09 October 2008

Again it has been a long time since I have written anything here. I have a regular update that I do through email because that is something that I can write offline and then send when I have internet access. This update requires that I am online and being online with nothing else to do is often a luxury that I don't have during work hours.

It has been a busy time. The last two days of September were Muslim holidays to celebrate the end of Ramadan. An advantage of living in a country that is split between Islam and Christianity is that we celebrate the major holidays for both religions. Anyway, Monday and Tuesday were days off. That was then followed by Nigeria Independence Day (01 October). I believe Nigeria celebrated 48 years of independence this year.

The picture here is of myself and a chief of a nearby village called Ningo. He is chief over about 3000 people. His son works at the College and brought me there to enjoy dinner with them. It is a very simple compound but we had a nice visit and good Nigerian food - pounded yam, egusi soup, and roasted chicken. It was funny that while we were there, the Nigerians complained about the sandflies and I didn't seem to notice anything. I experienced a delayed reaction, though, and spent the remainder of the week scratching the many small and irritating bites on my arms and ankles. It was a nice break to the long break, since Eriye had travelled and I was home alone for the entire break.

During the break I intended to do some work in the Internet Cafe. We need to move some computers around to get the most memory into the fastest computers, and have those computers available for use. We are also introducing some software for tracking and controlling usage and we wanted to roll that out on the first of October. But suddenly we started having problems with our LAN and with our internet connection.

I had travelled to Abuja to facilitate a small workshop for VSO and struggled for the two days before leaving to get our internet access working. I was supposed to leave about 7:30 on the Thursday morning but came in to make sure everything was working before leaving. Nothing was working, and I struggled until almost noon before it seemed stable enough to leave. When I got to Abuja I saw that my colleagues were online, so I was comfortable that all was okay. The same thing on Friday morning.

Then suddenly I got a panicked call. Things had stopped. I suggested some things to do but nothing worked. I finally said to reboot but that didn't solve the problem either. Finally, at the last call I told them to shut down and go home since it was late in the day anyway. And I planned to see what I could do about it on Saturday morning when I got home. And then I tried to enjoy my couple of days in HOT, HOT Abuja.

Saturday morning I stopped in the office and immediately found the problem - one of the Network Interface Cards had been disabled. That was one thing that I had not even thought to check doing "phone support." So that problem was solved and I thought we could go ahead and get some real work done on Monday without disturbing our users. No such luck. I spent all day Monday fighting our connection problem and finally had it working when I left on Monday afternoon. Tuesday, again, I expected to accomplish a lot only to find that our modem was not connecting to the Internet.

And that continued for 8 days. We finally found out that the ISP had a problem and that it would be solved over the weekend. The following Monday the problem was still there. The local agent for the ISP finally came with a "solution" but it wasn't until late on Tuesday that we found out the ISP had been updating the wrong model of modem.

The next couple of days have been full of intermittent problems, but finally today things seem to have stabilized a bit.

Anyway, I will close with that for this writing. We are doing well, staying busy and healthy. Eriye is selling mats and doing quite well but struggling with the trip to Benin to buy the product to sell. On her last trip home, the car she was in hit a woman and she thinks killed her. She asked the driver to stop but he refused, knowing that he would be killed if he stopped. The other passengers agreed and said that if anything happened to the driver and car, they would be stranded for who knows how long until they could get another ride. They told the driver to stop at the next police station, but I don't think he did. Eriye is still bothered by the whole thing.

And we are waiting for processing to begin our our application for Eriye's visa to come to Canada whenever I am finished here.

I really will close for now. I don't know who reads this blog as I don't get any feedback. But greetings and best wishes to all who find this page.

Meet Eriye

It has been a long time since I have updated my blog. It seems that it is hard to find the time to post something when the internet is working because there are other things that I need to do then. And when the internet is not working, it is hard to remember that I can create my blog for posting late.

In brief, I am enjoying my stay in Nigeria. Akwanga, Nasarawa State, Nigeria is very different from my last position in Bolgatanga, Upper East Region, Ghana. I thought that weather would be very similar because the latitude is much the same. However, I have found that it is very different - it is more humid, greener, cooler. The rainy seasons follow similar patterns, but the storms don't seem to be as severe here. When it rains, it seems to be a more steady rain that lasts longer though.

Outside of my house in Akwanga, which is on the College of Education campus, there are fields that were cultivated as soon as the rains started. Now there is corn (maize) taller than me with lovely ears ripening on each plant. The maize is interspersed in the field with yam, a tuber, with lots of green leaves showing above ground. Nearby are groundnuts (peanuts), beans, and all the other things that are grown here. With all this growth taking place, there is hope that prices will drop at the market soon. However, right now, the old crops are nearing the end so prices are very high. We used to buy three yams for N 500 - now the same yams cost N 750 or more. We were told the other day that the new yams are hitting the market soon and that will bring the prices down as there will be a glut on the market. Eriye says that that new yams are not as sweet though because they contain too much water.

Work is keeping me busy. We had a major struggle getting an internet service here on the campus. The internet was provided originally by a company that seemed to be cheating the College of funds in the student registration process they were providing. There are legal implications to what happened, but the result for me was the loss of the internet. The ICT Unit started sourcing for a replacement, but unfortunately just about the time that I thought the other service would end. As a result we spent almost a month without any access while the new ISP was paid and the new service was installed. There were a couple of problems encountered during the installation that slowed the process. But finally, on 01 July, we came back online. Unfortunately, there is hardly anyone on the campus right now to make use of the service - a good thing for me because I am able to make use of almost all the bandwidth myself.

The campus is empty because all of the students were sent home about three weeks ago. A female student was hit by a motorcycle and then killed by a car on the highway outside the campus. There have been too many deaths on that stretch of road but nothing seems to move the government to install speed bumps or some other safety measure to protect pedestrians. This particular death for some reason caused the entire student body to riot. They started on the street by burning the car that had killed the student. They also burned a tree across the road to block traffic. Police were called. Things seemed to quiet some but then started over again. The students attacked the Provost, vandalized his house and property and burned 7 vehicles in front of his house. Everything seemed to be directed at the Provost, though, so I didn't feel threatened at all. During the rioting two students were shot and wounded, though I suspect that they just happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time and were not the specific targets of any shooting by the police. By the end of the day all the students were sent home and cleared out of the hostels by the police. And from then until now, Akwanga has been the calmest place that I can imagine. There has been no projection yet of when classes will resume. By now I suspect that this term will be cancelled, meaning that the serious students have lost quite a bit because of this action.

On a more personal note, in April I renewed the acquaintance of a young lady that I had met when I was first working in Port Harcourt, Nigeria back in 2002. After spending some time together, we decided that we wanted to marry and set the wedding date for 13 June. The day before we went to the courthouse to ensure that everything was in order and to meet the magistrate who would conduct our court wedding. When we met him, we found out that he was travelling to Jos on 13 June and that he had no knowledge that a wedding was scheduled for that day. He asked if we could move the wedding ahead to that afternoon. Luckily, Eryie's maid of honour had already left her home in Makurdi to join us so we were able to proceed that afternoon. There were the four of us in the wedding party, with about 30 viewers from those that just hang around the courthouse hoping for something to happen. So we were actually married on 12 June and had a celebration at our house on 13 June instead.

A funny thing about the change in plans affected the Director of my department. He is a very good man for making social visits and providing that sort of support. On Friday morning he went to the courthouse and waited for us. He stayed there for about an hour before finding out that there was no wedding that day. We really appreciated his effort, and in retrospect wish that we had told more people about what had happened. We were trying to keep things quiet and private - partly because I could not afford to feed all the people that might have come if a broader invitation had been issued. The funny part of it all is that if we had not gone to check on things the day before, we would have been sitting there with the Director waiting for a magistrate who would not be coming.

And that is life in Akwanga for now. You will notice that my writing is more about "we" than about "me" now - the change that comes with having someone with whom to share life again.

05 February 2008

It is hard to believe that more than a month has passed since I last updated this blog. In my last post, I talked about my plans to go to Nigeria to work at the College of Education in Akwanga, Nasarawa State, Nigeria. I believe that I talked then about my proposed departure date of 08 February and then I wrote nothing more.


January has been an interesting month. There has been the usual post-Christmas activities of exchanging clothes and buying additional things to support my journey to Nigeria. I have spent some time out in the bush cutting wood with my friend, but we have not been able to do as much as hoped. The weather has been so warm some days that we would be working fields of mud if we tried to go out. Then the temperature would drop to the point that outdoor work was too difficult. Or it has rained when it should be snowing or snowed when it should be raining. In other words the weather has been all over the map.

Despite that I was able to ride my motorcycle out to the bush a couple of days. I have to admit that it wasn't too comfortable riding when the temperature was -5 or colder. And I remember one morning when the road looked dry, but I discovered there was a bit of snow still on the road when I got out of town. It made me a bit nervous, and I have finally parked the bike for good until I come back from Nigeria.


On 25 January, I travelled to Ottawa for additional training prior to my departure for Nigeria. One of the first things I found out when I arrived at the VSO office was that there would be a delay. The paperwork from the Nigerian government that was needed in order to apply for a visa had not yet arrived so the length of the delay was not known. That was a bit discouraging, to say the least.

When I left the class on Tuesday afternoon, I suggested to the travel coordinator that maybe a miracle would happen and the papers would arrive the next day and the visas would be issued quickly. And I left for home. While travcelling home the next day, Dad received a call from VSO saying that the paperwork had in fact arrived. So now it is just a matter of waiting for government wheels to grind.

I also found out that this was not just a problem with my application but that the letters had not been issued for any of the volunteers scheduled to arrive in Nigeria in February. Apparently the change in personnel as a result of the Nigeria election in 2007 meant that new business relationships had to be forged, and that can be a slow process. Today I received an email from VSO telling me that VSO Nigeria has rescheduled all of their plans for our arrival and we are now expected to be in Nigeria for training on 03 March. That means that I will likely be leaving on 29 February.

And it is nice to have a date to work toward. The uncertainty of not knowing is hard, especially when I had to think that I might get a day or two to do all those final things once the visa had been issued. Now, though the date is still not 100% guaranteed, I do have a better idea of how much time I have to do those final things.

You will wonder about the pictures that I have included. In the training course there were three American volunteers. I was quite impressed with them because they took advantage of being in Ottawa to do "stuff". For example, I believe that all three of them went skating on the Rideau Canal, Canada's longest skating rink. If you don't know, during a couple of winter months the Rideau Canal is cleared for public skating, including periodic clearing with a Zamboni. It is a part of Winterlude, a celebration of winter. Of our group of 15, only one Canadian joined the Americans in taking advantage of this unique opportunity. I had not brought my skates with me and did not feel like spending the high price for rental skates. But I was inspired to wander about town after class one afternoon. The top picture is a statue of Terry Fox, who most have heard of. He attempted to run across Canada to raise funds for cancer research when he found out that he had cancer. What was amazing about his effort was that he had one leg amputated and was running on a prosthetic. He has inspired Terry Fix runs around the world to raise funds for cancer research and they are held in various locations around the middle of September each year. The second picture is a small portion of the Rideau skating rink. This is looking away from town and the interesting buildings of Parliament and federal government. This was about noon, as I was leaving for home, so there were not many skating. I am sure that this area would be packed in the afternoon and evening. And the real celebration (Winterlude) has not even started yet.

The final picture is looking back into town towards the impressive architecture that is a part of the Ottawa landscape. It is truly an interesting city and one that I would like to spend more time visiting. And I would like to one day visit in another season other than winter to enjoy the other aspects of life in the federal capital.

Christmas - 2007

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year - for real.

I started on the previous entry and kept on going and going. It ended up so long that I wanted to end that entry and make a separate one to announce what is happening in the future.

Christmas in Beamsville was pretty mellow. Mom, Dad and I pretty well picked out our own gifts. We did wrap them and opened gifts on Christmas morning, but for the most part we each already knew what was in the packages we received. It was still nice to spend some time together, being thankful for what we already have and realizing that we are already so blessed that we don't really need to exchange gifts.

We went to my aunt's for a lovely turkey dinner. This is her Christmas tree, with Dad having a small snooze beside it. The meal was good, the company was good, and it was more about visiting with each other than about giving each other things we didn't really need at all.

Later in the day, Mom and Dad were able to have video phone calls with all of their daughters, many of their grandchildren and one of their great-grandchildren. We spent some time getting that set up but it worked out very well. Those that were not able to participate on Christmas Day will be able to hook up when they get the chance. And it will allow Mom and Dad to keep an eye on the growth of their great-grandchildren, especially, without having to travel from home.

Return to West Africa

I did not mention this earlier, but I did go to a Returned Volunteer Weekend in Ottawa for VSO. It was an opportunity for volunteers who have recently returned from their placements to share time and experiences together. It is a good chance to talk with those that understand some of what was experienced, because they have had similar experiences. And it is important for the volunteer to realize that what was experienced in Ghana, for example, was very similar to what another volunteer experienced in Guyana. There are similar joys and feelings of accomplishments - and there are similar frustrations - no matter where one goes.

Though unrelated to that weekend, I was able to do a lot of thinking and evaluating while I was away from my life in Canada for a weekend. I had already told VSO that I would be interested in returning overseas. My first choice was to return to Ghana and to the place where I had just left. My second choice was another African country for a different experience. What VSO presented me was an opportunity in Nigeria, which I hadn't really even thought about before. After a lot of thinking and soul-searching, I made the decision to accept the position.

I will be working at the College of Education in Akwanga, which is in Nassarawa State, and is located about halfway between Abuja, the federal capital, and Jos, a favoured destination for visitors to Nigeria. The latitude is very similar to where I was in Ghana, so I expect the climate and the environment to be similar. It is a more rural area of Nigeria so I expect the people to be similar to those I worked with in Ghana. The employment challenge will be different from what I have done before, but it seems to draw on my previous volunteer efforts. I am even looking forward to learning Hausa, which will be the prominent native language of the area. Hausa is spoken in many of the countries near the Sahel, so learning this language will be much more beneficial than I found the regional languages that I attempted to learn in Ghana and when I was in Nigeria before.

I will leave for Nigeria on 09 February 2008 for probably two years, though the length of the placement can still be negotiated. I am looking forward to meeting some of my friends from Nigeria who I left in 2003. I am looking forward to seeing how Nigeria has changed since 2003, realizing that I will be in a totally different environment this time. I am looking forward to working with Open Office, as the College of Education is interested in moving to Open Source software so that they will not have to deal with licensing issues, an effort that I find commendable and forward thinking.

You can find a brief description of the posting by visiting www.vsocan.org/display.aspx?pid=499&cid=926, where you will also find a link to make a donation to support my efforts. I encourage you to visit this site and to support VSO.

And I will close by again wishing everyone the best of 2008, which is only days away. 2008 will include another major change in my life. My hope is for peace and safety for me, and for each of you, as the year begins.

Pre-Christmas 2007

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everyone.

Again, it has been a long time since I last updated this blog. My life in Beamsville has stayed pretty routine since returning from Ghana. I continue to help cut wood with a friend in Silverdale, when the weather permits and my friend needs to cut wood. I spent almost two weeks travelling with a cousin who is a truck driver. He had carpal tunnel surgery on one hand and needed someone to secure and loosen his loads. It was interesting to see the life of a trucker. My cousin works independently and does relatively local deliveries now, mostly steel.

His deliveries took us to some places in Ontario that I have never been. Of course, we went to Toronto and Brampton several times. We also went to Barrie and Welland. But I don't remember ever visiting the Amish country of Ontario - towns such as Wallenstein and others north of the Kitchener-Waterloo area. Since winter had started, we had some adventures getting out of parking lots, especially in Wallenstein where the driveway was a solid sheet of ice. For me, it was a good week. We picked up the loads and I spent 15-20 minutes securing everything. My cousin would then handle the hard part of driving to wherever we were going and I road along in the comfortable passenger seat making conversation. At the delivery point, we often had to wait for an hour or more to unload, so we would chat, drink coffee, rest, and otherwise occupy our time until the tow motor or crane became available. then I would spend another 15-20 minutes removing the chains, wait for the unloading, and then close the tarp for the return trip.

It was good to spend that much time with my cousin. We had not known each other that well before because of our age difference and because he had grown up in India. When he returned to Canada, I lived in other parts of the country and the world. We got along very well and I enjoyed our time together. I hope he did as well.


And then Christmas happened, as it seems to do every year. One event of the season was to join my friend, Mary, for her company Christmas party in Simcoe, ON. It was a lovely evening, even though everyone was looking out the windows for most of the evening, checking the weather. Beginning a few days before this event, the forecast had been for a major snowstorm to hit southwestern Ontario. It didn't happen exactly when it was predicted to start, but we were all watching.

The trip to Simcoe was uneventful. The roads were dry and I thought I could have ridden my motorcycle down. It would have been cold but it would have been clear. Even at the party on Saturday night there wasn't a hint of snow. I began to believe that the forecast was in error.


Sunday morning I woke up when I heard what sounded like rain on the windows. The roads were still clear at the time. I called back to Beamsville to see what the weather was doing there, in case I needed to stay in Simcoe another day. I found out that they had cancelled church because of the weather. It still wasn't so bad in Simcoe so I ate some breakfast and then decided I would head back to Beamsville.

By that time the snow had accumulated. Mary and I spent about 30 minutes clearing the ice and snow from the car. Then I had a bit of a struggle getting out of her driveway because of the slope of the road. After that, it was a slow but uneventful drive home. I never exceeded 60 kph, and usually travelled about 50 kph. The trip I usually make in about an hour took more than two hours. There weren't that many other "idiots" on the road, making it safer for me. I wasn't so worried about myself, but got concerned when people were following me - I wasn't sure they were keeping a respectful distance behind. And there was a good portion of the trip where it seemed that it had not even been ploughed yet. But I made it home safely - only to get stuck at the bottom of the hill (driveway) to our house.

So, after a tense ride home, I spent more than 2 hours clearing the driveway enough to get the car into the garage. Dad was having some problems with his shoulder so was not able to help. And I think that the pain of not working was more than the actual pain of his shoulder, later diagnosed as bursitis. He did drive the car up the hill and into the garage. About the time I was finishing all the moving of snow, our neighbours, who share (and own) the driveway decided they wanted to go out. So they were able to take advantage of all of my work with very little effort on their part.

The next day, Monday, I finished cleaning the landing meaning that I spent another 2+ hours moving snow. It was very tiring but also somewhat fulfilling to see what had been accomplished. There was about 40 cm of snow in all and it seemed like we would almost certainly have a white Christmas. However, the following Sunday came with rain and a temperature of 10C and almost all of the snow disappeared (except for the mound created by my snow removal efforts). We did get a bit more snow on Monday so Christmas was white, sort of.

October 2007

This is me back in Canada. The picture was taken in mid-September after I returned from making a presenation to the Lincoln Rotary Club at breakfast. I had been invited to speak and made some effort to prepare a suitable presentation, including photos. And part of the presentation is a Ghanaian dress. Everyone seemed quite impressed with the outfit.

I prepared a talk covering certain things that I felt were important to share about my experience. Unfortunately, I didn't really plan my talk around the pictures I had chosen to show. Both depicted something of my experience of Ghana but they didn't necessarily go together. I chose to tell the story as prompted by the pictures I had chosen rather than forcing a speech and looking for supporting pictures. I have to admit, knowing that the presentation would be no longer than 20 minutes, I was a bit casual in my presentation. I had forgotten that it takes more to prepare a short, succinct presentation than it does to just ramble on.

The presentation was received warmly and several of the members indicated that they sensed my appreciation of the experience from what I said and the enthusiasm with which I said it. And I did use the opportunity to do some "preaching". A point that I wanted to make and continue to make is that African countries, and other developing countries, do not need the things that we no longer have a use for. If I want to send something to Ghana, I need to reach a little bit deeper into my pocket to send something that will be useful for an extended period of time, and not just something that is too good for me to throw in the garbafe.

The example that I used was a real one to me. Computers have a life cycle. Corporations upgrade their computer systems every three or four years. The old computers are still useable, but are not the fastest or the most current. They are often donated to not-for-profit organizations or to schools or to other beneficiaries. These donated computers are used until they are replaced because of new donations. The computers that came to me in Ghana were donated from schools. In general, I would suggest that a computer that is no longer of use to a school in North America is probably of even less use to a school or NGO in a developing country. It takes too much effort to keep the computers running. There is very little technical support for hardware or software for these older computers. They are often set beside a modern computer that has been donated by another agency and the discrepancies are too obvious. The life span of these donated computers is quite short, if they are able to be used at all. And the developing countries have no recycling program to properly dispose of the electronic equipment that was donated to them.

So, instead of donating "stuff" that is ready for recycling or garbage, let's all dig a bit deeper and give what can be used and what has a life span of years and not months or weeks.

I am still finding my feet here in Canada. The weather has been quite a change. From Ghana, I received reports of heavy rains with no breaks between. The result was the collapse of mud buildings because there wasn't a day of dry between the rains for the mud to dry out. Lives were lost, crops were lost, travel was difficult. None of my personal friends died, but some did lose parts of their houses and farms to the rain. The result of the early drought followed by too much late rain will be hunger for many this year and less seed to plant next year so probable hunger again next year. Recovery from this year will take two or more years. Yet the people remain positive and look to a good future. I miss that about Ghana too.

I am doing some work on a friend's farm cutting firewood. I enjoy the manual labour. It is satisfying to realize that I am tired at the end of a day of work, and I can look and see three or four cords of wood ready for sale or use. And I continue to look for suitable and satisfying employment. It will come in time.

Life in Canada

It is already nearing the end of August. I have been back in Canada for 21 days now. And you might ask how I feel about being home

It was a real pleasure to see my parents and to know that they are both doing well, at least as well as anyone could expect at their age. Both parents were there to meet me in Toronto, along with an aunt who drove them. It was good to fellowship together over some food.

Since arriving, things have been busy. The first weekend was the combined Perry/Huntsman reunion. The festivities started on Thursday night when some of the cousins got together in Vineland while the first generation and their partners met in Beamsville for their own time together. The cousins had a good time visiting with each other and meeting new relatives, as our group was multi-generational and so included the children of some cousins. The family keeps growing as the younger ones marry and then have children of their own.

Friday night was the gathering of the Perry family. The day started with a quick trip to Buffalo to pick my daughter from North Carolina. She was able to come and participate in the weekend, and it was nice to have some private time together before meeting with the rest of the relatives. The evening began with food, as usual. And as usual there was too much of everything, and I know that at least I ate more than I needed. The festivities of the evening involved interviewing different groups, such as the first generation brothers and males spouses of the sisters, followed by the first generation sisters and the spouses of the brothers. Interview questions caused each group to reach back into their younger days to tell stories of what it was like growing up on the farm, etc. Of course, I discovered that sometimes our parents did things that they would never allow their children to do because it was too dangerous.

After the first generation, the second generation was invited to the front basically in age groups. Again, various questions were asked to prompt memories and stories of our parents and our grandparents. Finally the third generation was invited. Unfortunately, by that time most of that generation had lost interest and gone on to do other things of more interest to them.

The Perry family consists of five brothers and four sisters. One brother died shortly after birth, but the remaining eight are still alive. Only the oldest sister, who is also the oldest child, is now unable to attend such functions because of her health. The rest remain relatively healthy and strong and very interested in these gatherings. There were 75 or so present for this event.

Saturday was the gathering for the Huntsman family, of which the Perry's are a subset. Someone determined that no Huntsmans were present. I think it is because there were too many daughters and not enough sons. There were up to 100 people for this picnic outing. Fun was had by all, at least it seemed like that as I watched one uncle participate in a pie-eating contest against his own grandchildren and nephews. He joined in out of his good nature and for the fun of it.

That was just the first weekend home. It has not been that busy since.

The weather in Southern Ontario has been very warm and dry. I felt at home and was glad that I decided to come home in August instead of February. All around complained of the heat - I felt like I was still in Ghana. Unfortunately, that has not continued and the weather has recently started to hint at what is in store in only a few weeks. And I have to admit that I have felt cold. After wearing nothing but short-sleeved, breezy shirts for 18+ months, it is hard to put on a long-sleeved shirt again especially when I know that a jacket won't be far behind.

I have been able to get a lot of errands done, simple things that needed to be done. I have contacted the doctors that I need to see and have appointments for August and September. It isn't possible here to just go to the clinic and be seen in turn. There are too many people and not enough doctors, so I have to wait several weeks to be seen. Unfortunately, for one job that I can step into quickly and easily, I need to be seen by a cardiologist first so this delay is affecting me adversely.

I had picked up my car from its storage location shortly after getting home. The car started fine and seemed to run fine. I took it to Buffalo to pick Jamie. On the way home the brake light came on. By Friday night, the brakes were totally gone. So another errand was to see what repairs were needed to make the car roadworthy again. The estimate came out to $2,500, which is more than I paid for the car when I bought it. So I had to take the tough decision of giving it away to a junkyard for $100. It was sad to see it go because I don't know what I will do for wheels while I am deciding what to do next.

I took my bicycle in for service and was happy that it came back with no problems, unlike the car. I had ridden the bicycle in to St. Catharines to the store where I bought it. About 1 km from the store I had a flat tire so had to walk the last bit. But that was the only real problem, other than normal tightening of wires, topping up the tires, lubricating and checking wheel alignment. I have been able to go for some good rides since coming home, though not as many kilometres as I was riding before going to Ghana.

I have done a bit of looking for work but it has not been my priority yet. I plan to go to the US to spend a week with Jamie in September. I hope that by that time I will have a better idea of what I want to do next. And then I will focus on doing that.

The pictures that you see in this post are obviously still from Ghana. The first picture is part of the staff at Bongo Senior Secondary School and the picture was taken during my last visit with them. The second picture is the presentation of a certificate to one of my students in Sandema. These show that my heart is still in Ghana. I left behind some good Ghanaian friends. I am trying to keep in touch with them but it is difficult because so many do not have email accounts.

Finally, I am happy to be home. I feel somewhat unsettled at the moment and unsure of what I will do or where I will go next. Keep me in mind as I make this hard decision over the coming weeks.

01 August 2007

It has been quite some time since I have posted to this blog. I did a better job of keeping up with my newsletter update each week, but even that suffered. Loading pictures to the internet took just too much time, money and patience. Sometimes I was short on all of these.

As of 31 July, I am back in Beamsville, ON. I made the decision to return home because the project that I had come to do - the IT Training on the Educational Management Information System (EMIS) - was pretty much complete. The challenge was that when we started using real data for testing, I found problems in the data sheets that were to be used to analyze the exam results. So, I spent much of the last month working on the spreadsheets at all hours of the day and night.

The power shedding exercise (sharing power outages on a regular basis to avoid a complete outage for the whole country) presented an additional challenge. I kept a calendar so that I had a good idea when the districts were scheduled to have no lights. But VRA (Volta River Authority) did not always stick to the schedule. So there were many occasions when I would arrive at a district for training to find that there was no power.

Overall, Ghana was a good experience. I enjoyed the work that I did. I enjoyed the mobility of having a motorcycle. I met a lot of great Ghanaians, both at work and as friends. The other volunteers were a great circle of support. It was good. But it was finally time to leave.

It was with very mixed feelings that I left Ghana because of the things mentioned above. It is hard to say goodbye to people that I spent so much of each day with over the past several months. Ghana had become the known and it is now Canada that is a bit of the unknown. I am glad to be home, but I know that I will face different challenges here as I try to fit back into Beamsville.

The above picture has nothing to do with my job or with my leaving. But I think it is a pretty neat picture. This camel and rider showed up outside a spot on the outskirts of Bolgatanga one day. I asked if I could take a picture and he seemed happy to oblige. After taking the picture, he then started asking for money. I found out that during the dry winter season (January and February especially) people wander in off the Sahara and Sahel looking for pasture for the camels. This man was probably from Burkina Faso, or possibly even Mali. It was interesting to see. I did not realize how large a camel is until I stood next to this one to take the picture.

I will try to add a bit more here soon to wrap things up. For right now, I just wanted to let those that have looked here that I have arrived safely at home in Canada, and I am beginning the next phase of my life.

Take care one and all.

Boxing Day 2006

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to one and all.

This is a picture of me with a new smock that I received from one of the schools where I have been helping them get their computers straightened out. What made this gift so special is that it was totally unexpected. I had actually gone to this event to celebrate with another volunteer who had been teaching at this school for more than two years. It is a lovely smock and when I wear it I become "Bolga Naa" (Bolga Chief).

Christmas has passed by now. It is Boxing Day. And here I am at work. I found out that Christmas is not such a big deal in Ghana, at least not in the Upper East Region. I think that when poverty is so high, there is no disposable income and so Christmas becomes just another day. In fact, I think that just about every store and every street vendor was working yesterday, and again today. That was good for me, as I rely on them for most of my food. And I had a small problem with my motorcycle that required a mechanic over the weekend.

The chain came off my motorcycle on Saturday. Then the kickstarter broke in half. I was able to borrow the kickstarter from another bike and I got the chain tightened. But the next day it was making a horrible noise. I took it to my mechanic, who happened to be working on Sunday and we decided that the chain and both sprockets needed to be replaced. I knew it was coming but not this soon. I was glad that people were working because I rely heavily on my transportation. And I have had to visit him Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday to get everything working right. After the major repair, the last two visits were just for some minor adjustments.

Christmas was quiet for me since almost all of the other volunteers have travelled for the week or longer. I had a visit from a Ghanaian friend. I got a call from my parents and my friend in Simcoe. And I talked with my daughter in North Carolina. It didn't feel much like Christmas here with the weather so warm and the sky so clear. It was still good to talk to folks back home.

2007 promises to be a busy year for me, even though I have not decided what I will do for sure. If I decide to leave in February, it is now time to start wrapping things up. If I decide to stay longer, I need to find out what that will mean for the work that I am doing. I am trying not to think about that too much over the holidays. I hope to have a conversation with my programme officer early in January so that I can make an educated decision.

Keep coming back. I will try to write from time to time. Be careful on New Years Eve. There are a lot of people out there that won't be as careful as I know you will be. 

Merry Christmas

It seems too early for Christmas to be so close. It is especially hard to realize when the temperatures are so warm and there is no Christmas music in the air. But it is here nevertheless.

This past week I was invited, along with many other Canadians in Ghana, to lunch with the Governor General of Canada. She is on a tour of Africa and Ghana was one of her stops. She visited Tamale during her five days in Ghana and about 80 Canadians were invited to lunch with her. I was selected to join Her Excellency at the head table.

I enjoyed meeting her and found her to be genuinely interested in development issues. I felt that she is a good representative of Canada - very outgoing and friendly. She made a big hit when she danced to the local drummers as she was greeted on arrival in Accra. Her stepping outside of the bounds of protocol and showing off her dancing skills made a big hit with the local people.

I decided to stay a few extra days while I was in Tamale to give some peer support to another volunteer stationed there. We made a day trip to Kintampo Falls. The first picture is part of the smaller upper falls. It was very picturesque. The second picture is the bigger lower falls. The people in the picture are nursing students from the Nurses Training School in Sunyani. They were there to enjoy the day playing in the water.

The falls were lovely and very approachable. I found the water to be quite cold, mostly because the spot was sheltered from the sun. I enjoyed watching these young people playing in the water and having a generally wonderful time together. I got wet but did not play so much, realizing that I am older and maybe a bit more fragile than these young people. Several spent time talking with me - about nursing, about Ghana, about their hopes and plans for the future, etc.

It was a good day, but a long one that could have been improved by spending a night. Kintampo is about three hours from Tamale so the travel took most of the time.

As far as work goes, I am busy travelling about Upper East Region. I am often doing two trainings at different locations in a day. It is still a bit sporadic, but all the districts are on board now and I am keeping busy. I still have to stay flexible with my schedule as planned trainings are often cancelled at the last minute.

It has been a while since I have updated here. It is because our internet access has been sporadic and I have been out of the office much of the time. However, it is time to wish one and all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

End of September 2006

Still no pictures! It is not because there is nothing to take a picture of. It is that I never remember to take out my camera until it is too late. And that usually means that when I do remember the batteries are dead and then I can't take the picture. Soon I hope I will get my act together as there are things that I would like to remember in pictures.

I have been doing some training over the past few weeks. So far, Kassena Nankana (Navrongo) has been the only district to move ahead. The others are still delaying getting the computer rooms operational. When asked, the answer is always that there is no money available. Ghana Education Services has just finalized the budget and apparently did not come through with some of the anticipated funding. Somehow there is money for some things, but this has taken a back burner for some reason. Teacher salaries is another issue. School has just resumed, and already the teachers are planning to strike for an increase in pay. Like most places, teachers are not paid what they are worth, when considering the impact they have on the future leaders of the country and the world.

Last week I was in Accra to meet 23 new volunteers as they begin their time in Ghana. It was interesting to be the one answering questions instead of asking questions. In talking with each volunteer, both individually and as a group, I always encouraged them to take whatever I said with a "grain of salt" and to make their experience here their own. I know that it is possible to be too influenced by what others say, and I feel that it is important to develop one's own relationships and feelings about the experience.

They all seemed to be quite enthusiastic and appeared to enjoy their time in Accra together. I helped with taking groups out to one of the big markets. Each group had a shopping list and a small amount of money. The challenge was to get everything on the list, and to come back with as much money as possible. The team that did the best found everything and spent about 20¢ doing so. We also helped them to get to the market on public transport, a first for them. It was a good day. We, the helpers, were able to enjoy some time on the beach while the newcomers were on their shopping expedition.

They will be in their new homes by this weekend. They all seemed excited to get started, though a bit nervous about what it would be like away from each other and away from the big city. I think they will all do well. And I enjoyed spending time with all of them.

The rains are about to end here in the north. The crops are pretty well harvested by now and soon everything will be back to brown dirt. It has been amazing to see the difference in the landscape once the rains started, and it is hard to remember how brown and dusty and hot it was when I first arrived in February. The heat has started to increase and it is already becoming hard to remember feeling cool in the evenings. There is still Harmattan (cool, dusty winds off the Sahara) to come, and I have been told that I will actually feel cold at night then. I can almost believe it.

We are currently experiencing power sharing in an attempt to conserve water. 99.9% of Ghana's power is hydroelectric. Currently the water levels at the dams are below the minimum set for full power generation, and the rains have been less than anticipated for yet another year. So, for now there are rotating 12-hour power outages throughout the country. This happens from 6-6, so sometimes there is no power throughout the day and sometimes throughout the night. Either time is an inconvenience. My hope is that conserving now will help to provide full power when the hot season is finally here. It is now cool enough at night that I can sleep okay without a fan. When the temperatures go above 40C, I don't know if that will be possible.

Look forward to pictures again soon. Until the next time, though.

Mid-September

It has been a month almost since I last posted here. I won't try to detail all that I have been doing since the last post. As you can tell, I have not yet taken any more photos, so this is just a written update.

I have started training at one district. I have finished working with all of the computers brought in by VSO. I am anxiously waiting for the remaining districts to finish their computer rooms and get ready for training. It might still take some time.

The rains have been pretty heavy lately and it feels more like the rainy season that I was expecting to experience. For some days it has rained quite heavily throughout the day and the night. The skies have been cloudy most of the day. It is hard to predict my travels so I now include the caveat that it depends on the rain. So far, I have not been caught since that first week when I got wet three times.

Unfortunately the rains have not been heavy enough and so the water levels are low. Most of Ghana's electricity is hydroelectric, and with the water levels low there is a need to conserve what is there for the rest of the year. Currently we are experiencing rotating load sharing, which means every three or four days different areas experience 12 hours without power. That might happen from 6:00 AM to 6:00 PM or 6:00 PM to 6:00 AM. I am not sure which is better. During the day it means very little work gets down. At night, it means cooking, eating and entertaining myself in the dark and that generally means going to be before 9:00 because there isn't much else to do.

The good news is that the weather has been quite a bit cooler with all of the rain, so even without the fan it is bearable at night. I have even worked in the office a couple of days without turning on the air conditioner.

This week I will help out with motorcycle training again as well as continuing with the planned training schedule. Next week I will be in Accra for a few days to welcome a new group of volunteers into the country. Maybe I will even get the chance to take a few photos again. I will plan on taking my camera with me at least.

And with that I will close until next time.

Computer Frustrations

Sorry but I have no pictures again this week. In fact, it seems like I have not had much time for doing anything other than work for the last couple of weeks. After spending 5 months wondering when I would start working on my project, I now wonder when I will find a bit of free time for myself.

Monday I went to Bongo to work on one of their computers. It is a fairly old computer that someone had upgraded to Windows XP. It does not have the power to run that operating system well, so I suggested taking a step backward to Windows 2000. I probably should have suggested Windows 98, but that might have been too far back. They agreed and so I came to do that installation. Imagine my frustration when I discovered that the computer could not be made to boot from CD. I was finally able to use another computer to make boot diskettes so I could complete the install, but I was not very happy with the performance afterward and wonder if I made the right recommendation. I had to return later in the week to get the printer to work. I had not even thought about that when I did the installation. Printers just work. But I had to download the installation software from the internet in this case and make an extra trip to set that up for them.

I spent two days at a Teacher's College in Navrongo. The first day I spent some time working on the teacher's personal computer that he had compromised by uninstalling his virus protection incorrectly leaving the computer in an unstable condition. I was able to resolve that after more effort than planned. Then I set up the three VSO computers that I had come to work on. One computer would not boot so I reinstalled Windows. Then I started working on some other computers that had been donated sometime in the past. In this case, the computers came from a Ghanaian firm in Accra. They were brought and plugged in but never tested. I had looked at them before but did not have any tools at the time to help much. Now that I had some tools I was ready to give them another look. Of 16 computers, only 5 worked. In many of them the hard drive had failed. In others, the systems would not bootstrap to the point of even determining what else might be the problem. One only had 8 MB of memory - how many of you can remember computers that small? I was able to piece together one more computer from all the others ones, making 6 working computers from that donation. Along with the three from VSO, he now has 9 computers to teach 200 student teachers with. Does that sound challenging?

I spent much of the weekend working in the VSO office. The office is networked but the original installers laid the Ethernet cable along the most direct path. That meant that many of the cables were in pretty bad shape because the direct cable path was usually across the path for foot traffic. The way the cables were laid also made it difficult to reorganize the layout of the office. So I had been tasked with rewiring the office.

In Canada, I would have gone to the local computer store to get pre-built cabling of appropriate lengths to do what I wanted to do. The longest patch cable that I have found here is 2 meters long, so was of no use to me. So, I had to build my own cables. In brief, the cable consists of 8 individual, colour-coded wires that are run through a sheath in 4 twisted-pairs. The wires are inserted into a clip in a specific order. The wires are so fine, and the opening to the clip is so small, that it is hard to keep the wires in the right order. Once the wires have been inserted into the clip, they are crimped into place. This has to be done before plugging them into any connection. And it is only after crimping them that you are able to test the wire that has been built. If it doesn't work, the connector or clip is cut off and a new one is used. So, each unsuccessful test wastes at least one connector. Saturday, I wasted 8 or so and finally gave up because I was tired and too frustrated to see clearly.

This morning, after some advice from a friend in Canada, and with fresher eyes and hands, I was able to finish what I started on Saturday, so the office is wired more neatly now if nothing else. I plan to add a couple more cables to make it more user-friendly for the volunteers that come in with their own laptops, hopefully allowing them to be more productive at home and minimizing the need for pen drives and floppies in the future.

Does that sound like enough work for one week? The good news is that I have been able to do all of this without getting wet. It rained one day while I was working in Navrongo. I think I might have already written about that day. My work took long enough that the rain had finished before I left for home. I am learning to look ahead for rain, and to alter my travel plans when it looks like I might get wet. Ghanaians understand the rainy season here, and understand not travelling when rain is threatening or when it is actually raining.

Keep posted. I plan to travel some this weekend, so maybe there will be some photos next time.

09 August Update - Just Because

This is just a short entry with no pictures this week. I have been busy but without doing anything exciting or different.

The best news is that I have not been caught in another rainstorm. I have taken the time to listen to the locals and follow their advice. I have learned that when they scurry for cover, it isn't long until it will be too late to scurry for cover. I have spent a couple of afternoons doing more work at a locale than planned, just so that I could stay under cover until the rain stopped.

Yesterday I was in Navrongo, for example. The sky looked rainy all day. I made it there and worked for a few hours before the storm hit. When it did, there was one flash of lightning that I only say out of the corner of my eye and it was followed immediately by a crack of thunder that shook the entire building. Then the rains came to the point that it seemed that everything would flood. The power went out for about 1/2 hour, and I though I would have a pretty dull afternoon - unable to work and unable to leave. The power soon came back and I was able to finish my work. And about 5:00, when I had to leave for home, the sky was still cloudy but it didn't look like rain anymore. Getting out of the parking lot was an adventure, as it had been turned into a mud pit. Both back and front wheel went in their own directions at various times and I was sure that I was going to fall over. I made it out okay but then sprayed myself with mud as I picked up speed on the paved road and the dirt came off the tires.

That was my adventure to report this time, and it didn't even happen last week. Statistically, there are 31 VSO computers that I have worked on in the past few weeks. I am happy to report that only three do not work at all, and that parts from those three have been used to either get other computers working or improve the performance. So it has been a better result that I originally feared when I first started looking at them.

And from here I can begin to do the training that is part of the project. That will be basic introduction to computers and to the hardware, maintenance, Excel, Word, PowerPoint and the use of the spreadsheet we are providing for analysis by the district statisticians.

And I am also looking forward to doing more travelling in the future and to enjoying what I can while I am here in Ghana.

Gambaga Escarpment, July 2006

The past week was a busy week and also a relaxing week, if you can imagine that. I travelled to Bongo on Monday and worked on computers at Bongo Senior Secondary School and Gowrie Secondary/Technical School. At Bongo SSS I had to postpone what I wanted to do because they were busy with finishing off the school year. I had learned my lesson earlier about keeping people from their work. They are too polite to tell me that I am holding them up, and I work along oblivious to their anxiety. At Gowrie I was able to do what I wanted to do. And I made the whole trip without getting wet. After the previous week that was an added bonus to any travel.

On Tuesday I went to the Bolgatanga Municipal office but only for a short time, again doing what I needed and wanted to do and getting back to the office without getting wet.

Wednesday I stayed in the office and did some updates to the computers here. Mostly I stayed around to have lunch with the two volunteers in Sandema who are getting ready to return home. It was still a busy day.

Thursday I travelled to Sandema. They had brought back four computers from Accra. They were the last to pick their computers so got the remaining keyboards, and there were only two. Since I knew this I brought an extra keyboard with me, strapped to the back of my motorbike. I didn’t think about the result of riding across the rough road to get to Sandema, so was a little surprised to find out that I had lost 10 keys during the trip. It was still good that I brought that keyboard because the ones they had been given did not fit any of the computers. Even with the missing keys I was able to do what I needed to do and headed home about mid-afternoon.

On the way home I stopped in Navrongo to do the work that I had planned to do on Friday morning. When I stopped there, I saw that I had lost another dozen keys. That keyboard is now useless I would say. And stopping in Navrongo on Thursday was a good thing because Friday it rained while I would have been travelling.

Saturday I decided to do something different and so I got up early and went for a motorbike ride. I went through Wulugu, Walewale, Langbinsi, Gambaga, Nalirugu, Nakpanduri, Bawku, Zebilla and back home. This traversed the entire Gambaga escarpment. The ride took about 6 hours and covered almost 300 kilometres. The morning started off cool and pleasant. It wasn’t until I stopped in Bawku around noon that I realized how warm it now was, and that my arms and legs were a little sunburned. Probably more than half of the trip was on dirt roads or mud track.

This is a picture of a house that I saw as I was leaving Nalirugu. The design of the plaster is what caught my attention and I thought it was worth a picture. I saw one more house, a little later, with the same design. Other than that there is nothing spectacular about the house.

Leaving Nalirugu I had to cross a stream. I came down a hill and saw that the only bridge was barricaded and I didn’t see an alternate route. Someone passed on a bicycle and said it would be okay to cross. He went and looked more closely and assured me it was alright. I wish now that I had taken a picture of that bridge. It was still connected to the road surface, at least half of it was. The other half was an open hole with the surface slanting down towards it. I thought about it and didn’t see an alternative so made the decision to go for it. It really wasn’t as bad as it seemed like it would be as I looked at it and thought about sliding off into the ravine below.

Nakpanduri is the highest point on the escarpment. This is a picture taken on the road as it begins its descent to the valley below. It is a pretty dramatic descent and a nice view.

There were times during my ride that I felt that I could have been anywhere, and it didn’t really feel like I was in West Africa. It was an enjoyable experience, and one that was probably better now while it is cooler than during the hot dry season. It is interesting to see that the temperatures at home in Ontario are currently higher than what I am experiencing here in Bolga. Last night, in fact, the temperature went below 26C overnight and I slept without a fan.

I decided after this trip that I am a better traveller than a sightseer. I enjoy going to points of interest and seeing what is there. But I probably enjoy more the travel to get there. On this journey I enjoyed moving and seeing the land and how people live and work, and I was happy just to keep on going without stopping.

I did take a picture of farming in Africa but the picture does not do justice to what I felt as I saw it. Picture a short-handled hoe that requires the user to bend double or more at the waist to use. Picture a row of corn or millet that stretches for ½ km or more, and a field that covers more than a hectare. With that hoe and in that posture, the farmer will weed the field by scraping away the weeds and piling dirt around the corn or millet stalks. It seems like an unending task. I thought back to my assignments as a young boy in the small backyard garden at home. I did not like that task and found some way to do it poorly enough that I wasn’t asked too often. I think I ended up pulling the vegetable plants instead of the weeds, perhaps my subconscious finding a way to get out of the task. I hope that you can imagine this because the picture just doesn’t show it well.

I have written enough for this time and so I will close. There are more stories to tell, but not this time. 

A Stormy Week

After a restful, mostly, week in Accra I returned to a very busy schedule and spent the week traversing Upper East Region. All of the computers have now arrived and I have most of them working now. Training is the next step and that will involve even more travel. And the rains will affect my travel. I would have liked to have posted a picture of me looking like a drowned rat after riding in the rain (read on for the stories) but did not get a chance to take a photo.

The VSO Volunteer Conference was good. The sessions were meaningful, for the most part. The venue was relaxing. Being able to swim each night was wonderful. Being on the beach meant that the temperature was comfortably cool, though I am sure that when I first came I would have said that it was hot. The trip home was long and tiring, with a wait at the bus depot before leaving, some long stops on the way, and a flat tire on the taxi that I got when I arrived in Bolga. After leaving the hotel in Accra at 6:00 AM, I finally arrived at my house at 4:00 AM the next morning. I was tired to say the least, but still did not get to sleep a lot on Sunday.

Monday I went to Zebilla to work on their computers. They have not yet set up a computer room, so I just went through their computers to see which ones worked, what was installed, and which ones might give me problems later on. I worked non-stop that day, until I got a phone call about 2:30 in the afternoon. It was only then that I saw how dark the sky was. I shut things down and got ready to leave. I looked toward Bolga and the sky looked lighter there, so I thought I would beat the storm. I was wrong, though. I rode about 35 km in a downpour. A good thing about the storm was that there was no other traffic for me to worry about, and the animals were smart enough to seek shelter so I didn't have to watch for them much. But, I would prefer to not ride in the rain. I returned to Zebilla on Wednesday and worked on some other computers at one of the Secondary Schools. I ended up working until almost dark so had a bit of a ride later than I would normally be out. There was a bit of rain that night as well, though not enough to really get wet. The most concerning part about that trip was that I seemed to be almost out of fuel and rode almost the entire 45 km on reserve. That meant that if I ran out of fuel along the way, I would be walking into Bolga to get fuel. At least motorcycles are easier to push than cars. I made it without running out though.

Another day I went to Bongo to work on their computers. I left for Bolga later in the afternoon and got caught in the rain again. It rained so hard that Bolga experienced flooding. The drainage ditches are as clean, after that storm, as they ever will be I suppose. I am not sure where all the garbage and sewage ends up, but it smells a lot fresher than before the rains. And it is an indication that the serious rains have arrived, there could be rain every day, and when it comes it comes hard.

Friday I worked in the office all day, just to take a break from running all over Upper East Region. And then I celebrated my birthday with several of the volunteers in the area, including a friend visiting from Tamale and a colleague visiting from Wa. Susan even had a birthday cake made for the occasion. It was a nice treat, though maybe not quite as tasty as the ones that Aunt Myrna has made for special occasions in the past.

Saturday I went with Susan and her boyfriend to visit the volunteers in Sandema. We left a bit later than planned and I was looking at the sky ahead for the whole ride, wondering when we would get into the rain. As we came into Navrongo, there was an obvious line where the rain started, with one side completely dry and the other side a total downpour. We turned back a ways and took shelter while the storm passed. After about an hour it seemed to have slowed so we started on again. We got to through Navrongo before the rain started again. We had talked about going on even in the rain, but it was so hard that it would have been almost impossible to keep going. We found shelter with someone on the side of the road and spent about an hour in the entry to their house. We finally had to leave, even though the rain was not completely stopped. It had slowed enough that it wasn't impossible anymore. But it was getting dark so we had to go or our options would be to spend the night with our new friend in the shelter of his house, return home in the rain and dark, or continue to Sandema in the rain and dark. Anyway, we moved on to Sandema. It was chilly riding, but we arrived safely and were welcomed with open arms.

The volunteers in Sandema had prepared a lovely meal. And at the end they brought out a chocolate cake and a lemon meringue pie and sang Happy Birthday to me. They had even found a sparkler to celebrate with. It was an enjoyable night with good company. These two volunteers are leaving in August and I will miss having them nearby because they are always so positive and cheerful. Sunday I got up early to return to Bolga. It was pleasant to make the ride back with the sun coming up and no rain. It seemed like a different road almost. The drive into Sandema is quite beautiful when the weather is nice.

Now that the rains are settling in, the garden is growing quickly. The temperature is considerably cooler than it was, and I have even sat in my living room reading without the fan on. But it also makes travelling more of a challenge, as I can honestly say that I don't particularly enjoy riding in the rain. For getting around, dry season is so much better. But I know that the farmers need the rain or there would be no food. I mentioned the garden above. The corn is about 2 metres high and the cobs are starting to fill out. The tomatoes are producing well. I can see the peppers on the pepper plants. I thought they were sweet peppers, but now that I see them they look like they might be pretty spicy. I would say that the groundnuts are progressing nicely, but I have no idea what they are supposed to look like. I can only take Akolgo's word that things are progressing well. He said that after he harvests the groundnuts, he will plant corn in their place so we will have a second crop of that. We will share the produce with him, since he has done all the work. All that Susan and I did was provide the money to buy the seeds and the land to plant the seeds in. Susan said that she has seen mangos in our tree, and even a pineapple growing in the yard. These seem to disappear, though. When I first arrived, the tree was full of mangos. I finally had to pick what remained while quite green or they would have all disappeared to the neighbouring children as they take advantage of us both being away from home at work.

Cape Coast, Elmina, Accra and back to Bolgatanga

Last week I was able to do a little tourism stuff. All of the volunteers in Ghana were invited to a conference in (or I should say near) Accra. So I took advantage of being in the south to do a little exploring, along with two Indian volunteers.

We arrived in Cape Coast on Sunday afternoon and went to Elmina Castle. This castle had passed through Portuguese, Dutch and English hands before becoming a Ghanaian heritage site. I am not sure whether any of the Europeans were better or worse than the others. We had the chance to experience being closed into a slave punishment cell, and it would not have taken me very long to have panicked if it was a real occurence.

Monday we went to Kakum National Park. It is known for its canopy walk, which is a series of 7 suspended walkways as high as 40 metres from the forest floor. It gives the tourist a chance to see the forest from the top. The walkway was built by Canadians from Vancouver. It was a bit scary while still feeling pretty safe. There were no animals to be seen or birds either, probably because we went later in the day and after other groups had been through making all their noise, etc. It was enjoyable and a worthwhile experience.

That afternoon we returned to Elmina and went for a swim in the ocean. I wasn't sure we would get a chance so was glad that we did it after we got there. The water was quite warm. The waves were pretty wild. After about an hour in the water I was ready to get out and relax a bit.


Following the weekend we returned to Accra for the conference. This is the swimming pool at the hotel we were at. It was right on the beach as well, but the rocks made the beach unusable for play. The swimming pool was a nice alternative and was used by most of the volunteers each afternoon.

The conference was very positive. The planners arranged for topics that dealt with Ghanaian culture, corruption, first aid, etc. and was structured so there wasn't so much time for complaints. That was saved until the last day, and by then most people were more relaxed and their complaints were no longer foremost in their minds. Overall, it was a wonderful experience.

The trip home was another story. I left the hotel, along with three others, at 6:30 in the morning to report to the bus station at 7:00 for an 8:00 departure. Our bus finally arrived about 9:30. Then there was a crush to get luggage loaded. as there is nothing like a queue at this point. Then people got on the bus that were stopping in Tamale, rather than Bolga, and were taking seats from people that had legitimate tickets for the entire journey. We finally left Accra about 10:00.

Stops were scheduled every couple of hours. While travelling, Nigerian movies were on constantly. The Ghanaians would rather see a Nigerian movie than an American one, and they would often be laughing at something that I either didn't get or couldn't understand what had been said. It was okay. But after a while, even that can get too old to enjoy at all. We finally reached Bolgatanga at 3:00 AM. There were only a couple of taxis at the station so I started walking home. I found a driver watching television along the way and we agreed on a price, though he didn't seem to remember that when we finally got to my house. Before that, we had just pulled away when the car made a terrible racket. He had a flat. He continued on a couple of kilometres to a 24-hour tire place and had it repaired, but that added more time to an already too long trip. I finally got home at 4:00 AM. My housemate, who had chosen to travel on another carrier starting sometime after lunch, arrived at 6:30. It was pretty tiring.

So far this week I have been to district offices each day. In Zebilla two of five computers started without a problem. A third one is almost working after a lot of effort on my part. And I left Zebilla about 2:30 with a storm coming. I thought I could outrun it but I was mistaken. I rode about 35 kilometres in a downpour and have to say that it was not much fun. Today (18 July) I was in Navrongo and accomplished most of what I wanted to do there. I will have to go back to finish up on one computer and do some corrections on another installation that I started there.

In the meantime, I have contacted the five offices and all the computers are now here or will soon be here. That is good news, but also bad news as I see how truly awful the computers are. It is definitely a challenge. I hope to get them stable enough that they don't require repairs every time they are started. I am not overly confident that it will be possible to achieve that goal.

Anyway, I am busy working now and I am feeling a bit tired because of the travel. But it is a good feeling too.

See How My Garden Grows

Here are two pictures along the west side of the house that I share. In the foreground of the first picture you see groundnuts, with corn in the background. In the second picture, you see more corn in the back of the house as well as more of Susan’s side of the house. The tree in the background is a mango tree, which produced some lovely fruit eaten back in April and May. As you can see, the house is quite nice and the garden is growing well, thanks to Akolgo our night watchman.



The past week was pretty slow again. The big excitement in Ghana has been the success of the Black Stars in the World Cup 2006. This is the first appearance for Ghana in this prestigious football championship, and they have so far made it through the first round robin portion of the tournament, against some tough teams including the USA, and are now in the Round of 16. The next match is this coming Tuesday, and I imagine that everyone who is able will be glued to a television somewhere for the two hours or so of the match.

Ghana won two of three games in the first round, against the Czech Republic and the USA. I happened to be riding through town shortly after the first victory and so was confronted by a massive celebration that had traffic almost at a standstill. I have to admit that I was a little nervous in my exposed position on the motorcycle when I had to come to a complete stop for a minute or so. The crowd was pretty rambunctious, but well behaved. After the second victory, I had a couple more hours before leaving work so the celebrating had died to almost nothing by then and it was no problem getting through. Since Canada has not yet qualified to participate in the World Cup and I am currently living in Ghana, I feel honoured to be able to support the Black Stars, and hope that they will continue to win. They have played very well in every game so far.

On Thursday my housemate left for Accra. She has been suffering from malaria and a dodgy stomach for more than two weeks prior to the decision to travel. She was going soon to meet people coming to visit her, and decided that she would go early to take advantage of better medical facilities there. So, I currently have all the house to myself for the next three weeks. It isn’t really any different as the halves are totally separated. But we have enjoyed the opportunities to sit and chat often in the evenings, so her absence is noticed.

Thursday night I ate some “western” food that I wasn’t used to and went to bed feeling ill. When I woke on Friday morning, I was really sick. Luckily a rainstorm came about the time for leaving for work and so I was able to stay in bed for an extra hour or so. I finally went into the office out of obligation. I am still acting as the office admin person, and I knew that Celina, the cleaning person, would be there waiting to be let in despite the rain. Sure enough, when she the rain was coming she hurried in to work to be there before the rain started. I thought of the same thing, but wasn’t feeling well enough to rush about.

I actually spent the day in the office sleeping on the office couch fighting stomach problems. I ate nothing that day and came home a little early that night. I went straight to bed and slept almost constantly from then through the morning. Saturday I was feeling some better and went to town for breakfast. But I decided when I got home, that the best thing for me to do was to rest. So I spent the day on the couch sleeping, reading, and watching videos. Sounds pretty luxurious, doesn’t it. I am glad that it hasn’t been quite so hot, so the day under the fan was bearable.

And I am glad to report that the problem seems to have been related to the food that I ate and not to some mysterious parasite or bug. I am on the mend and eating my normal “Ghanaian” food again and feeling stronger by the minute.

I continue to do a little work with the local education office on the computers they have, both from VSO and their own. I am ready to start training so have decided that I will use this team as my guinea pigs and will finish setting up their computers and start their training this week or next. So next week I hope to provide an update on training, as well as other activities.

19 June - Pikworo Slave Camp, Paga, Upper East Region

This past weekend my friend from Tamale stayed over. He was in Bolgatanga to conduct some workshops for his employer on Friday and Saturday. Because our time was limited, we were only able to visit the Pikworo Slave Camp in Paga after he finished on Saturday afternoon. Though I had been there before, I enjoyed the second visit and seeing it through the eyes of someone from India who has a different perspective even from my own.

This is the music rock. The men bang on the rock with different size stones and sing along. It turns out to be quite melodious. We were told that he song that they sang was telling the slaves to be happy because they were going somewhere that would provide them with new jobs. The slaves were held in a field below this musical rock and were forced to dance and sing along, whether they wanted to or not.

This was a little further along in the tour. As you can imagine, the slaves often tried to escape, but the slave traders were very watchful and did not lose many slaves to running away. When a slave was captured, the slave would be bound to this rock where our guide, Simon, is sitting. A chain would fasten their legs to their arms and they would lie on this rock face up from dawn until death, in most cases. They would be beaten and would not receive any comfort, food or water while the sun beat down on them. The base of the rock is worn from the movement of the chained prisoners. When I first saw this, the temperature was above 40C and I couldn't imagine surviving long. This weekend the temperature was a more enjoyable 33C or so, but I still cannot imagine that very many slaves lived through the ordeal.

We had a good weekend and enjoyed doing something different. The weekend ended with rain on Sunday morning that cooled things to a cool 26C in the house, and some of us wore fleece jackets to keep warm (not me, by the way). It was cool, for sure. At church, the Ghanaians closed the windows against the breeze because they were chilled. And I found it quite comfortable, which shows how much I have adapted to the higher temperatures here.

Work is still slow as the districts are struggling to bring their new computers from Accra to their own offices. I contacted most of them and they promised to have the computers by the end of this month, so I hope to be busy in July. I also know that I have said that more than once. Eventually it will come true. I know the project teams are anxious to get started with the training as well.

16 June 2006 Update

I came home last night a little bit late and thought the electricity had been taken. The whole area seemed darker than normal, and when I got to my house the outside lights were not on. But other lights were. We had a huge rainstorm in the morning and I think that affected the outside light switches and Akolgo was not able to get the lights to work. I fiddled with it for a minute and the lights came on and I went in the house. I have had bugs accumulating on my bedroom window at night and I think it was because of the lights there. I showed Akolgo that without the lights there were no bugs.

A little later I went into my bedroom and heard something at the window. I looked out and saw that the screen was covered with these insects. I went outside to have a closer look and saw perhaps a thousand of these fluttering around on the wall, in the light, on the screen – just everywhere. I called Akolgo over to have a look and his first comment was that he would “chop” these. Sure enough, he came back with a bucket of water and started sweeping all of these bugs up and into the bucket. A neighbour came over later and said that these were edible. So Akolgo had a feast.

We left the lights out for a while and Akolgo said that the bugs would not return until the next time that it rained. The neighbour said that these were termites. They flew in, and then shed their wings and started crawling on the ground in pairs and triplets. It was very strange and interesting. This morning, when I left for work, I found two guinea fowl in the compound having a feast on whatever Akolgo had not collected the previous night. I am sure they will find their way out when the food is gone.
I asked the cleaning lady at work how to prepare these termites for eating and I will provide the recipe, in case any of you are interested in trying them. First you fry them without any oil because they have their own oil. Then you remove any of the remaining wings. Then you fry them again to dry them out. And now they are ready to eat, just like groundnuts (peanuts). I am not sure that I will try this, but might if Akolgo was to offer me some so that I would not offend him.

This is Akolgo. After the rain yesterday morning, the temperature was quite cool, by Ghanaian standards. I met people wearing their quilted jackets to go about town. People were wearing jeans and flannel shirts. I could sense coolness in the air, but I could also feel the humidity that kept me from actually feeling cold. This morning, the temperature in my bedroom was 27.4C, and that is probably the coolest temperature since I have been here.

Not much else has happened of interest. I planned to travel to Sandema this past weekend and Susan was going to go along for the experience. She had been diagnosed with malaria, though, and had some accompanying stomach problems so we decided that travel was not the best idea at that time. Her problems have continued through all of this week, and even today I will bring her to the doctor to check for any serious bugs that might be causing her stomach problems. She has not been able to eat hardly anything for more than a week now. That has been good for me, since she often offers me her leftovers. But it has lasted long enough to be a bit of a concern.
I am still waiting on the arrival of the computers. I have spent quite some time with one office and he is pressing me to start training his team. I have no reason not to go ahead, other than my thought that I would keep all of the offices in sync throughout the training. But it would be good to get started with the work that I came to do. Another office now has a couple that are here to support the Ghana Education Service, do some teacher and management training, etc. They will be an integral part of the interview portion of my project and they are ready to get started. One drawback is that the school year is about to finish so that might delay the collection of relevant information for the finishing school year.