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