you say when eating with Ghanaians. No idea how to spell it, but pronounced tee dee).

Day 59

We ended up spending a night in Tongo and stayed in a very plush mud hut!! (And apparently you can fly in this room as it has magic powers... Hannah was floating around all night...!)

Day 60

I went on a wee ride to Tongo at the weekend on my trusty motorbike (Jack). There are big piles of rocks everywhere in Tongo, where the “Gods left them” according to the guide on a tour at Tongo last year. They are really striking, and the community use their shade and the caves they make for secret meetings of elders, community gatherings and a hiding place when the British were here!

Day 61

Children’s after school tasks are a little harder in Ghana than at home…

Gutting fish, cooking on a charcoal fire, or washing clothes, these are everyday tasks for Ghanaian children, after a long day at school and often a long walk home. But they’re still smiling!!

Day 62

Ghanaian fast food on the street – egg and bread and tea.

Found almost anywhere, it is cheap, safe to eat, filling, vegetarian (if that is a concern for you!) and pretty quick.

If you are not careful, the tea is made with lots of Ideal milk (evaporated milk), at least 2 teaspoons of sugar, and sometimes two teabags. Or, in one case, with a strawberry teabag (and sugar and milk!!)

Day 63

Another use for a tree… to store a Let’s Read bag!

Day 64

Today, a wee look in a school.

This is Wugingo Primary in Sirigu, and is probably the poorest structure of any school I’ve seen. It’s mud built, but the roof’s coming off, the walls are crumbling and only one of the three teachers comes regularly.

However, she’s still trying and doing a good job too without any interactive whiteboard, computers or other hi-tech equipment. But no matter how hard she works, so long as she's on her own and teaching in a structure that's about to collapse, then the children are not getting the education they deserve.

Day 65

Another thing I’ve really enjoyed in Ghana is playing games – or old fashioned fun as my Dad said!

We have the occasional game of Scrabble at my house, often initiated by Damien. These days it’s normally “soft” Scrabble, which means you can query a word before you use it (which, when playing with Damien, is quite necessary sometimes – who knows what za is? Anyone?!)

We used to play a lot of Skip Bo when I first arrived, a fun children’s card game that Jillian and Jason introduced me to.

I also enjoy Yatzee and more recently, good old Guess Who!

Day 66

A nice story today – of Peter. Peter came to Mama Laadi few months ago. He had been completely neglected by his family – his parents had moved to Nigeria, leaving him with grandparents. He probably had learning difficulties then, and they left him alone. He was found eating his own faeces. When I first met him, he was severely malnourished, had thin thin hair, tiny legs, and was in nappies. Now he’s running around, laughing.

More on Mama Laadi soon...

Day 67

Religion again…

These pictures are of Fountaingate chapel. Fountaingate is a big evangelical church in Bolga. There are several branches around.

They were having a big conference over the new year and this is the signboard. Notice how high the traffic lights and street lights are to get an impression of how massive the sign is!

The church has a huge power here, and not all pastors are pastors for the right reasons. (I'm just talking in general here, I don't know specifically about this church.) Whatever you believe to be true, I think it can be dangerous when people put all their faith in the healing of God in the church – and not the healing of God through use of modern medicines. I worry that some people don’t seek medical help as they believe God will sort it out.

A Ghanaian friend who is a devout Catholic worries that also the church can push people away from them or force people to hide. For example, some churches won’t let young people have girlfriends or boyfriends unless they’re approved by the church. This means some people don’t let on they are in a relationship, so when they want advice about something, they can’t go to someone they respect in the church.

Day 68

Today was a tree day.

Trees in Ghana are incredibly important. Today I was reminded of their uses for four different things; I’m sure there are many more.

Use one – shade from the sun. I was at a brand new school, and the head was telling me how nice it was, but how she was missing having trees. Most school grounds will have some – children will shelter under them and play all year round (even at its coolest, midday is hot in Ghana!) New schools have to wait until it rains to plant – the ground’s too hard just now.

Use two – storage (see picture). I wrongly thought that these were storing funeral mats, which are rolls of reeds tied together into a mat. They are actually just being used as large cupboards, trying the reeds and keeping them from the cows so that when it’s the wet season, people have something to burn on their fires.

Use three – baby weighing. I wish I could’ve taken a picture of this but it didn’t seem appropriate. There is a pully weighing device hanging from a strong branch of the tree. Babies are put in a sling, and then weighed on the device. There was a sort of clinic going on at a school, so weights were beign recorded monthly in a log book.

Use four – hang your radio – some watchmen were hanging their radio from the tree so it was at a good height for listening in.

Day 69

Part 2 of the tour of my house – the living room.

Note the Christmas decorations (it’s past twelfth night so I’m told I need to keep them up all year – the snowflakes have been on the door for two years now!)

Day 70

Miaow. Miaow. Miaow…

Laylo cries as I come home. He often cries when I come home. Poor abandoned cat is going to have a nasty shock when I make him live with Ghanaians one day soon!

So I came home, Laylo ran into the house (standing right in front of my bike, as always!) then stopped crying as he found a nice tasty treat on the floor – an already dead lizard. He then proceeded to take it to pieces in the living room, until I chased him outside.

Laylo – don’t kill lizards. They eat mosquitoes. You are meant to kill mice!

Day 71

A tour of my house part 1!

The outside! Front door, with nice Biblical carvings.

Gate, which my watchman seems to have claimed as his.

Day 72

A trip to the seamstress!

One of my favourite things to go – buy some pretty material and take it to Rita to make me something nice!

You go in, and if you don’t quite know what you want, you can look at one of the many pictures like this:

(I love the fact that the pictures have real-shaped Ghanaian ladies, no size 0s here!)

Then you get measured up and leave it with Rita and her girls. A few days later, return to collect your masterpiece! I’ve had many things made and have just made a list of all the things I want done before I go home. Compared to buying at home, it’s so cheap – a knee length dress will cost between Ghc6 and Ghc10 for material, and about Ghc8 to make. That’s at most Ghc18 = £7.20!

Day 73

Here’s a picture of my kindle with its new home. Thanks Mum and Dad!

Here’s a picture of one of the books I read in my first year here. Yes, cover to cover so it goes on the list!!

I’ve done a lot more reading in Ghana than I have done for years, and I’ve really enjoyed it. Part of me wants to stop watching TV when I get home (though the other part can’t wait to watch “Don’t tell the bride” and such programmes – don’t judge me!)

I’m going to do a bit of a book blog soon – watch this space (if anyone’s out there!) Any recommendations for future reading are most welcome J

Day 74

The building in the picture is a mosque made from mud. I’ve not had a chance to go there (I missed it last time I passed it!) but hope to go one day (God willing). It made me think about religion in Ghana.

God and religion are very much more present in everyday society and goings on than at home. Meeting start and end with a prayer – often Christian but also sometimes Muslim.

The Upper East where I live is predominantly Christian but also has many Muslims (60%/40% is often quoted, I’m not sure how accurately.) There are mosques and churches, almost side by side, and you can sometimes hear calls to prayer. Friday lunchtime is not a good time for riding your motorbike in the town centre!!

I think there is, to a certain extent, more tolerance between religions here than at home. I’m not saying the situation is flawless – I have Ghanaian Christian friends that don’t like Muslims and sure the reverse is true – but at least on the surface, there is tolerance. I’ve certainly never heard anyone say anything implying that all Muslims are extremists. There is a certain degree of intermarrying – if a Muslim lady marries a Christian man, she becomes Christian. The reverse is also true. And I’ve also heard people say that God is God, whether he’s God or Allah, which I also find refreshing.

At a recent meeting, there was a prayer at the start. There were many cries of “Amen” from the table next to us. The loudest by far was a lady who last year completed her journey to Mecca.

We thank God.

Day 75

Tros… the way to travel in Ghana! I should really try and get a decent photo of the outside of one – basically like a minibus, holding between 18 and sometimes up to 40 people. Normally, they hold about 18 – four rows of four seats, and two in front with the driver. Three seats are fixed, and the fourth flips up so that people can get into the seats behind.

You buy your ticket, go and put your bag or some other item on your seat (or seats) and then when it’s full, you leave. One person one seat. Or rather, one ticket, one seat. Which means that it’s not uncommon for mother, baby and 4 year old to share one “seat” – which in practice means that if you are sitting next to said mother, you are likely to end up with a small child leaning on your lap during the journey.

And Fan Yogo! There are several varieties of Fan product – Fan Ice (very sweet ice cream that melts too quickly!), Fan Choco (choc variety of Fan Ice), Fan Pop (my favourite, pineapple juice frozen), Fandango (frozen very sweet orange juice) and Fan Yogo (strawberry frozen yoghurt).

Day 76

Yesterday, Hannah and I were given a guinea fowl by a colleague. He phoned when we were in Burkina and told us to come by his house to pick the guinea fowl. We turned up, were invited into his house and told to wait small. We waited. Watched some football. Tried not to doze after our long journey. Waited. It turned to 5.15pm… it started to darken. Eventually we went out and said we’d like to get home before dark. Donald then said “Ah, I’ve kept you long. Let us eat, then you can go.” I explained that another friend was coming to my house for dinner… soon… and we didn’t want to walk in the dark. “Ah, you can eat quickly then go before it gets dark.” So we eat – rice and stew – then dropped the guinea fowl at my meat man, for collection the next day.

And this was what we got! I made lemon guinea fowl (using up some of the fab packet sauces I’ve been sent, thanks Grandma!) and egg fried rice.

Gifts in Ghana are a little different to in the UK. Birds, food or cloth are common. Sometimes people give large framed pictures, a bit like a greetings card with a long verse on them. If a baby is born, you can give clothes or soap or nappies. I quite like the simplicity of the gifts and very much appreciated the guinea fowl.

Day 77

Today, after some nice riding to and from Walewale, I went to the Burkina Faso border. After riding to Walewale, you go to Namoo. It’s a journey not that dissimilar to the one to Gambaga – dirt, ridgey bits, passing through the odd village. First to Bongo, then another 15km of so until you reach the border.

I’m not quite sure if on this occasion I actually made it into Burkina – the police let us through for a wee walk up to the sign, but it might’ve been no-man’s land, I’m not really sure. Certainly, I was quite disappointed by the lack of women carrying baguettes on their heads, but my accident lack of CFA meant that if I had spotted such a sight, I wouldn’t have been able to purchase any.

Whilst in Ghana, I’ve visited Togo and Benin as well as Burkina Faso, and have been both impressed by the food there (steak, chips, cous cous and the aforementioned baguettes) and simultaneously disappointed that Ghanaians haven’t taken any cookery lessons from their neighbours!

On passing back into Ghana, the police asked if we’d taken any photos. I wasn’t sure of the answer – would “yes“ result in a fine? Would “no” elicit a “we saw you, don’t lie” and arrest? When we kept quiet, they told us to go back and snap some… which we politely declined!

Day 78

Ghanaian architecture. Or perhaps it's floor planning.

Either way, it’s not the best of Ghanaian skills. A brand new hotel will have ill fitting doors. A floor will slope downwards. At one volunteer’s house you have to go through the shower to get to the toilet. In this hotel room toilet, it was a bit of a tight squash to fit your knees in when going to the loo. They had also put a couple of screws in to attach a toilet roll holder, before deciding that you might bang your forehead on it if they’d attached it. So they moved it across the room, out of reach of the toilet sittee.

Day 79

Today we went to Gambaga, a road trip of 52km each way. A man in a shop had previously told us that half the road was tarred and half was dirt. Maths, however, is not a Ghanaian strong point. 5km down the road, it turned from good tar to dirt and then very quickly to sand. After several almost skids, I slowed down to a more manageable speed (less than 30kmph) and we rattled along the ridges, skidded in the sand. Out of nowhere, about 35km down the dirt, a road emerged – perhaps the nicest road I’ve ever seen in Ghana - and finally made our way to Gambaga 2 ½ hours later after we’d left Walewale.

Gambaga is home to a “witches camp”, where women ousted from their communities for being witches can go and stay. There are many discussions about the morality of such a place and therefore whether or not visiting is a good idea. However, in the past, when women have been “released”, they’ve not wanted to leave as Gambaga is their home and they’re safe there.

"Witches" compound

So, we visited. We weren’t really sure where we were meant to go, so asked at a local spot. The owner called two of his friends, one of whom took us to see the chief to seek permission to visit. We paid him a little money, then an elder took us around. It looked very similar to any area of local housing, the big difference being the absence of men. The women are also given a little land as they have no entitlement to land in their home villages.

Like many visits in Ghana, the journey was as memorable (and considerably longer!) than the experience. Here’s to a few more road trips!

Day 80

New Year’s Day

In contrast to yesterday's beauty of Africa, today is: Rubbish: small black bags (“rubbers”), water sachet packets, Fan ice wrappers (ice cream)… they are everywhere. This seemed to be a bit of an informal dump, though I’m not sure if it was also a river in the wet season. Not one of the most endearing features of the Ghanaian landscape, but common all over the country.

It’s surprising, as people spend hours sweeping their compounds every day, even when it seems that they are just moving the dust from their place to just outside, for it to only come back in again later the same day. But everyone (or almost everyone) drops their water sachet packet on the ground, or out of the tro window. There is little recycling in Ghana so this means so much wasted plastic.

A few places make nice wee purses out of old bags and packets, which is nice. However, in order to improve the situation, people will have to change the way they use bags.

Day 81

I walked the 4km from my house to Bolga on the evening of the last day of 2011. It’s been on my to do list for months now, and late December seemed as good a time as any (i.e. cold enough!) to try and achieve this. So, for today, Bolga as sun sets on the last day of the year.

Day 82

Today, I went to visit my friend Mary in Navrongo. We had a lovely meal of chicken curry, chips, beer and After Eights (thanks to Mary!) and some banoffi pie for dessert.

However, that’s not what today’s talk is about. No, today I’m talking about washing!

I have a nice lady called Gladys who comes to do my washing on a Saturday morning. Rain or shine, she comes, picks up the big bag, three big plastic buckets, Ghc3 and some soap and powder, and washes my stuff in the garden and hangs it out to dry. She washes almost everything – jeans, sheets, towels – and does a much better job than I would. It’s definitely worth the money, and nice to give someone some extra work.

Day 83

I went to a colleague’s house tonight for a little get together, and took a few shots of his “compound”.

We sat in the garden drinking shandy and then eating some delicious food prepared by his wife – rice, stew, chicken, guinea fowl and a little pasta (prepared by some Dutch volunteers living with him). There’s a bit of a food theme here, rice etc!

The house has two parts – a traditional house (but a rather nice and modern one) which has walls with a small courtyard in the middle. This house is really nice as it has electricity (including a massive satellite dish) and the rooms are quite tall and I imagine not that small. I only went into the toilet, which was very nice by Ghanaian standards – it was a small room with a little hole in one wall, and is used for urinating and showering – you bring your own water in with you. In this house will probably live my colleague and his family, his mother and father and any brothers and their families.

The other building is the house my colleague is building for his family. It is half built and so he will move into it with his wife and son when it’s done.

It’s very common for men to build rooms/a house beside where their parents live and move into it when it is finally finished. This is sometimes in addition to another house (perhaps if they live elsewhere for work, even if that’s in another country).