Thursday, October 6

Three weeks! Pretty soon I’m going to have to stop marking weeks and move to months. It’s flown by. It’s funny to look back at some of the stuff I’ve written, both on this and on paper. It is hard to believe now that I was once surprised to see “I have God” on the back of a taxi (they all have something like that).

Today was predictable. I didn’t get to the printing press and the drilling rig wasn’t working, so I didn’t go see that either. But that was somewhat expected. I’m adjusting to the Ghanaian schedule. Before Europeans came, their calendar had 72 weeks in a year. So they say it takes them about 40% longer to do things. I don’t know how I’m going to handle it when I get back home and people expect you to show up on time. It’s pretty nice here!

So instead of what was planned, Dr. Addae and I finished some proposals and worked on some cost projections for a couple of projects. One other thing he is doing is establishing a traditional medicine school here. And like some of you surely are, I was sceptical. But traditional African herbal medicine is used by many people here and it does have some benefits. It is also here to stay, so by institutionalizing it, we will be making it more effective and safe. Just for an example, Dr. Addae was talking to a herbalist recently. He asked him how he could tell if a certain cure worked. The herbalist told his patients to make a certain mix to eat. They were then told to monitor their ‘output’. If it had black spots, that meant that the bacteria causing the illness was ‘pooping’. Not being a doctor, I had to ask, and no, bacteria can’t do that. So that’s what we’re dealing with!

The power is out right now, which isn’t so bad, except for the lack of fan. Also, our water tank is empty and the tanker that fills it is broken. It’s supposed to be fixed tomorrow (aka next year!) but until then, we’re drawing buckets from the well. We got a great picture of me doing that today. I’m going to try and get them posted somehow.

Finally, I mis-reported the Habs score yesterday. My source, who shall remain nameless (Carly) texted me the wrong score. Nevertheless, it was very nice of her and it made my day. It’s funny how the Habs can still affect my mood, even from this distance. Have a great Thanksgiving weekend!