Music, Music

 The music during Mass this past Sunday was especially beautiful. The young adult choir dressed in their burgundy colored robes sing in full force with such joy. The chapel was overflowing as many of us sat on plastic chairs or wooden benches outside. Small groups of goats passed by, young boys played soccer on a nearby makeshift field, and the not too distant singing from another place of worship could be heard as well.
The music we heard the night before was of a different variety entirely although very African and very loud! Serenaded by a booming chorus of drums at a festive party next door, talented performers demonstrated traditional native dances with boundless energy and invited everyone else to join in.

Trick knee and Local Meanderings

Nursed a recent knee problem that surfaced suddenly and unexpectedly which resulted in having an ultrasound at the hospital and being cared for by extremely solicitous colleagues of Jim. I remained nearby the house for a couple of days. Ventured across the road to purchase a dozen eggs, then a short walk along the main drag to Gariba Lodge for a plate of chips (French fries) and a cold Star beer. Within minutes, the rains came - relentless and heavy. Nestled comfortably at an outside table on a roof-covered terrace, I settled in with a good book.

Social Life

Took a break from cooking last Friday and seven of us had dinner prepared by Agnes at a place called "Samnandzo." The short ride/walk over there was a bit challenging due to large muddy mini-ponds covering parts of the roads. However, after having arrived, everyone enjoyed a good meal. Vegetable fried rice with grilled chicken and the traditional Red Red (plantain and beans) seemed to be the favorites.
Saturday morning, we went to the wedding of two doctors, Ben and Kusiwaa (Ben works at the hospital with Jim). The four-hour long ceremony was held at the Sanctuary of Wind and Fire, Assembly of God, in Tamale. It included lots of music, complete with band and loud speakers, Praise & Worship singing by the "Melodies of Heaven," Welcome Address, lengthy Sermon, Exchange of Vows, Signing of Marriage Register, Presentation of Certificate, Cutting of Cake, Popping of Champagne and Choreography by the "Ministering Angels."
Will be sorry to miss the wedding of Philomena (a nurse who works with Jim) and Joseph next month, but we will be traveling. They are to be married in Navrongo, a few hours northeast of Tamale.

Birthday

I celebrated my 73rd birthday last week with calls from our four kids plus lots of good wishes online making my day. Since Jim was at work and had warned me that he might in fact be late getting home, I took myself to "Tacorabama" for lunch and ordered a veggie pizza with a Star beer. Wish that I could have invited some friends to join me, but my four local gal pals are currently all away. Two are with family in Great Britain and two are traveling in the US. Later, at actually a decent hour, Jim walked in the house bearing gifts he purchased at the market - two hunks of cheese, a package of crackers, a bottle of wine and a tin of canned corned beef. Aside from the last item, I think he did pretty well.

Hospital Doings

Tamale Teaching Hospital, like many public health facilities, has its difficulties providing medical care to the people of the area. An all too frequent lack of water remains a huge problem. And, although many staff  members are hard-working and conscientious, accountability for those who are not is almost non-existent.
We heard a recent lecture on Ebola and learned that certain preparations are to be put in place in the event of an appearance of the disease in this area. With the ongoing shortage of even basic medical supplies here, one wonders how the accumulation of the needed protective gear for Ebola will materialize. Thankfully, there have been no documented cases in all of Ghana.
An easier, albeit interesting issue to address is the necessity of translators in the hospital. When a patient can speak only his particular tribal language (over 75 in Ghana), communication is definitely limited and a translator can make a big difference in the patient's care. As a result, we are trying to create a comprehensive list of hospital staff names indicating the languages with which they are familiar.

Home Sweet Home

After a few hours of wiping, dusting, sweeping and reorganizing, we were again comfortably settled in the house. Also finally managed to add a little more decor in the living room with some local flavor wall hangings. Our washing machine is unfortunately still missing its door, but the shower, refrigerator and stove (with temperamental oven) are working well.
The rains are in full swing with some heavy downpours at night. Positive features of the season include some cooler temperatures and colorful plants. The negatives are more mosquitoes, muddy roads and a longer time for clothes to dry on the line.
Our frequent visitor friend, Andy, along with two GYN colleagues, continue to perform more of their important fistula repair. While they were here, we made delicious pizza together one evening and enjoyed a couple of cappuccinos down the road at "Wooden."
Back to a quiet house now and into our usual routines. Jim is always busy at the hospital and I am finding my way around the recently re-arranged open market. Evidently, a large market building is in the process of being constructed in the same general area although progress looks a bit slow. Asara, a young girl of about thirteen, seems to easily find me in the midst of a crowd and is ever ready with her large container to carry my groceries atop her head. She and her friends enjoyed a good laugh when I attempted to hold it atop mine.

Summer in Tamale

This time, we flew to Ghana via Lufthansa with a change of planes in Frankfurt. Very enjoyable with good food, complimentary wine and even a cordial of Bailey's Irish Cream.
Our friend, Gordana, professor of agricultural engineering here at the University for Development Studies, hosted a reception at her home the second night we were in town for a large number of visiting Japanese graduate students along with representatives of other countries as well. They had been attending an international seminar in Tamale. A variety of delicious foods was served followed by music and dancing.

Photos from Ghana Winter 2014

Our newly painted bedroom in blue

Pre-school French class

Middle school French class

Mrs. Jane Alhassan, Foundress/Director of Alhassan Gbanzaba Memorial School

Junior Secondary French class

Mona preparing guinea fowl given to Jim as a get well gift by our night watchman

Philomena, Najat and Faustina with "Get Well" wishes for Jim

Ear, Nose and Throat staff coming to visit

Male visiting contingency - note our newly painted green room!

Gordana, Barbara and Jane - three wonderful friends - all married to Dagomba men

Enjoying our Sunday lunch

Our little convenience store across the road from home

Busy making biscuits

Holding Jim's "Get Well" flowers in our front yard

Going and Coming

With just a few days remaining before I head back to the US for a while, I experience the usual mixed feelings. Looking forward to seeing family and friends while already thinking about not being here with Jim.
Dreaming up 101 ways to cook eggplant, cutting my saran wrap with scissors then salvaging every scrap to recycle, doggedly trying to regulate my oven so as not to burn the latest batch of cookies, crowding into a full taxi then holding my breath as the driver weaves in and out of traffic barely missing collisions with motorbikes and other miscellaneous vehicles, observing the electrician trying to correct the wiring in our house to prevent further mishaps.
Occasional swims at the Bigiza pool, cappucinos at Woodin's coffee house, pizza and a Star beer at Tacorabama's, Sunday group lunches at Gariba or SWAD, nourishing friendships, seeing and understanding the extraordinary things Jim does at the hospital.
As the Ghanaians say when leaving a place, but intending to return - "I'm going and coming."

Setback and Forward Again

Unfortunately, after Jim returned to work for three days, he again felt unwell - extreme fatigue being the main factor. Thus, followed by additional blood tests, more rest and the help of IV antibiotics, he is now doing better.

Get well wishes from the Ear, Nose and Throat staff were much appreciated. The nurses came to the house bearing gifts of flowers, pineapples, bananas, grapes, apples and a variety of juices.

This coming week, a group from the West African College of Physicians and Surgeons plans to visit the hospital and Jim will be happy to start getting back into action collaborating on various cases with them.

Malaria Pays a Visit

There were a few rough days for Jim recently when he came down with malaria. In all the time he has spent in Ghana - both in the late 70s and in the last seven years - this was his first (and we hope the last!) personal experience of having the disease, himself. Fortunately, he seems to have responded well to the standard three-day course of medication and after being out of commission for about four days, he was back to work as usual. Let's hope any troublesome aftereffects or relapses will be non-existent.

Various people either stopped by or phoned to see how he was doing. Abdulai, our night watchman, presenting us with a guinea fowl he had just killed (to give Jim strength), and Alhaji, our landlord, along with another friend, praying to Allah at Jim's bedside are memories I will treasure.

Miscellaneous Doings

The Director of an impressive school here in Tamale - grades Nursery through Junior Secondary - invited me to visit a couple of times. I thoroughly enjoyed meeting and observing the French teachers and getting involved in their classes. Have been asked to pop in as a "guest teacher" anytime.

Wednesday afternoons have included swimming in a nearby hotel's outdoor pool. Great way to exercise and certainly beats walking in the hot African sun.

Various organizations arrange short-term programs in town. An educational group from Denmark recently visited the school I mentioned above, and a medical team of plastic surgeons and anesthesiologists spent a little over a week at Tamale Teaching Hospital performing special procedures on patients brought in from different areas of Ghana. Jim joined the visiting physicians as well, collaborating on some interesting cases.

Sleeping Babes

Sandwiched in the rear seat of a taxi on my way to town, I found myself between two Ghanaian mothers, each carrying a sleeping baby tightly fastened to her back. The older of the two sat to my left - a Muslim woman whose baby girl's head was wrapped in a scarf much like her own; peeking out from the sides of the scarf were two small ears adorned with tiny sparkling earrings. The baby's face was tilted upward, mouth wide open. The younger woman to my right, whose hair was a mass of black ringlet curls, was stylishly dressed and chatting on a cell phone. Her baby boy's face was positioned downward, his mouth serenely closed. Both mothers judiciously leaned forward in order to allow enough space for their precious cargo while I sat back glancing from one sleeping child to the other.

Harmattan

We may have missed the beginning of the dry West African Harmattan trade wind while we were in the US, but its effects are readily apparent now. Dust and more dust supply a steady coat of cocoa brown colored powder everywhere. One can thoroughly clean the surface of any object and in no time at all, a new layer of dust will appear.

The Harmattan blows from the Sahara into the Gulf of Guinea, occurring in winter between the end of November and mid-March. Temperatures can be noticeably lower than usual. The weather change fluctuates with both cool and hot alternating conditions. Sometimes visibility can range from a dull haze to heavy fog. Outbreaks of fire are also a concern.

The University For Development Studies here in Tamale has a Harmattan School whose objective is the study and discussion of developmental issues affecting northern Ghana and to suggest solutions for them. Personally, I haven't met anyone yet who can provide a solution for keeping a clean house during Harmattan's reign. However, aside from at least wiping dust off the table before we eat, I have become quite accustomed to ignore the constant build-up on floors, windows and most of the other furniture. As the saying goes, "It is what it is."

Mixture of Colors and Culture

Before leaving Ghana in mid-December to be with our family for the Christmas holidays, our landlord asked us to choose any colors we wanted for all the rooms in the house so he could have them painted while we were away. Happily rushing off to the paint store in town, we pointed to one selection after another only to be told that it wasn't available. When we were down to one bold blue, one neon green and one yellowish shade called "Broken White," we instructed the painter to mix a lot of  "regular white" with the bold blue, even more "regular white" with the neon green and to stay with the "Broken White" for yellow. We then left town hoping for the best. Success! Every room turned out great and makes the house so much brighter.
Another more important mixture very evident in Tamale is the peaceful and friendly existence of diverse cultures - specifically those of Muslims and Christians. Unlike the prejudice, distrust and misinformation seen in various other parts of the world, here people of different faiths live and work harmoniously together.

Photos of Nov/Dec 2013 in Ghana

Lighthouse in Old Accra

Atop the lighthouse overlooking the Jamestown section of Accra

Aburi Botanical Gardens

             

 School for the Deaf in Mampong

 

 

 

 

 

Our screened-in front porch in Tamale

Dinner at home with our German guests

Jim in his office at the hospital

Renovated and New Hospital Buildings

 

Walking via shortcut to the chapel at the hospital

Mass at Chapel on Hospital Grounds

Electrical Circuit Box Post-Explosion

Celebration of the End of Medical School Exams

Gathering of Friends at Woodin Coffee Shop in Tamale

2013 Annual Meeting of the Ghana College of Physicians and Surgeons in Accra