Notes From Ghana

Notes from Ghana

rosiet89@hotmail.com — Wed, 07 May 2008 11:58:00 GMT

It has been a long long time since I last posted a blog, which I am very sorry for. Time seems to flow by here, days soon become weeks in a matter of minutes. Today is Saturday and everyone except Matthew and I are at the airfield. Matthew is looking after the nursery and I managed to sleep in until after 8am which I haven’t done since I left England! At the moment I am working on displays for the Charity Dinner on 8th May, our preparations are well underway! When I last wrote to you I was about to start my stint at Agomanya Hospital, working two days a week with different departments, observing and offering a spare pair of hands when they were needed. I spent most of my time in the Maternity Ward, where I was allowed to observe several deliveries, and when the moment came to hold the mother's hand, wipe the sweat from her face and help her to breathe. It was such a unique experience, and also so surreal, in the background there was gospel music playing over the intercom and outside cockerels were crowing and sheep were being herded past by a goat boy. On my first morning, I was sitting waiting to see the Sister in charge of Maternity when I heard clapping and people singing. One of the nurses took me by the hand and said “Let’s go pray together,” and led me to the corridor, which was lined with the doctor, nurses, health aids, visitors and even some patients with IV still in their wrists. The corridor was dimly lit, despite the walls being painted yellow. In the centre, there was a statuette of Mary; with her head bowed and lit candles in a half circle by her feet. Someone had scattered a few frangipani flowers around the table. The light coming through the door at the end was flickering over the walls as people moved and danced to the music, creating beautiful silhouettes of women in traditional dress. Everyone was singing or humming along to the hymns in Krobo (one of the local languages) and then suddenly it stopped and people began to pray aloud in a mixture of Twi and English. At the end of the service everyone recited the Lords Prayer and went to start work in their separate departments. It was definitely a memorable way to start at the hospital and despite not being a Christian myself, the routine put me into a good mood for the rest of the day. To get to the hospital turned out to be a bit of a palava really, in the car in the dry season it is a twenty minute trip but now the rains are here, it has taken me as long as an hour and a half before. The conditions of the roads really influence how quickly something can be achieved, especially if they are dirt tracks, and some of the photographs Teresa took on her mission highlight how few and far between tarmac roads are. Once again the importance of what Medicine on the Move could do for Ghana and in the future, West Africa, struck me. For example what is a 13 -18 hour trip (dry season and rainy reason respectively) to the Afram Plains from Kpong field by car, is do-able in 45minutes by Ultralight, and provides a far far smoother ride for any patients needing assistance. I think that this charity is going to be essential in the development of rural healthcare in the whole of West Africa. On May 8, there will be a charity dinner event at the Fiesta Royale Hotel in Accra, for Medicine on the Move. At the farm everyone is busy making preparations, selling tickets, raising sponsorship to pay for the venue and trying to persuade companies to donate items for the silent auction. I have been spending two days a week going into Accra to visit businesses and trying to persuade them to buy tickets to the event or generate some interest in the charity and what it is trying to achieve. The event will be hosted by a radio and television star, BlaKofi, who has to be one of the most energetic and vivacious people I have ever met. She has her own modelling agency and has organised for some of her models to dress up as air hostesses at the event, and we will then auction off the outfits that the girls were wearing! Yesterday Matthew and I went into Accra and spent the whole day trying to sell tickets. We managed to sell about five but we will have to return on Monday to do follow ups. Delivering a sales pitch is actually a lot more difficult than I had first envisaged, the concept of medical aircraft in Ghana being built by Ghanaians is a bit unbelievable and we had a lot of sceptical looks from various offices we visited! However once we had explained a bit more about the charity, people became very enthusiastic and we had some people give us a financial contribution on the spot. In one of the offices I actually met someone who had studied at Cardiff (which is where I will be going to study next year) who was telling me about all the good places to go out there! One of the aircraft is having its first flight test on Monday. Last week everyone got called down to the airstrip so that it could have its first engine check. We all had to hold the struts on the wings of the aircraft to hold it back while Eric (the owner) moved the throttle to full power. The engine is pretty strong and we were all exhausted by the time we’d finished, having to put our full weight and strength against the force of the aircraft to keep it on the ground. 9GZ AE (the name of the plane) is nearly finished and looks fantastic. To make an aircraft in Africa takes about 1500 hours, which is about 125 working days of twelve hours. Both Patricia and Jonathan have been working extremely hard to make sure that the aircraft will pass its test and inspection by the GCAA. Unfortunately I will have to miss the 9GZ AE’s first flight because I am going to catch a tro-tro at 5.30am on Monday morning to continue to sell tickets! One the highlights in the past few weeks as been my flying lessons. Two weeks ago I went up in Kilo-Tango to have a 45 minute lesson at the end of the day on Sunday. It was a beautiful day, the sky was clear and the visibility was incredible, I could see the sea which is about 80km away. I learnt how to perform switching turns in the aircraft, which involves incorporating roll and yaw movement. We were above Kpong Dam and as I was practising Jonathon sang a Viennese Waltz which actually worked out quite well timing wise! The stick is actually a lot more sensitive than I had first thought, quite a few times Jonathon took over control because I was getting too close to stalling the engine! All the same I felt perfectly at ease in the air, even though there are no doors on the planes, I have complete faith in Jonathan’s abilities. He managed to fly flown the plane through a tropical storm (not on purpose) dragging a 800ft banner behind him so I am confident he knows exactly what he is doing! Because it was so clear, we went to circle around Osoduko, the mountain I climbed a few months ago. I could see the route we had taken so clearly, but everything was in miniature, it didn’t look real. Everything looks so different from the air. As we landed at the farm the sun was setting and we finished our conversation about goats and Ghanaian politics as we put the plane away in the hanger. At night the sky is clear and the stars seems so much closer than they do in England. One night Matt and I decided to camp in the bush. I took a cutlass and cut a path (badly) through the grass and then cleared an area to put the tent up and have a fire and Matthew went in search of firewood. We made a fire and set up camp with two kerosene lamps which were hung from stakes driven into the ground. To keep the mosquitoes away I cut some Neem fruit which we burnt on the fire and all the dogs came to keep us company. We had some music playing and the fire crackling and I honestly couldn’t think of anywhere that I’d rather be. In the morning we went to buy some bush mangos and made a smoothie with banana and Moringa powder. Unfortunately the mangoes are fibrous so we had to keep picking out hairs but they were perfectly ripe so it was delicious. We learnt our lesson though and strained the next batch we made to make ice cream with. The local price for about 50 mangoes is about the equivalent of £1.50 and at the moment it is peak season! The farmers sell them at the roadside, from ceramic dishes where they are stacked into a pyramid on a rather rickety looking wooden stall. There are also stalls selling tomatoes and onions and one woman sells clay pots at the bus stop which Matthew uses to plant lemongrass in. I think it is possible to find absolutely anything you want in Ghana, provided you know the right place to look. A lot of shops in the towns are wooden and don’t look like much, but once you get inside the selection of products is incredible. I have found Exeter corned beef, Cornish Pasties and even Philadelphia Cream Cheese in various shops locally! Last week when I was coming back from the hospital I stopped off to buy a drink from one of the shops and the owner invited me to take a seat and I ended up spending about an hour there talking to her kids and some more children that had come along as well, who told me their names were Prince and Joyous. They had made a football out of plastic bags and had drawn a hopscotch grid on the floor with chalk. They were very excited to have a yevu talking to them, I’ve never felt so interesting before! As the rains as here the car is under a lot of stress going backwards and forwards on the dirt track everyday. It has broken down several times in the past few weeks and I’ve spent hours sitting at the mechanics and under trees waiting for it to be fixed. Once in Kpong I was waiting with Matthew for the fan belt to be changed and there was some sudden commotion and people running shouting "Snake! Snake!" As everyone else ran away from it, as it went under a tro tro that being fixed, Matt went towards it to try and catch it. As he picked it up, all the mechanics started shouting and backing away, telling Matthew he was crazy. The boss muttered something about "Never seeing anyone doing that before", and as Matthew went to release it away from the cars, he shrieked "Kill it! Kill it! " It was hilarious and all the men were laughing at their boss in spite of themselves. Unfortunately one of WAASPS members of staff recently lost her grandfather and we decided to pay our respects by attending the first stages of the funeral. Surprisingly funerals are actually a big part of the culture in Ghana, every weekend you see hundreds of people wearing black, red or white on their ways to funerals, which typically last the whole weekend. Some of the biggest businesses are coffin makers (there are some amazing varieties, such as carved cows and coca-cola bottles which you can see in the street) and hiring of canopies, chairs and music systems. It is considered an insult if the family do not ensure that they provide a lavish send off for the individual and consequentially they spend a lot of money on the funeral proceedings. We all wore black and had to shake the hands of all the older men before we were allowed to sit down. There was loud music playing, much more of a party atmosphere than a sombre affair. The event would continue all night until first light and then memorials would be read out over the course of the weekend. It was very interesting to attend a funeral because they are quite social events, more of a celebration of someone’s life than a mourning ceremony (unless of course the individual died young, in which case people are mourning their passing before their time.) People often take gifts of things like sweets, that people can suck to stay awake and we took a big bag of toffees and Matthew took some Moringa as gesture of condolence. A lot of people take things such as cola nuts which have a high caffeine content and they chew them to stay awake during the night. So by the end of this week everything that we are working towards will have happened, the dinner will have taken place and hopefully been a success to raise the $12,000 needed to finish the medical aircraft. All the foreign visitors who came to attend the conference will have gone back and everyone will go back to the airfield to have the monthly BBQ.

Notes from Ghana

rosiet89@hotmail.com — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 08:28:00 GMT

It is hot today. There is no breeze and the air is hot and heavy outside. This sort of heat is exhausting, it makes you feel tired and floppy. The puppies are lolling outside on the porch panting. The monitor lizard is asleep and the snake is under a large rock in his vivarium. It’s peaceful and still. I’m listening to Snow Patrol and beginning to plan fundraising events and volunteer programmes.

I am beginning to wake up earlier and earlier. At daybreak all the birds sing and the frogs croak and the bats in the roof shuffle around. It’s noisy and active and relatively cool outside. Last week we woke before daybreak and fuelled up Kilo-Tango for a three hour photography mission. Jonathon took off at first light, and we followed the silhouette of the aircraft until it disappeared round Krobo mountain.

On Friday last week we had a fire on the farm. Farming in Africa can sometimes involve burning sections of land to clear it of all the dead plants and dry grass. Before the fire is started Matthew took some safety precautions of burning a border around the perimeter with a flame thrower and putting down a water line to prevent the fire from spreading. I was given a Neem branch to act as a fire beater and watched the borders to make sure the fire didn’t jump.

Bush fires in Africa are scary in the dry season. They can get out of control in just a few seconds. As I was watching the wind suddenly picked up and flung huge ribbons of flames high into the air. The fire jumped across the boundary and began to burn part of the rest of the farm. Ash was blowing everywhere and the heat was so intense it is impossible to get too close to it. Everyone was busy carrying water and beating the line with the Neem. We managed to control it just before the donkey paddock luckily! We were all black with soot, shoes were black my face was black, and I was soaking from the sweat, Matthew even had his eyebrows singed!

At the weekend I went to stay with at a passion fruit farm belonging to someone called Michael, who has just had a baby daughter with his wife Valerie. Afia (Friday born girl) is absolutely gorgeous and was completely unperturbed by spending all evening with a" yevu" (white person.) Michael’s house is beautiful and is situated right next to the river Volta. It is completely circular and all the rooms are shaped like segments of cheese, with a circular lounge in the middle. We had a BBQ and enjoyed grilled tilapia, yam chips and some palm wine. Bougainvillea bushes surround the garden and a hammock is strung between two trees on the bank.

On the Sunday Michael took Abreena (Tuesday born girl – Michael’s cousin) and I across the Volta to an island where people live in house made from mud and broken shells. There were a group of women sitting in the shade making banku (pounded cassava) who seemed very pleased to have a yevu visitor. They spoke to me in Eve and I replied in English and a few of the boys hitched a ride on the boat to get to the other side of the river. When I got back to the farm I helped Matthew to make a new vivarium for his monitor lizard (to replace the Tupperware boxes) out of several panes of glass from his windows.

Another Monday, another trip into Accra, this time to collect Jay and Teresa, the two Americans on a scouting trip to bring out a team of doctors from Iowa. Before arriving at the airport, I had to buy several mice to feed the snake and they had begun to chew their way out of the box I was holding, so I looked pretty strange waiting in arrivals! They arrived safely and we all piled in the car. As it was St. Patrick’s Day, Matt and I decided to celebrate by having an Irish coffee. I bought a quarter of a litre of Whiskey for the equivalent of 35p (!) a miniature Baileys and a Guinness. Despite the obvious question of quality it turned out to be quite good, or it might be because of the copious amounts of sugar we added!

Our scouting trip took place over two days. It is about a 3-4 hour drive north to visit the hospitals, my favourite being Dodipapase Hospital which has goats in the corridors and bougainvillea weaving through the wall. We took several cases of donated equipment with us and it was exciting to see it being out somewhere where it could be useful. At the clinic we visited, Mabel one of the Health Aids, took quite a shine to me for some reason and we spent most of the afternoon hand in hand (!) which is actually considered normal, it is quite common to see grown men hand in hand who are just expressing friendship!

We stayed in a hotel in HoHoe and ate in a "spot" (local name for a bar) which was situated by the petrol station and was decorated with strung fairy lights. It had begun to rain and the air smelt freshly musty. The next day the land was green; all the dust had been washed off the leaves. Breakfast was this porridge soup called Koko which tasted just like thick vinegar (it was disgusting!) and wobbled like jelly even though it was hot.

We dragged the sofa outside and sat with some mosquito candles burning and the CD player plugged into the inverter in the car in bright moonlight. It was a clear clear night and absolutely beautiful. Matthew and I finished off the Baileys and we sat up until the cockerels started crowing just before dawn.

On one of my days off Matthew and I cycled about 20km to Osuduko mountain which is a tall hill with a pylon at the top. It took us two hours to climb and when we reached the summit we could see across the flatlands and watched a massive mushroom cloud storm move across the ground. The storm stopped operations at the airfield and they had to tie the planes down to prevent them being blown away. From where we were sitting That evening we had kenki for dinner which is an interesting local food made from fermented corn flour. It is sold wrapped in maize leaves and served with this horrendously spicy sauce which made my eyes water!

On Jay and Teresa’s last day we woke up before dawn and travelled to the edge of the Volta to watch the sunrise above Akuse. Early morning and late afternoon are my favourite times of day because the air is cooler. Watching the sunrise was amazing because the whole sky became red and orange. The fishermen were setting out for the days fishing in beautiful wooden canoes. (Although I learnt recently that not many fishermen can swim!)

Teresa then went on a two hour photo mission by Ultralight to take photos of communities in the Afram Plains, which is a rural region on the other side of the lake. On the political map of Ghana, the roads to get to these places and recorded as “paths and tracks” which are reported as impassable by vehicles in the rainy season. So getting medical help in some of these places is nearly impossible, looking at the pictures made me realise how important this charity is and what a difference it will make to the lives of these people. I’ve started to make my map, scanning in a huge map of the political districts in Ghana and cutting them down to the sub districts and using the data I got from the ministry to record how many hospitals there are in each area. It’s actually quite scary, in a region which is roughly the size of Devon and Cornwall together there are no hospitals at all. My next job is to go to the offices where information from the census is kept to obtain data about population in each region and the proportion of people who are in each age group. It’s a big job but it’s actually quite interesting, especially as next week I will be combining the research for the map with visiting a hospital to observe in the maternity and surgical wards.

I’ve actually extended my stay again until the end of May. I love being in Africa, when Matthew and I bought Kenki the other night there were no electrical lights because it was light out (conserving electricity) but the road was lit up with kerosene lamps and mosquito coils and there were a group of children singing under the mango trees. You don’t get that in Europe. It’s like a constant summer atmosphere.

Rainy season

rosiet89@hotmail.com — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 11:03:00 GMT

As I'm sitting down to write this, it has started raining. The rainy season is beginning in Ghana. In the two weeks I've been here the landscape has changed from dusty and brown to green, where grass has begun to grow and the leaves are changing colour. Rain in Africa is not like rain in England, its heavy and thunderous, huge droplets hammer down onto the metal roof, the air becomes cool and fresh. I love to walk in tropical rain, there is something so refreshing in being drenched in a few seconds.

Unusually today has not been as hectic as the fast few weeks have been (not for me anyway!) Jonathan has taken Patricia and Rosina to Tema to learn how to weld parts of an aircraft engine. Elizabeth is supervising a new lady in accountancy, and Matthew is grading the road before the ground becomes too heavy to work. I’ve taken advantage of the empty house to write this without getting distracted by feeding the snake or trying to catch the spider in the shower!

Ever since I arrived two weeks ago, no two days have been the same. Initially I spent time making an inventory of all the medical equipment that had been donated in the office, while next door Patricia and Jonathan continue construction on four different aircraft. One of these is a four seater medical Ultralight which is due to be completed and ready to fly in roughly eight weeks. The workshop is almost like a giant toy shop with parts of planes on every surface!

At the weekends we go to the Kpong (pronounced “pong”) Airfield where Jonathan and Elizabeth have set up a flying school, teaching people from a huge variety of backgrounds to learn to fly. So far I have been up in the planes four times, sometimes on the shuttle run between the hanger on the farm and the airstrip or with one of the pilots who come to fly solo. I was lucky enough to get to fly around the Kpong dam which is just downstream from the Akosombo dam which is the main source of power (hydro-electric) for Ghana. Because of the heat these tiny two seater Ultralights have no doors so for nervous passengers it is a bit disconcerting to look down and know that there is just a seat belt keeping you inside the aircraft! The visibility is improving every day as the Harmattan fades, due to the rain. (Harmattan is during the dry season where the air is thick with dust.)

Currently there are three planes on the farm in the fleet named Alpha-Alpha, Alpha-Delta and Kilo-Tango. My favourite is Alpha-Alpha which I am hopefully going to learn to fly in. I was recently taught by Rosina (a pilot instructor in training) how to perform a pre flight check, which is especially important in Africa, as little animals are often tempted to make nests in the hollow wings, such as the suicidal squirrel which recently ran across the airstrip a few days ago! It takes a minimum of thirty hours to obtain a private Ultralight flying licence, which is surprising considering how long it took me to learn to drive!

The farmhouse I’m staying in is called Rocky Farm and was built by the Porters a few years ago. Initially, I thought that they had an unusual sense of decoration until one of the large flat spiders on the walls which I had presumed to be unusual stickers started moving! Geckos and lizards run freely around the house and the other day Jonathan killed a scorpion with his flip flop. Matthew keeps a rock python in a cage on the porch and feeds it live mice and has recently acquired a monitor lizard, which happened to be running across the floor or the lounge! I’m sharing a room with Patricia who is training to be an aircraft technician and has quite a sociable approach to using the bathroom which was a bit of a shock the first time she walked in on my shower!!

One of my main tasks as a volunteer for Medicine on the Move is to plot a huge map of all the hospitals and health centres in Ghana against a map of all the airstrips so that an initial assessment of the current facilities can be made before proposing sites for new airstrips. To do this I had to go to the Ministry of Health in Accra to get hold of the list of facilities. The civil servant I spoke to was exceedingly helpful and was prepared to lend me his 32GB pen drive after spending just ten minutes with me, a brilliant example of how generous the people are in Ghana. I left the Ministry in a very good mood, only to discover later that there was nothing actually on the pen drive, which meant another trip into Accra to sort out that problem (not so much fun sitting in the car with an outside temperature of 43.5°C!)

Last week I visited Agomanya hospital to make a donation of baby blankets and insulin syringes to the sisters there. The hospital has just one permanent doctor to treat around five hundred patients (minimum!) everyday. I’m planning to spend two days a week working in various departments in the hospital for four weeks alongside working on the map with Jonathan. I will also be spending time at a nutrition session for mothers and babies in Akuse with a lovely lady called Mary.

Next week we are expecting two American volunteers to visit to perform a scouting trip. One of the them is a pilot and will be spending time with Jonathan and the other a nurse who I will be spending time with, visiting various healthcare units and planning a first aid course that I will deliver to the airfield workers. The scouting trip is an initial trip before bringing out a team of doctors from Iowa who will take part in some of the first missions to the rural areas via the Ultralights and the four seater to deliver treatments and much needed medical supplies.

Working aside, I have spent a few days exploring Ghana. Patricia, Saskia (a Dutch girl who is doing a research project on the local banana plantation) and I went to the market at Somanya via a tro-tro. A tro-tro is one of the main forms of transport it Ghana. Travelling in one is definitely an experience I wont forget! Basically the aim of the driver is to pile as many people and luggage into a small van, we were all squeezed into the back seat with a few sacks of soya beans, several litres of palm oil, a huge basket of plantain and two chickens. Inside it is sweltering, so, even though I was sitting next the window, when I climbed out one side of my body was wet through!

The market was huge, and vendors sell everything and everything that you could think of. I bought several yards of cloth to make a skirt with at the seamstresses and several peppers for the BBQ the next day. Saskia bought a new pair of trousers from a stall that was made of jeans, literally. They were all hung up around a wood and wire frame which created a little room with shade which offered some privacy (a little hint – to find out if the waistband of a pair of trousers fits you, try wrapping it around your neck!) to the shoppers. You can buy water in 500ml sachets (for the equivalent of 2.5p) from hawkers, who sell a huge variety of products. In Accra I passed someone who was selling a combination of chalk, chains and a real live puppy (to whom Jonathan replied “Daabi medasi, me didi dada” meaning “No thanks, I’ve already eaten!” in Twi which caused uproar among the street sellers!)

Yesterday I spent the day with Matthew learning how to drive the tractor and level the runways. Before using the tractor we had to fix the engine and I learnt to bleed the engine and fix a leak in the fuel system and the difference between a spanner and a ratchet!

In the evenings we often relax by watching films. Last week Matthew bought what he thought was the first series of Lost on DVD from a hawker in Accra, but it actually turned out to be a celebration of films starring primates, so we enjoyed a selection such as Funky Monkey, Congo and Greystroke Tarzan.

So for the first two weeks in Africa, it has definitely been an experience. From the sign board on the road to Accra which reads “Circumcise Your Child Here” to the children who all wave at you as you drive past, Africa is without doubt a place like no other, and I don’t really want to leave!

Rosie joins Medicine on the Move in Ghana

sally.fairbrother@archant.co.uk — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 11:01:00 GMT

Ottery woman Rosie Tomlins is heading into unchartered territory - to become the first volunteer for a new UK charity working in Ghana.

Miss Tomlins, 19, who went to Colyton Grammar School was inspired to join Medicine on the Move after hearing the sad story of an English man seriously injured in a car crash there.

She will support visiting American doctors who will help the charity find out the type of medical equipment and services needed in different parts of the country. But one of her tasks could be to help build a four-seater aeroplane to help a flying doctor service.

Matthew Porter was left with two smashed legs and a broken arm after the car he was driving was hit by anotehr vehicle, whose driver was allegedly asleep at the time.

When Emma, of Holcombe Lane, visited the deprived African country last summer, she met the charity's founders and heard about their work.

Rather than simply giving equipment to hospitals and doctors, Medicine on the Move loans it out, thereby ensuring it is maintained and its users are accountable for it.

Miss Tomlins heard how, as part of his treatment, Matthew desperately needed a leg brace.

But there was only one in the whole country, so he had to fly back to the UK, where he spent 24 hours in surgery to repair his damaged limbs. He is
now making a full recovery.

Miss Tomlins said: "While he was ill, he said: "I don't want this to happen to anyone else, we need to have facilities like this in Ghana".

During the two month trip, Miss Tomlins will support visiting doctors and medical staff.

She will spend two months working with the charity before going to Cardiff University to read medicine.

And when her five year course is finished, she hopes to return to Ghana to continue helping the charity.