January 24, 2007

My ride home on the public bus was so bad that I just have to laugh at it. Voellmecke wasn’t kidding when she called these rides, ‘epic’ bus rides!

The trip started out alright considering our bus didn’t have a starter so it had to be pushed every time to start it. Anyway we were on schedule until just a few km’s outside of Yendi, when the wheel on the bus broke down. I am not exactly sure what was wrong with it, all I know is that they took it entirely off the bus, on the side of the road, and pulled a bunch of goopy oil out of the wheel well. So by this time it’s about six in the evening. The driver’s mate went into Yendi to find a fitter to fix the wheel, so he flagged down a motorbike to take him in. The driver then realized that he forgot to tell the mate to pick up some things, so he then flagged down another vehicle and left all the passengers on the side of the road. Okay...about two hours later they come back with the fitter, who takes about another two hours to fix the wheel. We get going into Yendi around 10. We spend about 20 minutes with the wheel fitter because the driver and his mate were arguing with him over the cost of the repairs. Then, we are delayed another half hour in the centre of town because all the market women want to board the bus.

I swear the market women are what I hate the most about bus rides. I don’t think most of them know how to speak below the level of yelling, and instead of paying to put all of their things on the top of the bus like most people do, they try to shove as much as possible under their seats, on their laps, and anywhere else they can find room. The woman that sat beside me in Yendi was no exception. She had a large flour bag full of items, AND three plastic barrels the size of the 10L ice cream pails that you see at ice cream shops at home. I was literally sandwiched up against the side of the bus because she put her barrels beside me, and then the bag at her feet. When her legs were cramped, she’d put her feet on the seat, stick her behind in my face for about three minutes, while she rearranged herself to sit on top of one of her plastic pails.

Anyway, once the gong show had subsided, we were on our way again. There are police barriers at the entrance and exit of every town here, and for some reason, the driver didn’t seem to realize that we would be meeting one outside of Yendi, because he didn’t start to slow down in time and promptly hit the barrier with the bus. It wasn’t that catastrophic, because the barrier was just one of those metal gates you see at concerts and things, but we were delayed for over an hour while the driver and his mate negotiated a bribe with the police so that we could keep going. During this time though the driver decided that it would be useful to turn the engine off, so when it came to pushing the bus to get going (keep in mind now that the bus is entirely full of market women), it took three tries.

On the road again...for about ten minutes. Then the bus breaks down again! This time it is about 11:30-12. A half empty bus comes by so most of the market women jump ship and board that bus (thank friggin GOD). It gave me time to talk to Mom, Dad and Kyler though, but then by about 1:30 we were ready to go again.

For the rest of the journey there are no more hitches, but we end up rolling into town around 4:30 in the morning. People are already at the station waiting to go back into Tamale, and when they mistook us for the bus that was going in, the driver got a little heated and the hopeful passengers leave a little dejected.

The driver was nice enough to take me right to my house though (the lights were off and I had a bunch of chairs for the house), and Raymond woke up and let me in.

The next day was pretty busy. I only got about 3 hours of sleep, then I had to go into the office and start getting things organized for the field assistant training in Kete Krachi. Reverend was at the office, as well as Imoro and Seidu, because Seidu brought some computer technicians to service the computers in the office, and Reverend brought the computers from Krachi to get cleaned. I also called Wumpini, Bernard and Mr. Attah to see how the data collection was going in Bimbilla and Salaga, and tried to call Gilbert to see how data collection was going in Chamba.

Imoro went to Krachi to drop off Reverend, then he came back to Kpandai to take us to Krachi for the field assistant training. So that night we all ate at Rosemary’s house, and then Imoro stayed at our house in Raymond’s room. It was hilarious- Raymond and Imoro argued like an old married couple. ‘My cold is bad, we can’t have the fan on, and don’t turn on my radio so loud!’....’It’s hot in here and the mosquitoes are biting me, turn the fan on!’ I couldn’t stop giggling, but that may have also been an effect of the lack of sleep!

Jan 25, 2007

Today I went with Imoro and Raymond to Kete Krachi for the field assistant training there. The ride was very bumpy but nice- I went through Borae no. 2, Father Joseph’s town, and you could see the terrain getting hillier as we went further south. On the way we had a flat tire so that delayed us for a bit while we put the spare on.

Krachi is a very nice town, but because it’s on the banks of Lake Volta, it was SO humid there! It was like being in the middle of the rainy season again. Plus the weather changed again and now it’s super hot in the evenings, so guess who’s grumpy?

I got to meet the people who work in the Krachi Credit Union, Eko, Mensah and Joyce, and I also got to see Offei and Reverend. We did the field assistant training, it went very well, and then I wanted to go to the market. Unfortunately the day isn’t scheduled like Kpandai, where the market just starts going in the afternoons because the farmers are coming back from the farm, because by the time we came to the Krachi market in the afternoon, people were packing their things to go home.

Raymond then took me down to the lake to see the Volta. It was pretty cool. There were lots of tree stumps from when they flooded the river (for the dam). The stumps were visible because the lake is so low. I guess they’re a big problem at times when boats run into them! People were at the shore waiting for boats to take them back to their villages across the shore, or on little islands in the middle of the lake. The boats aren’t like the ones at home. Most of them are canoe-sized, and carry people across with just some paddles. It’s something to see, and I have some pics which I’ll try to up load at some point.

One of the bigger boats came to shore while we were there, and it was carrying people from a market. It was crazy, the amount of people they were able to load onto the boat! Raymond was even saying that the boat wasn’t even half full, so I would be scared to see what the boat looked like totally full!

In the evening we had dinner at Raymond’s friend’s house, and then we greeted Reverend’s wife at their house (Reverend was out and about). The night at the guesthouse was restless, it was so hot that I couldn’t sleep, even with my fan running, and my bed was right beside the window, so I could hear the bats as they came in and out of the roof. And unlike at home, where I have my bednet to protect me, I was sans bednet, so I was freaking myself out!

The next day we had breakfast at an omelet stand on the side of the road, and I swear that Imoro knows people in EVERY town. He was a chatty cathy for most of the time we were there. While we were there through I saw the sweetest bicycle ever! The only way to describe it is to say if American Chopper did custom work on bicycles, it would look like this one. It had a fat wheel on the back, it was a low rider and it had a sweet bicycle seat. I have pics, don’t worry!

At the Credit Union office Eko and Mensah and Joyce wanted pictures with me, so I was busy getting photographed for a long while. Then I just hung out at the credit union and worked on the SPSS training course they want me to do with the Eastern Corridor staff. Offei was busy working at the credit union so he called me in to assist (I processed a loan and some deposits!). Otherwise it was pretty low key. The ride back to Kpandai in the afternoon was pretty uneventful, and the rest of the evening was quiet.

January 27-28,2007

I had one main objective this weekend: Laundry! On Saturday I devoted my entire day to doing my laundry. Beyaa came by and gave me some papaya, and then Samed came by and monitored my work. He even helped me wash out some things near the end!

I went into the office to do some data entry because Raymond said that we got the Kpandai surveys in. So I typed my little heart out until about 9 and then grabbed an omlette and tea for the evening. I was gifted with a can of Coke by Esie (she owns a store near the outskirts of town and I greet her whenever I see her outside, and I’ll often by things from her). I typed a bit in the evening and then enjoyed having a fan that works!

On Sunday I did round two of my laundry. Pants and undies. I hate washing pants, they’re the worst, and I swear the bus rides will destroy every pair of pants that I own. I have to designate a pair of pants as ‘bus pants’ because otherwise they’ll all get stained!

In the afternoon I went into the office to work, but only got to work for a short while because they needed to use the office for the credit union board meeting. So Delphina made me lunch, and I visited with her and Esther, and then went back to the office but I was only able to work until 6 because the power was scheduled to go out in the evening. Thank god for batteries, that’s how I am writing this now! I am dreading the night though, I took a lariam, and the lights are out, so no fan for me. I am not getting ANY sleep tonight!

February 3, 2006

This is how I can sum up the past week:

- Data entry, every day and night this week that I was in Kpandai. I am developing carpal tunnel syndrome I swear. I am also developing a tea in the evening habit, because I would grab an omelet and a tea at one of the stands on the road after I was done at the office.

- Meetings in Salaga on Tuesday, not too bad, but overly long, and I was slightly pissed when the meetings went late and we had to stay in Salaga overnight. Don’t get me wrong, Salaga is a nice place, but I am starting to not like going there, simply because I hate the meetings. I was really itchy to get back to Kpandai to enter data. At least my guesthouse room was clean and the lights were on so we had fans!

- I now have a fridge! Vasco brought it to Salaga when he drove Sebastian out for our team meeting, and Offei brought it the rest of the way to Kpandai. Our house is coming into shape- we now have a fridge so now I can cook, the kitchen is almost ready (just need to hook up the gas burner), and Raymond bought a TV and VCD player. We also have three big barrels to hold water, and on Wednesday Raymond got some women who live around our area to fill them with water, and sweep our compound, yay for clean bodies, clothes and living areas. I am super stoked for the next week! The only thing to work on for the house is our current cockroach situation- I saw a couple in my room last week and two more by our wash room.

- Speaking of nasty things, I am now making a more committed effort to take my flashlight anywhere I go, after Raymond mentioned to me that he suspects a python might be nestled within close proximity to our house. The pastor’s wife who lives in the house directly behind us has a cordoned area between our house and hers, where she keeps her chickens and stores her yams. Last week something killed one of her hens and ate 7 eggs. Raymond thinks it’s a python, and after they’ve eaten something they have to hide and digest because they get very sluggish. He figures it’s hid itself in one of the piles of yams that is in the area. Ewwww....Oh, and I also saw a grasscutter that someone had hunted, getting skinned and prepared for eating. Remember a couple months back I mentioned I had fufu with bushmeat, and got queasy when I was eating it and holding the claw? Well it was grasscutter; they basically look like grey beavers, sans tails.

- I have been experiencing much anxiety this week over my contract extension proposal. It’s not really the content so much as the work I will be doing. Chief wants to send me to Liberia for two weeks to collect reproductive health data on the rural women SEND is working with over there. I am really excited to go-the biggest issue surrounds my insurance policy with the CCA and their hesitation to let me go. Technically, in the insurance world Liberia is considered a war zone, although the UN peacekeepers have broken up all rebel activity, but this will drastically raise the cost of my travel insurance, something the CCA isn’t sure it’s willing to cover. The places I would be working in are stable, and Chief goes there every month to monitor work, so it’s totally safe. I’ll find out by next week whether I get the green light to go or not. Either way, it’s looking like I will be here for the next six months.

- Regarding the proposal above, Chief wanted to meet with me this weekend, so I arrived in Tamale on Friday afternoon. I tried a new guesthouse, the Moonlite Lodge. It’s not that bad, although a little bit pricier than other places I’ve stayed. But all in all, spending 15 dollars as opposed to 12 dollars a night isn’t that much when you put it into perspective. It’s closer to the centre of town, which I like, because now I don’t have to take a taxi anytime I want to get money or check my email. Plus it’s close to Namawu’s house and this afternoon we went drinking and ate some guinea fowl (the Ghanaian equivalent to chicken wings).

February 5, 2007

So today is Monday, and I’m still in Tamale, you have to love immigration people. I had to stay in and work on my visa extension application. What else happened this weekend, I worked, quite a bit, saw some friends, found out that a little birdy in Canada is pregnant (I’m so excited!), and met with Chief last night for dinner.

This morning I had an interview with some people with the Centre for Intercultural Learning; they gave us a cultural preparedness workshop before we left Canada. It was alright, it was at the Gariba Lodge, the hotel where we went for the GG’s luncheon, and the woman basically just asked me questions about how I’m adjusting to life here. She also gave me milk chocolate and the latest McLean’s Magazine. During the interview this monkey kept trying to get close to us, so I was a little creeped by that.

While I was getting stalked by the monkey all hell was apparently breaking loose in the centre of town in Tamale. They were installing a new Market Chief and there was a lot of commotion over it. There was lots of police, some army people, some tear gas...good times. I am sad that I missed the party.

I am off for Kpandai in the afternoon tomorrow, and I am ready to go. I have lots of work to do, and not much time to do it in!