Monday and Tuesday

I have been pretty lazy about posting lately. It’s now Wednesday morning and I didn’t put anything up yesterday. The past two days have been pretty relaxed. Dr. Addae was here but had to go back to Accra yesterday. I met Martin for lunch on Monday and we planned the trip for this weekend, which should be great. We’re leaving at 4 am on Friday and probably coming back Sunday. I’ll probably have access to email so I’ll try to post something while I’m there.

This morning, I set my alarm for 7 so I could catch the last half hour of BBC World on the local station. Much to my disappointment, the BBC anchor had just started the roundup of headlines when the TV3 banner took over. And then a show with a music video that had been shot in the gas station where I eat pizza came on. Who watches music videos at 7 am?

I read The Da Vinci Code and its prequel, Angels and Demons, in the past few days. It was a nice change of pace from what I had been reading earlier, although Dan Brown’s writing style is awkward. Still, the books were hard to put down and I would definitely like to know more about the myths behind them.

I have been writing to various foundations in the past few days for help with the water project, so I’m looking forward to getting a response from them. I have to write a grant application for the school of traditional medicine, which should take a couple of days. I feel like I’m in school, with the amount of writing I am doing.

That’s all for now.

Thanksgiving pub crawl

Wow, this has not been a good week for me keeping y’all up to date. Pardon my grammar, but I went to Peace Corps Thanksgiving yesterday, so I’m feeling American. It was a blast and the food was great. It was a little strange to be an outsider—there were about 25 of them and they all know each other really well cause they were almost all in the same training group. Being around so many foreigners was definitely odd. There was a huge spread, too large to list. There were four turkeys. And apple and pumpkin pie, among other things. It’s now Sunday night and I just ate for the first time since yesterday.

The Peace Corps people are scattered all over the country, but made their way down for the weekend. Seven of us (all guys) decided to go on a pub crawl, which was pretty ridiculous. We started at one “spot” and stopped at four more, before piling into a taxi (with one other passenger) home at about 2. So there were nine people in one taxi, including the driver. We definitely could have fit one more. Also, it was pretty nice to think back on how much I spent and not feel guilty—my bar tab was maybe five bucks!

Today was slow. The old familiar feelings of Sundays at Queens and all the guilt associated with that came back, but fortunately, I realized that I don’t have any essays due or anything like that! Carly texted me to say the Habs lost to the damn Leafs AGAIN in OT. Ugh. Nothing depresses me more than the fact that they have had our number for the past too many seasons.

I’m in the home stretch and am starting to feel the pressure of what I need to do before I go home. I’m meeting Martin to go to plan our trip to Cape Coast tomorrow (today when this goes up). But I’m sure I’ll end up getting bubonic plague or legionnaire’s disease or bird flu and won’t be able to go. I’ll keep my fingers crossed.

Malaria!

Sorry for the extended absence—I was indisposed. On Tuesday, I went to town and wasn’t feeling great, so I came back home almost immediately. Dr. Addae is in Accra, so I called Grace, who came over and from my symptoms (fatigue, fever), she figured that I had malaria, so we went to a hospital near Bon Appetit to get tested. The name of the hospital was Supercare Hospital and it said on the sign that God is the Supreme Healer. I wish I had given more collection two weeks ago. While waiting for the test results at Bon Appetit, my fever was getting worse. Grace came back and told me we had to get to the hospital right away because I had a bad case of malaria. When I got there, I had a fever of almost 41, which works out to over 105 Fahrenheit. They gave me a suppository (fun!) and hooked me up to an IV and gave me some more drugs and I started to feel better almost immediately. By night-time, I was feeling pretty well fine although I had to stay overnight. The next morning, my fever was back, although not as high. That is normal though. So Wednesday was full of more drugs and IVs. I was hoping I could go home Wednesday night, but they made me stay again. By Thursday morning, I was feeling fine. The treatment for malaria lasts three days, so I took the last of those pills. I was pretty adamant about getting out, because I was going stir-crazy. Nobody likes hospitals, but they’re even worse when you have one book that you’ve already read and no TV and nothing else to do. I needed to see the doctor before getting discharged, so I told the nurses that I’d like to see him when he came. Somehow, the message didn’t get relayed, and I almost had a severe breakdown. Fortunately, he showed up at about 8 last night and I was able to leave, after paying the bill, which came out to about $140. I am going to call BCAA to sort out how I can get them to give me that money. The care at the hospital was really good, at first. The nurses were great and they did so much to make me as comfortable as possible. But by late Wednesday, things were starting to frustrate me. The nurses were just trainees (most of them, anyhow) and the doctor wasn’t there full-time. They kept making basic mistakes when changing my IV bags, meaning that blood would leak out of into the hose, clogging it. This would mean they would have to flush it out, which isn’t always pleasant. Or fluid would spill everywhere. It was worrying to say the least, especially when I had to start giving them instructions. I have zero medical training. Today I am going to talk to Jennifer to find out what the Peace Corps do with their volunteers when they get sick. I am not going back to that hospital again. I’m certain that I’ve painted a picture that is much worse than reality, but I figure I should be honest and not sugar-coat everything. The nurses were all very nice and I appreciate everything they did for me, but if I ever get sick again, I’m going to a hospital where there is a doctor around 24 hours a day. It was interesting being in a private hospital, coming from one of the three countries in the world in which they are illegal. The care was really fast, which was pretty new, and the place wasn’t overcrowded by any means. But settling the bill is a strange thing. You always wonder if they are prescribing unnecessary things, or ripping you off. It’s funny how economics comes into play in health care. In the Canadian system, because the price is essentially zero, demand is so high, creating the problems we have. But with private care, there is incentive to cut costs to make money and who wants discount medicine? I guess that’s why the best systems have a mix of both. I am not going to make some sweeping conclusion to finish off this post, however. I am so thankful that I am out of the hospital and feeling better. Being sick is terrible and being sick in a foreign country is even worse. Fortunately, Grace and Dr. Addae’s brother Nana did so much to help me out (including paying the bill—I have 100 cedis to my name; about 1 cent. I do have US cash though) Tomorrow is Thanksgiving dinner at the Peace Corps place, but with my recent luck, I’ll probably get sick or eaten by a lion. I hope everyone is doing well at home. I can honestly say that I’ve never missed Canadian winters more than on Tuesday afternoon when my fever was at its peak.

Monday, Nov 21

It’s late and I’m tired, which is nothing new. I am alone at the house so I did all my ironing tonight, which took forever. I really suck at ironing.

This morning I went into town and met with the woman who distributes Poly-Tanks in Kumasi. I am going to attempt to fundraise enough to put twelve more up in Kumawu, as well as buy a truck with two more tanks on it to fill the rest. I think the total cost will be about 25 grand. I got some cost estimates from her and will see her next week.

That was the end of my productivity today. When I got to the office, my computer wouldn’t turn on. Actually, it would, but the screen wouldn’t come on. Fortunately, right next to our office is a computer repair shop and they fixed it. But it took all afternoon. It was pretty funny actually, because the problem was quite simple, but each time the guy put the thing back together, something didn’t work and he had to start again.

Dr. Addae left me with a fair amount to do, so tomorrow should be pretty busy. The Peace Corps place has a huge library so Jennifer gave me Hocus Pocus by Kurt Vonnegut and I finished it tonight. I don’t really know what to make of it. It reminded me a lot of Catch-22. It was pretty bleak, but wickedly funny at parts. Ok, that’s all.

The weekend

Office this morning, then back to Kwamo in the afternoon.

I met up with the girl in the Peace Corps, Jennifer, who we gave a lift to a couple of weeks ago. She’s been here over two years and speaks Twi really well, which seems to get a pretty good reaction from locals. We went out for kebabs and hung out for a while. She’s really nice and knows a ton about the area. She also brought Dijon mustard along, which was a nice addition. Next weekend is American Thanksgiving, and they’re having a big dinner, so that will be great—turkey and apple pie.

Dr. Addae is going to Accra for a few days tomorrow (today when this gets posted) so I’m on my own for a few days. I’ll probably meet up with Martin on Tuesday for 2 for 1 pizza. I seem to have settled into a nice little routine here. Coming back is going to be so weird—this place is basically a different planet.

It’s now Sunday morning and I just wanted to write a bit about the Ashanti. They are the dominant tribe in Ghana and since I am in the heart of Ashanti almost everyone I talk to is one. They are incredibly proud people. They remind me a bit of Torontonians—“we run the show and to hell with the rest of you”—a statement that is both true and frustrating to outsiders. I found an interesting proverb of theirs: “If power is up for sale, then sell your mother to obtain it—once you have the power, there are several ways of getting her back!” It is strange, because the Ashanti place huge importance on community and family, but also put personal power as the highest goal one can aim for. They’re great people to be around and have a strong sense of identity. There are so many paradoxes about them. The reason they gained so much power in the first place was because of their role as the primary supplier of slaves in the region. They declined after slavery was abolished, but because they make up such a large percentage of the population, they’re back in power now.

Friday Traffic

Another week gone by. Wow.

Kumasi is called the Garden City of West Africa. Apparently, this is because Queen Elizabeth called it that in the 1960s when she visited. However, the population has exploded since then and there aren’t too many gardens to see. It still is a lot greener than Accra, but Garden City? It should be called the Gridlock City. It took an hour to get home today. A distance of about 15 km. To be fair, there is a lot of road construction going on right now that will make things better in the long run. And from what I’ve heard (and seen in Accra) Kumasi is a lot better than most large African cities.

This place is full of contradictions. There is so much technology around, but so many things don’t work. For example, there are hundreds of people selling the latest Hollywood movies on VCD on the street and everyone has a cell phone. But half the traffic lights don’t work. I guess it’s a by-product of developing while other parts of the world are already developed.

A Giant Snail

I don’t really have the energy to write much tonight. I finally broke through my frustration and finished the proposal I was working on. Ghanaian culture is much more laid-back than North American culture and business is no exception. Therefore, things constantly change as new information pops up that I wasn’t aware of before. Right now, I have two separate proposals. One is more general and has a much larger goal, while the other focuses solely on one collection of villages. I think it will take about $25,000 to put in place the system we have in mind. I have decided that this is where I want to focus my fundraising efforts, because it will give me something tangible to shoot for. After writing proposals and dealing in the hypothetical for so long, it will be nice to have achieved something concrete. But I do realize that things fail because they aren’t properly planned so all this work is completely necessary.

For dinner, I had a giant snail in soup. The flavour wasn’t exceptional—not bad, not good. The thing was huge though. Every day when I walk through the market (what am I talking about: Kumasi is one giant open-air market), I see these snails for sale. They are bigger than baseballs. I wish it wasn’t rude to take a picture of your food. That’s all. Enjoy the weekend.

More Birthdays

First of all, Happy Birthday to Hugh and Jason (on the 17th). Hope you both have a good one.


I had some form of writer's block today that was really frustrating. I am trying to make several different proposals for the water project, each tailored to various categories of donors such as individuals and foundations and for some reason, I simply could not make what I was writing sound good. Eventually I just gave up for the day. We met with the editor of the local weekly paper today. He had contacted a guy who works at a local radio station and is a Twi specialist and so now we have an editor and general manager/supervisor for the newspaper. We are going to set up a meeting for next week to bring in everyone involved-- the people at the printing press, the editor and GM and another Twi specialist. But while we were meeting with the two men today, I couldn't help but feel the elephant in the room, although I might have been the only one. Money. We are going to need some to get this going. But I believe in this project, as it has a huge market and with the right people running it, it will be successful. I figure that even in the conservative, risk-averse business culture here, if you have a good idea, you can find money somewhere. We'll see.

Accra = different

It's now later Wednesday afternoon. Here's yesterday's post: It’s Tuesday night and I don’t have anything about today to tell apart from that Martin told me that he saw a man carrying a stand-up freezer/fridge on his head. Also, there is a Aids show on TV and Steven Seagal is on it advocating. Or should I say “Ninii Steven Seagal”. Shouldn’t he be fighting terrorists or evil oil companies? He looks pretty fat. I want to say a bit more about Accra.

It felt very foreign because of its modernity. I think I’m changing a bit. The next bit might sound a bit self-righteous or lame, so sorry! When I went to the Wharton thing, I put on my watch for the first time since I got here. It felt strange—it looked so conspicuous and I took it off. At Nana Aba’s house, there was running water from the central system, which I haven’t experienced since I’ve been here. At first, I would turn off the shower while I was soaping, simply out of habit. Finally, being at the Canadian sports bar was so weird. I think I felt guilty about bringing Ghanaian friends there, because it was all foreigners. I really didn’t feel comfortable there. The modernity of Accra made it feel like another country. When I get home, Canada will feel like another world. I don’t really know what to make of all this. I’ve realized that I’m in for a serious culture shock when I get home! Maybe I’m turning Ghanaian. I think that if I was living in Accra instead of here, my life would be a bit more lively and Western. That wouldn’t necessarily be a bad thing and I’m sure that I would still be having an African experience there. But I’m happy that I’m in Kumasi, despite its lack of amenities. I think I’ll try to get to Accra once every month or so though because it is lots of fun.

Alright, that’s all for now. Wait, one more thing. In Accra, I saw a black woman with a southern accent, which for some reason seemed very strange. I guess seeing anyone with a southern accent in Ghana is unexpected, but when they aren’t white, it’s weirder.

I'm an idiot again

I have a post from yesterday that somehow didn't get saved to the right disk. I'll put it up the next time I'm on the internet. Today we had a great meeting with the editor of the local weekly paper and a man from a radio station who are going to edit and supervise our Twi newspaper. More on that later

Friday to Tuesday - brace yourself

Wow, it feels like I haven’t written in a year. I’ve got a lot to talk about (5 days now) so I’ll just start from the beginning.

On Friday morning I caught the bus to Accra. It took six hours to go 270 km and I was in the middle seat of the back row. I could not get comfortable to save my life. On the front of the bus was the make and model: it is made by Faw and was a King-Long. So on the front of the bus it said Faw-King Long. It is actually a pretty good description of the trip.

I was staying with a friend of Dr. Addae’s who works for the UN and she sent a UN car to pick me up. It was a beautiful air-conditioned Land Cruiser. I felt pretty special getting chauffeured around in it. Acutally, I felt like a stereotype. I went to the Wharton session which was very interesting. It’s a top-notch school. It has a reputation for rejecting younger applicants, so getting in there will be tough. I don’t think it’s my first choice, but I’d definitely consider it if I got in. However, I’m almost certain that I’m going to wait a year. I want to get some more work experience so I’m probably going to be in Toronto. Anyone want to give me a job?

On Saturday, we went to a funeral for about half an hour. I could write a lot about it, but all I’ll say is that women can turn on the wailing like a switch. People will be dancing one minute and then bawling the next. And when there are 400-plus women wailing, it’s loud. That afternoon I went to some tourist spots with Nana Aba (who I was staying with). We went to the cultural center, the museum and mausoleum of the first president, Nkrumah, and the stadium. The museum was interesting. Nkrumah was a communist, so there were lots of pictures of him with Fidel and Che and Mao and all my other role models. There was also a temporary display that was all Cuban propaganda. What that was doing in Ghana, I don’t know.

Moving on. We went to this bar called Osekan. It was right on the water and absolutely amazing. We went back there that night again. This time in a BMW—one of Nana Aba’s friends is a special assistant to the president. He had some really interesting stories about the fraud and intimidation perpetrated by the last government. It sounds like Ghana was near rebellion in 1996 but the leaders of the current government decided to wait for another election, which they were able to win, despite more cheating. It goes without saying that I’m thankful not to have to face machetes when I go to vote.

We also went to Champs Sports Bar cause I wanted to see if they would show the hockey game. They didn’t and being there was so weird. There were actually more white people than black and it looked just like a Canadian sports bar. There was a Habs jersey mounted next to a Leafs one and ESPN on the big screen. It was like stepping into Canada. But in Ghana. I actually felt pretty uncomfortable there with my Ghanaian friends and we left quickly.

On Sunday we went to church for four hours. Four hours of church in a foreign language is a long time, but it was not bad. It was so lively with lots of singing and dancing and collection. They seemed most vigorous during the collection that went to fund the running of the church. But the music was incredible. There was a guitar, a drum set, a keyboard and African drums.

I have more stories, but they’re not as important, so I’m going to leave them out. In conclusion, Accra was great. It is way more modern than Kumasi, which was strange. I’ve grown used to not having running water and living in a city without more than a handful of modern buildings so going to a city that could pass for a Western one (albeit only in some neighbourhoods) was a culture shock. I really enjoyed it though and am going to try and get back once more before Christmas.

I came back Monday morning and had to go to immigration to get my visa extended cause it expired that day. Why is it that bureaucrats act like any request is the greatest inconvenience of all time? They certainly don’t make it easy to get. I also have to apply for a re-entry visa for Christmas and that will be a nightmare. “Why do you want to come back to Ghana!?” It’s impossible to convey the tone of the officer who asked me that.

It’s now Tuesday afternoon. I went out for pizza with Martin and it was probably the best meal I’ve had since I’ve been here. It was 2 for 1 today so we got two larges for about 8 dollars. I also got an ice cream sundae for dessert. And I still have three pieces left.

Ok, this marathon has to end. I’ll finish off with the old standby: hockey. It sounds like we should have won on Saturday but sometimes, you don’t get the bounces. Too bad. At least we got a point. Worse is losing Kovalev. Fortunately, we’ve put a lot of points in the bank and can afford a short slump. Hopefully the boys will rise to the challenge.

Sorry, one last thing. I just finished East of Eden. What a fantastic book. I don’t think I’ve ever had a better run of books in my life. It is so good. And that’s a massive understatement.

Accra (briefly)

Hi all,
Accra is a lot nicer the second time around. I don't have too much time to write now. The Wharton session was good, although getting in will be tough--they seem to like a lot of work experience. Accra is much more modern than Kumasi and we were at an amazing bar right on the water. I'll get some pictures up next week. Today I was at church for four hours. There were also four offerings. More on that later.

I'm back in Kumasi tomorrow, so I'll have details up about this weekend by Tuesday. It's been great, apart from finding out that we lost to the Leafs. At least we got a point.

It's been lots of fun here. Also, Christmas is creeping closer. I can't believe how fast time is going. Although four hours of church was a tad longer than I'm used to.

Thursday

I was just at the internet café for a bit and at this particular one, they have satellite TV in the background. MTV was on. Having lived in Canada, I’ve never watched MTV, but MuchMusic is pretty similar. They’re both so dumb. I don’t know why, but right now, I can’t think of anything stupider than celebrity culture. Like, oh-my-god, Ashlee Simpson is number 2 on TRL. I mean, who really cares about this stuff? I guess it’s a bit hypocritical of me, especially considering how much time I spend following sports. But tell me that there is a difference. Television has never seemed so vapid as it just did. “I wanna give a shout out to all my friends...WOOOOOO!!!!”

There’s my online rant. I’ve been at the office today working on new fundraising proposals. Pretty standard. Right now there are about half a dozen young men yelling outside on the street. Why, I don’t know. I’d have to say that Ghana is a pretty loud place in general, especially in the cities. I once tried to count the number of car honks I heard in a minute, but quickly realized it was impossible! After a short while, you adjust to it and it doesn’t bother you. In the cab on the way home, Dr. Addae and I were talking about the problems associated with water delivery, namely, that no one in the communities takes responsibility for the well if something goes wrong. If the pump breaks, it just sits there. This fits into the greater theme of the fact that the education system doesn’t turn out development-minded people. The guy sitting in the front of the cab (shared taxi) cut in in Twi, though it was pretty easy to understand what he was saying. He was agreeing with what we were saying, but saying that Dr. Addae shouldn’t be giving off such a bad impression to a foreigner. Dr. Addae explained that I was here volunteering and he seemed satisfied. I understand the man’s point though and it’s good that he had pride in his country. Today marks 8 weeks. Hopefully I’ll get this posted tomorrow before I leave to Accra.

Remembrance Day

Because I probably won’t get on the internet on Friday, I am posting my thoughts on Remembrance Day today. Being so far from Canada, my only exposure to it is seeing British people on the BBC wearing poppies, but it is still on my mind. As some of you know, Remembrance Day is a day that I consider very important. Today is not a day for politics or utopian messages. It is simply a day to remember those who gave their lives for us. Every year the men who died fighting for our freedom become even younger relative to my age, something that is very sobering. When my grandfather was my age, he was fighting in Italy. Many of his friends didn’t come back. So on Friday, just take a minute and try to grasp this: countless men, many younger than I am now, gave their lives for Canada. That selflessness and sacrifice must be honoured always.

Wednesday, November 9th

I have a clip on my computer of Bob Cole announcing the last few seconds of the Habs winning the Cup in ’93 which just came on. It still gives me chills. Things are looking good in Hab-land, although it’s still early. Winning close games early builds character and confidence, although it would be nice to win by a larger margin from time to time!

Another typical day at the office. I wrote a few drafts of letters that I’ll send to various foundations in the next week. While we focus on several projects, I’m going to fundraise solely for the water project, because it is the simplest and most immediately effective project we do. But like anything, money talks and right now, we don’t have any to sink wells or put up reservoirs.

One of Dr. Addae’s friends owns a restaurant/bar near our office. The term restaurant/bar is misleading though, because it isn’t anything like Shoeless Joe’s or The Keg. Anyways, it’s a great place to eat and they have made me fries too. The only problem is that the portions are enormous. Today they served me the biggest plate of fried rice in the history of time. I had about half of it and almost died.

I’m going to Accra on Friday for an information session for Wharton Business School (UPenn). I won’t bring my computer and I’m not sure if I’ll get on the internet. I’m back in Kumasi on Sunday or Monday, so if I don’t post until then, don’t worry! Have a great weekend. Habs-Leafs on Saturday in Montreal. What I would give to watch that. Finally, I think my Teva tan is eventually going to become permanent.

Happy Birthday Car!

Since this will be posted on Wednesday, by far the most important thing is this: Happy Birthday Carly! It’s been a long time since you had a birthday when I wasn’t around. Sorry! I love you dearly and miss you tons.

I made my first foray into Kejetia Market today with Dr. Addae’s friend, Pat. It is the largest open-air market in West Africa and on entering it, all I could think was “what is going to happen if there’s a fire?” It was so tightly packed and crowded. There was a fire a few years ago, but fortunately, it was during the night. As insane as it seems at first, it is fairly orderly, by Ghanaian standards, with similar things found in certain areas. We walked around for ages looking for a birthday present for Carly. This turned out to be in vain as I ended up buying the gift from a shop right beside where we got off the tro-tro.

From there, it was on to the office to work a bit on letters soliciting help and negotiating for facilities for the school of natural medicine. The long-term goal is to have our own campus, but for now, we’ll be using existing facilities. I also spent some time researching foundations that focus on water provision and will be drafting letters to send to them in the next week.

Dr. Addae always seems to misplace the keys to the office, so we put them on the key-ring with all the other keys yesterday. Today, we gave the keys to Pat to go home early. So we had to buy a new padlock for the office. Irony.

I had an interesting talk with Pat tonight. She told me about her German friend who came with her boyfriend and how she made him clean their clothes. Pat pulled him aside and told him not to, saying she would do it because that’s the way it is here. How am I going to adjust back to Canada?

Monday, Nov 7

I have never seen as many taxis as there are here. But it is still impossible to get home at night. On Sunday night we were waiting at the university for over an hour. Tonight it was the same. We no longer have a driver for various reasons, so we don’t use the van. And the car is at the mechanic’s because of the crash, so it’s taxis and tro-tros. Tro-tros go on fixed routes and the few that go where we want to go at night always create a violent rush to get on that we avoid. Yesterday people were fighting over one so hard that the door fell off. There are two kinds of taxis: shared and dropping. Dropping ones are like taxis back home, except without meters, so you have to agree on a price beforehand. Shared ones go on fixed routes and only leave when they’re full. It is also impossible to find a taxi to take you where you want at night, even though they make up about 80% of the cars on the road. We made it to the university again tonight and waited for ages, finally biting the bullet and getting into a tro-tro going way further than we needed to. It dropped us off at our junction, but we had to pay the full fare, a premium of 400% of the normal fare. From now on, hopefully we’ll leave the office early when it’s easy to catch a tro-tro from downtown.

Today was spent at the office working on schedules and proposals. We are trying to get affiliation for our university of natural medicine with a school abroad. This would give us greater credibility and resources.
I might have to get my leg amputated. Well, probably not, but I did step in a puddle today in the market. It was dark so I didn’t see it, but I know what it looks like from having seen it in the day. Green. I shudder to think about it. I washed my foot at home, but it might be too late for me. I’ll keep you posted. That’s all for now.

A car crash and the stupid BBC

Hi y'all. I'm posting everything from Saturday to this morning in one post cause internet's been poor. Unlike the Habs! Second in the league, not bad. DING!!!

It’s actually Sunday morning right now. We were at the office for a while yesterday working on various things for the school.

One thing that happens a lot here is people asking me for my address. I had to use the bathroom at the bank and the security guard asked me for it! The line used follows this form: “I want to take you as my friend. Can I have your address?” I wonder if anyone will actually write. My only worry is that I’m going to end up as a reference on people’s visa applications, because, sadly, most young people (especially guys) want to leave Ghana. I think I’ll start giving out my address here.

Child labour here is a big problem. And it’s not the good kind of child labour, like making your siblings get you food while you’re watching TV. School attendance is increasing now that government has made it free (only up to about grade 9), but it is still quite low. In the rural areas, children farm, but in the cities, they usually sell things. Even many who do go to school will be out selling things on the street after school and on weekends and holidays. The worst thing to see is the children who beg with older handicapped relatives (usually blind) at intersections. When the cars stop, they go from window to window begging. Government doesn’t have the resources to punish people who keep their kids out of school, so they should introduce some sort of incentive system for parents to send their kids to school.

The key to fighting school absenteeism is educating women, something that the current government has begun to address. If a generation of women is educated, they will all ensure that their children receive at least as much education as they got. The role of fathers here, according to Dr. Addae, is one of a “sperm donor”, so women are the key.

Sunday, November 6

Happy Birthday Kristina! I hope Taiwan is as good a place to have your birthday party as 371 Johnson.

I had my first car accident today. It was nothing major; in fact, it was pretty funny. We were stopped at an intersection and this guy turned right into us. It turned out that they knew Dr. Addae AND it was their second accident of the day. On the way home from church. No one was hurt at all, but the car is going to need a bit of work!

From there we went to a friend of Dr. Addae’s for a late lunch and then home for the evening. Getting home was an ordeal because we left the car in town to be repaired. There are not too many tro-tros running on Sunday night and finding a taxi is tough to. It took almost two hours to get back, even though we only live about 15-20 km from downtown!

It’s now Monday morning and I just watched the news on BBC World. It’s funny how similar it is to CBC. The main story is obviously the chaos in France right now and the coverage was appalling. They seemed intent on blaming the Interior Minister, Nicolas Sarkozy, for causing the crisis through his use of “harsh words”. It was pathetic. His deputy was interviewed and did a good job defending him, although I don’t think he won the reporter over. I can only imagine what it would have been like in 1938 if BBC was on. Reporter: “Prime Minister Chamberlain’s valiant efforts in Munich were severely hampered by the inflammatory language coming from Winston Churchill. Churchill bears much of the blame for this crisis, as his remarks demonizing the leader of Germany only served to increase tensions greatly. Fortunately, the conciliatory tone adopted by the PM soothed the crisis and peace prevailed (at the expense of the sovereignty of one small, unimportant country, Czechoslo-something-or-rather.”

What a joke. They also neglected to mention the identity of the perpetrators, instead calling them gangs of “youths”, which obfuscates the real problem: that France has a large Islamic population that has not assimilated (largely because France hasn’t allowed them to). Faced with high unemployment, they are becoming increasingly radicalized. Yet by listening to the BBC, you’d never know that. Ahh, objective media.

Worst TV Show Ever

There is a small shop at the junction near our house. When you hear the term ‘shop’ you think of a building among other buildings, but in Africa, it’s not always like that. This is a little shack that is actually very well stocked (although they always seem to be out of the sachets of cold water when I most want them). We pass by it several times a day and the guy who runs it knows my name. Today, when some little kid yelled out ‘obruni’, he said: “no, that’s Tony!” We were in the office all day today. I was working on schedules for the school of natural medicine, which have to be completely redone because the curriculum has been changed. Working in Ghana! I have also run into internet problems lately. The place I normally go has been awful. I went to one right by our office that is usually awful, but today it was great. Great here means that I can actually load the pages that I want. It’s been interesting to realize how dependent I am on the internet. It’s pathetic. But the Ghanaian papers don’t have too much about the Habs. What a start—long may it last. Although Ottawa is looking pretty amazing. 8-0 against the Leafs in Toronto and then 10-4 against Buffalo. They’re like the Oilers in the 80s. We had dinner at Bon Appetit again tonight, even though we did have power at home. I then watched “The Promise”. I can honestly say that it is by far the worst show I have ever seen. It is a Filipino show dubbed terribly into English. They made the actors from The OC look like stage-trained professionals. I have never seen such over-acting. Fortunately, the guy from Mali I met yesterday showed up and I was spared. I wonder why the producers of TV3 would choose this show. They must be getting bribed to show it.

Thursday afternoon

I've seen people balancing all sorts of things on their heads here, from buckets of water to gigantic bundles of wood shavings. Today I saw a man with a chainsaw on his head. Because today was a public holiday for Eid-al-fitr (the end of Ramadan), we didn't go to the office. I was in town for a bit, but other than that, it was a slow day. Friday will be business as usual. Speaking of Eid, the entire first half of the news today was devoted to covering it and the various festivities all over the country. Tonight we were at Dr. Addae's brother's guest house where we always go when the power is out at home. It's called Bon Appetit and from now on, I'm only going to refer to it as that. Anyways, we were there and I had an interesting conversation with a guy from Mali. He was a professional soccer player and had lived all over Europe and Africa. Mali is French-speaking, but his English was perfect, so we had a good chat using both languages interchangeably. His English was better than my French. It's been a while. It was nice to talk to someone from a neighbouring country who wasn't trying to sell me something, because without fail, every man I've met from Mali or Togo or Cote D'Ivoire has tried to sell me something. They befriend you first, and walk with you for a while and try and say something about Canada, then ask you to look at (insert overpriced African souvenir here). It was nice to talk to someone not having to keep my guard up! That's all for today folks.

Thursday morning, feeling fine

First of all, thanks to Dave for putting up the last few posts (and maybe this one) because internet here has been so bad. Apparently the last few might be slightly out of order, but I’m sure you all can figure it out.

It’s Thursday morning and I’m now fully recovered. Or at least 99%. Even yesterday, I was pretty much fine. I was at the office for most of the day and felt pretty normal. The only odd thing is that I didn’t eat anything apart from two bowls of oatmeal and a bit of bread all day and still didn’t feel that hungry. I'm not going to be travelling this weekend though, which is too bad. I just don't feel up to it.

Today is a public holiday for Ramadan. Apparently, the old president, Rawlings, relied heavily on the minority populations for support (the Asante seem to hate him), so he instituted a lot of ethnic holidays. People here vote very closely along ethnic lines I’ve realized, which can be a bit alarming. I don’t think I’ve talked to a single Asante who has more than one or two favourable things to say about Rawlings, and anything positive is always said with a qualifier attached!

One thing that I’ve learned in the past few days is just how great the wage disparity between Ghana and the West really is. Doctors in public hospitals make about $400 dollars a month salary. There is an Additional Duty Hours Allowance that they fight tooth and nail for, but I can’t imagine that pays them tens of thousands a year. Because Ghana is like all but three countries in the world (Cuba, North Korea, and…Canada!), there is a parallel private system. Still, it has become clear why most doctors leave Ghana. If the wage disparity were less than 2000% (minimum), then maybe more would stay. Policemen make just over $100 a month. No wonder so many of them take bribes.

So while Ghana needs its best and brightest to remain here for it to develop more quickly, the money simply isn’t there to pay them reasonably. We talk about immigration as a potential solution to our shortage of doctors (and other professionals) in Canada. And we also talk about the need to help the developing world prosper. It’s funny how we don’t really notice how immigrants are also emigrants and that their emigration hinders third world development.

I am not saying that I am in favour of restricting immigration (or emigration) at all. People should be free to live wherever the opportunity to succeed (and contribute) is greatest. Hopefully, in the future, wages in Ghana will increase enough to keep people here. One policy that could be pursued is some form of bonding for medical students and nurses. Make tuition cheap, but don’t award them any degree until they have worked in Ghana for a certain length of time, after which they would be free to leave if they so desired. Interesting food for thought!

Oh yeah, I can’t help but point out that it’s November and I’m going to work in shorts and a t-shirt.

Wednesday, Nov 2nd

I woke up this morning feeling a lot better, although I do feel pretty strange. I guess that’s to be expected, given that I haven’t eaten in 36 hours and have been in bed for about 30 of those hours. Dr. Addae thinks I got salmonella from the salad. The problem here is that electricity is fairly unreliable, so things that are refrigerated are often risky. At one point yesterday, one of the men who helps us with the water project was over and he asked me to pray with him. It was pretty interesting. Part of me expected him to put his hand on my head to cure me like those frauds on television. It was a really nice gesture, though, and I thanked him for it. I am going to have a small breakfast, then one more IV drip, then hopefully I’ll be able to get into town. Being bed-ridden is so frustrating and I’m thrilled not to feel like I did yesterday. From now on, I have a legitimate excuse not to eat vegetables.

Tuesday, Nov 1st

Today I learned a very important lesson: don’t eat salad in Ghana. I am typing this with one hand because my right arm is attached to an IV drip. It’s slow typing! I am fine. Relatively. I know this doesn’t sound good to people back home given what I wrote yesterday about cholera. I just have a bad case of travellers’ sickness, probably from a salad I ate yesterday. I will leave out all the details and say only that this morning was very unpleasant. Living with a doctor is great though because he went into action quickly. I’ve had IV going for a few hours to replace all the fluids I’ve lost and am just lying in bed. Hopefully, I’ll be better tomorrow. These things usually go away within 36 hours. As for travelling this weekend, we’ll make a decision on Friday. This is really lame; I won’t lie. But it happened and I’m recovering and I’ve learned something from it. I’ll post this when I’m better. I could kill for a Slurpee right now. Anything cold. Anything! I’m not supposed to eat or drink right now. I hope everyone had a happy Halloween. My morning after was absolutely ghoulish.

Monday, Oct 31st

Today I went to four different internet cafes before finally finding one that worked. Finding one that has both working internet and a floppy drive is pretty tough at times! I also had lunch with Martin to plan out our trip, which I’m pretty excited for. I had freedom fries too. We had a productive meeting with the editor of a weekly newspaper here about our Twi newspaper. The afternoon was a bit slow, just working in the office. There has been a cholera outbreak in the region. Close to 700 cases. It is pretty alarming but I’ve been assured that it is nothing to worry about, as long as I am very careful about what I eat. The problem here is that the sewers are open and people cook right by them. Basic health is not taught properly at all. Tonight on the news, they showed footage of kids playing in a garbage-filled river. The most important thing is the sewers though. It’s ridiculous. They create standing water, attracting flies that spread cholera, and mosquitos that spread malaria. Cholera can only be caught through contaminated food, so as long as you eat in a clean place and your food is really hot, you’re fine. I know it sounds really bad, and it is, but the threat to me is essentially non-existent. Knock on wood. But seriously, I’m fine, cause we don’t eat anything from the street. The open sewer issue is ridiculous. They’re building a lot of new roads here and they are still keeping the gutters open. An organization like CIDA or another governmental development agency has to get on top of this. The problem (I think) is that covering sewers isn’t as glamorous as building roads or wells or schools, so development agencies don’t tackle it although if they were to, it would make a huge difference. It was shocking to see on the news how many people here take no heed of basic hygiene. Women sitting beside overflowing dumpsters, including one breast-feeding. Kids playing in a garbage dump. These are the things we see in commercials for charities and find it hard to believe. How could anyone not know that playing in a garbage dump is dangerous? It seems instinctive to us, but it’s not. It has to be taught and it isn’t here. It was pretty depressing. I’ll leave you with that happy thought!