23. HTKR

so, we took time off from our normal lives to work as volunteers in africa…. did we learn anything? Hard To Know Really. we’re just a few short hours away from departure and it’s hard to find something profound to say or even a coherent message amongst all the newly created memories. in early september we were forced to watch the sunday night movie on television. although I have been told it is a good book, we watched the worst movie ever made - eat pray love. Julia Roberts portrays this weird american character who has hardly travelled and is on some form of journey… very cringe worthy. however nauseating, it was enough to make me think about our trip and how to characterize all that we’ve learned in three simple words. so here we go… Consult. Spend. Judge.

Consult

our first foray into development work has been an incredible experience. I am certainly no expert in this field, but I did learn that there is no single ‘best’ approach to development. in many ways this reinforces the lessons learned from our past work experiences. for all the good intentions and positive attitudes, at some point work has to be done and that is when there is an impact and something to assess. you have to actually do something to generate a result. working with computers in nyc or flipcharts in autsuare, the challenges of how to make more, spend less and change others’ behavior seem to be quite universal. so I guess the lesson is somewhat action oriented and relates to both development and personal work. if our grandparents started businesses with very little, and these ladies in africa have done the same, isn’t that what we should be encouraging more of to alleviate poverty and earn a living– go make something or sell something or do something differently. and yet somehow two reasonably well educated aussies are on the sideline offering services about ‘how’ to do this without having done it for themselves. so I guess in order to achieve something you have to actually go and do it… or in ghanaian terms, you have to ‘go and come’.

Spend

surprisingly spending money on this trip was not as hard to justify as spending time. the benefits have been worthwhile and it’s something I’d love to be able to do regularly. this is one of the things that will go on the list of post travel euphoric ‘I said but didn’t do’… but it is definitely worth a big trip every few years to try and do a volunteer project and some travel. the trip has provided us with an incredible opportunity to consider how we spend our time, how we want to spend our time, and what we would like to get out of it. maybe it’s a late quarter life crisis, or maybe a well overdue review! as they say in ghana ‘make sure you respect your time’.

Judge

Im really good at it. from school to uni to youth movements to work… whatever country or language I am an excellent critic. of course this does not mean I take criticism from others particularly well, but that’s not an important lesson to learn right now. I did however find it harder to judge people in ghana. not the expats (I was great at judging them and quickly) but rather the local ghanaians. mostly because they seem like really happy people enjoying their life. even those who appear to be quite poor still seem really really happy. so the lesson… greet, smile, be happy and give people the time they deserve (then judge them later!).

Things I will miss (or not miss)

•  incorrect use of ‘you are invited’ to offer someone food or ‘you’re welcome ‘ to greet someone
• tomorrow, next time, please-im coming or Im on my way now coming means never
• have you got it? did you get it? I will send it. have you picked it? I will like it.
• being stopped regularly with someone saying ‘I need to oorinate’
• sssssssssss ssssssss to get someone’s attention
• constant tooting and honking in traffic
• smell of deet 
• every person greeting you with a good morning or good afternoon or ‘obruni what’s your name’
• ‘twins’
• walking on the street without fear of stepping into a nuclear waste gutter

22. C-Rice-is Averted

our time in ghana is quickly coming to an end. we had our final week in the field and have begun compiling our final report. fortunately for us (and ghana) we are leaving with the food security position in a much stronger situation than when we arrived. the demand for rice is on the increase, and whilst imports remain a high proportion of the supply, local production is up. i am not saying we are the main reason why the world bank has listed ghana as a country with great economic potential, but i am not denying it either. the numbers speak for themselves. 

our report covered our approach, assessment framework, keys gaps identified and a number of recommendations. whilst we have completed our portion of the work, there is a lot more to be done. it is sad to leave, but i know when we return in several years our rice ladies will have grown into larger and even more successful businesses. again, we'd be wrong to take credit for it but also wrong not to acknowledge our impact on the rice industry in ghana as a whole. 

final photos with auntie becky and evelyn

paddy pre-production

a scenic part of the highway. this is where a police officer once stopped us to ask if we'd like to buy a tv from him for 6 0 GHC

oygen with aligator 

worker catches lizard known as 'alligator' in ghana?

entrance to auntie aggie's

drying rice

oygen drives us to the field

village lady looking unimpressed

nicolas writing on bag 3 of 10,000 - notice she was still smiling at this point

21. You Do Me & I'll Do You

busua marked our final weekend trip to the far west coast. another early morning and bumpy bus ride, but this time we were entertained by ghana's latest and greatest tv series 'you do me and i'll do you.' not quite sure how they arrived at this title, but it made us laugh.

we took a taxi to the shared bus to another taxi, and then finally made it in one piece to our beach side location. the seven hour trip was worth it. the photos below don't quite do it justice. we stayed in a small b&b on the beach owned by a french couple who provided us with delicious meals followed by chocoloate crepes and ice cream.

the beach contained all the standard ghanaian spectacles... fishing boats, goats, sheep, and people carrying random stuff. busua also has ghana's only surf school, so we attempted to surf the very small and gentle waves during the day before relaxing with our monkey friend at night.

we made it.

sunset is nice

our monkey friend

baaa

carrying stuff

20. Amazing

19. I'll Take That Country Togo Please

another early morning to 'beat the traffic' for a weekend away. in a series of events that felt more like an article from the '36 hrs series' in the nytimes than a weekend away, we went, slept and returned fairly quickly.

4.30am Taxi On Shaishie Road

at 4.30am we showered, walked to the main road by our house and caught a private taxi to the shared taxi stand. from here we joined two others for the 3 hr drive to the border with togo.

10.00am Watch Out At The Border

within 10 mins of arrival at the border, we were gate-raped by the ghanaian border police and then by the togolese border police as well as a series of foreign exchange dudes. it was wonderful to see how passports (or lack thereof) have become a reason for citizens to bribe police.

11.00am Their All Smiling On The Inside

we arrived at our hotel. checked-in and decided to take a walk around town and the markets. a smile in ghana is typically met with a smile. an awkward joke or attempt to reference something local is typically met with a positive response and a lot of handshakes and hugs. i tried to use all my charm, everything i'd learned these last few months, but the togolese would have none of it. the people are simply less friendly and not interested.. they refused to smile or even laugh.

12.30am Fight For Independence

we walked around town trying to get a feel for the place.obviously no-one was interested in us at all (must be the french influence) so we made our own way through the markets and attempted to find the independence 

monument. nicolas made friends really quickly (see left)... i seriously only left her for 30 seconds to take a photo of the monument on the right, and look what happened. maybe they are friendly and it's just me?

1.30pm Wild Goose Chase on Art

then we took a much longer drive and walk around town than we'd planned. there is a museum which is a display of a swiss private collection of african art on the outskirts of town. it seems to be the only real tourist attraction in the capital lome, but unfortunately no-one knows where it is. after several failed attempts with taxi drivers and others giving directions, we opted for the more schvitz-enhancing option of walking along the beach and through the market. 

2.30pm Nothing Like Relaxing by the Sewer

we walked along the beach which is quite a picturesque coast line of blue ocean and powdery looking sand. unfortunately the combination of the smell of an open sewer emptying onto the beach (see right)  and the area falling apart (see left) takes it off the swimming/honeymoon destination list.

4.30pm Eat, Read, Relax and Take In Sunset

given the french influence in togo, they are known for good food -at least more so than the ghanaians. and we were not disappointed. the team in our little hotel cooked up a pretty good lincher (a meal we have come to know as the combination of lunch and dinner. it is usually the result of limited access to food due to travel, work in the field or lack of options). we ate, read, watched the sunset with my new nigerian friend who was meeting his american fiance for the first time that night after several years of a facebook relationship. shortly after sunset we went to have a quick rest, which turned into a good night sleep.

6.00am Hike (Or Drive) A Mountain

we woke up at 6am for a ride north west to mt agou on the border of togo and ghana. our plan was to drive out there, hike 2 hrs each way and then jump back in the car for a lift to the border. we arrived at the base of the mountain, paid an entry fee and then began ascending the mountain. the driver and guard at the gate told us the hike was at the top of the mountain where the car would wait for us. about half way up we realized there was no hike and we were in fact driving our planned hike. we got out and walked the rest of the way...

we asked this man to take a photo of us at the top. he failed 4 times and it became apparent that we would need  to take photos with him if we were going to capture the moment. here is my moment with him with nicola snapping. 

12.30pm Check Your Tyres

thud thud thud.. we punctured a tyre and our driver stopped to change it ( i tried to help by providing comic relief). fortunately he had a spare.

1.30pm Meet Interesting Man For Ride Home

the togolese border police had dollar signs in their eyes as we opened our passports to them. "yellow fever certificate" they yelled. nicolas told them she left hers in accra "no problem you pay" they said. then we crossed over and waited for a shared taxi back to accra. the congregation of drivers asked for an obscene amount for the ride home. we negotiated, and offered a reasonable compromise which they would not accept. so we said "we'll wait to fill a car". they laughed telling us no tourists would come and we would pay after waiting. then came the wonderful chance to prove to the drivers that they should 'make hay while the sun is shining'. a man walked through the border and we asked if he wanted to share a car. he said no thank you i have my own and kept going. a minute later he came back and asked if we wanted to join him in his car back to accra. goldschmidt 1, drivers 0.

after about 10 mins of awkwardness in the car, we realized that this man worked for the same organization as us and the conversation opened up. funny coincidence, but also a good one. we then heard 3 hrs of stories of his 15 yrs of development experience. all very interesting and nice way to end the trip.

4.30pm Do The Washing

despite the cynical review above, we actually had a great time in togo...as we were doing our washing at home we laughed about how quickly we entered and exited the country. although i do think it was enough time to see what is a smaller, less developed and french version of ghana.

hanging around in lome... togo's answer to the corner where braschs meets hokka hokka and donut king. 

a whole new perspective on the term 'bag lady'

18. If I Were A Rice Man / Part 4

we're approaching the final stages of our project, and it's nice to feel the work come together. we joined a program wide planning session in tamale up north two weeks ago, and then presented the first draft of our final report to key stakeholders in accra this past week.

the planning session was a unique experience. not only as a chance to observe over 90 people come together as part of the larger program, but to witness the behavioral differences in ghana from other places i have worked. many of the team and regional leads presented their review of the past 12 months and plans / targets for the coming 12 months. typically, i have seen these sort of sessions pass through as a slide fest with a couple of questions here and there, but mostly people try to move through their presentations pretty quickly. not in ghana. presentations are a chance to perform, and a chance for audiences to judge. it feels like ghana's next top presenter where we are on the judging table. presenters stroll back and forth across the stage enjoying their 15 mins (or sometimes 45 mins) of fame. most presenters read word for word off fairly text heavy pages, and ensure they use their allotted time. oddly, this does not deter the crowd. as soon as a presentation ended, someone would stand up and begin the q&a.

sometimes it was death by a thousand cuts

facilitator: do we have any questions
crowd: a summary (often 3-4 mins) to paraphrase the entire presentation followed by "your bullet points were very small on the presentation and i found it difficult to follow what you were saying"
facilitator: ok thank you, that sounds like a comment do we have any questions
crowd: yes, i would like to know why your objectives and activities seem to be mixed up, do you know what you want to achieve
presenter: repeat all of the slides again
facilitator: ok ok, do we have anything specific or a point of clarification
crowd: have you communicated with your team while creating this plan
presenter: which part
facilitator: ok, let's take this off-line... who is the next presenter

whereas other times people went straight for the jugular

crowd: your goals seem very generic, i do not agree with this plan at all
facilitator: ok, let's take this off-line... who is the next presenter

despite all of the above, after 2 days we made it through the plans and everyone was on-board with the next 12 months of activity. this was the perfect time to start circulating early drafts of our assessment, work completed and recommendations. despite a few nervous moments completing our work prior to the session, the work was well received and we are on the right track to complete our project by the end of the month. it is nice to know some of the frameworks and assessment criteria we have designed will be re-used in future work and will have contributed to the overall goal of the program (someone has to pat us on the back!).

nice photo, naughty panda

17. Mole, Malaria, Mavado and Menschs from Brooklyn (in that order)

after spending most of our time in accra which is the south/central region, and then travelling to the east and west for weekend trips, it was time to make the trip up north. the trip coincided with a work event / planning session which is the subject of another blog, but provided an opportunity for us to extend our stay and to check out mole national park.

we flew to tamale on a citylink flight. this involved waking up ridiculously early to 'beat the traffic' to the airport, despite the fact that the airport is about 15 mins from where we live. nevertheless we got up early, left early and of course arrived early only to be told the flight was delayed about 2 hrs. not too bad considering the domestic airport is a tiny room with a bunch of people running around screaming out the flight destination and time. the plane was a 33 seater propeller plane and notwithstanding the delays at the airport, the best customer i have ever experienced...50 minute flight, cheese sandwhich, apple juice and water distributed within minutes of being seated. what more can you ask for?

we landed, checked-in, went to our conference, and then off to mole national park. the park is about 4 hrs drive from tamale in the north west of the country. Although beautiful, and we had an incredible time, it is a sad example of the missed tourism opportunities in ghana. i don't want to get too preachy, but on a daily basis it would be relatively easy to extract heaps of money from tourists, volunteers and others, but for some reason the country is not set-up that way and instead of maintaining things at a price, they are left to rot?! anyway we went with a dutch couple here who are also volunteers and rented a driver & 4x4 for a few days to drive to the park. along the way we bounced up and down on the bumpy potholed filled roads for most of the time, and also managed to kill a goat. this time we stopped to see if we could pay the owner for the loss, but everyone seemed so excited by the opportunity to slaughter the goat and eat it for dinner that a nominal amount was handed over before we quickly moved on. we stopped at the oldest mosque (pronounced moks by the locals) in west africa which was built in 1421.

once inside the national park, we were overcome by a sense of relaxation and calm. we drove to our motel where a wharthog, bok and baboon were waiting for us outside the reception area and escorted us to our room. at reception our dinner order was taken immediately as it apparently takes a long time to prepare
food there. we swam overlooking a waterhole where elephants and other animals come to drink, and went on a walking safari where we came much closer to an elephant than i ever expected. we chased him around and he was easily identified by his one tusk (pronounced tuks). then we went on a canoe down the river just
outside the park. all very beautiful scenery and tours delivered by smiling happy ghanaians. at night we sat outside at the restaurant with a couple of drinks and dinner. unfortunately i was not very sensible about covering up from mosquitoes and on the final night my feet were eaten and literally covered in bites.

we flew back to accra on the morning of our one year anniversary on a flight with a lot of turbulence. this time i enjoyed the experience a little less. it was after this point that i started to feel a little unwell. i was sweating quite a bit (although most of the time here i have been covered in a layer of sweat) sneezing and generally feeling bad. i had also had a pretty bad stomach bug the few days before. we went to accra's top french restaurant to celebrate, only to discover it has a fairly lebanese based menu and that we would be the only people dining there that evening. we ate dinner quickly, both feeling a little sick, and made our way home where we crashed (metaphorically mum, not in a plane or car).... our most romantic anniversary yet!

the next morning i still felt unwell. we delayed our departure to the village in favor of getting a malaria test here in accra. 45 mins later i was told i had the parasite, handed a course of antibiotics and told i would be fine. i asked (pronounced aksed) if i would die, and they told me it was like the common cold and not to worry. they were right, except for the fact that along the way i felt many aches and  pains, sweated a lot and struggled with the most basic bowel control. fortunately i am now fine and 5 days from diagnosis to full recovery is not a bad record - malaria 0, goldschmidt 1.

as i was recovering from malaria on the couch in our palace, i witnessed the arrival of jamaican music star 'mavado' in ghana. he is the biggest dancehall (still not sure what that is) act in the world, and is quite popular here. he has also cleverly named himself after a swiss watchmaker - my rap name is swatch. he was due to play october 1st at the football stadium, but on september 30th he was told not to come, they would play the local derby instead. i am not kidding, that is exactly what the press release said. so he delayed his flights, reissued concert tickets and created pres releases. a week later he showed up outside our home with his entourage of 150 people, 20 motorbikes, 15 4x4's and 1 white guy (not sure why he was there). for two days the quiet royal richester was a hive of activity.

at the same time i finally got a response from my friends at chabad about services for the high holidays. two bocherim were sent from nyc to run prayers at the offices of an israeli company. it was a somewhat surreal event, considering we were in the middle of accra ghana with 30 others celebrating yom kippur. regardless it worked, and felt like a normal shul service which i really appreciated. i am very thankful for the effort made by those guys.

sorry for the megillah, but now you are caught up on our last few weeks. if you have made it down to here then in ghanaian terms "you have done very very well."

waiting for our flight

can that actually fly?

goat (before photo)

it's really crazy how grey my hair is

sometimes when nicola is tired i carry her

one tucks ephelant

the view from our room

two tucks ephelant eating very close to us

possibly the least attractive animal on earth

16. High Holidays

shana tova to everyone... i wish you a happy healthy new year

our chazan. photo courtesy of A. Samel

my kehila

15. Voltaren Retard

we decided to have a relatively quiet weekend in accra, as we're heading north to tamale for the next week. although we're in the wet season the weather is typically quite warm around 29 Celsius or 85 Fahrenheit and the sky tends to be a little gray. this weekend the sun was out and it was a rare opportunity to sit by the pool in the sun and really slum it in our apartment complex. sunday morning we ran some errands, had a quick bite to eat, and then i went to change into swimmers to go lie by the pool.

as i was changing i noticed a couple of black marks on my body, particularly on my stomach. i started to pick at them, and they came off but seemed to leave a black spot on/in the skin. i was in shock. i asked nicola to help me examine my back and neck, and sure enough she found even more spots on me. did i have ticks? did the 'ants in my pants' from last week have a lasting affect?

we picked off a few more of the little guys and tried to find something bug like or tick like. we couldn't see anything and couldn't find anything on the internet that resembled these symptoms so i decided to take a shower to try and soften the skin and remove the spots. unfortunately all the scratching and scrubbing in the shower only seemed create more and more spots. had the water helped them to multiply? was i dying?

i started to form the basis of my will in my mind as we walked up to reception to ask for a doctor or hospital.  they directed us to the ghana-canada hospital not far from our complex. we walked towards the junction to 'pick a taxi'. nicola managed to strike the perfect balance between alarm at my illness and cynicism over hypochondria. we found a taxi who asked for 8 to get us there, i gave him my 'i'm dying' stare and said 'can we just do 5 i need to get there is a hurry'... fortunately he obliged.

the hospital staff were really nice and professional. they took my vitals, weighed me (i have gained weight but i am pretty sure it's muscle mass) and sent nicola and i to see the doctor. we made awkward small talk before he asked examined my life threatening spots, asked me where we'd been, what we'd been doing and how i'd been feeling. he also threw in 'what are your worst fears about these spots' for good measure.

he then took cotton buds dipped in alcohol and cleaned the spots. it took a little bit of elbow grease, but they seemed to be coming off without leaving anything in/under the skin. it was a miracle. with a cotton bud and alcohol he was curing me of my life threatening disease that would land me on an episode of house. this was followed by lots of relief, bad jokes and laughter as the doctor proceeded to clean me. i sat in a chair, shirt off, with the doctor going spot by spot for 5 minutes and wiping me down. i used this time to politely (if not awkwardly) stare up at the posters on his wall. this is where i found my favorite medical poster of all time - an ad for Voltaren Retard... what a brilliant marketing campaign.

14. Elect-rice-ity / Part 3

sadly the last two weeks have been a little slower than expected due to a lack of electricity at the mill. the generator for the area was working, but there was a break between the pole and the farmhouse which meant that no work beyond drying could be done.

after several hours of discussion about the illegal activity of the neighbors (they paid off a local electrician to feed their cable directly to the generator) we arrived at a logical resolution.... we would not replicate their illegal behavior and would follow the correct process. calling the electricity company seemed like the right thing to do and i was glad we had agreed on the fastest way to access electricity. somehow between this conclusion and the next steps something was lost. i am pretty sure it was just me who was lost, but i was definitely lost. my rice lady has a daughter who has a fiance (chag gadya) who works for the electricity company. he works in another region and is not allowed to request services for our area or get involved in maintenance matters. for some reason over the course of the the next week he and his co-worker showed up on the farm, measured the area, bought cabling, dug a trench and laid cabling to the generator, and the electricity was back on again. i don't quite understand why this was the resolution, but we seriously spent hours discussing the best way to resolve so i am not opening this up again... the lights work and that's that!

it was a good chance to catch-up on some of the administrative tasks in the office where we went through old records to try and create a complete financial picture of the business. although it is a relatively simple business, there are some complicated activities. particularly complicated is where my auntie has lent money to a farmer over a period of several months, not quite recorded it accurately, and then recovered the loan through rice paddy delivered in several installments also not quite recorded accurately. then there is the fun and games of figuring out who owes what money to who. fortunately the power is in the hands of the rice lady, and she usually gets her way.

while we were up in the rice fields without electricity, it was also a national public holiday for founders day. this gave us a day off and a chance to visit one of the major attractions in the area - the akosombo damn. funnily enough this is the source of most of ghana's electricity. lake volta contains all the water that flows from burkina faso in the north, and then makes its way down to the sea. on it's way down through ghana the water passes through massive turbines that turn and generate electricity. it is an incredibly beautiful spot, and we had a great day. it was just a shame that despite being less than 20 minutes away from the source of electricity for all of ghana, we couldn't get electricity in the field!

13. Disconnected Randomness

each week i have tried to group and summarize events into some sort of theme that would help anyone who reads this digest them more efficiently. despite my efforts, there have been a number of 'things' that we've seen or heard that cannot be grouped... they are completely disconnected and completely random, but also completely hilarious (at least to me).

1. the risk taker - there is a lady with a small child at the rice field who cuts his hair whilst he breast feeds. i find the breastfeeding and haircut combo to be very efficient but also very dangerous
2. it's never too early - each morning at starr villas (our home away from home) we have breakfast with several people sitting at the tables near us. more often than not, someone is having a beer at 8.30am. i guess when a majority of the population start their day at 5am, it makes sense... sort of?
3. first impressions - i met someone this week and his opening line was 'ohh you are big, i like your stature". 
4. we have decided to call our taxi driver eugene by  his yiddish name oygen - he seems to like it.
5. market wife - the main markets in the center of accra are makola markets pronounced 'mikola makes' which sounds incredibly similar to nicola marcus
6. international sister - burkina faso lies to the north of ghana and is mentioned a lot in regular conversation in short form 'burkina'. i think they are saying 'betina' every time
7. ghana love - makola and i were walking down the street holding hands and someone approached us. we believed he was going to offer us a product of some sort but instead he came out with 'is she your sweety and the one you really love?'
8. ants in my pants - literally. this week our bed at starr villas was covered in ants and i found them in my pants. i am hoping that i am not caught lying this week, it will hurt. 
9. humping lizard - my favorite of all the animals we have seen so far...i can take all the credit for the excellent camera work in this film

12. Wli-lly?

nicholas pointing to togo

we took the easy way out and turned a potential weekend trip to wli falls (the largest falls in west africa) into a long day trip. we rented a car/driver in order to avoid the full day of public transport required to get to the eastern part of the country near the border with togo. googlemaps directions said 2.5hrs… they have obviously not been to ghana before. add in the inflation for ghana roads and ghana time and you get a multiple of 2 for a 5 hr trip each way. 


regardless, it was absolutely worth it. we were driven by joe who brought his friend uncle prince along for the ride and they were excellent company in the car and on the hike. along the way we dodged potholes, animals, picked up street food, listened to ridiculously loud music, and had random twi conversations. at one point joe’s father called and he answered ‘oh papa mabre’ which means I’m tired. this is one of the few words we know and when we both shouted ‘he’s tired’ joe basically stopped the car in shock that we understood his conversation. 

why is it white?

we arrived at noon and were introduced to francis who would be our guide to the falls. we started with the statue pictured on the right and a 5 minute discussion about why the statue was created this way. the explanation given from francis was that it is because ‘african men have a giant dick’. nicola and I smiled and said ok, but then uncle francis and brother joe reinforced the message with ‘no seriously we have a huge one’….’oh it is true’…all very entertaining and a good start to the hike. 

headpack

this is how you do it 

it was a short hike to the falls which was about an hour each way. francis showed us that backpacks are in fact an incorrect name, they should be called headpacks. he also showed us that it is inefficient to carry a water bottle in your hand.


the short hike was relatively easy so before we turned back francis asked if we wanted to see an amazing viewing point 20 mins away. an hour later after basically hiking vertically with a walking stick, dripping with sweat, we arrived at a spot that was less of a viewing point, and more of a glimpse point. although the hike was good fun, francis’s offer was more like telling someone with box seats at an event that you can show them a better view from the back row… we fell for the nosebleed seats, but we wli-lly enjoyed it anyway. 

ghana's answer to abbey road

joe and uncle prince

waterfall

waterfall and water bottle

glimpse point with water bottle

11. I Bless The Rains Down In Africa

toto we’re not in kansas anymore…although ghana is starting to feel a little more like home. when we come back to our apartment from the field or a weekend trip, I get that comfortable feeling of coming home – not bad after only 6 weeks. it’s not just the apartment. our driver ran over a goat this week. the goat ran out into the middle of the road, the driver hit the brakes, we dragged it under the car for about 20 m until we came to a stop. the goat crawled out from the back of the car and ran away. there was something about this that struck me (excuse the pun) as very symbolic of africa. not because there was a goat in the middle of the street, or you get knocked down and get back up again bla bla bla. rather, because we hit the goat and for a split second everyone stopped and starred at each other, then realized they didn’t give a shit and kept going. I can’t quite put my finger on why this triggered a response, but it did. hopefully the goats and zebras will end their feud soon and the goats will get a crossing of their own to reduce the number of deaths in their community. 


ghana is a fairly religious society, so we are used to a lot of preaching and religious references in our daily activities. however no-one is more preachy or holier than the altruist volunteer who has arrived in africa to save these poor souls. fortunately they are armed with an incredible skillset that sets them apart from others, and will allow them to once and for all cure the world of disease and solve world hunger. as I said above, I am starting to feel more at home here. with familiarity and routine come old habits. so I have been able to find the time to identify and list individuals that I do not like. I have met two forms of these individuals. both of them female, so I will continue to monitor the trend and seek out male examples. 


the first type is about 23 yrs old and says things like “I am here to find scalable, sustainable solutions to systemic problems” whilst the second type is slightly older, just over 30, and says things like “I’m a really experienced professional so my skill set is just something they can’t find here.” both of these characters have a wonderful way of getting under my skin. the smugness with which these lines are delivered makes you feel confident that as soon as you walk away they will be sitting there enjoying the smell of their own farts. 


it’s fortunate that we don’t fit into either category. of course we have created our own superior and more exclusive category who are aware of the reality of the situation. we have found others like us who judge people quickly, and although we’re forced to suffer through the smell of other people’s farts, we can sit and whinge about it in each other’s company, and still enjoy it. a necessary requirement for survival over here!

10. The Importance Of Being Harvest

clearing the streets

we went back to the cape coast last weekend for our second harvest festival experience, and what is known as the largest festival in ghana. whereas last time we were more innocent bystanders watching from above, this time we were right in the middle of the action.

we joined the parade in the street where the drummers lead the charge and the chiefs are carried through crowd. the parade then ended at a huge square where the president met with all the chiefs and the minister for agriculture gave a speech.

piles of speakers

once again the day was filled with loud music generated from piles of speakers, people dancing everywhere (my leg was humped multiple times) and general celebration. we left the festival in a taxi to a nearby resort place on the beach… very tough life!

where's nicholas

my outfit

box seats

cheap seats

happy chief

happy chiefette

el presidente showed up for speeches

don't look down!

let's take the festival home with us