Day 11 – Day 14: last day in Kumasi, Tamale update

Like Danielle said, it has certainly been a while since we’ve given an in-depth update as to what we’ve been doing; we aren’t neglecting you, internet has just been difficult to come by! I’m going to start up again from the day before we traveled to Tamale, which would be the 11th day of our trip, May 30th.

We met back up with the GIEU kids that morning, AND kids from the MRT program, a research team from U of M that Kofi is also helping. We were all to travel together for some sightseeing, which made for an incredible smooshed bus ride (on some less-than-paved roads). Luckily the sites’ more than made up for the uncomfort. We first visited the Palace of the King of the Asante region, where we were denied access to the King himself (no surprise) but did get the chance to see some interesting artifacts. We grabbed lunch at a local market, then drove to a particular part of the region where the locally produced Kente cloth is made (it’s specific to the Ashantis). Getting off the bus, we were absolutely mobbed by kids trying to sell us little goodies, but everyone made it out alive and into the weaving room, where most of us bought at least a small piece of the weaving. Spent some more time on the bus, then arrived at the largest natural lake in western Africa (it was formed by a meteorite) for lunch and a look-around. I took on some GIEU folks in pingpong (don’t worry, I came out victorious), then we ventured down a path and came upon 500 or so high-school age Ghanaians who were visiting the lake for an end-of-school get together. Dancing, swimming, eating..everyone looked like they were having a great time.

That night the four of us traveled to Osakwa, where Afia (our host mother in Kumasi) is from. Her mother prepared quite the feast for us, which we were unfortunately not able to consume to much of because we ate too much at lunch. After a nice meal and some good conversation, we said our goodbyes to Akosiah and Adua (the two older girls), who were spending the night there, and went back home to pack for the long journey we had the next day.

Our STC bus the next day left at ten, and after 7 hours or so we arrived in Tamale. It was an interesting trip…the first bathroom stop we made involved some au natural potty time, unfortunately for the girls. The next was not too much nicer, but at least there were toilets. Ah, the luxuries of African traveling! The road was relatively bumpy, but I think most of us were able to get at least a little sleep time in, which was nice. We had to wait a bit at the bus stop because of some poor planning, but Euchre helped to pass the time. I had contracted a bit of traveler’s sickness during the wait, and so became a frequent visitor to the paid washroom, so much so that I was granted a free visit! The Ghanaians are nothing if not friendly.

As Danielle mentioned, the four of us are staying at different homes; Joey and Nathan are with two brothers, a medical student and a business student, and Danielle and I are with a great big family. There’s a father, his two wives, their five children (five or six more are out of the house, one of whom, Maxwell, is a medical student at Tamale Teaching hospital, where we will be spending a lot of time in the upcoming weeks), a mother and her 9 month-old quadruplets who Veronika Junior (the second wife, who is a midwife) took in because they wouldn’t be properly cared for in their own community, and an array of goats, chickens, kitties, and dogs. Needless to say, there are plenty of people for us to get to know. Last night, Maxwell taught us how to “eat like a Ghanaian,” with our hands – the right hand, more specifically, because the left hand is a bit taboo. We had banku and okro stew, and it was much more tasty than the same dish that I had tried previously in Accra.

After dinner, we sat out back with the family and enjoyed some incredible stargazing (Tamale is a much less electric city than either Kumasi or Accra) before moving inside to enjoy a dance performance by Thomas, the youngest son (6 yrs). Danielle got a lesson in Fra-fra, one of the local languages, from Dad and Momma senior while I wrote in my journal and drew pictures with the kiddos. It was a great night, topped off by our second bucket shower (great for water conservation, and incredibly refreshing!) As a matter of fact, the only thing difficult about the lack of electricity and running water is the fact that we can’t use a fan to cool off at night. Besides that, we’re both doing just fine. It’s been great finding cross-cultural connections even with the language barrier; everyone’s looking to establish relationships, so we use whatever commonalities possible to do so.

This morning, we took an extensive tour of Tamale Teaching Hospital, where we’ll be spending a lot of time over the next two weeks. It’s less crowded than Komfo Anoyke in Kumasi, but obviously struggling for resources. I can’t wait for the container to get here..I can already see it’s going to be an incredible help. We grabbed a quick lunch of jollof and chicken/fish after the tour, and then headed over (with the GIEU group) to Hands of Mercy orphanage, a great facility funded by a Canadian couple. There were twenty kids there, and although they were obviously a bit overwhelmed by all the white kids at first, they opened up quickly when we brought out a few soccer balls. I’m excited to go back; I think we’ll be there relatively often. We stopped back at the hospital after the orphanage, met up with Maxwell, and went upstairs to visit the accountant to see about the payment for the shipment; we have another meeting set up tomorrow morning at 8:30, and hopefully afterwards we will have everything sorted out and the container will be here by the beginning of next week.

Tamale is definitely hotter than Kumasi, but we’re doing our best to keep hydrated and sunscreened. We’re all doing well and excited to see what surprises tomorrow will bring. One thing we’ve learned during our time in Ghana – you have to be flexible, because the culture here is a bit unpredictable.

More to come,

Jordan