Four walls and a keyboard: It's almost Christmas!!!

Four walls and a keyboard

'I love talking about nothing. It's the only thing I know anything about.' ~ Oscar Wilde

Wednesday, December 13, 2006

It's almost Christmas!!!

November 13, 2006

Last night Jeanine and I went for a ‘Last Supper’ so to speak, before we go back to the land of banku and fufu! We went to SWAD Fast Food, and we both had chicken Kiev with fried rice. It was good, but because I had been living off of bread for the past day and a half, I didn’t have much of an appetite.

Poor Jeanine, she had to be on the bus very very early the today, which meant that she was up at 3:00 in the morning. I talked to her after she arrived back in Salaga, and she said that there weren’t taxis running that early in the morning, so she had to walk from the guesthouse to the station, which is quite a hike.

I was a little more lucky as the Kpandai bus doesn’t leave until the afternoon. So by the time Jeanine arrived in Salaga I was just getting up. So silly me, I caught a shared taxi to get to the SEND office, and ended up getting a pretty good tour of Tamale before I arrived at the office. At the office I got to see Lydia, Zara, Sebastian, and Vasco, as well as Offei, Reverend’s driver. Poor guy, he was in Tamale since Jeanine and I left, because he was still waiting on parts for his truck. He will be there until Friday, hopefully, when the parts will come in from Kumasi.

As I was traveling back from Accra I noticed that my leg infection got much worse. Apparently the medicine that Timothy gave me didn’t kill all the bugs (as in germs, not actual bugs). Vasco drove me to see SEND’s doctor, and he gave me so many antibiotics, it isn’t even funny. I felt like a walking pharmacy lab by the time I left the hospital. Hopefully it cleans it up before my leg falls off!

I only had a short time to visit the people at the youth office before I had to go collect my things so I could meet the Kpandai bus. Delphina talked to the driver the day before so he would reserve a seat for me at the front of the bus, so I didn’t have to worry about that.

So, I now have my own taxi driver in Tamale, haha. The last time I was in town he gave me his number and told me to call him anytime that I needed a lift. I called him to pick me to the bus station because my bag was very heavy and I didn’t feel like carrying it from the guesthouse out to the street. Iddi (taxi driver), came and got me, drove me right into the station and carried my bag for me to the bus. Pretty good service!

At the station we had to wait some time before the bus would leave. I sat on a bench and talked it up with other people waiting for various other buses. Most of the women commented on my gimpy leg and asked me how I was faring. I also met a younger gent named David who teaches in a village near Gushegu, on the way to Yendi. He helped me to find the toilet which I really appreciated.

The only way to describe the bus station would be to say utter chaos. Imagine tons of people and with carts selling everything from plug adaptors to body creams, women selling food and drinks, taxis, bicycles and motorcycles weaving in and out of buses that are either pulling in or pulling out of the station. I am surprised that someone hasn’t been run over or that I haven’t so far seen a taxi hit a bus or vice versa. I also saw the craziest thing as I was waiting. Almost all the buses here have a rack on the top to store luggage and other things. This one bus pulled up with LIVE GOATS on the top of the roof. Live goats! I am curious how they got them on top of there.

The bus ride was pretty uneventful. I read, drank water, rested my head, and tried to forget about how much my butt hurt. I am seriously happy that I did not travel again on Sunday after traveling from Accra on Saturday, because I don’t think I would have been able to handle it.

We got into Kpandai in good time, and the driver was nice enough to give me a lift to Rosemary’s house, so I didn’t have to carry my things in the dark (oh, the power was off in Kpandai). It was nice to be home, in my own bed, bats in the roof and all!

November 21, 2006

Not too much has happened since I arrived back in Kpandai, I guess you could say that I am settling into life as usual. Raymond has been around for the past week, which is nice because I am getting to know him a bit better, and I am actually getting a sense of when I can complete my work tasks.

Last week was pretty ho hum. Beyaa left for Togo last week after I arrived back in Kpandai, and I was happy that I got to see him before he left. I already miss him terribly, it was nice bugging him as he was fixing bicycles by the office. The power was off quite a bit last week, so I took the opportunity to call people I haven’t spoken to in a while like my grandmas, Karen and Shauna.

What else happened.....I did my wash (exciting hey!), and on Saturday was market day, so I went into town in the afternoon and went to price out some new wash basins, and some fabric with Delphina. I want to get another dress made before the Governor General arrives in Ghana.

I don’t think I mentioned this before but when I was in Accra I received a call from the Canadian High Commission contact in Tamale, and the Governor General is going to Tamale at the end of the month, and Jeanine and I are being invited to a luncheon with her. Pretty sweet! The only problem is I didn’t exactly pack formal dining wear when I left Canada. Hence the need for more dresses.....I am only hoping that the luncheon with the Governor General doesn’t conflict with the date that Raymond set for me to do my pretest for the survey. It might take a lot of sweet talking to get Raymond to change the date of the pretest if it does!

Sunday was pretty quiet too. I went to church, came back to the house and ate. A lot. There was fried yams and stew, and then Rosemary made me kosay because I was whining that I couldn’t find the lady in town that made it during the week. In the afternoon Delphina was opening her new bar, and invited me for some celebratory drinks.

When I was there Father Flavian came with his friend Father Celestin, a priest at a nearby town, and we got talking, and it came out that he knows Father Joseph. Father Joseph is the priest in Viscount. In fact, Father Joseph’s home town, Borae no. 2, is on the road to Kete Krachi, so I will be passing through Borae very soon, when Stephen and I finally plan our trip to Krachi.

The past two days I’ve been attending some community meetings in Kpandai. Yesterday there was a group session to assess organizational performance of the various community groups in Kpandai. It took the whole day, but it was interesting because I got to learn more about how groups like the Peace Animators, Young Artisans, Rural Commercial Women, Farmer Co-operatives and the Credit Union, operate.

Today was a validation workshop for constitution of the Kpandai Community Driven Development Agency. Once SEND Foundation pulls out of Kpandai, the CDDA is essentially going to be in charge of all the development projects in the area. So there was a full house in attendance today, to discuss the constitution and come to an agreement on the contents. There were religious leaders from Kpandai and the surrounding communities, the chief of Banda was there, as well as members of the different community groups. At the end of the day the first board of directors of the CDDA was appointed, and I think everyone was pleasantly surprised when the Muslim religious leaders at the workshop appointed a woman as their representative on the board. It was not expected.

The meetings ran late, so we ate lunch a bit later, at Rosemary’s hair salon. There is a lady across the road from Rosemary’s that makes wagashi, basically the local cheese, which is deep fried. I really like it and sort of overdosed this afternoon, so I am not feeling so hot right now. I couldn’t even finish my fufu tonight, which I feel guilty about because I know how much work goes into preparing it.

In other news, my leg is still a hurting unit, and I’ve been going to the health clinic daily to get dressings changed on the sore. That’s healed over now, finally! But the rashy thing that was going up my calf is still tender, and my leg is more swollen than the other. Timothy gave me some diuretics to take today and tomorrow to see if it will reduce the water retention, and I must say I was running to the toilet quite a bit today, so it must be working. I have to go back to the clinic again tomorrow to talk to Timothy and see what he says.

November 28, 2006

I just realized it was a week since I last wrote anything. Tomorrow I am traveling into Tamale for the luncheon with the Governor General on Thursday, so I have to be up at 3 in the morning to catch the bus.

Not too much has been happening over the past week. My leg is still swollen, so if he’s in town, I am going to see the SEND doctor in Tamale.

I just talked to my mother this evening and she informed me that the Huskies lost in the Vanier cup. I am still a little rattled, but I should get over it soon I hope!

Market day was on Friday so I went and bought a larger wash basin to wash my clothes in, and some new fabric to make another dress. Oh, and Imoro and Shafiu were in town Thursday and Friday, so Imoro hung out at the office most of the time he wasn’t driving Shafiu or Lelewu around. He’s an interesting character to have around and I have fun talking to him. We got into a discussion about Islam and he said that he wanted me to convert. I said that wasn’t even a possibility because a) I like beer. A lot. b) I like pork chops and c) That I have issues about going to church regularly on Sundays, how would I be able to pray 5 times a day??

On the weekend things were pretty quiet, I did my wash on Saturday and basically passed out for the rest of the day. Sunday I went to church, and went for a walk into town for something to do, and visited with Delphina and other people as I walked back to the house.

Monday was interesting, haha. I was walking into the office and I got stopped by a man who said I had met him before (I probably did, but I’ve been saying hi to so many people that I lose track), that he was my husband, and that I will marry him and send him to Switzerland. Switzerland! I don’t know where that even came from! I told him that he is free to travel to Switzerland himself but that I wouldn’t be following him because I was from Canada. He still said he wanted me to marry him and send him out, that he wasn’t married now, and that he was attending school. I said, good for him, but that I wasn’t going to marry someone just so that they could leave the country. I don’t think he was quite following my English, because every time I argued that I want someone to marry me for me, he said he would marry me, and I would send him to Canada. I finally gave up the argument and just said that I’d see!

Today we had a celebration for World Food Day, which is supposed to be celebrated on the 16th but scheduling made that difficult. So anyway it was a very good day. There was a food contest for dishes made out of soybeans. Soybeans have only been introduced to this part of the country in the past 5 years, and there’s been an attempt to educate people on how to use soybeans in family dishes as a way to increase protein in diets. As well as being good for the family, growing soybeans is good for the soil, as it re-introduces nitrogen (?). I don’t know all the specifics behind it but it’s a very very good crop for this part of Ghana.

There were over 15 people that brought in dishes, and there were four tables full of different things. So while the judges were trying the different foods and rating them, there were speeches (I had to read the address from the United Nations), stories and jokes. I had no clue what was being said in the stories and jokes, because that was all in Twi. I do know when they made ‘obruni’ jokes because the person telling it would motion at me and then people would look my way and laugh. Whatever. Sometimes ignorance is bliss.

There were also prizes for the best farmer co-operatives in and around Kpandai, and those co-operatives got cash rewards. So there were lots of good things all around!

Tonight I had a good conversation with Rosemary about some different things. First we got to talking about multiple marriages (as in more than one wife at the same time) around town, and in the Catholic Church! Apparently there are a few Catholic families where there is more than one wife, and the only thing that they can’t do is take communion in the church. Isn’t there a Commandment that says something about adultery?

On Sunday a small girl died at the clinic because the family waited too long to bring her for treatment. Rosemary told me that she died because she was severely anemic and she wasn’t treated in time. She then told me that when she was at the clinic the last week and a family brought a small baby in with the one leg very swollen. The husband didn’t want the baby to be admitted because it would cost money, and that the doctor should just give them the medicine and they would take the baby home. Rosemary argued with the man – she told him that he doesn’t have the money to care for his child now, but that he’ll find the money to pay for the apeteshie (alchohol) at the baby’s funeral. So she eventually convinced him to let the doctor take care of the child. The way Rosemary explains it, some people believe that if the small children pass, they will simply have another, and that delays the parents from seeking treatment. I am still conflicted about that.

December 9, 2006

So it’s now been a couple weeks since I last wrote down what has been happening. Last week on the 30th the Governor General came to Tamale for a luncheon, so I traveled into Tamale on the 29th to attend. The bus ride into Tamale was pretty uneventful, just very very dusty. Half the windows on the bus were either missing or wouldn’t close all the way, so by the time we arrived in Tamale I was literally red with the dirt. Even my face. I was getting a lot of strange looks from people as I walked to the cash machine to get money for the guesthouse. The rest of the day (after I showered and changed of course), was pretty uneventful, I just checked my email, bugged people at the youth office, and ate dinner.

The morning of the 30th was pretty busy before the luncheon. My Christmas parcel from my family arrived, so that required some time at the post office and at customs. I basically had to wait for the customs officer to come back from the bank, and buying a fan, so he could check that I didn’t have any illicit things in my parcel.

Then it was time to go to the Governor General’s luncheon. It was pretty cool, very informal, and very small. I think there was maybe 30 people there, not including the Governor General’s peeps through. Before the luncheon began I got to meet her and I talked to her about the reproductive health and HIV/AIDS education that SEND is doing in the communities, because she seemed pretty interested in how they did their work with the communities. I also got to talk to the former High Commissioner to Ghana, who was accompanying the Governor General on her trip to Ghana. The current High Commissioner was sick and back in Canada for medical treatment. I quickly found out that the former High Commissioner is from Zelma, he went to school in Young, and his brother works at the potash mine that Dad works at. Small world hey!!

I pretty much had to dine and dash though because I had to catch the bus back to Kpandai. I had to be back that day because we were celebrating World AIDS Day the following day. I got there in time, but our bus was delayed leaving Tamale because the goat that was tied to the roof (I am so not kidding) slipped off the top. The only thing that kept it from falling onto the pavement was that people in the back of the bus heard it sliding around, and caught it by its hair before it fell.

We got into Kpandai pretty late, but the bus drivers were nice enough to take me right out to the house. After I dislodged the pound of dirt that was up my nose I pretty much passed out!

The next day was a pretty good day but pretty busy. Raymond arranged to have two people with HIV come to Kpandai to speak about their experiences with the disease. We had a pretty big crowd out because it’s the first time that most people in Kpandai have witnessed two people openly admit to having HIV. There was music, dancing, a play by the Millenium Club, and then Ricky and Fuswena took questions from people about HIV. I was interesting, even after the celebrations, people were coming up to me and asking me if Ricky and Fuswena actually had HIV. I think some people were having difficulty coming to grip with the stereotypes they had of people with HIV, because Ricky and Fuswena looked healthy, relaxed and happy. They told everyone that they could live a long time with HIV as long as they got their antiretrovirals and had good nutrition.

I was busy the rest of the weekend getting my pretest done and doing my wash. I also went to Delphina’s bar on Sunday for a beer, and it was hopping! She sells apeteshie, the local alcohol, and that’s what most people buy because it only costs 1,500 cedis for a glass, compared to 10,000 cedis for a bottle of beer. It’s more in the price range for most people. Anyway, this one man came in and said he wanted to marry me, to Delphona, because he couldn’t speak English. It sounds like the basis of a good relationship to me, gosh!

On Monday I had to go to Salaga for the week to prepare the year end report for the Eastern Corridor. So I went with Reverend and Offei, and it was a pretty uneventful trip, but we had to stop in Bimbilla and Chamba along the way so Reverend could pick up the credit union reports. In Chamba some of the local people were arguing whether I was a woman or a man! I don’t think I look that butch, but I was wearing trousers and I am bigger than a good chunk of the men in the town, so maybe that was the heart of the confusion.

The meetings in Salaga were interesting to say the least. I have never seen a group of people argue so much over the most minute details! Seriously the one day there was a 20 minute argument over one word in a sentence! It took four days to compile a ten page report, and there were over 10 people at the meeting! Other than the work during the days, it was fun to get a chance to visit with everyone that I don’t get to see that often, like Cece and Letitia, the office staff in Salaga, and I got to know some others better like Gilbert and Wumpini, the community officers in Chamba and Bimbilla. And it was good to hang out with Jeanine again, she’s goofier than me, so it felt like it was permissible to be stupid for a week! We ate with her every night at the bar where she takes her meals. The one night a couple of Imoro’s friends came to the bar, but they didn’t sit with us. Jeanine had met them before, and as I was leaving with Reverend, Offei, Mohammed and Seidu, she told me that they wanted to meet me. So I went over and chatted with them for a few minutes, but the truck ride back to the guesthouse was like riding with four fathers. I got lectured by all four of them about being too adventurous, and about how I should be more cautious about who I talk to. I told them that if I was cautious about who I talked to, I would be very lonely in Kpandai and that I am friendly to everyone unless they give me a reason not to be, like asking for money or something like that. It didn’t stop them though, and I just gave up and let them all give me a lecture. Oh well, I tried!

The last night before we left, all the Eastern Corridor staff went to the bar to have dinner, so it was kind of like a little shindig. Jeanine was cutting a rug, but then Cece wouldn’t let it rest until I got up and danced a bit too, so I did, although I didn’t like it, haha. The night ended pretty early though because we had to be leaving very early so that Reverend and Shafiu could have meetings with the credit union staff in Chamba, Bimbilla and Kpandai.

The day was so long! We spent a couple hours in Chamba, then another three hours in Bimbilla, and then we finally reached Kpandai. In Bimbilla though, Raymond took me to meet his fiancee’s mother, who is the headmaster at the Catholic school. So when we went to the school I could see all the kids in the classrooms staring out at me and I could hear some of them yelling. I am sort of getting used to being stared at, but I still get nervous around children because they get a little crazy sometimes.

Osman and Seidu were also coming to the towns because they were distributing loans to the Rural Commercial Women. They were delayed in Bimbilla though because the bank in Bimbilla didn’t have enough money to allow them to withdraw, so they had to wait for a vehicle from Tamale with the rest of the cash. They were late getting to Kpandai, and I felt bad because we were the first truck to come through, and I could see all the Rural Commercial Women come out to the road, and get excited because they thought we had the money. Osman and Seidu eventually made it to town, and then Raymond left with them back to Salaga so that they could go to Tamale early this morning.

I’ve been battling a cold for the past week (yes, you can get colds in Africa too!), and I think Rosemary felt bad for me because she insisted that Gladys and Fosty do my laundry for me today. I am feeling lazy so I didn’t put up much of an argument. I am leaving for Tamale tomorrow morning (Sunday), with Reverend, Offei and Shafiu, and Jeanine and I are supposed to have dinner with ‘Chief’ Siapha Kamara on Sunday night. Then another week of meetings, except it will be with more people this time. I wonder what that’s going to do for the number of arguments!

posted by angelina @ 6:02 AM

1 Comments:

At 6:33 PM, Anonymous said…

Great to hear that you are keeping busy and not married yet - and what's up with the grandma comments ya punk?