16 adults, two children and a chicken in the back of a truck.......

On the way from Wa to Wechiau I really experienced what life looks like in rural Northern Ghana. I had met up with Sabrina the night before in Wa after finishing up my elective in Donkorkrom. After saying all my goodbyes I skipped out of the hospital early on Friday afternoon and made my way across the lake to the junction town of Nkawkaw and spent the night in a local hotel. I got up early Saturday morning and caught the bus to Kumasi from where I made my way to Wa. On Sunday morning we left Wa so that Sabrina could show me all that she had learned about Hippopotomi and the uber-rural Lobi tribe. The ride was slow because the lady closest to the back of the truck kept dropping her loaf of bread and we kept having to stop and send someone running down the road to pick it up. All the better to soak in the vast new world of the Northern Ghana filled with flat roofed compounds, mosques and giant termite hills. After touring the Lobi community, encountering a dozen happy hippos along the Black Volta, sleeping under the stars on the roof of the guest house (and yes under a mosquito net as well Mom) and biking back to Wechiau along the quiet rural roads I can definitely say that this will be a highlight for both Sabrina and I when we look back on this trip.

The art and science of traveling

As I continue with my list based posts we move into the world of traveling. The age old question of how to get from point A to point B is constantly on our minds as we make our way up and down, back and forth across this fine country. We usually have a plan, sometimes we follow that plan and, so far, we have always made it to our destination. At this point in our travels we have ridden the roads, sailed the seas and soared through the air by the following methods - rides in personal cars, taxis, tro tros (mini vans converted into 18 seat public transportation vehicles), mini buses, real buses, motorcycles, the back of a truck (converted into a public transportation vehicle with benches and everything), the top of a cocoa truck (surprisingly or not, also converted into a strange form of public transportation), bicycles, ferries, giant canoe ferries with multiple outboard motors, normal canoes, planes, and straight up walking. Despite sea sickness, car sickness, jet lag and plain old tiredness we can say with certainty that we have seen this country.

African deliciousness

My traveling companion has a background in liberal arts and is therefore skilled in the ways of whimsical prose. I, however, am a man of science and am skilled in the way of lists. Almost five weeks into our trip I present to you my first post. The undeniable gustatory highlight of our trip - the local Ghanaian fruit. In no particular order we have sampled and thoroughly enjoyed avocados, bananas, coconuts - indeed a fruit belonging to the drupe classification, mangoes, mini mangoes, oranges, jungle bookian paw paws, pineapple and plantains. And the winner is........Mangoes!

The far North

I've been in North Western Ghana for a few days now. I'm currently in the capital of the Upper West region, called Wa. The city is small and different than what we've seen in the south. First of all, this is the part of the country that is predominately Muslim, so we see more evidence of that, particularly mosques. There are old mud ones and newer colourful ones. The people here are also friendly, but the area is less frequented by tourists and they speak much less English than the south. In general, you feel like you're in a more remote area, so it's an interesting contrast, even though Donkorkrom was in the middle of nowhere.

I spent several days at the Wechiau Community Hippo Sanctuary, which was in large part the inspiration for this trip. I was there with a rep from the Calgary Zoo and will be heading back tomorrow for another visit with Jon. It's a really special place, and the hippos are only a small part of what makes it so interesting.

The main town, Wechiau, lies 22 km from the main road. They recently got electricity, but the only way to get cell phone reception is by standing on a platform behind the clinic, and even then, signal goes in and out. There are several smaller towns scattered about the area, including Telawana, 18km from Wechiau. That's where the guest lodge is and there is no electricity there. We travelled by private vehicle but when we go back tomorrow, we'll be biking into Telawana, since there are no taxis or tro-tros.

While I was there, I went on the river safari, where I saw hippos, despite it being less likely in the rainy season. I also learned a great deal about the hundreds of species of birds that inhabit the area, some of which are stunning, but you have to be quick to see them. I also learned about the uses of many of the local plants. Some are used to cure fever, to soothe insect bites, to spice food and there are multiple other uses. Probably the most notable part of the visit was the tour of the village. Telawana is inhabited by the Lobi people, who have very unique traditions. I got to visit inside their mud houses, that are more like a small complex that a whole family lives in (including the man's numerous wives). I saw how they make their food from scratch, by pounding corn for example. I ate guinea fowl and fresh fish right out of the Black Volta river. I watched women go through the long process of making Shea butter, which is a long and complicated task. It's hard to believe that it takes days to make a small ball, which they sell for a few cents at the market. On our last night, we slept outside, on the roof of the lodge, under the stars (and a mosquito net, of course)!

It's quite an interesting place, and a great success story. I'll have lots of pictures to share when I get back.

Donkorkrom

After three weeks, the time has come to share with you our home away from home. This town has been such a great place for us to settle, and we're going to have a really hard time leaving.

Donkorkrom has one main street and through part of the town, it's paved. There is a junction at the lorry (bus) station in the centre of town, where there is a T intersection with a dirt road. So as you can imagine, it's not a big place. Goats and chickens roam the streets, and leave lovely little surprises, so you have to watch your step.

I guess the most notable thing to mention is the fact that we are the only white people in the town. As we walk up and down the streets, between the hospital/orphanage and our hotel, we constantly hear "Obruni, Obruni!" Most of the calls come from the children, but once in a while, their mothers will get the kids excited by yelling it, or someone will call us over to ask a question. Obruni means "white person" but it often is used as if to describe anyone who is foreign.

The kids are the cutest, because they get so excited and their faces just light up when you turn and wave at them. After three weeks, some of them have learned our names and call out to us. Speaking of names, we both have been given Ghanaian names. Every day of the week is assigned a name for boys and girls, so since I'm Monday-born, I'm Adjua, while Jon is Tuesday-born and Kwabena.

Every day, we wake up to the calls of the roosters. I head to the orphanage just before 7 am to give the kids their bucket bath. As I arrive, they see me coming down the road (they have great eyes for Obrunis) and run toward me, yelling, Sepina, Sepina! (Emphasis on the first syllable). If they stop and think about it, they make an effort and say Sister Sabrina. There are 18 kids in total, from toddlers to 7 years old, under the care of three wonderful women. The three oldest ones go to primary school in the town, while about 10 others go to a preschool on the grounds of the orphanage. Some other kids from the town join them there, and that's how my name has spread around town.

The wonderful family at St Michael's Hotel has been cooking breakfast and dinner for us on most days. Once in a while we go into town and have street food, which is really hit or miss. The food in Ghana is.... okay. Luckily there is usually a possibility to have rice, chicken and a red sauce. There are also a few less eatable meals that we've tried and stay away from, such as fufu and maize porridge. It's easy to find yams (similar to our potatoes) and plantains that are either boiled or fried, as well as maize and bread. Everything on the street is dirt cheap. We've also tasted goat. I won't really miss that when we leave.

Recently we discoverd bo-froot, which is fried bread, kind of like a donut, and ice cream, so we're covering all the food groups.

Overall, it's been a great place to be. The people are so friendly, helpful and welcoming, and we've gotten a good sense of what it means to live in a rural part of Ghana. We'll leave Jon's experience at the hospital for another post, but this will likely be one of the last ones for a while, as I head into the bush on Tuesday. I'm going way up north to the hippo sanctuary, so it's over and out, for now.

Our trip to Donkorkrom

Only 2 days after we arrived in Accra, we packed up for Donkorkrom - our home away from home for the next 4 weeks. In order to get there, we had to take a tro-tro (which is more like a large passenger van), a bus, a ferry, then get back on the bus. The ensuing is a short description of how it all went down.

We arrived at the bus station in Accra to board the tro-tro. In short, it was madness. There were people everywhere, calling us to get on their bus or another. Luckily Sefa was with us and was able to direct us, because if you don't know where you're going, you might get swallowed whole. We boarded the tro-tro and waited for it to fill up - that's the custom here: buses don't leave unless they're full. As we waited, we watched as dozens of men and women swarmed the bus, trying to sell us various things: water, juice, meat pies, candy, ice cream, mints, hand towels, and even panties. We were mostly mesmerized by the way they carried these items on their heads. The good thing is, when we said no, they would leave us alone and move on to the next potential customer.

As the bus left the station, a man got on and since there was no room for him to sit, he squatted toward the front and faced the back. Then he started talking to us in a lively fashion about the "journey" and our "performance" and we quickly realized he had a message. He was an evangelist, and he talked for about 15 minutes before some passengers handed him some cash and he got off. My guess is he used the money to take a cab back to Accra.

We drove until we arrived in Nkawkaw, and got on another bus. This one was a small version of a bus, and it has about 7 rows of seats. Seats come down in the centre aisle as well, so it makes for a tight squeeze. We drove through the lush hills until we reached a lake, and got off the bus and onto a ferry. It was really nice to stretch our legs and get some fresh air at that point. The ferry took about 30 minutes, then we all squeezed back onto the bus for the final leg of the trip.

The area is called the Afram Plains, and it's considered an under-developed part of the country, since it's quite remote. We started to get a better idea of what rural Ghana looked like. We drove by several villages with thatch-roofed huts, and the bus felt like it was on an obstacle course as it dashed between giant potholes. If you think the potholes are bad in Quebec, you have no idea how lucky you are. The drive was bumpy and slow, and at one point we got stuck. So we all piled off the bus and some people gathered around to push. It only took a few attempts before we finally got out of the mud, and got back on. In between, some people got on and some people got off, with some degree of difficulty, but I could see that they're used to it here. One guy even dropped off a letter to a lady in a town as we drove by.

We arrived in Donkokrom just as it was getting dark, about 7pm, and discovered that the room that had been reserved for us at the hostel was no longer available (reservations don't mean much here). We found out there was no room at the other guesthouse in town, so we walked down to the orphanage, where they had a room set aside for me. When we walked in the door, with our packs on our backs, sweating bullets and tired, we were greeted by 15 tiny children who ran up to us. Half went to Jon and the other half came to me. They were so cute and precious we wanted to settle in and play with them all night. Alas, we had to leave them for the time being, since my room there had also been given away. Apparently, it was a busy night in Donkorkrom. We made our way to the hospital in search of a solution, and there we met a lovely lady named Gladys who took us in and invited us to spend the night. Her house consists of three rooms, one leading to another: a living room then a bedroom and another. The kitchen and bathroom are in separate buildings. She showed us all her photos from her various trips to Germany before going to bed. We slept really well at Gladys'.

That sums up the trip to Donkorkrom. Soon (and we're on Ghanaian time now) we'll have more about our new home.

Love to all,
J&S

Accra

First of all, our sincere apologies for taking so long to get going with this. As it turns out, the internet is not the same in Ghana as it is at home. In fact, there are many differences, as you might imagine, so we'll go back to the beginning and fill you in on a few of our adventures so far.

Our trip officially began in Accra, the bustling capital of Ghana. We can't say too much about it for now, since our visit was short and was plagued by torrential downpours, so much exploring we did not do. However, we did notice quickly one of the things many people had already told us about this country - the extraordinary kindness bestowed upon us by Ghanaians was evident from the start.


We were greeted at the airport by Sefa, the man who organized this trip for us, and he brought us to a quaint hostel, called New Haven, where were treated like royalty by the manager, Miriam. The two quickly became our friends.

The city itself is quite big and busy. Having seen just a small part of it, we can't say much, except that we learned that there are no sidewalks here, so you have to be careful about where you're going. While watching for oncoming traffic, you have to keep your head down to avoid the the open sewers. They run along the main roads and can be a hazard to North Americans such as ourselves. But the good thing is, the taxis all honk at white people, and since 80% of the cars on the road are taxis, we generally knew when a car was coming - in Accra; rural Ghana is another story.

Most of what we needed in Accra was within a 500m radius - cell phone cards, internet, bank, foreign exchange and food. One evening we adventured slightly further to explore more of the city. We saw a classic African scene: a crowd of people standing outside a small shop on the street, watching a tiny TV that was showing a soccer game. We couldn't get close enough to see who was playing, but the energy was contagious.

We also learned what "Ghanaian time" means... although we're still iffy on the details. When you are told a time, this generally mean an hour later, or more. So when we were ready at 10am to pack up and leave, it really meant 11. That's where we leave things for now, but there's lots more to come. We've discovered that some of our most interesting days are the travelling days, and soon after we arrived in Accra, we left for Donkorkrom.

PS: Sorry there's no photo yet. One thing at a time...