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."