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on Pat in Zebilla (Ghana), 04/Aug/2010 14:17, 34 days ago
So where did June and July go to?May ended with puppy sitting and a rather sadder funeral than I had previously experienced here.The funeral was for the senior sister of Sherifa, one of our young neighbours who does my washing for me. Her sister was 37 and died in a road accident on her way north for a visit from Accra where she lived and worked. The service was held outside and disrupted almost as soon as it started by a heavy rainstorm lasting over an hour. We all waited patiently, chairs were wiped and rearranged and then the service resumed. And continued for about 3 hours!The puppy was rather more fun. Our friend Tony had adopted a disabled puppy, Okima, who was just 5 weeks old when he needed to travel for a week so we were called on. She was being syringe fed with powdered milk and the problem with her back legs meant that she was just dragging herself around. After a week with us she was running around (with a funny wobble to her rear end), eating great quantities of milky porridge and getting into everything. She has continued to do well and the little bundle of fluff is growing really big.There has not been as much rain so far this rainy season as is normal and although the crops seem to be growing well there is talk of drought in some areas of West Africa. Niger seems to be especially badly affected and there is likely to be widespread starvation there. For the subsistence farmers here, of whom there are many, this is a difficult time of year. Although there is food available to buy in the market many people have not yet harvested any crops and have run out of stored food from last year’s harvest. So they have nothing to sell in order to buy food until they can harvest this year’s crops. It’s all very delicately balanced and very dependent on getting the right weather at the right time.As well as being the rainy season this is also the season of hoards of small, very annoying flies and malaria. I have been really surprised how many volunteers have had malaria despite taking antimalarials. Some have had a mild case and others have been really unwell for quite some time despite treatment. It’s one Ghanaian experience that I am really hoping to avoid.As the ground was prepared and crops planted the donkeys, cows, sheep and goats were all tethered and the pigs tethered or confined to sties to prevent them eating all the new shoots as they emerged. The maize is now taller than me so the hazards of moto riding have changed from free ranging animals to not being able to see anything else on the narrow dirt roads or where roads cross each other.Football mania took over in June when the World Cup began. Ghanaians love football and Chelsea must have more fans here than in the UK. Watching the ball (no need for the prefix, no other sort is recognised as of any importance) is high up on the list of cultural activities. England’s performance was disappointing but Ghana did really well. Whenever they were playing you could hear a pin drop in Zebilla unless you were near a TV or radio. Nothing moved on the roads, no children about, no people shouting greetings. When Ghana scored there was a huge whole town roar! When theywon there was the sound of drumming and music from various directions until well past my bedtime. Once Ghana were the only African team left in the tournament they were playing for the whole of Africa as well as themselvesI was at the airport in Accra to meet my friend when the Ghana team got back from South Africa and they got a great reception. It was incredibly noisy with drums and hooters as everyone jubilated.I was at the airport in Accra to meet my friend when the Ghana team got back from South Africa and they got a great reception. It was incredibly noisy with drums and hooters as everyone jubilated.During June Stephen, a VSO volunteer from Uganda, who is working on setting up Human Rights clubs in schools got some support from World Vision, an NGO working in the District, to organise a celebration for the International Day of the African Child. Six schools with HR clubs to met together to present drama, songs, dance and poems about children‘s rights. It was a big event with the Director of Education, the local MP, the local chief and Ghana TV in attendance. In true Ghanaian fashion that meant starting two hours after the stated time, prayers and lots of speeches before and after the children doing their stuff. So those of us who were pretty much on time ended up sitting under the trees for five hours. Numb bottoms! It was a really lovely day though as the children did so well and performed local dances with special enthusiasm and real joy.I really like how friendly people are here and that they seem to have time to sit and socialise. Everyone greets everyone. People you meet immediately ask a series of questions - your name, marital status, number of children, age, where you live and which church you go to, and can they have your phone number. Perfectly usual here but I try to avoid giving out my number too freely because people do actually call just to say hello. Marriage proposals are also frequent here (random taxi drivers, someone at the hospital, the guy where we pay the water bill etc) and usually to be taken with a pinch of salt. I tend to laugh and say I’ll think about it but have lots of other offers to consider too. Which is true! I am also amazed when in the market in Bolga I am greeted by people from Zebilla who recognise me and stop to find out what I’m doing or politely grill me on the tro tro and then say ‘you are welcome’.I spent two weeks in July travelling with a friend who came to visit. We went to Cape Coast (the castle is where slaves were held before being shipped out of the country), Kakum National Park ( we wobbled along a treetop aerial walkway 40 metres above the ground!), Elmina (the annual festival was taking place and it was very lively!), Butre (a couple of very chilled days on the beach) and then Kumasi (great cocktails in Vic Baboo’s) before heading north to Zebilla for the last few days. It was good to show off the things I have come to love here, visit some new places and share some of the differences in daily life and culture. Many of the places we visited were ones that my son David went to while he was here.As July ends my thoughts are having to turn to leaving Ghana and I am already having to start preparing to return to the UK. I’m being reminded that I have to contribute to my references, prepare handover notes and complete a final report. My leaving date, some time at the end of September, should be confirmed within the next week or so. Although I am looking forward various things back in the UK, especially seeing family and friends, I am already starting to feel how hard it will be to leave. I will really miss the volunteer community, local friends and people at work.