Kamikaze Crows, Power Cuts and Malaria

So, we've got these lovely crows over here… They remind me of Japanese Kamikaze because they seem to purposely crash-land on the roof (and somehow survive). Next thing you hear is this scratchy noise of a fat bird (or person?) hopping and sometimes sliding along the roof. Also, the common Kamikaze crow preferably crash-lands in the early morning hours around 5/6 am. It is incredibly loud! The first time I experienced one of their landing attempts I nearly jumped up from the bed with a heart attack. I thought we were being attacked and the roof is coming down. 

   We have had a lot of power problems in the camp these last few days. I'm lucky to have access to the internet at the moment. I'm not a big friend of air-conditioning but when you have a boiling hot malaria patient right next to you at an already tropical climate you do wish the air-conditioning was working *shweatin* 

   Rory came down with Malaria last week Tuesday. He was suffering from severe migraine-like headaches, fever and waves of shivers and shakes. It was caught early though which is crucial and also meant it didn't get any worse than that. He was much better by Saturday and is back to work this week *sigh* 
   I've been asked what the food is like over here. As I am not employed with Lycopodium I can't join the staff for meals in the canteen. The head of one of the subcontractors of Lycopodium agreed however that I can have meals in their canteen whenever I feel like it - at our own expense. To keep costs low I do try to feed myself though. In the villages you will always see women cooking and selling food at either side of the road. I have not been overly brave yet when it comes to trying it - I don't fancy hugging the 'porcelain throne' as Verena would call it. You really have to be careful with the food. It could have been sitting in the sun for ours or there is a problem with hygiene and so on.

   Most dishes are prepared with palm oil and quite greasy. I have tried a few 'safe' things such as yam chips which is very similar to potato but not as soft, quite nice actually. I have also tried fried plantain, a type of banana. It is very similar in consistency but different in taste. Apart from that I bought grilled cobs of corn at the market *yum* and regularly buy white loafs of bread, buttery and sweet in taste. We bought a toaster for the room so that I can make myself sandwiches or toasted bread for breakfast. Some shops sell tinned meats such as tuna steak. A few days ago I bought a can of corned beef. I didn't go further than opening the can… A familiar scent and look although not necessarily reminding me of corned beef. Let's just say Ruby (Rory's 4-legged pet) would have probably liked it. Maybe they confused the labels on the tin? 

   One thing to know about the food: Ghanaians love their spices. I tried a fish (don't remember what kind) in a spicy red sauce with garlicky fried rice. It was delicious but it took me half the meal to get over how spicy it was. I've seen a few other nice dishes I am curious to try. I will keep you posted.

   The library is making progress. We've completed marking all the books as property of the library and sorting them in a few general categories. A lot of work ahead of us yet. We will have to classify them into further subcategories, catalogue them, and also get rid of outdated, damaged books. Termites only love a good book :) Myself and Sammy sat down yesterday and went through a list of things that need to be done and estimated the costs. In total I was able to fundraise EUR 714 of which EUR 169 were already spent on PC equipment. We have EUR 545 left which equals roughly about 1200 Ghana Cedi - a good sum of money over here. With that money we hope to be able to afford to paint the bookshelves, build a browser box for children books, decorate a 'kids corner', buy a photocopier so that people won't rip out pages from books and other bits and pieces that are required to get the library going. Sammy is delighted as funding otherwise isn't great at the moment. 

   Sammy and Seth (my library assistant) will start painting the shelves today. They insisted that I do not join them as they are worried the fumes in combination with the heat will be bad for me. There was no arguing with them so I will have a few days off until Friday. In the meantime I'm doing some research on free or affordable software for a medium sized library. As power and internet comes and goes all the time, I'll probably need these days off anyways before I'll get some results. If anyone knows of suitable PC software for library use please let me know. 

   Suzi is in Ghana since last week Monday. We've not been able to get her out of customs yet, probably due to a mistake made by the Irish gang with the paperwork but nothing major. Hopefully I will be able to collect her this coming weekend if I get registration and insurance sorted. CAN'T WAIT!! 

 

Purple Rocks - Our patio also referred to as the 'birdcage' and camp/neighbours

Welcome Obruni

White people, or foreigners in general are called Obruni over here. It doesn't really have any deeper meaning to it. It is just a term for a person from outside of Africa. Although I had been prepared that I would be called Obruni all the time, it is an odd feeling, when adults shout it out loud when they see you - sometimes from the other side or end of a road. When surrounded by a group of smiling and bouncing kids you can at least read their excitement from their faces.    

   Today was my first day working as a volunteer with BigSteps. I was as excited as a little girl on her first day at school. Sammy collected me at 8 am and we drove about 20 km to the Resource Center in Akoasi. He showed me the ICT (computer) room and the library - which will be my 'kingdom' for the next few months.  

   The library is full of books in shelves (good start) but needs to be organised. Well if that isn't a task for a German! We got right stuck into it. Sammy had already started to mark the books as property of the library by stamping them and then returned them into the shelves. Before continuing with stamping the books I suggested to take all the ones that had already been stamped out of the shelves and sort them by genre. That way we could continue stamping the books and sorting them at the same time. He hadn't thought of this. I felt like a genius. Excellent start :) 

   As is tradition Sammy had organised for me to be formally introduced to the chief and elders of the village. Unfortunately the chief and some of the elders currently aren't in town so that I only met half of them. It was an interesting event. As per Sammy's advise I had bought a bottle of local 'Schnapps' as they call it and put about 20 Cedi in an envelope. Both were handed to the elders at some stage during the formal introduction. There was a lot of sitting, speaking while standing or being talked about, and so on... all in the local language (Twi). I will be fluent soon, I'm sure! ;) Oh yeah and the elders were right away contemplating which good man I should marry. I told them they would have to fight an Irish man over this. It got them laughing.

   Once that was done we had yet to join another official occasion to get my name out there in the village. There was a huge PTA (parent teacher association) meeting that took place in a church. I was introduced to the congregation of parents and some other locally important people. At both occasions the purpose for me staying in the village was explained to them, how I am supporting BigStep and the task of setting up the community library free of charge etc. Sammy says that now it is only a matter of a couple of days and word will have spread and everybody will know me (even if they haven't seen me yet). Old style news distribution.

   Having been introduced officially will also have the added benefit of me being absolutely safe when walking about the village. I was given an African name too. As I was born on a Tuesday, my name is Abena.

   It was a pretty exciting day for me. The resource center is right next to 3 schools. At break time all the kids came to see me and where so excited. So much fun! It's like my own little fan club. Let's see how long I will like the attention.

   On behalf of Sammy and BigStep Foundation Ghana I would like to thank everybody for their generous contributions towards this project. Sammy was handed part of the equipment today and will be given the remainder of the sum that was fundraised. He was absolutely delighted. It was a joy to do this and see how much it means to to him and his organisation.
   I wanted to add more photos but unfortunately it takes hours to upload pictures. Welcome to Ghana!

  

Home is where the heart is

The plane from London Heathrow landed in Accra on Friday night. I was glad to get off and looking forward to fresh air. Typical Africa beginners mistake I suppose. A wall of warm, humid air hit me as I left the plane. Rory had organized somebody local to guide me through customs quickly which felt a bit like cheating as I didn't have to join the eager queues of Ghanaians waiting to get through. I didn't escape the mayhem in the baggage claim area though. While waiting for my own luggage I was entertained by the race that broke out between people trying to get to their luggage. It's hard to describe the scene but it was hilarious and from what I've seen so far it somewhat seems to be the Ghanaian mentality. Always in a hurry, yet nothing gets done. I had to wait a good bit for mine but then finally we were able to leave the airport. 

   Paul, a mate of Rory's picked me up and brought me to my accommodation for the night. He also took me for a few drinks in the capital. My first ride in a Ghanaian taxi and in a city where no one seems to have learned the meaning of 'one lane' road. Again, mayhem. Love it! :) 

   Saturday morning I met Sammy who is running the BigStep Foundation Ghana and whom I will be working with very closely over the next few months. I got a lift off him to New Abirem which is about 200 km north of Accra. We were travelling in his humble little Opel Corsa, which has seen a few years. The journey took 5 hours. Roads are full of potholes and cars try to avoid them which means you can meet oncoming traffic at your own side of the road at any time. Naturally we did the same thing. Excitement! When driving through settlements and villages people will always try to sell you something, mostly food such as loafs of bread, banana, plantain (which looks like banana but can't be eaten raw), fruits and unidentifiable cooked meats. We stopped to get a coconut as refreshment. Breathtaking scenery on the way. Wide, dry and dusty red roads surrounded by green jungle. I will have to take this trip soon again to collect Suzi from the airport and will take some pictures then.    

   
   Had a very happy boy waiting for me on arrival at my new residence in Purple Rocks, New Abirem :) Purple Rocks accommodates all of Lycopodiums' staff working on site. There is a small pool for staff - pure luxury. We're staying in a little bungalow type building, semi-detached one bedroom ensuite with our own small patio which is also called 'the birdcage' as it is fully covered with a mosquito net. Cosy little place.

   It was 34 C yesterday. The heat is bearable if you're in the shade. The sun is intense though and it's only going to get hotter in the next couple months. Yesterday Rory made me aware of a solar halo. Never seen one with my own eyes before. I will be starting the volunteer work with BigStep tomorrow. Stay tuned! 

All wrapped up

After a very enjoyable and successful (test) ride down to Shannon on Monday last, Suzi has now a temporary new home. The crate was built by the very friendly Tony O'Ryan and staff at Shannon Timber Products Ltd. Suzi will be air-freighted to Accra this week. Next time I'll see her, it will be on a different continent. Fingers crossed all goes well. EXCITEMENT!!!

Operation Suzi goes Africa

In preparation of my trip to Ghana in just a few days my Suzuki DRZ400 SM was converted into an Africa suitable offroad bike. An ambitious project that was started about a month ago with the help and advise of Daniel and Robert - completed just in time :)
   Suzi got much needed TLC, a massive dose of WD40, raised handle bars, a decent skid plate, Leo Vince exhaust system (which I've had lying around for the last 2 years!), new drive chain and sprockets, neoprene fork protectors, awesome Excel rims, Heidenau tires, Suzuki rack (carrier), 28liter Safari plastic tank, and other bits and bobs. Once in Ghana she'll also be fitted with a screen. She's a new bike!
   Some snaps that were taken along the process of making her Africa ready...