Liberia

May 9

Osman and I got to the airport in Accra about half an hour before the flight was about to leave....and that really got me rattled, because I didn’t know what kind of trouble I would get into with customs and immigration before I left. The Accra airport is a little strange. The main entrance is guarded with security, and you have to show that you are there for a flight before they will let you into the doors. I think it is mainly to prevent theft, but it sure makes for a very quiet place. Before we could check our baggage we had to have our bags searched by Ghana Customs. The search consisted of us putting our suitcases on their table, and then the official putting a sticker on our suitcase, no search at all. After we got the sticker we went back to the check in line, but before we could check our baggage we had to have our passport and ticket checked by another airline official. Then it was okay for us to check our baggage. After that we went to go into the secure area. Before we could go through the scanners we had to fill out a disembarkation form, then have our passport stamped by immigration officials.

Here is where I just have to say that I ‘heart’ the Ghana Immigration Service. I got a re-entry permit for my original visa, but the Tamale office issued me the permit as valid for only one month, and it was expiring on the 11^th of May, in two days. Before I left Tamale I went back to the Immigration office to verify that it was okay and the Commander himself told me that it was fine, as long as I left the country before the permit expired, they would stamp my passport with a disembarkation stamp, and when I re-entered the country I could continue getting extensions on my original visa. Well, when I get to the immigration official at the airport, he tells me that my re-entry permit will not be valid when I arrive back to Ghana, and if I don’t get a new visa when I am in Monrovia they will hold me at the airport when I return and they won’t let me pass through immigration. Wonderful.

The flight to Monrovia was very nice. We basically flew along the coastline, and the airline that we went with operates much like WestJet, in that it makes many stops along a trip. So our airplane made a stopover an Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire, and then we went on our way to Monrovia in only three hours.

The first thing you see when you start to land in Monrovia is how small and scarred the airport is, and the sea of white UN vehicles, tanks and helicopters on the airfield. The airport is about 40 minutes drive outside of Monrovia, so you don’t see much of the city as you land. Going through customs was pretty tame, but I was very surprised when they asked to see my Yellow Fever vaccination certificate, because they didn’t even ask me if I had it in Ghana.

Alfred the driver and Jokai the microfinance officer were there to meet us at the airport. They took us into ‘town’ as Monrovia is called here, and the drive was very interesting. A few peacekeeper checkpoints, lots of greenery and trees, and you get a sense of the level of destruction the war brought to the country. I would see the odd shell of a building, where it was basically the cement walls, the roof, windows and doors missing, and bullet holes everywhere.

Immediately from the airport Alfred and Jokai took us to our hotel, Thinker’s Village. It was sweet. It is basically a resort that the owner is trying to rebuild, and it was right on the beach. Osman and I shared a little house, where we each had our own bedroom, and you could hear the waves crashing right from my bedroom window. And it was surprising how quiet the whole place was. There was no one around walking on the shore or sitting at the beach, so it really felt like you had the whole place to yourself.

Alfred took us into the center of Monrovia so we could get food and other things, and the first thing that struck me was how ‘American’ Monrovia is. I know that Liberia was founded by freed American slaves, but it was still surprising to see ice cream shops and supermarkets in an African city. I guess though with the UN presence there’s a lot of demand for shops like that from expatriates.

Alfred took us back to the hotel, where Osman and I ate our supper by the ocean. I was pretty pumped about mine, I bought cold cuts and bread at the supermarket, and it was the first time I had ham sandwich meat since I left Canada. Being in the north where most people are Muslims, pork is a little bit of a rarity, except in Konkomba villages, where most people are Christian. I also had granny smith apples, a rarity back in Accra.

May 10, 2007

In the morning Osman and I got served breakfast by the sea, but unfortunately for Osman and fortunately for me, it was ham and eggs. I got two breakfasts, ahah. Sam, the Liberia Program Officer came with Alfred to pick us up, so it was my first chance to meet him face to face.

On the way to the office we swung by the Ghanaian Embassy so I could pick up my visa applications. The SEND office is in the middle of town, where lots of the government department buildings are. Again, it was interesting but sad to see what Monrovia was before the war destroyed it. There was a lot of infrastructure there, medium-sized skyscrapers, statues and monuments, boulevards, streetlights at almost every intersection. Driving through, I could see that pretty much all of the government buildings had some sign of damage, some were just the building shells, totally gutted out. It was also sad to see the streetlights and the poles for land lines and electricity and know that the national grid was wiped out during the war. All the time to rebuild what was lost is hard to fathom.

I was still trying to adjust to seeing so many white UN Vehicles around. They’re everywhere! The largest functioning building in Monrovia is for the UN mission in Liberia, I swear, and it is like a fortress. On the way through the city we had to pass through a number of security checkpoints on the road.

We went to the office to prepare to leave for Gbarnga in the afternoon. I met Francis, the Administrator, and hung around the office a bit. Alfred took me into the downtown to get my passport pictures done for my visa application, and when we went back to the office he sent me back up to the Embassy to drop it off. They said it would take a day, and that I could get someone in the office to pick it up for me, so that was pretty relieving!

While Osman worked with Jokai on the microfinance budget Sam took me for lunch. I had pepper soup and rice, which is a common dish in Liberia. I really enjoyed it. The owner of the place apologized that she hadn’t made any vegetable soup for me. I am assuming that she gets a lot of white customers in her restaurant (there’s an assumption in Africa that whites don’t like spicy food), but I reassured here that I preferred to try Liberian dishes.

When we came from eating there was still some time to spend waiting around to get the budget prepared for the trip. By the time we prepared to leave Monrovia, it was late afternoon and we got stuck in rush hour traffic.

I didn’t get to see much along the trip to Gbarnga because night fell shortly after we left the city. I did see a rubber tree plantation (rubber is a very big industry here), and it was pretty impressive to see acres of massive trees lined into perfect rows, with all the underbrush cut down very neatly. It’s hard to imagine the amount of labour that went into clearing the forest, planting those trees into perfect rows, and then maintaining them!

Once in a while I’d see the odd UN peacekeeper compound. They were pretty hard to miss, because they were lit up like prisons with razor wire all around them. Often they were the only light you’d see on the road.

We got into Gbarnga around 10:30 or so, and it was nice to settle into bed!

May 11, 2007

Immediately in the morning we went to meet the teacher who was doing the survey for the school youth, and I quickly ran through the survey with him so that they could get prepared to go to the school and do the survey. From there we went to meet women in the microfinance project, who were getting the next round of loans. We went up to an elementary school where one of the women who is in the project is the principal. We used the school as our base for the next two days. Right away I ran some of the women through the questionnaire so that they could begin interviewing the women in their respective groups.

For the rest of the day I pretty much hung out at the school, feeling a little useless! I wasn’t able to do any questionnaires myself because the women had such a hard time hearing my English. Even when I was telling the women about the survey Osman had to translate some parts for me because the women had a better time hearing his English than mine. It’s amazing that we can all be speaking the same language but still not communicate to one another! I also had a really big problem hearing Liberians speak because I wasn’t used to their way of pronouncing certain words.

Later in the afternoon Osman returned from the school and we went into the downtown for lunch. We went to the only restaurant in town, where the food was either rice or fufu with pepper soup with goat meat. I tried the fufu which was different from Ghanaian fufu. In Ghana it’s made out of boiled yams and pounded into a dough. Here it is made from a soupy mixture of fermented cassava and then cooked until it thickens enough to be able to form doughy balls. It was okay, but I am not really a fan of goat meat so I didn’t enjoy the soup too much. Especially since they gave me a part of the goat that I couldn’t quite recognize!

In the evening we went back to the same restaurant, and again, the same menu options. Again I got a piece of meat I couldn’t place and I didn’t attempt to eat it this time, but Alfred ate it for me. On the way back to the hotel Osman and I bought the makings for breakfast so that we could start the day right at the hotel.

May 13 2007

Today all of us were busy preparing to distribute the loans to the next group of women. I filled out the loan agreements and the passbooks, and then took pictures. I also hung out while Jokai and Osman sat with the leaders and ran them through some accounting procedures for the loan repayments.

We went for lunch and supper at the restaurant again, and I don’t have to describe what was on the menu. At least these times I got meat that I could stomach.

May 14, 2007

Early in the morning we headed to Salayea to start the questionnaires with the women there, and prepare them to receive their loan. The drive there was very nice, but you really got to see the level of destruction from the war. On the way you would see houses, churches, schools, mosques destroyed. There were lots of mountains, and rubber tree farms on the way as well.

Salayea was a very small town where people are still coming back to resettle after the war. We went right away to meet with the women but it was a little chaotic because they weren’t organized into groups and they were wanting to take larger loans than what they had originally agreed upon. So Osman had to sit with them to assess their businesses and tell some of them that they would have to reduce their loan amount.

While that was going on I sat with some people and got them ready to survey the women getting the loans. It was a Sunday on that day so school was out, and the following day was a long weekend so I made arrangements with someone to come back in two days and do the survey in the schools.

So again I spent the rest of the afternoon helping to prepare for the loan dispersal the following day, and just sitting around. I went for a small walk with Francis, and I saw some young kids playing, and the youngest was scared of me and cried when I came close. It’s good to know that some things never change- the same thing happens when I go to villages in Ghana! While on the walk Francis told me to look down, and I saw tons of used bullets all over the ground.

In the early afternoon we headed to Zorzor, because that was where we planned to stay the next few nights- there was no guesthouses in Salayea. Osman and I got guest rooms at the UN Peacekeepers’ compound, they provide accommodation for any NGO’s coming to do work in the area. The battalion was from Pakistan, and aside from a few of the senior officers, very few of them could speak English. I wonder how they go about their monitoring trips through Lofa County!

We quickly unloaded and then the commander of the compound arranged for us to get something to eat. It was Pakistani food (of course), so it was pretty weird to be eating Pakistani food in the middle of northern Liberia! Truly an international experience!

From there we headed into Zorzor and met up with the women’s leader there. Her son arranged for some field assistants to come and help interview the women. They were going to come in the morning the next day. We spent the rest of the afternoon with the woman, Koto, and she and Osman went through her books to make sure that everything was okay.

When we went back to the compound I was in my room for about 5 minutes when a man came in (without knocking, as everyone did here), and invited me in broken English to a volleyball game that was going on between the battalion and some kids from the school. When I came to watch I was given a seat in the vip section (read: table with a cloth at the front), and served some cold lemonade on a platter. The Pakistani’s preoccupation with formalities and hierarchy really shows that Pakistan was a British colony!

It was fun to watch the game-it seemed like everyone was having a good time and at the end of the game I was invited to be part of the group photo. The commander then invited Osman and I to have tea and rice with everyone. Osman and I got seats at the head of the table near the commander, and it was strange, I noticed out of the corner of my eye as Osman and I chatted with the commander, someone pulled an empty chair beside me, soldiers would sit down and someone would take their picture. It kind of made me feel like Santa Claus.

The commander told us that dinner was normally served around 9 so I had some time to work. As I was sitting at the desk a soldier popped his head in my room (again without knocking). He looked like he just came in from the field, but it was really bizarre. He said he was looking for his ‘friend’ and I thought he meant Osman, because Osman stayed there on a trip in April. The solider said ‘Osman?’, but then he walked into my room. I noticed he had a camera in his hand and motioned that he wanted to take my picture. So I stood up, he took my picture, shook my hand asked me if I was okay and left. I wished I had a lock on my door but I guess in a UN compound locks for security aren’t a big thing.

Dinner was okay- Pakistani food is very close to Indian food which I like. We ate in the officer’s mess with the commander and some of the other officers, and we were served everything. After dinner I watched satellite tv with them. I could get really used to living there!

May 15

Osman and I went into Zorzor right away in the morning so that I could train the field assistants to survey the women there. We also made arrangements to go to do the survey in the school the following day.

Today the team split up-Osman, Jokai, Alfred and Rose, a project officer from Liberian Women’s Initiative, a partner organization on the microfinance program went to Salayea to distribute the loan, and Francis and I stayed in Zorzor to make sure there were no problems with the survey for the field assistants.

Only one field assistant came to ask questions so for part of the afternoon Francis took me for a walk around town. It was eye opening to see the level of destruction. There were bullet holes in most of the buildings that were standing. One Lutheran church was entirely destroyed, only the walls were intact.

Still, it’s a beautiful town, there’s mountains surrounding it and everywhere is green. ON the way back to Korto’s shop Francis took me by the transit facility set up by the UNHCR for returnees. The compound was quite large so quite a few people must have come through there right after the war.

When we got to Korto’s shop I bought some rice and collard greens for lunch and it was pretty good. Pretty much just chatted with Francis for the rest of the afternoon, but later on I got a little sleepy so I went to the nearest tea shop and tried some Chinese gunpowder tea, a real hit with the young men in town. It was pretty good, it tasted like really strong hot iced tea. It gave me quite a jolt of caffeine though!

When the rest of the crew came back Alfred took me with him to go get his lunch. He was staying with Chief’s (my boss) sister and mother, and they were making GB for him. I got to meet Chief’s sister, but not his mother.

When we got back to the shop Korto had made rice and pepper soup for everyone. It was pretty good but I didn’t eat too much because I wanted to see what the Pakistani’s were cooking for supper that night.

We sat around and visited until the rain started to come and Francis drove us back to the UN compound. By that time Alfred had started hitting the sauce and wasn’t driving anywhere!

Supper with the Pakistani’s was good and after dinner I sat around and visited with the commander and the other officers. One officer kept me up till past midnight asking for advice for how to look for jobs in Canada for his younger brother.

May 16

I was woken up in the morning by a soldier (who didn’t knock on my door before entering), wanting to check if I had water puddles in my room from the storm the night before. Later Osman told me that no one came by to check the leakage conditions in his room. Hmmm….

As soon as we got into town I went with one of the field assistants to one of the schools to distribute some of the questionnaires. After we finished there we went back into town to watch the loan dispersal. Rose wanted me to get up and talk a bit to the group so I did, and then the group leader got the women to do a little clap for me and thank me for coming to Zorzor. I don’t know if it was the lack of sleep or what but I was close to crying!

I couldn’t stay for the whole thing because Alfred Francis and I had to travel to Salayea to do surveys in the schools there while Osman did the other half of the school surveys in Zorzor. Before we left town Korto had made us lunch, potato greens and rice, so I ate and we went to Salayea. It was okay, while the field assistant led the students through the survey I spoke to a community development officer to get a better idea about the community.

ON the way back to Zorzor I made Alfred drop me at the compound so that I could pack my things. The night before we decided that if we finished on time that day we would travel back to Gbarnga and relax there for the following day and then go on to Ganta.

The crew came and picked me up but it was sad because the commander was out on rounds and I didn’t get the chance to say goodbye to him. Osman left him his business card though.

On the drive back to Gbarnga I whish my camera’s battery hadn’t died. There was lots of Kodak moments! We stopped at the bridge near the St. Paul River, the spot, I am told, where Charles Taylor was ambushed, and it was very pretty, lots of rapids.

We got into Gbarnga around 8 and we went to the restaurant, but this time they had no food. I went across the street and had tea and an egg. They served their omlettes here with mayonnaise. I don’t want to think about what it was doing to the cholesterol levels in my body but it sure was tasty! Better than the nasty pepper soup and goat meat at the restaurant any time!

Later in the night plans changed. It would work better if Alfred sent us to Ganta early in the morning and we could rest there and begin preparations and then he could come back to Gbarnga to send Francis to Monrovia (who had to go to Ghana on Friday for OD training).

May 17

We started of very early for Ganta. ON the way to Ganta we stopped in Alfred’s home village so that we could greet some of his family. We got to Ganta, secured accommodation at the Methodist Mission and then went into town to get food. We had rice and pepper soup with fish for breakfast. A step up from the goat meat in Gbarnga!

After eating Osman and I walked to the mission to rest. ON the way I saw some laundry soap for sale and I wanted to wash out some things so I asked the seller how much it was. He couldn’t understand me so once again Osman had to act as my translator. It is funny that we were all speaking English but we still couldn’t communicate!

We rested for most of the afternoon and then went into town again to meet with the leaders of the loans groups and to eat. We met the leaders at the bar of one of the leaders, Vicki, and I mentioned that I still hadn’t eaten GB, a local dish made of cassava. Vicki promised she would make us some the following night.

May 18

As it was Friday, I was busy for most of the day with the school surveys. After a breakfast of eggs and mayo Osman and I traveled to the women’s centre to organize the field assistants who were surveying the women. From there Rose and I walked, and walked, and walked to the school where Rose had already made arrangements to do the survey. In the afternoon, after Alfred had returned we traveled to Sanniquellie to survey the high school students there before the weekend.

After coming back to Ganta I helped get the paperwork prepared for the loan dispersal, and just hung out at the women’s centre in case anyone had problems with the survey.

We went back to the guesthouse to rest for a bit then we were called into town for supper. The GB was good, tougher than fufu but the pepper soup was really spicy. After supper Alfred took us out on the town. He told us many times that Ganta was the city that never slept so I think he was excited to let loose on his stomping grounds!

We went to Planet 44, a night club for a younger clientele. Alfred wanted to sit inside so he could watch the dancers. The music was so loud that I’m sure that my fillings were getting rattled out of my teeth! It was interesting being there. The dance floor had a wall of mirrors at one side and all the dancers were facing it, watching themselves dance. There were two young men at the edge of the dancefloor having what looked like a danceoff, but still watching each other through the mirror.

Two camera men prowled through the bar taking pictures of people. Here and in Ghana it’s very rare for people to own their own cameras, even film cameras so people will get photographers to take single pictures for them and then pay the photographer for the picture once the film is developed.

After a couple of beers I was starting to feel really really tired so Osman asked Alfred to drive us to the mission.

May 19

We headed to Sanniquellie today to do the loans there and begin the questionnaire administration. The journey to Sanniquellie was beautiful, lots of trees and mountains. When we got to the town the women were waiting for us. It was market day in town and they wanted to get going.

I went through the training with the field assistants and then helped prepare the passbooks and loan agreements. There was time in the afternoon for me to go to the market with Alfred. It was huge! There was a large roofed building with tons of market tables, lots of women selling peppers, eggplant, fish, meat, and lotions, cloth, slippers, pretty much the same thing as in Kpandai except much larger.

On the way back to the meeting hall Alfred took me for some food (GB, pepper soup and dried meat), and then I tried some Liberian sweets, basically a shortbread cookie, banana bread, sponge cake, coconut candies and chocho, a biscuit made out of rice chaff and sugar. I also tried a sweet made of gari (dried cassava flakes), sugar, and peanut batter which was also quite nice.

When we went to the meeting place I wasn’t feeling very well- I had eaten too much sugar than I am now used to and had a small overdose! After a little bit it was time to head back to Ganta. When we arrived, once again supper was prepared for us by Vicki, it was a bitter leaf stew and rice. But this time we hit the hay very early. No going out in Ganta on a Saturday night!

May 20

We were back in Sanniquellie today for the loan dispersal. It went alright but the only hang up was that some of the women increased the loan amount they wanted to take so there wasn’t enough money to go around. Osman did an assessment of some of the women’s businesses and reduced the loan amounts for some of them.

After the loan was dispersed Osman and Jokai sat with the leaders and went through the accounting procedures and Alfred drove me around town so I could take some pictures. We stopped and got some palm wine and then went to visit his daughter and grand daughter.

We got back to Ganta fairly early and all of us at at a restaurant. I had fufu and chicken and it was pretty good. After that we went to Vicki’s spot for dinks, but she had made supper again! The night was an early one because we wanted to get to Gbarnga in good time so we could collect some additional surveys there.

May 21

We left Ganta pretty early so we didn’t get a chance to give proper goodbyes to everyone. When we got to Gbarnga we were able to get accommodation at DenL, an NGO in town that was apparently set up by a Canadian Nun. Their offices were some distance out of the center of town, but it was a very nice compound. We were able to get a whole house for everyone, it was the first time that everyone stayed at the same place!

We unpacked and then headed into town to eat and talk to the women about the additional surveys. We went to the same restaurant as the first time we came there and the food was the same unappetizing deal, except this time it wasn’t goat meat but fish, so it was a step up!

After that we went and talked to the women about the surveys then Alfred took me to change some money. Because the US dollar is almost like a second currency here, there’s informal forex bureaus all over the place where you can get American dollars changed and vice versa. The weird thing is that there are no coins. If you pay in US dollars and the bill says you are owed change, they will give you your change in Liberian dollars. Since $5US= 300LD it all works out in the end.

I got my money and then we headed back to DenL for the afternoon. While Osman and Jokai reviewed things and Rose rested, I taught Alfred how to make newspaper bags. It seems strange, haha, but earlier in the trip I was asking everyone how European newspapers get to West Africa. In Liberia (and in Ghana), food vendors will wrap food in newspaper to give you and I’ve noticed that the newspaper is often German or Scandinavian, about three months or so old. Alfred explained that the papers are brought in bulk and sold to vendors who then sell them to merchants, etc. In Gbarnga when we were waiting for Rose, Alfred spotted a vendor and bought a newspaper for me to see, for about 5 LD = 8 cents US. So then the question was, what to do with my German newspaper? So I made a paper bag. Alfred saw it as a business opportunity. He owns a small shop and he figured that instead of putting things in more expensive plastic bags he could save money by using the paper bags. I didn’t mind the afternoon at all- I really miss arts and crafts sessions!

Later in the afternoon a very big thunderstorm rolled in and we had a massive downpour. Then I had the crap scared out of me when thunder struck very very close to the house. It was so close that you could smell ozone when you went into the kitchen.

After the rain subsided we all headed into town for dinner at our trusty restaurant, again pepper soup, rice and fish. For an extra treat I bought some grilled beef from a street vendor. They grill it over charcoal, cut it into bit size pieces and sprinkled it with pepper flakes/powder and onions.

The drive back to the house was hilarious! Alfred and Jokai were asking me what sorts of things I eat or have eaten like scorpion, worms, crabs, and thousand legs (millipedes). The funny part was how the questions sounded like in Liberian English. Jokai wanted to know if I had tried goat head in Ghana, because he spent time in Ghana and found it really tasty there. Alfred thought it was hilarious and kept laughing and saying ‘Jokai likes goat head, he chops the goat head!’ But when Alfred would say goat head, it came out as ‘gohea’. I almost wet myself laughing at Alfred teasing Jokai!

I worked for a bit then hit bed pretty early. We wanted to get into Monrovia early in the day on Tuesday.

May 22

After breakfast of an omlette and mayonnaise on bread, we went and collected the additional surveys from the women and then started the journey back to Monrovia. I was excited for the drive because we traveled up to Gbarnga in the night so not much opportunity to see things. ON the way it was a lot of the same scenery, trees, rubber tree plantations, etc. On the way Alfred would mention things about the area. He even made a stop at a village where the chief, who incidentally was a little person, was selling fruit on the side of the road. When Alfred was talking to him I thought he was talking to a kid but I was wrong!

Alfred also pointed out a military training base where Charles Taylor trained his soldiers and also reportedly tortured people with ants, or so Alfred and Jokai said. There was a cable stretched across the road some height above us, and that was the last test Taylor’s troops went through. If they could cross the road on the cable they passed, but if they didn’t they were shot.

One of Osman’s neighbours was currently on a peacekeeping mission in Liberia so we went a bit out of the way to greet him. It was okay, got to see more of the countryside, and the former VOA headquarters which now served as the UN Peacekeepers base for the area.

After that the rest of the trip into Monrovia got quite heated. Jokai and Osman got into a political discussion. Rose and myself had the fore withal not to get involved in the discussion as well. We went directly to the SEND Office when we got into Monrovia so that we could debrief with Sam.

From there Alfred took Osman Rose and I for some food. I really wanted a cheeseburger and fries so Alfred took me to King burger. It was seriously like stepping back into the 1970’s literally. None of the signboard posters or tables or decorations in the place had been changed in over 30 years I swear. It was kind of neat. The burger was pretty good by West African Cheesburger standards, and the fries were awesome!

Alfred then took us to a supermarket so we could get some provisions for the evening. From there we went to Thinker’s village. Osman and I ate by the beach again the only people there. It was great. After Osman went to pray I stayed out to watch the sunset and listen to the waves. I had a quick visit with the owner, but other than that I enjoyed the beach in peace.

The next day after a breakfast of ham and eggs (boo for Osman and yay for me!) Alfred took us on a whirlwind tour of Liberia. We saw all of the government buildings, the University of Liberia, Police headquarters, UNMIL headquarters, Charles Taylor’s mansion, to monument to the first president of Liberia, the National Museum (which was basically wooden masks and drums), the harbour area, and Hotel Africa, now totally destroyed, but it was built for African Unity meetings when Liberia was still prosperous.

We quickly swallowed down some GB that Sam had reserved for us before packing our things and getting to the airport. The truck developed a problem with the back wheel so we hobbled to the airport and prayed that the tire would last until we got there! When we got to the airport, I was surprised at how tight security was given that the place was so rundown. Before entering the airport we had to show our ticket and passport. Then at the check in, we had to remove our shoes, put our luggage (suitcases too) through the scanner, get a body search and then had our bags searched. Then we checked our suitcases and headed to the customs people who wrote down our particulars. From there we went through another security screening, metal detectors and all. At the last one the (male) guards were asking me if I enjoyed Liberia (yes) and if I made friends (yes). Then one asked how he could get on my list of boyfriends. I laughed and said for them to talk to customs because they already had all my information. They just laughed.

The plane arrived late so we got into Accra a bit behind schedule. Fortunately there were no problems getting through customs and the security people didn’t stop me to see my luggage. Banahene was there to get us, so we headed back to the guesthouse by the office, and no sooner than we got there Chief called to see if I wanted to go for dinner. I said why not, and he came to pick me up.

We talked about the trip, but most of the things he asked me about were how I saw the place, how I enjoyed the food, how were the people, did I feel safe, could I live there, etc etc etc. He didn’t say one single word about the survey itself,so I almost felt like the guinea pig, to see if a Canadian could handle it so that he could send interns there in the future!

Either way, I was sure happy to get into my bed that night!

May 23- July 1, 2007

I’ll admit I have been very very bad about updating my blog, but I’ve been a tad busy and had some technical difficulties. Here’s what’s been happening:

- I got back to Tamale from Accra in excellent time, overnight with the Imperial Bus Company. They have totally won me over. The only scary part was that on the road we passed so close to a lorry that the driver’s mirror got smashed. Eeek!

- The trip back to Kpandai from Tamale was interesting. Our bus driver was drag racing a yam lorry down the highway. Good thing there was a police man on the bus with us, because we could have been in some serious trouble!

- Raymond left for Canada on June 12, so since then Lelewu and I have been acting as interim project officers for Kpandai. The biggest thing on our agenda was the Credit Union AGM which we wanted to have on the 16^th but got moved to the 23. It was a struggle getting the accounts officer and the board to come to a consensus on what they wanted done, but we pulled it off okay. About a hundred people showed up in the rain, and on Lungni market day (the biggest market in this area), so I was happy!

- My laptop has sustained some serious damage from the Liberia trip, and the rough trips on Ghana roads. I am developing some more cracks in my screen, and one day as I was working I smelled burning plastic. I looked down and saw that my computer cord was smoking. Lelewu told me that the negative and positive wires in the cord were rubbing together and caused them to short out. By the time I unplugged it the cord was burnt into two. The problem was that the day before this happened the lights were off and I was working on the battery, so I barely had enough juice left on the old girl to pull off my work files. Until my replacement cord comes from Canada, and/or I get my old cord fixed, I can’t show any of my pictures from Liberia. They’re still on the laptop. Thank goodness I was able to pull off my work files, because at least I have Raymond’s computer to work on in the meantime!

- Somewhere around the middle of the month I got a pretty nasty ear infection. It started as a little ache when I was in Tamale one weekend, and by the time I got to Kpandai my jaw was stiff and I couldn’t hear anything, it was blocked with fluid. The next day it started draining, but it was getting worse. It was causing some serious problems for me when I would walk into town because I couldn’t hear when people were greeting me, and if you don’t greet someone here it’s a serious no no. I am sure I pissed off a few of the market women on my walk into town. I also almost got into an altercation with an passenger bus because I heard the motor of the vehicle echoing in my left ear and assumed it was coming from that direction when it was actually coming from my right. I went to the ECG Mission health clinic and Timothy gave me some antibiotics to take. I took them for a few days, but the infection kept getting worse and the side of my face started to swell up. I went back to Timothy, he increased the amount of antibiotics I was taking and gave me an injection. He also told me that that was the last day he’d be around for about two weeks. I waited a couple days, it wasn’t getting better, and in fact my face was starting to swell up around my ear and it was spreading around my eye. I looked like Quasimodo! I decided that it was time to go to Tamale, because Timothy was gone and the only other health workers were at the government run clinic. I learned that recently the brother of health worker at the government clinic died of typhoid because he wasn’t sending his brother into the hospital for better treatment. So, I wasn’t too keen to try going there! I got in to see the ear specialist at the Tamale hospital, and the antibiotics he gave me have cleared it up.

- My birthday passed on June 22, and it was a quiet occasion. I didn’t let out to many people that I was having a birthday, because the way birthdays are celebrated here just isn’t my style. Birthdays are very formal events. You invite people, you prepare dinner and beverages for everyone, the priest or another religious person says a prayer for you, you eat, then people talk about you and your life, you have to give a response about yourself and your life, then there might be some music and/or dancing, etc etc. I told Delphina and Rose, and had drinks with them. Delphina drank the beer for all of us because I was on antibiotics and Rose is pregnant. Later Lelewu and I headed to ST. Paul guesthouse and had some fufu and sodapops. A photographer was eating there too so Lelewu had him take our picture. I just got my birthday picture this evening and it looks nice!

- We are still dealing with lights off here. It wouldn’t be so bad if they adhered to their schedule, but occasionally the VRA will decide to give us 5 hours lights off on a day when we’re supposed to have lights all day, or decide not to bring back the lights as scheduled. Yesterday I was anticipating that I would have the opportunity to do some work in the evening but the lights didn’t come at 6, as in the schedule. They came at 9. It makes it very hard to plan out your work, so that you do things that you don’t need the computer for during times when you know there’ll be lights off!

- We just arrived from a long session of meetings in Salaga for the bi-annual review report. Same old same old there, lots of arguments, lots of wasted time, but at 10 pm on Friday night we got the sucker done!

- This weekend is a pretty big one in Canada (happy Canada day!), but also in Ghana too. Today is Republic Day, and the opening day for African Congress meetings being held in Accra this year. Leaders from all over the continent are in Accra for the next few days. Apparently Ghadaffi (if I spelled his name right) traveled by land with a motorcade of over 500 vehicles and over a thousand troops. Pretty intense. Ghana is also doing a currency redenomination this weekend, so all the banks and bank machines are closed until Tuesday. Right now the largest bill you can get is a 20,000 cedi note, which is about $2.50 Canadian. It makes transactions a real pain in the behind, simply from the large amounts of paper you have to lug around. To give you an idea, for me to take 100 dollars out of a bank machine, it’s equivalent to forty 20,000 cedi bills, and that’s literally the largest withdrawal the bank machines can handle because the money dispenser isn’t big enough for you to take out more money. The redenomination will turn 10,000 cedis into 1 Ghana cedi. So, 1,000 cedis will be 10 Ghana peswas, and 100 cedis (the second smallest coin you can get now), will be 1 Ghana peswa. The largest bill amount is 50 Ghana cedis, or 500,000 cedis in the old currency. See how much better it will be? It is going to be a gong show for the next few months though because the bank of Ghana wants to use the old currency along with the new for the first little bit and gradually phase the old currency out. The biggest problem will be the rural areas, where there’s no electricity, communication is spotty, and literacy levels are low. The advertisement campaigns have been pretty extensive on the radio and television, in Twi and English and I’ve seen the government education branch come through Kpandai a few times to hand out flyers. However, most of the market transactions in this area are carried out by market women, a large portion of whom are illiterate and from small villages around Kpandai. And, in the north, Twi isn’t commonly spoken. It is mainly a language for the south, and not everyone speaks English. I am dreading my first visit to the market to buy something after I bring some of the new currency to Kpandai, which will be after my trip to Tamale on Tuesday. Trying to explain to disgruntled market women that I’m not trying to cheat them will not be easy!

- My parents are coming at the end of the month. It’s crazy how quickly time is going by! I am seriously getting worried about the work I have left to do before I go, and I am hoping I can get a lucky break and have no unscheduled lights out and be left relatively alone to do my own work for the next couple weeks! And also to have my laptop up and running again so I can pull all nighters when the lights are on, just like old times. Who says you have to quit working like a grad student once you have your degree?