Battling malaria in Burkina Faso

                                                        The female anopheles mosquito

 "To kindness and to knowledge we make promises only. Pain we obey".

So said the French philosopher Marcel Proust, and so it is when malaria comes knocking on your body's entrance gates. You bow to its every command. From the onset of fever, breaking out in cold sweats not knowing whether you are in Iceland or the Sahara, to the nausea and wrenching of vomit from the deepest caverns within. You take out your thermometer and place in your armpit - 37....38.....39....... 39.4 degrees celsius. Well, you may not be in the Sahara, but you are definitely in the Sahel region. An icy shower brings 5 minutes of relief. You pop a few paracetemol to bring the temperature down, but you've got a little more sweating to do before they'll kick into action.

The aches of your joints and muscles bring back memories of a day after a brutal session of physical exercise after being idle for years. Sometimes it feels like a professional rugby player has just used you as a prop for scrum practice. Other times like Oscar De La Hoya has used you as punchbag. Either way, this tiny protozoan has completely and utterly knocked you out.

Unable to move a limb without trojan effort, the fact that you have just lifted a spoon of yoghurt to your mouth successfully seems like no mean feat. Your throat is stale, dry and sore from your futile and silly attempts to make yourself puke.

Despite knowing that your appetite is as dead as the dodo and having not consumed a morsel of food in 24 hours that has not already being jettisoned down the toilet bowl, you just can't get your head around the fact that it feels like something needs to come out.

Is it the malaria parasite that is making you feel this crap, or is it the medication? Well, it's both and there ain't anything you can do about it but sit on your butt and wait it out.


                     Plasmodium Falciparum - the most common and deadly malarial parasite


You visit the toilet so often you consider whether you should bother ever leaving to go back to your bedroom. Sorry for elaborating here, but your ass, inevitably, begins to get very sore indeed and you begin to make all sorts of promises to Gods you don't even believe in, all in the hope that they may provide a remedy for your ailment. But alas, it's to no avail. Patience is called for in the endurance of any difficulty and the good news is that anti-malarial treatment is widely available and successful if the instructions are adhered to.

When the first feelings of normality begin to trickle back in to your wasted corporal self, sighs of relief the size of cumulonimbus clouds float aloft as you had begun to consider the possibility of having someone renovate the toilet so it can become you permament home. You had, afterall, spent most of your previous 4 days in there.

The boredom of being able to do nothing is set aside as you finally find energy to read and write again, to walk for that matter. Previously, you had been crawling quite a bit. You also see a noticeable difference in your loved one's appearance. They no longer frantically worried. You wonder whether they are going to dump you for being an incessant whine of late, but of course they don't. They're just happy to see you well again.

You have been in Ougadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso for the past 4/5 days. But because you have been so sick and weak neither city nor nation-state matters little
to you. All you have seen is your self swigging down litre after litre of water filled with rehydration salts and lying amazed at how seconds seem like hours, and hours days.

But now that you are better, you take your vengeance out on all anopheles mosquitoes that whizz by. They are many but not very fast so you register an impressive amount of kills in the first few hours. After some time though you begin to realise that you are most definitely going to be bitten again and all you can do is hope you escape lucky.

No amount of creams, nets, socks nor long trousers can deter some of these ambitious bloodsuckers that cause 1 million deaths a year, about 80% of the toll in Africa.

From Niger to Burkina Faso

Our 3 days in Niamey were really great and everybody we met, apart from one asshole guide, were extremely helpful and friendly.

We took the bus journey from Niamey with SNTV/STMB company to Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso. A 10 hour trip in a relatively comfortable bus with no blaring music, Nigerian movies, nor blasting air conditioning that usually makes me sick when coupled with the heat outside. We had absolutely no problems getting out of Niamey nor getting into Burkina Faso with La Visa Touristique Entente. It has been great value and has saved us an awful lot of hardship on the borders and in visa extension offices, etc.

If you are coming to any of the countries in Franc-Afrique you really ought to have some basic French or you will find it very hard to get accurate information and will end up paying a lot more for everything - gifts, food, transport, etc. Compared to Ghanaians ability in English, we have found that most traders and ordinary folks speak good French, so it's really great to be able to communicate with them when you don't have much time to learn their own native language.

From Ouga we headed direct to Dori in the North-east so we could get to the highly recommended Gorom Gorom market 60kms from Dori. The trip takes about 5 hours to Dori where you can stay cheapest in the basic but sufficiently equipped Auberge Populaire. To get to the Thursday market in Gorm Grom you need to get to the Gare Routiere before 6am as usually only 1 leaves. We didn't believe the guy who cale to our room in the morning as we thought he was just another 'Sand Dune guide seller', but it ended up true information. A better alternative is to get onto the Gorom Gorom road outside Dori and hitchike. Toyota pickups charge only 500 CFA and you'll get their twice as fast, not to me,ntion for 25% of the taxi-brousse price. Be prepared for Gorm Gorm. It is brutally hot and there is little cover, hardly any pure water. Generally I was really disappointed with the market. It seemed far more Chinese than Sahelian.

To be continued........

Niger - safe to visit?

La Grande Mosque, Niamey

It doesn't inspire confidence to visit a country where you've just read that a foreign tourist has been executed. Edwin Dyer, a British citizen, was supposedly captured by Tuareg rebels in January this year near the border with Mali then sold to Algerian members of Al Qaeda in Mali. According to the BBC the group responsible said "it would kill Mr Dyer if the British government refused to release radical Muslim cleric Abu Qatada from a UK prison." So if you are British, from the U.S. or another 'coalition' country you may want to think hard before coming. While we were in Benin we weighed up the pros and cons, trying to filter through all the obvious fears one may initially have on hearing such information.

Niger has not been mentioned much in western media recently other than the kidnappings and the upcoming referendum in August which has heated passions against the current president who wants to prolong his stay in power by changing the constitution. Apart from these issues and times when the Tuareg rebels flare up against the government or when the UN releases its Human Development Index (Niger is bottom of the pile out of 177 countries), Niger appears to only be thought of as a spelling mistake ("Aren't you talking about Nigeria, what and where is Niger?") and not a country in and of itself.

After being reassured of the general safety of Niger in our guide book we visited the Niger embassy in Cotonou, Benin, and were told that it is fine to visit at the moment. With the knowledge that a wide variety of aid and voluntary groups are operational in large parts of the country we decided to visit. So after a mammoth journey with various levels of dodgy and crammed vehicles ranging from semidodgy to fairly dodgy, we crossed the border at Malanville/Gaya in the north of Benin. Our Visa (La Visa Touristique Entente) worked a treat and we breezed through the frontier without any problems.

Unfortunately, the journey from Gaya to Niamey has very bad potholes as far as Dosso (best go direct from Cotonou/Bohicon or Parakou in Benin with a coach like SNTV as it costs the same, about 18000 CFA, but is a thousand times less hardship) though the road from Dosso to Niamey is excellent.

Our first impressions of Niamey have been very positive. The people are very friendly and willing to help, though one has to endure the usual hassle around the artisan stalls. The richness and quality of their jewellery and crafts are amazing, the streets are alive and kicking with normal commercial activity but it appears a lot calmer than Accra, Lome or Cotonou. Local food and transport appears generally cheaper than the neighbouring countries.

We are staying in Auberge Dragon (formerly Chez Tatayi, which unlike our 2008 Rough Guide states is no longer to be found near Wadata market)near the Grand Hotel roundabout. Budget accom. seems very hard to find here, but we managed to haggle and reduce the fan room price from 14,000 CFA to 10,000CFA. It's possible to stay in the dorm beds for 6000 per person. It has a great location near the Petit Marche, this internet cafe I am writing from and the museum. It is very clean and the staff are helpful, so if you are coming to Niger I can highly recommend it.

Earlier we met some Japanese volunteers/professionals who are sponsored by their government to work for 2 years in rural communities. JICA have their 25th anniversary at the moment and have a series of events and an excellent exhibition running this week in the French-Niger Cultural Centre. Their work spans from teaching karate and judo, to more sustainable agricultural practices and fighting against contraction of guinea worm by best water hygiene practices.

We will be only staying in Niamey whilst in Niger as we have to move onto Gorom Gorom in Burkina Faso on Wednesday. It certainly seems unsafe and unwise to travel to the Agadez region in north east Niger as does the Niger-Mali border areas, but Niamey gets my thumbs up so far as a friendly, beautiful and safe place to visit in West Africa.

Quelle heure est-il?

Indeed, what time is it? We certainly didn't have a clue about the answer to that question when we arrived to find our bus had already departed from Parakou to Cotonou. Unfortunately, we were not aware of the time change when we entered Benin. I had received no sms alert about it, there are no clocks in any place we visited, and we were too dumb to figure out that it may be a possibility. So this morning we have an extra few hours in the commercial center and transport hub of central Benin, Parakou, before heading off at 1pm.

We will go by Intercity bus to Cotonou, de facto capital, a - hour trip costing 6,000CFA or about 9 Euro. For fellow Benin travellers, it is a far better option than being squashed inside a rusty taxi-brousse and similar in price now that the bus services recently reduced their prices. Most English guides advertise Confort buses, but from the black smoke we have seen pumping out of their exhausts and info. we heard from locals, they are unreliable and less comfortable.

Yesterday I spent my 29th birthday squashed in the back seat of a Peugeot 505 station wagon. There are seats for 8 people, but somehow 12 adults and 3 kids were squeezed inside. There are no other options when you come from Togo to Benin at the Ketao crossing near Kara. The border cops gave us no hassle. They seemed more interested in returning to the comatose state we found them in rather than questioning our Visa Touristique Entente. The journey from Kara to Ketao is just 26kms (300 CFA) but you need to get a zemidjan (motorbike taxi - they want about about 1000CFA so haggle) to complete the 5 km trip to the border. You may have to wait an hour to get to the border by taxi-brousse.

Some interesting things that have occured in the past 24 hours.

- I saw a cow tied up in the boot of a Peugot 505, although it looked more comfortable than the passengers inside the car.

- An innovative bootleg petrol seller in Parakou is advertising his small commercial unit as 'Hell' rather than Shell. Same thing really, given Shell's atrocious human rights record.

Next stop Cotonou, then the coastal cities/towns of Porto Novo, Ouidah, Abomey and Grand Popo. We hope to learn more about the old Dan-Homey kingdom and Benin's ties to the the notorious Atlantic slave trade. Being the origin of many Haitin ancestors, I'm also hoping to see if I can connect any dots between the people here and Haiti, their traditional practices in Vodoo, etc.

Any tips on Niger?

Togo - Photo Essay from West Africa

Munching on a corn cob in a pirogue on the lake near the former colonial capital of Aneho, where the Virgin Mary supposedly appeared 24 years ago. In 1985 locals claimed to have seen the Vigin Mary. This inspired Pope John Paul II's visit a few years later. Even though Christianity has been in this area for centuries traditional religious beliefs and belief in fetishes (nothing sexual like adoring black leather boots but rather spiritual worship to give thanks for good harvest or appease the Gods and rid a child of illness, etc.).


Nachtigal, the German explorer-colonist, signed an agreement with Chief Mlapa of the tiny Togoville community in the mid-19th century, which the Germans then used to claim colonial rights over the whole of present day Togo, until they were defeated in World War I and the British and French got their dirty hands on usurped land.



Elias, a fetish priest, poses inside his shop after explaining to us about his natural viagra fetish (a twig from a tree); safe journey telephone fetish (tiny piece of wood with a hole in it and string wrapped around which. You wish yourself a safe journey prior to departure by speaking into the hole, then stick a piece of wood in to close it, put in your pocket and when you arrive sadely take the piece of wood out again - a handy piece of equipment in this part of the world where taxi drivers drive like lunatics); and a safety for your home, mini-statue fetish that blinds the thief who breaks into your house and robs fro, your cookie jar.
Despite my disbelief, the Fetish market in Lome where Elias operates is very famous throughout Africa and animism is widely practised throughout Togo.



Bones of crocodiles, monkeys, buffaloes; horses tails and dog jaws and lots more are available at Lome's fetish market





This unusual advert could be found on the Rue du Commerce in Lome, pasted beside a family supermarket. You may have to zoom a little to believe what it says (Not for kids). It's the only time I have seen such a poster since I arrived in West Africa last October.


Photo will be posted later


The people of Bassamba in Tamberma(meaning 'skilled builders') country, north-eastern Togo, have been building their fortress-style homes like this for centuries. UNESCO recognised the area as a world heritage site in 2004 but unfortunately guilt-tripped tourists seeing naked kids have bred a negative hand-out culture that has impacted on the local people's interactions with all tourists in a rather circus-like way. A little performance is quickly put on as soon as you arrive and you are really pressure to buy not so authentic tourist gimmicks befor you leave. Sustainable tourism education efforts are being made but unless the tourists themselves stop reinforcing this behaviour then it is much to the detriment o the locazl people's cultures. Amazingly, they used to live in the giant, hollow Baobab trees before they built the more siege-proof takienta houses.

La Visa Touristique Entente - Cheap Travel in West Africa

La visa touristique entente - I've erased my passport number for security reasons

An ex-Peace corps volunteer just emailed an enquiry about the 5 country visa for Ghana, Togo, Benin, Niger, Burkina Faso and Cote d'Ivoire or La Visa Touristique Entente. So for those of you who havez come across this blog seeking upo to date info about travelling in West Africa, I've decided to post what I know so far from my travels.

Your best bet is to get it at any of the Togolese embassies when you get here (maybe to Ghana first). Don't bother wasting your time with enquiries in the US or European countries because it was really easy to do in the Togolese embassy in Accra and in D.C and presumably European capitals they will charge you huge sums for individual country visas. The Togo embassy office in Accra opens at 9am. You have to fill out two identical forms with all the basic info, provide 2 photos and pay 30,000 CFA (1USD is officially about 479 CFA but it seems to fluctuate a lot between 400 and 500 according to local sources. 1 Euro is 656 CFA, it doesn't change. You will be asked to collect the visa the same day at 2pm (you may have to wait an hour or so though).

The 5 country visa is valid for 60 days from the date of issue and you have 1 entry to each of the signed up countries, supposedly. My girlfriend and I have just started our travels and are currently in Togo. We crossed from Ghana at Aflao and there were no problems. It was a painless process.

We expect Benin and Burkina to be the same but Niger will probably be a problem from what I have read on the web. We expect to pay 10,000 CFA on the border. Nevertheless, it's worth getting the La Visa Touristique Entente as you will avoid having to extend a normal border visa (seems you only get 2 days at Burkina border if you arrive without a visa though it's free of charge to extend. Benin charge extra 12,000 CFA to extend from days according to the Rough Guide to West Africa) and the obvious potentially painful bureaucracy involved.

If your arrival point is Ghana you have to get a re-entry visa (10,000 CFA for 1 month or more) for Ghana at whatever country your last stop is at (e.g. Cote d'Ivoire).

You need CFA for all countries except Ghana where 1USD is about 1.43 GHc at the moment. There are no official forex's that I have seen yet in Togo, though plenty of them in Ghana. In the latter country change cash in a Forex, travellers cheques in banks. I have heard there are problems with Amex in most countries. Visa cards are your best bet. Although Mastercard works in Barclays bank in Ghana I've read and heard from others that it doesn't work so much in other countries.

Be conscious of the fact that Niger is not in the best of shape at the moment, the president recently having taken emergency powers to put down dissent over a referendum he wants to push through to allow him serve another term, etc. Furthermore, the north of Cote d'Ivoire is officially still a danger zone according to most western gvts.

I'll try keep you posted on whether we get through sucessfully to the remaining countries. Feel free to pass this info. on wherever you think it may be of help to others. I was also a bit dismayed at the lack of info on the web but it's worked out for us so far. I forgot to mention that when we asked at the Burkina embassy in Accra as to whether they issue the visa, they said no, but that they do respect it at the border. So that bodes well.

Best of luck on your travels.

Travelling in West Africa

Our friends at Immigration never fail to amaze. After all the crap I had to endure getting my visas sorted over the past few months, now it's Dorota's turn to endure their incompetence.

On Tuesday, a worker from her host organisation spent 3 hours waiting for them to check whether her visa was ready. It was due to be stamped and ready for collection on June 20th. She waited, waited and waited but all to no avail. In the end she inquired from another officer, who informed her that the person she was waiting for had gone home and the documents she was waiting for were in a locked room of which nobody present had the key. Yesterday was Republic Day, the 49th anniversary since Ghana gained full independence from the UK, so nobody in State Institutions were working. Today, we hope but do not expect the issue to be resolved.

This all means that we are loitering around Accra waiting for her passport so we can get La Visa Touristique Entente (LVTE) for Togo, Benin, Niger, Burkina Faso and Cote d'Ivoire. It costs 30,000 CFA (90 Cedi or 45 Euro) and in theory at least grants one the right to cross each border of the above mentioned countries, cutting out at least 22,000 CFA and a lot of waiting at various embassies in the process. From what I have heard though, Niger border guards do no respect it, so looks like our net saving will be 12,000 CFA each. All in alkl, it seems well worth waiting for at ther Togolese embassy in Accra which will process the application in the same day if you drop it in at 9am (collect at 2pm). For fellow travellers reading, just bring a long the 30,000 CFA, 1 photo, your passport and fill out 2 forms in the embassy. Et voila!

We inquired at the Burkina Faso embassy whether it's possible to get LVTE there but they informed us that even though they recognise this 5 country visa, they do not issue them.

So we hope to head to the Ghana-Togo border town of Aflao (4 hours from Accra, about 6.50 Cedi by trotro) on Saturday morning and stay a couple of nights in the Togolese capital Lome. Our plan is to take things as they come and focus on visiting interesting social development projects in the regions we come across.

Unfortunately, one of our friends has the connection lead for our camera so I guess I'll be unable to upload photos as we travel. Anyhow, I'll try account for them in descriptive language so you can use your imagination. That is, if we ever get out of Accra.

Edwenase's student support fund

Edwenase Rehabilitation Centre has offically closed for 2 months and therefore Dorota and my work in Ghana has come to an end. We had a closing presentation on Friday with the materials purchased through the Student Support Fund we established. 4 of the shoemaking students each received a hi-speed finishing machine and accompanying stand, punching and lasting pliers, scissors and knife, folding and ball hammer, pincers and nail remover, stamp and full set of sole numbers. These items will be sufficient for them to not only carry out repairs during recess but also to produce sandals and slippers. They will just need to get the leather stitched and then they can begin selling their goods and start practising their business skills.

In addition to the shoemakers, one dressmaking graduate received an iron and Butterfly sewing machine. A tailoring student who has a disability with one hand received an electric pedal sewing machine and iron. 3 dressmaking students received frames, thread, needles and other basic materials to learn needlework, while 2 of the haridressing students received financial support to star their own business when they return home.

All in all the staff and volunteers worked together well to ensure the students were aware the materials were granted to them as a result of their hard work at school.

We hope the next volunteers will be able to continue the programme.

Bags not packed, not ready to go

I hope John Denver isn't angry that I changed the lyrics of his classic song, but it pretty much sums up what stage I'm at here. 3 days of school left, well, actually there are only 2 full days remaining as we'll be having a party on Friday. It will be a nice send off for the students and ourselves, with rice, chicken, beverages and biscuits playing their role in boosting the students energy to dance to the surprise DJ visit after dinner.

In between these events we will be having the presentation of resources purchased from our Student Support Fund. 10 students are to benefit, receiving sets of tools and entrepeneurial support to aid them become more independent during vacation and beyond.

Today I received my long-awaited visa. So now I can head to Accra next Monday and get La Visa Touristique Entente (please forgive the accent omission Francophiles). I found out last week that the Togolese Embassy can process the application within a few hours for 30,000 CFA (about 45 Euro) though it remains to be seen whether 'officials' Togo, Benin, Niger, Burkina Faso and the Ivory Coast recognise it on their respective borders.

Out of the 5 volunteers at Edwenase who started in October, 2008 there are only 2 left, Dorota and myself. There are also 2 Dutch volunteers at the centre who came in the 2nd semester. Time has flown, lots has been achieved, and hopefully the next stock of volunteers will continue and emulate the work we have started.

Thanks to all of you have supported us over the past 8 months.

Ye de mo'asee.

Students who inspire

Since I started working in Ghana, the greatest obstruction I have come across as a teacher of Literacy and Numeracy to trainees with 'disabilities' at Edwenase has been their inability to assimilate new material. Teaching people who have had little or no formal education, and what little formal education they have had has been in overcrowded classrooms with few learning facilities, has been the greatest impediment for my students progress. Despite the fact that many of the students have intellectual learning disabilities, the fact that the Education system and society at large has all but given up on them has been a far greater obstacle for the development in Literacy and Numeracy.

Many of them have the capacity to learn a lot, and they have, I am happy to say, learned well the material they have been exposed to. When someone has not been able to write their name or numbers properly in October and they can make a great effort by June, I'd call that something they should be very proud of.

Their enthusiasm would put many of us to shame. As someone who was got in their fair share of trouble at primary and secondary school, sometimes having to be dragged out of bed to face Irish language lesson on Tuesday morning, at Edwenase Rehabilitation Cente, motivation to learn is not an issue. In fact, I almost have to drag them away from the table so they can continue their vocational skills training.

Whether I'm going to or coming back from the toilet; heading for a bite to eat or returning from lunch; at 6am or 6pm, I have countless encounters with students whose first gesture is to show me they want to write, look at a book or use some of the other educational resources we have built up since starting last Autumn. They want to bring their copybooks and take up where we left off. If you show them for a split second that you are not up to your eyeballs in muck and dirt from farming, or ink from writing reports, or chalk from conducting lessons, they will try to nab you and await a nod of the head - the all pleasing reply from a teacher signalling, "Yes, I can check your homework now, even though I only gave it to you 3 hours ago and its 3 days early".

But there remain many obstacles to some students ability to progress, to becoming a good tailor, dressmaker, shoemaker, trader. Ghana wiped four 0's of it's currency, the cedi, 2 years ago. Almost every body still says 2000 ( old cedi) for three oranges rather than 20 (pesewas), one hundred of which make a new 1 Ghana cedi. So teaching students to convert from old to new, and add/subtract mentally and in written form in both has been a difficult task. The fact that few of them have their own money to spend or opportunities to leave the school and buy something hinders their chance to assimilate the knowledge they are attaining in class.

However, all in all, the students I have had over the past 8 months have been really inspiring. Maybe I'll pick up my Polish books again and apply myself with similar discipline. Maybe I won't always have to be medicore on the guitar. Witnessing others make great steps despite all the odds is a great way for one to kick their own education into action.

Literacy and Numeracy at Edwenase – Part I

Indicators that Literacy and Numeracy education continues to need improvement throughout Ghana can be observed from many angles, apart from the hard statistics of a UN Human Development Index or World Bank report. While captions on Metro TV Evening News often have mistakes, e.g. „Government Cooporation(sic) with NGO”, adverts also frequently misspell words. The quality of journalism is generally poor, aside from the more mainstream newspapers like the Daily Graphic and Ghanaian Times, which nevertheles remain guilty of poor proofreading (sometimes my rushed writing could do with being brushed up I admit).

Almost everyday when I do a transaction on the street for food the trader has difficulty in adding up the total amount or giving back the right change (sometimes too much, more often too little). The introduction of a newly denominated cedi (minus four 0000's) has done much to confuse the masses. I recall similar confusion (and inflation by retailers) for ages when Ireland converted to the Euro. And unless you shop in a big supermarker here you'll have to both haggle for better prices and double check your change.

The traders or ordinary student can not be faulted here. This is the long-term result of systematic failures of the education system to provide them with basic numeracy and literacy education before they leave school, which the majority of people have few opportunities to continue beyond primary level due to poverty at home. Hawking goods has quicker even though meagre financial returns compared to sitting in a classroom of 50 students learning to add properly.

The Daily Graphic published a story recently stating new research that 40% of primary school teachers are unqualified. Official statistics from UNICEF claim that 65% of adults in Ghana are literate, a figure I am quite surprised by from short experience here.

Reading Cameron Duodu's New African magazine tales of his sadistic educational experiences from school teachers in Ghana helps shed light on the type of education many have been subjected to here (and from anecdotal evidence in Ireland it was not much different some years ago). So who could blame a kid or teen from trying to cheat in class or while doing their homework (a major problem here stifling students natural learning process) when the consequence of making a mistake is usually being caned or made feel as small as snake shit.

Teachers themselves, stressed to the hilt with massive numbers of students who have a wide range of abilities and difficulties, either give in and lose motivation to teach with enthusiasm and care for the educational development of their class, or else lash out and vent their frustrations on the students themselves.

Accumulated, all of these and other factors multiplied tenfold have resulted in the type of student a school like Edwenase has. Shy; afraid to make mistakes; little or no belief in their own ability to progress; no access to the basic tools for numeracy and literacy education, including motivated and patient teachers. As sure as 1+1 is equal to 2, the above factors added together ends up equal to a student and adult poor at Literacy and Numeracy. And without spelling out how, this certainly has the potential to trap you in absolute or relative poverty thus making you more dependent on others help.

Going by the sub-caption of this blog, „Tales of a volunteer teacher”, you may have expected to read more about my teaching experiences at the rehabilitation centre. So I'll try give a summary in my next few postings of how things have transpired since October last.

Literacy and Numeracy at Edwenase – Part II

As the only professional teacher (which could mean good or brutal) amongst the volunteers at Edwenase I felt like I would be able to offer a lot from my previous roles in the classroom. 3 of the volunteers had just finished high school so the transition from student to teacher was a challenge to step up to. Dorota, on the other hand, had a lot of experience speaking to classes and conducting workshops for teachers in her previous job in Warsaw with the Polish Humanitarian Organisation's Education department. I had 4 ½ years experience tormenting students and catching them at their various misdeeds, many of which I had engaged in myself whilst in school. It helps when you are a teacher who has been in a lot of trouble at school, cause you tend to have developed an instinct or student misbehaviour.

After observing a local teacher conducting Literacy and Numeracy classes we put together our own timetable and set up new groups after assessing the students abilities and disabilities.

It may be a cliche at this stage, but the lessons I observed from the local teacher were a case study in bad teaching, that is from the perspective of the professional training I had received in Ireland and Poland.

Students were grouped inappropriately; teacher not knowing students names nor being aware of the extent of their learning limitations; little or no positive affirmation; students made to feel they were to stupid to grasp the subject through comments like: „How can you not know this, it's easy?”

One thing which was obvious though was the enthusiasm of the students to try and expand their knowledge in writing, speaking English, adding, subtracting and getting used to new currency terms, etc. So we allocated part of the project money we raised through selling plaintain leaf Christmas cards (made by students and volunteers) adorned with traditional adinkra or Christmas symbols to purchase a school kit for each student (copybook, sharpener, eraser, pen, pencil).

Alongside the primarily local educational resources we purchased for the school library we know had a good starting point to capture the students enthusiasm and translate it into something more systematically more educational.

Each student was placed in groups of 2-6 student as opposed to the previous system of 12-15 per group. Each student would receive at least one period of English and Maths per week, as well as remedial and informal lessons when time allowed. Now that they had their own copybooks and pen/pencil they were constantly coming to us with their work or asking for guidance. It had become a perfect learner-led situation, one which you will rarely witness amongst those who have plenty of access to copybooks, learning resources.

Thankfully, the novelty has not worn off and the students become even more enthusiastic each day. The more they learn in English grammar, in writing letters and their names better, in adding and subtracting using real money, the greater their appetite to learn even more.

Hyperactive, but clever as a fox

K. is a 12 year old boy who has just joined the school at Edwenase as no other school would keep or accept him. He is a hyperactive boy. Mannerly, bright, well-groomed with a supportive family background and a private tutor, he is a day student at the rehabilitation centre.

He has not been assigned to learn a trade though, as he needs almost full-time attention from the time he arrives at 7am, till the time his relative collects him at 2pm. 7 hours constant attention. No wonder the schools his parents brought him to were unable to deal with his needs.

Of course it's easy to blame the schools as being discriminatory, but if there is no special needs assistant to help K. keep focussed and not run around the place, the education of 30 or 40 others is negatively affected.

So K. has been pretty much landed into a school where those who do not fit into the 'normal' education system must go. There are a 6 volunteers at our centre. But die to the programme of work we have devised in Maths and English for the other 55 students, the time we have to spend in preparing worksheets, recording our work, giving remedial lessons, etc. it is really hard to give K. the full attention he needs.

So what provisions are being made to cater for people like K? Well, given that little or no funds have been granted by the Dept. of Social Welfare to aid the school I work at, in addition to the current staff not having been paid for the past 4 months, K. will continue to be much neglected by the Ghanaian education system until such time as provisions are made for him to have a full time needs assistant.

How many more K.'s are there throughout Ghana, abandoned by schools who cannot manage their special needs? Maybe one thing to be thankful for is the fact that he has not being drugged to slow him down or institutionalised in a prayer camp to expel his 'demons', as some of our students have unfortunately experienced in the past, all because they have 'spiritual disability'.

And now that he has come with just 5 weeks left in this semester it looks unlikely that our efforts will have any lasting effect. With a long-term programme of care and education I have no doubt that K. would be able to learn a trade and have meaningful employment in the future that would allow him to become at least semi-independent. But there is little hope that kids like K. will ever benefit from Ghana's oil profits or World Bank loans.

The case of the missing 8 GB usb

3 1/2 weeks ago I left my 8 GB usb at my local internet cafe in Kwadaso district. I had been rushing around trying to get documents printed off for the idiots at Kumasi immigration office who had seized my passport. Why would they do such a thing? Well, to put pressure on me to pay a 100 Ghana cedi bribe (55 Euros). I refused to pay so they wanted an official letter for the withdrawal of my visa extension request. So my excuse for leaving the usb behind was that I was stressed out and trying to meet a deadline. Thankfully, the staff at Kwadaso know me well as I have been frequenting there for months.

One of the staff members removed it from the staff machine, put it in her purse, and brought it home with her. That is, she was safekeeping it for me to collect whenever I came again when she was on shift. But then I came to collect it, and after the 8th time without success, I became a little unnerved whether I would ever see it or her again. 3 days ago I went to the cafe and met her. She laughed when I asked her whether she had a surprise for me. "Oh, I lost it, it's missing, she said."

"Huh? I replied"

"Yes, I gave it to a client to use and then I forgot about it. I remembered the next day when I came to work but the usb was gone."

Imagine it - she's about 25 years old, pretty, and as she tells the story she is smirking all the time, with no hint of an apology coming to her lips.

Yes, I made the first mistake. I left my property behind and so it will be pot luck or thanks to the honesty of another that I retrieve it. But the fact that she took it home, that I couldn't get it back from her for 3 1/2 weeks, and now that she is causally telling me she lent it to a complete stranger and then forgot to get it back from him has really pissed me off.
Even if I detected an inkling of regret, I think I would have caved in and put it down to my initial error. But the attitude I detect is one of 'I really don't give a fuck where your usb is nor what I did with it, there is nothing you can do about it and you're white so why not just go to your usb tree and pluck another one from it', all drive me to ask the question - "where is your manager?"

After talking to both of us the manager states that she has made a serous error in not giving it back earlier and by lending it out to one of their clients. He asks what course of action I deem fair to resolve the issue. I say that I would like an 8GB usb, whether it is the same brand or not doesn't matter. Observing her clothes and mobile phone I feel it's safe to presume she's not on the breadline. He agrees, she agrees and 3 days later I collect an 8GB usb.

So why did she not even put on an act that she was somehow sorry. Is it because she did not feel anyway responsible for it going missing? Was she hoping that I might just understand? Why do I feel somewhat guilty now for pursuing a replacement? Was I justified in seeking a replacement?

A little on Ghanaian signs and African literature

Recently I saw a classic sign on a trotro, the best since I arrived to Ghana. Even in Haiti the slogans were far more subtle. Plastered in yellow on the back windscreen of a white van was the following: 'Naked I came'. Is it possible that these 3 words are written somewhere in the bible but the owner of the vehicle mistakenly took them out of context? For example, a slogan like 'Naked I came into this world and naked I shall depart' would appear to have important connotations towards not putting too much weight on the material in life.

And isn't 'One good turn deserves another fashion store', in Cape Coast, a bit of a long-winded name for a small roadside business? Yet it certainly carries a clearer moral message than 'Naked I came'. The bizarreness behind many of the slogans on shops and vehicles here never fail to amaze.

****************

The latter brings me to African writers who wouldn't write such odd slogans in their works of art. There are few of us who have the talent of Chinua Achebe, Ama Ata Aidoo and Ayei Kwei Armah.

There's a few books I've been reading recently and would like to mention in case anybody comes across this blog and is interested in doing some worthwhile reading of African literature. The Heinemann African Writer's Series is where you will get a good wide range of novelists from across the continent.

I am just finishing Chinua Achebe's 'Arrow of God', a detailed portrait of the trials and tribulations of Ezeulu, a fetish priest in Igboland in Nigeria'. Nigeria's most famous novelist paints the rituals surrounding the priest's daily life with his wives and children, community members – both friends and foes, white colonists, in language than can be quite difficult to follow without an accompanying glossary. Maybe if I was living in Igboland in south western Nigeria and had a reference person it would be easier to understand the terms he uses from the traditional language. Nevertheless, for anybody interested or engaged in African studies or thinking of travelling, volunteering, working in Nigeria, it's well worth a read and contains excellent local proverbial messages to chart the opinions of key characters. A laborious read from an otherwise excellent author.

Earlier in the month I completed Achebe's brilliant 'No Longer at Ease', which follows the dangerous path a young Nigerian man takes when he rejects the corrupt practices of a government minister who initally aids him socially climb his way to big Naira and lots of female friends. Becoming active in an opposition party whilst rejecting the corrupt minister, the main character's life and position in his own community becomes increasingly vunerable as he faces a politician-gangster whose party will stop at nothing to continue their dirty business practices.

The first Achebe book I read was a number of months ago, 'A man for all seasons'. It is a vivid portrayal of one educated Nigerian public officer's fall towards corruption to depict the arrival of a debilitating age of bribery, extortion and the ruination of public coffers in Nigeria.

Achebe's most famous novel 'Things fall apart' is sitting in a box in the attic of my girlfriend's parents' flat in Warsaw, so I'll have to wait a little while before I get tucked into it.

Ayei Kei Armah and Ama Atta Aidoo are two Ghanaian authors which one should read if they have an interest in Ghana. I've little time to write about their books here at the moment but will do shortly.

Kwei Armah's 'The Healers' is an excellent portrayal of the Ashanti region prior to its fall to the British, the divide and conquer policy which many local chiefs succumbed to in their collaboration with European colonists, and the strength of some uncorruptible characters who face their nemeses with the intent of saving their people from harm.

For people interested in female authors, then they don't come much better than Ama Ata Aidoo. Her insight into how Ghanaian society ticks and the minds of ordinary people is unsurpassed. Her fantastic book 'Anowa' charts the tragic downfall of a woman who rejects her family and runs off with a selfish character who treats his wife like he treats his slaves. Anowa gets her revenge by declaring his impotency, but it is not enough to redeem her from her own mistakes.

To be continued........

When a Ghanaian driver does a 'Hit and Run'

Here's the situation I found myself in on the way back from Accra to Kumasi recently. It's pitch black outside. I'm in a 22 seater ramshackle van (nominally a Mercedes but in reality about 100 hundred machines have been tor n asunder and gelled together to make it semi road worthy). A truck is in our way. The stretch of road is quite good, but as always when night has descended, one can never tell what may appear out of the blue. Fog has descended in patches. But our driver nevertheless decides to give it a go, overtaking the truck, and getting home 1 minute earlier than if he waited for a safer opportunity. He moves into the oncoming hard shoulder to manouevre outside the truck. Then, all of a sudden a loud BANG. All the passengers scream.

I'm near the front of the vehicle and think I saw what appeared to be a bicycle light before the light disappeared alongside the left-wing mirror. The driver passes out the truck, and to my surprise keeps driving, not seeming to give a damn that he probably just hit somebody.

I shout at him, 'Stop driving, you just hit a cyclist.' The woman in the front seat ahead of me turns her head and agrees. But he just keeps driving. Nobody says anything. So I shout again 'Pull over, you may have killed an old man for all we know'. Silence. He slows down from 80kms per hour to about 40 kms p/h and moves into the hard shoulder to allow the truck he had just passed out to overtake us. About 3 of the passengers say something within 10 seconds, at last breaking their silence. But immediately after they talk, the driver, obviously reassured by his fellow passengers, moves back onto the main road and speeds on. I turn to the young, well dressed woman beside me, and offer my phone for her to ring emergency services. She turns her head the opposite direction. So I send an sms to Dorota to ring emergency services (at this stage I am a bit reluctant to do it given the passive nature of my fellow passengers and the fact that the driver and his mate (helper) may feel threatened by such a call).

I've noticed that we just passed the village of Yawkwei, about 100kms from Kumasi. After repeated attempts to call the police or ambulance to no avail, I arrive in Kumasi. I have our vehicle registration number in addition to the place where the accident occurred and the registration number of the truck we passed out, just in case the driver of that vehicle has witnessed something also. I call over a police officer and tell him what I saw. He calls a colleague and within 2 minutes there are 2 police officers in uniform and 2 plainclothes officers questioning the driver, his mate the more senior policeman turns to me and says „Please forgive him”.

At this stage I know it's a useless effort on my behalf. These cops are probably using the opportunity to extort money from the driver not to bring the case further. I travel back home as its late. Consulting fellow Ghanaian workers the following day, I am advised to drop the situation, that my concern will come to nothing. But as someone who has probably witnessed an accident where a cyclist was hurt, that just ain't something to leave one's head over night. So I make a 2nd attempt at the cops. I go to the main police station and am directed to the control centre. At last I meet two cops who take the issue seriously and call the local police stations and hospital admissions to give them feedback if anybody reported an accident in the area. I have had no contact from the cops, so either the cyclist survived unscathed, or else they just dropped the enquiries and the driver of vehicle GS 4900 Z continues to drive dangerously on the Accra-Kumasi road.

And what about the passengers silence. Well, it appears that the 3 who broke their silence may have encouraged the driver to keep going just in case it was a trick to stop him by robbers. I had just read of thieves who shot out the tyres of a bus in the Upper East region of Ghana, subsequently robbing all on board. But this did not appear such an attempt. Unless a thieving cyclist was willing to get killed in the process, that is.

Silence. It's amazing what fear can do to the most normal human being. We're all capable of keeping our mouths shut when we see something that we deem plain wrong, myself included. Having over 20 people willing to keep their mouths shut was something that I hadn't expected witnessing though.

Ghana Immigration's extortion racket

Corruption is often declared a cancer in African States, one which bleeds the official State coffers of much needed funds and lines the pockets of a few nasty elites. That these few nasty elites behaviour then sanctions small fry officers to engage in such practices is something that affects the vast majority of people who have ever tried to get a service rendered in places like Nigeria or Ghana.

For example, I have just fallen to threats that I should buy my ticket and get out of the country as my visa will not be extended for another 2 months. This despite the fact that I have done everything by the book. My project manager received a phone call full of threats from a senior member of the immigration department in Kumasi shouting at him that I should get a flight and leave immediately. But any of us who have been in this game for a while knows what that means. Translated into plain language it could be versed as follows: You son of a bitch, who dare you go offical routes and deny me my bribe. So now I will resort to extortion and make you shit in your pants until you pay up."

Unfortunately the officer in question has met the wrong client. He didn't get a penny, I got my passport back, but I still only have until May 17th then I've gotta find a way to stay and finish my teaching, fundraising work for the students at Edwenase. That's what I came here for, and that is what I intend to do once I don't have to pay off some idiot in a dark green military uniform who bleeds Ghanaians and foreigners alike so he can feed his greed.

Life for those who have ever wanted something from an immigration office can be pretty frustrating at the best of times. In Europe and the US I've been lucky enough. The colour of my skin has prevented me from the harshest treatment. I've had my fair share of bad experiences with officials at borders or checkpoints though. Lots of hassle and violence from Israel border guards during non-violent conflict work in the West Bank, Palestine. More hassle entering and leaving the country. They wanted to know what Arabs I knew and why I was helping muslims! Deportation from the US in 2008 at Chicago airport by Homeland Security officers due to my legal (I was fully acquitted in 2006 by an Irish jury) assistance in disabling a US warplane at Shannon Airport, Ireland prior to the outbreak of the Iraq war. Witnessing heartless Irish immigration cops being bastards to foreign women and children at Dublin port. I'm sure you could add many more to this if you wanted.

Now when it comes to Ghana's immigration, well, Nigerian novelist Chinua Achebe hits the nail on the head in his classic novel 'No Longer at Ease', charting the fall of one Nigerian State official to embody a new age of rampant corruption in Nigeria's State services. Ghana appears to be little different, although it would be hard to surpass Nigeria's brutal record of crookedness and bureaucratic multi-coloured tape. An envelope of cash brings an immediate response to an official and kickstarts them to work on your case. The absence of a 'dash' means you will wait, and wait, and fall into a lot of frustration as you are sent from this office to that office only to find that they won't give you what you are legally entitled to. They are a State mafia, extorting money from both professional ex-pats who come to work as either volunteers or business people to do work which, and here I quote one less corrupt junior immigration officer, „will do work for free that Ghanaians won't do even if you pay them”. That is a rough, generalised remark, that I have come to observe to be a half-truth.

To get my final 2 month extension I was expected to pay at least an 80 (50 Euro) cedi bribe, which I refused. Most other vounteers I know of are taken care of by their NGOs, whose representative must depart with a nominal sum depending on how many volunteers passports they want stamped. Due to the fact that I came here independently and am rendering professional services as an experienced teacher and social worker, they are trying to screw me similarly. Whether it is scholarships which have been gained due to academic brilliance, or deserved promotion due to hard graft, nothing will transpire in Ghana unless you pay some extra money to feed the greed of the lecturer, immigration official, administrator, etc.

Even when I lend an extra basin here at our centre from the kitchen staff, a basin which belongs to the centre, I am asked to bring them something in return. Handouts and back-scratching are the name of the game, but the true essence of mutual aid is one lap behind when it comes to some people's greed.

It's a frustrating process, one which drives most people to pay up and just get what they need and deserve. So when I go to Accra to try another avenue for my visa to be extended, I expect to asked for a 'dash' in a white envelope again. I already paid a futile 20 cedi sum to try and get a previous extension. It didn't work and I did it against my better judgement. In fact I did it as that is what my centre manager told me was the only option. We know know that they thought it was too little and even very big sums were rejected by them - so many volunteers have had to leave Ghana ansd re-enter through Togo to continue their projects.

If I am expected to give 'a little extra' yes, they can stick it up their holes. I'll leave the country and try and get back in by land rather than paying these corrupt wasters anything so they can sit on their arses and play all day with a hi-tech mobile phone purchased from the profits of their racketeering.

Is there any solution to this racket? I doubt it will change for a very long time, if it ever does.

Do you like immigration officers?

Cause I certainly don't.

I'm off to Togo next Wednesday. Not for tourism reasons but to try and get an extension of my visa. I've been here 6 months in Ghana but Immigration at Kumasi are no longer giving the three 2 month extensions which they used to. Something got to do with too many fraudulent applications coming in. They want to tighten ship. Funny thing is, off the record, one corrupt immigration official informed me that if only I had not gone down the official route from the outset I would be getting the additional extension without any fuss.

I won't mince my words here. I really hate the vast majority of immigration officers and their abuse of power. I have found them lazy, incompetent luddites, whether it is in Ireland, the U.S., England, France, Poland, Germany, Lebanon, Syria, Serbia, Israel, etc. They seem cloned with a multitude of asshole genes. But they hold sway when it comes to travellers and their desire to get from A to B and back. So I will be a nice boy when I go travelling next week. I will have all my documents in order so there are no reasons for them to ask for a 'dash' (present, bribe).

Such is life when you give humans a uniform and permit them to act like idiots with a baton and a gun close at hand. If you are a nice immigration officer and have stumbled across this while you are bored at your job then I'd like to meet you, cause you are as a rare a breed as the dodo!

An abandoned Angel

Yesterday moning at 8am I was walking to the school centre from the nearby staff compound. It was a normal Sunday, hot and sparse of people, with church music increasing in noise as congregations flocked in to the multitude of churches under operation at Edwenase. But this was no ordinary Sunday morning. Just 2 1/2 hours earlier one of the housemasters arose to open up the gates of the Centre. After a rainy night you may find a puddle outside. Other than that you will just find broken asphalt caused by passing cars that use the school yard as a turning point, much to the disadvantage of those who are wheelchair bound and must travel on a rocky surface to and from their living quarters to the school workshops.

Sunday, March 29th, 2009, was extraordinary for a 8/9 year old girl called 'Angel'. Prior to the descent of dawn, her mother had travelled from some unknown point and decided to leave her daughter on Edwenase's doorstep. She was found by our housemaster lying on a blanket hlding a note in her hand. "Please don't think bad of me my little Angel. I'm leaving you where I think you can be best taken care of. For those who find my beautiful daughter, please take good care of her".

What drove a woman to abandon her kid on some stranger's doorstep. Well, the fact that her daughter suffers from sever cerebral palsy and is unable to walk or verbalise is a large part of the answer. Despite the fact that she was left on her own with just a piece of paper, hides the fact that she was actually well dressed and seemed to be well taken care of before she was found.

Did a desperate mother accede to the demands of a husband tired of fending for the child. Did an already abandoned wife/woman decide the child would be better of in the care of the State and that she could just not cope with the 'burden' of a disabled child any longer?

It appears to have been an act of desperation by a woman not thinking straight. She could have easily have waited for some hours, spoken to the Centre Manager, who would have arranged for the child to be sent to the Department of Social Welfare's children's home, also in Kumasi.

But now, she has obliged the school authorities to inform the police and try fill in the missing information on the child's medical and family background.

Angel will be taken care of by the State, but it is no replacement for even the occasional love of a family member. There is never a day without surprises at Edwenase, and this incident goes to prove that community based rehabilitation and much more family support for the parents and extended family of the disabled is urgently needed to avoid such abandonments in the future.

Photo-essay - Ghana from various angles

The slave trade carried countless millions (estimates range from 13-16 million over 250-300 year period ending in the mid 1800's) to their deaths on perilous voyages across oceans and plantations. For those who survived initial capture, imprisonment in brutally inhumane conditions, even worse transportation without basic amenities for life, a life full of hard labour and maltreatment faced them. Recently I visited both Cape Coast and Elmina forts on Ghana's coast, former bastions of the Portugese, Dutch and British where they carried out their misdeeds. The tours were excellent and the museums very educational.

Dungeon passage at Cape Coast where the male slaves spent their days with little nourishment or water. Here, many last breaths were gasped in under the gaze of colonial soldiers.

A fetish priest pours libation in commemoration of the deceased who spent their last days at Cape Coast and for those whose suffering at the fort was coupled with more hardship once they left to be sold to help build America (North, Carribean and Brazil mainly).


'Door of No Return' at Cape Coast castle. An unsubtle reminder for those who passed through it during the slave trade era that there was no coming back once you saw this gate. To break this cursed door the bodies of two former slaves were taken back from the US and through these gates, so that it has now become a 'Door of Return'. Local fishermen can be found on the seaside part of the door, unravelling their nets and making a living for themselves. Their new nemeses are foreign trawlers that sweep up the best produce the sea provides through pair-trawling exercises using massive nets.


Many school tours like this one pour into Cap Coast fort every day to learn more about Ghana's history.

Wreaths left nearby the dungeons at Cape Coast by the descendants of 'slaves'


School children waiting to go to 'The Door of No Return', but to exercise their passage through it and back through the same 'Door of Return', helping break the terrible history that this door evokes. Cannons facing seaward warded off enemy combatants seeking to gain their foot in the door of the lucrative but wicked trade in human beings.




Elmina fort with a thriving fishing scene in the background. The guided tour at Elmina is excellent, as is the museum. The local historian gives a very insightful picture of how life was for the victims of Elmina's trade masters and soldiers. Similar to Oswiecim (or Auschwitz/Birkenau) in Poland, it is very difficult to imagine the horrors that have taken place at such sites. The preservation of Ghana's history seems to be in good hands both at Elmina and Cape Coast and thousands of school children, descendants of former slaves, foreign tourists converge to learn about how things really were (without the Hollywood dramatisation) and to be challenged to stand up for the downtrodden in today's society upon their departure.

Traditional clay fish ovens can be found all along the coast of Ghana. Here are some from Elmina.


Crocodile looking for prey around Hans Cottage Botel between Kakum and Cape Coast.

Don't worry, he's only breathing before he goes looking for his wife and kids

This Nigerian journalist we met on our travels got a bit of a shock (as we all did) when the crocodile decided to jump back into the water spilt seconds after this picture was taken.



Kwame Nkrumah was imprisoned at St. James fort under Governor Charles Arden Clarke before becoming Ghana's de facto leader upon release. He had to wait a few more years though before Ghana managed to kick the Brits out totally. This photo is taken from James fort looking towards Ussher's fort and a harbour full of fishermen's pirogues.




Kakum National Park and its famous canopy walk that gives you a great perspective of the surrounding environment

Diving into waves near Green Turtle Lodge. A well managed project has begun to conserve the green turtles from ending up on dinner plates to being a source of eco-tourism.

Ghana's coast has a litany of unspoilt beaches. Let's hope it remains that way.

The path from Busua to Butre is a beautiful 5 km walk through tropical forest and beaches as clean as a whistle.


The day before Ghana turned 52 - March 5th, 2009. I have no idea what the symbolism behind the construction is.


It certainly seems that this is the unknown soldier at Independence Square in Accra although there is no plaque or information around the monument.


Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Gardens in Accra - interesting museum, well worth a visit.



Ghana's Independence Leader, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, is buried alongside his Egyptian wife Fathia in Accra. One of their daughters is currently a Member of Parliament and the only MP of the former leader's Convention People's Party (CPP)
The Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Gardens in Accra with the burial monument in the background.

Fair Trade pineapples like this one can be found in a huge supermarket in Accra mall on the airport road. Fairtrade bananas are also on sell. They sell at a low price of 80 pesewas, about 20 pesewas cheaper than those sold by street traders. So what is fairer – increase the profit margin of a foreign owned supermarket (Shoprite) and its' bosses by buying an officially 'fairtrade' pineapple or purchase one from your local street trader outside the glamorous mall and help then eke out a living?

Ivan Illich and Vacationing Salesmen and women

Was the Austrain social critic and former Catholic priest Ivan Illich correct when he called development policies, as practised by the Western banks and governments, 'planned poverty'?

Was he also correct to call those American university student-volunteers like those he met frequently in Mexico 'vacationing salesmen (women)' for US styled middle-class lifestyles?

Illich passed away 6 years ago but his radical thoughts on developmentalism have continued to attract disciples. Debt crucifies the poor while Aid provides a smokescreen for western concern.

So should all volunteers pack their bags and get the hell out? Should Bono and Geldof stop representing the continent of Africa during the World Economic Forum and
G8 conferences? Tim and Holli, both ex-pat bloggers based in Ghana have addressed the issue of volunteers living and working in Ghana.

If you are an Obroni living and sweating in Ghana I'd like to hear your thoughts either by email or by comment. I tend towards Illich's perspective, but think there have to be distinctions between different types of volunteers. To be continued.

Photo report on Ghana

The door of return - the Cape Coast (former slave) fort guide explains how Ghanaians have reversed the curse of the infamous 'Door of No Return' where thousands of human beings weere shipped off to the Americas in brutal conditions.


Former president Kufuor had his priorities in place. I read that at least US $40 million was spent on this new presidential palace. From my previous blog you would have learned that he also spent $40 million on Ghana's 50th anniversary Independence
celebrations. US$80 million fizzled away on stuff that has little or no lasting impact for the Ghanaian people's welfare. No wonder Ghana joined the Heavily Indebted Countries initiative of the WB/IMF in 2002. And with ever increasing trade liberalisation rules being forced upon the public Ghana's days of debt are going nowhere fast.


Visually appetising enough for you? I've never seen a cow looking so happy promotinh himself as Sunday lunch! And what's with the name of the butcher? Well, as the hairdressing teacher at our centre explained to me yesterday we are all covered with the blood of Jesus and this is what protects us from harm's way. Let me give you some advice, if you are strictly vegan then you may find it hard going here!


Kwame Nkrumah, lionised in the 50's, demonised in the 60's, is regaining his head as visionary leader of pan-africanism and a leading light in Gha's history. The left want to make his birthday in September a national holiday. The right would rather that a national holiday is announced to commemorate independence leaders from both sides of their political history. This statue of Nkrumah was decapitated in 1966 when he was overthrown by a military coup. It now stands in the Kwame Nkrumah memorial park in Accra.


Ghana became 52 on March 6th 2009. It was colourful affair but not one you would want to stand and observe for others without shade. There was an interesting mix of Ghanaian society there - citizens, traders, military, diplomats, skaters, child labourers, les noveaux-riches, development workers, volunteers, tourists, etc.

I don't appreciate displays of war-voyeurism so when military aircraft overhead spewed out the colours of Ghana's flag instead of weapons it all semmed a little like a sanitising effort to the true nature of such weapons of violence and a means of appeasing critics of Ghana's wasteful military expenditure.

However, the day passed off peacefully and we didn't faint from the heat so that was a plus.