Malaria...

I have returned from another week long field visit only to spend my first 24 hours back in Tamale in the “john”. I figured that I just had eaten some questionable food and it would pass in a few hours (no pun intended). During the week I had a headache for a few days bad enough for me to actually take some Advil which is actually saying something because I will usually try and wait it out. But it subsided by Friday so I thought I was fine.

By about 3:30 on Saturday I knew something was not right. Besides my regular trips to the toilet my temperature shot from normal to 103ºF in thirty minutes and I had a mind splitting headache. Ten minutes later it felt as if I had either run 20 kilometers or was beaten with a stick as my muscles and joints were really sore. It was uncomfortable to even move. I varied from unbearably hot and sweaty to feeling cold and shivering about every 15 minutes. I’ll I wanted to do is make the bad virus stop but was nearly immobile. My best explanation is like a summation of every cold or flu you have every had all starting at the same time starting out of the blue and followed by a thorough beating. It really is like getting blindsided. Luckily for me Rene was at the house and knew what to do. He called one of his friends who has a truck and they took me to a doctor he knows in town. As it was now after 5 pm all the clinics were closed and would be until Monday so there was no way to get a blood smear to confirm if it was malaria. Luckily the doctor prescribed me the malaria drug of choice and by 6:30 the battle between virus and drug was on. By 9 pm I was feeling significantly better and my fever had dropped a bit. I slept that night from 10pm-9am the next morning. As I didn’t have a blood smear I can’t say for if it was malaria but if this wasn’t malaria I don’t want to know what is. If it was getting malaria really sucked. But it would have been way worse if I couldn’t afford the anti-malarials that I’m sure helped a bit, didn’t have access to a decent road to get me to medical care or have an expedient means to use on the road, have access to a medical professional that was competent, actually get a prescription for the drugs that will help and they actually be there at the chemical shop and have someone explain to me how to use them in my native tongue and finally have the money to pay for the drugs. This is a reality that many people here don’t have and a privilege that I have for no real reason. In some cases I’m sure this is the privilege to live a few days more.

Malaria kills over 1 Million Africans a year.

1 Million!

Just think about that number for a second.

That is more than 2 people every minute.

Imagine if there was a preventable and curable disease in the West that killed that many people a year! All the hype about getting flu shots or even SARS and yet these have nowhere near the impact that malaria does every year in Africa.

Oh yeah the cost of the medication to help get ride of Malaria set me back about 6 Canadian dollars.

$ 6 CDN

Just to reassure everyone that I am feeling much better physically and imagine that I will be back up to 100% in a day or two. The only problem that I wrestle with now is the cost of a human life.

Over 1 million day every year. Over two ever minute for a cure of less that $6 Canadian dollars.


God Bless and Take Care,
Jason

what i've been up to...

Well I imagine many of you are wondering what I have been doing here aside from taking pictures of elephants, avoiding bicycles, and talking with people in their underwear.

First off, I want to thank everyone sincerely for all your hard work and generosity in fundraising. I especially want to thank our sponsors for being so generous in their donations, particularly our leading sponsors Western’s Faculty of Engineering and J-AAR excavating. Please visit our EWB Western sponsorship page at www.uwo.ewb.ca/sponsors.htm to view a complete list of all our donors. This project is creating some good outcomes in livelihoods of many people in Ghana, and everyone should be proud of their involvement. I also want to thank my wonderful wife Erin for allow me to play my small role in this project.

I am currently working with the Community Water and Sanitation Agency (CWSA) on the Northern Region Water and Sanitation Project (NORWASP) out of Tamale in Northern Ghana. The NORWASP project is funded by CIDA and is a rural water project aimed at villages of 2000 people or less. The project works in 4 parts:

• Implementation of a clean water source - through the drilling of boreholes or hand dug wells,
• Community capacity building through formation of water and sanitation committees that contribute 5% towards the cost of the borehole. This also includes basic business training in order for them to create a pump maintenance fund so they are prepared for pump break downs,
• Sanitation and hygiene education, and
• Waste management through latrine construction.

The project aims to improve the health of the rural communities affected by the lack of potable water and adequate sanitation facilities. Wardrop is the Canadian Executing Agency and is in charge of running the project, as part of the CIDA funding this is a tied aid issue that is very interesting and highlights some of the complexity of development. But this is a discussion for another day.

One component of my work here is to assess the status and try to determine the impact of the project by communicating with key stakeholders such as local government, partner NGOs, and the communities themselves. In the six weeks that I have been in Ghana I have devoted my time to working with Community Water and Sanitation Agency to get a feel for their interoffice dynamics and how they implement their projects. During this time they have sent me to the field twice for just over two weeks to do some on the ground monitoring and I will be going back out to another district next week. During these field visits I have interviewed key stakeholders at all levels (District Water and Sanitation Team members, Partner Organisations {NGOs}, District Assemblies {local governments}, local community members and water and sanitation team members within the communities, area pump mechanics and latrine artisans). I have also supervised POs in delivering training to communities and monitored their day-to-day functioning.

The CWSA is very stretched in its capability to do regular monitoring of every district and are eager to hear back on findings actually from the field. Typically their information from the field comes from actual stakeholders like the NGOs that work for them so they really appreciate an outside and impartial view of the interactions within the project. I hope that I have brought a different perspective to the project. Since I have not been involved in any portion of the project I have been able to examine each section objectively and ask questions on why the project has developed into what it is today. I have been reporting to CWSA and the Canadian Team leader regularly and they direct me in areas they think that should be investigated further. I have also spent some time compiling basic data for NORWASP that will be analyzed further and is used to make sure all communities selected actually have their water source or are planned to get it. I have also stayed in a village for four days to better observe their everyday life and the affect of the project on their activities (i.e. conformance to good hygiene practices, effect of saved time on community, etc.) and have reported these findings back to CWSA. This type of longer term (although really quite short) is typically not done by CWSA and the information acquired was really useful. The past week and a half, I have met with other NGOs and project funders in the water sector to compare what they are doing in delivering their projects (i.e. World Vision, Water Vision, CLIP, OIC, EU project, AFD project, Guinea Worm eradication project and a few others).

As a result of the experiences that I have completed thus far I am still trying to figure out what area I can best try and provide some sort of sustainable impact. The information that I am providing the CWSA and NORWASP now is great to work out problems that arise while I am hear but if after August systems are not set up to deal with them internally then it is not so good. I have thought a few areas where I hope to have at least a little longer-term impact:

• Work with CWSA to improve their internal monitoring of projects at the ground level and highlight the importance of having someone on the ground to check up on program implementation.
• Work with District Water and Sanitation Teams to develop their capacity to monitor and develop POs and report to CWSA. Specifically, improve their ability to improve latrine completion rates in their districts.
• Work with specific POs to develop their ability to deliver more effective training or improve their planning and report writing skills.

The CWSA is the long-term key stakeholder in the delivery and maintenance of safe water and improved health at least in Northern Ghana; if I can make even a small change with them it could have a good impact on delivery more water to more communities.

Overall the biggest impact thus far is the one on me. I have learned a bunch about how development, development policies and actual implementation on the ground. I have had a chance to see it from the sides of the donor agency, the project leader/executing agency, local government, local NGOs and international NGOs. As well as to learn about what the actual beneficiaries of these projects think and how they think they should develop. Overall it has been an eye opening and great learning experience and I hope that I can make some sort of impact in the sort time I have left and bring back as much as possible to start and affect change back home.

Hope this answers a few questions.

Take care and God Bless,

Jason

Oliphants!

Well I have been in Ghana for a month and I have decided to see a bit of the country while outside of my work here. This past weekend I went to Mole National Park which is about 3 hours west of Tamale.

In order to get to the park at a decent hour we wanted to leave at first thing in the morning. After purchasing a bus ticket the day before, which was a block of wood with a number written on it, I learned that first thing meant to arrive by 4am at the terminal. IK am by no means an expert yet on Ghanaian time but I have heard this line before and didn’t expect the bus to leave anytime before 5am but I would try and get there early regardless. Who knows even a watch that is stopped shows the correct time twice a day! So I stuff the small wooden block that is serving as my ticket into my pocket and head off for the rest of the evening to pack and meet with some friends in Tamale. I met up with some other EWB volunteers that happened to be in Tamale for a workshop and before I knew realized it was 11pm and I still had to get back and pack. I didn’t get sorted out and to bed until just before midnight and knew that tomorrow morning was going to be interesting if solely based on the lack of sleep scale.

Well the alarm goes off and 3:30 and I debate with my self if I really want to go to the park or if right now sleep is more valuable. After about 2 or 3 minutes I get up and grab my things and head out the door. Of course there are no taxis at this time but a friend knows a driver and calls to wake them up. By now it is about 4:20 and I get to the station around 4:30 and not a minute to soon. Not to leave of course but to watch the festivities of packing the bus. The driver and crew are carting our boxes of “Ideal” cream from a nearby building and stacking them beside the bus. This goes on for about 10-15 minutes until there is a 3 five foot tall stacks of creamer sitting next to the bus. Now the real challenge where to place it. Of course the logical choice is on the roof that’s where everything else goes. The driver, well at least I think he is the driver he seems to be giving all the orders, scales the side of the bus and soon creamer is passed up to the roof. When all is said and done there must be about 2-300 pounds of creamer riding on the top of the bus plus everyones baggage. Luckily I have only brought a small bag that I carry with me on the bus I could only imagine the mess the creamer would cause if there were some sort of accident. There is no way you could get that smell out. Once everyone’s stuff is on the bus, everything from huge bags of rice to “saminga” (i.e. white man) back packs, the fun of trying to get your seat begins. The bus fills quickly once again under the direction of the driver who palces everyone in their correct seat as he sees it. Once he finds out that I am going to Larabanga the village right outside Mole and about half the distance of the buses total trip that day he says he will get a special seat for me so that I will be able to get out easily. I don’t like the sounds of this but at this time in the morning and game to see what will happen. After the bus is nearly full he turns his attention to me and directs me to my “seat” which is an empty 20 L jug of vegetable oil that I now imagine is filled with diesel, oil, or maybe water. Anyways he throws a pair of old trousers on them and encourages me to take my seat so he can change attention to other passengers. Oh yeah the “seat” is also wedged behind the drivers seat and the Plexiglas barrier separating the passengers compartment. Just enough room for me to fit into, how cozy. So I wedge myself in and am soon surrounded by other passengers that are sitting at my feet or standing behind me. At first I am glad that I at least have a seat and don’;t have to stand but that soon changes.

Eventually the bus departs at around 5:30. Right around when the driver shifts into second gear I realize this is going to be an uncomfortable ride. Every time he shifts gears his seat which is not bolted to the floor is forced back and into my ribs and I get sandwiched even more so between the seat and the barrier. Still at least I’m not standing. Oh but I wish I was once the pavement ends and we hit the dirt road which is about 45 minutes outside of Tamale. The road is pretty much like driving down a continuous road of small speed bumps and I soon realize that the thin piece of trousers and a plastic jug don’t provide much cushioning. I am only able to shift around slightly and soon wish that I had a standing position. The bright side of things is that I had an excellent view of the road above and some good ventilation. Also eventually my leg fell asleep so it became a bit more bearable. This ride continued for about 2 hours before we made our first stop. It was a welcome chance to stretch my legs and get something to eat. After about 15 minutes I am condemned once again to my seat but only for about 45 minutes as the next stop is Larabanga. I may have made this sound a bit worse off than it actually was I really gained a lot from this experience the most of which might be a good story to tell.

Larabanga is a small village immediately outside of Mole park where we meet Robbie and Nomusa two other EWB volunteers who are working in Wa. We spend a little while in the village walking around while we exchange greetings and experience up to this point. During our walk we eventually arrive at the “Mystic Rock” which apparently when they where building the road in Larabanga returned to the middle of th road after the workers continued to remove it day after day. Eventually they decided to just divert the road and know the stone is on display just outside the town. After our pleasantries we figure we should head out to the park. One of the inns in Larabanga has a vehicle that takes tourists to the park but we missed it as the other obrunis on the bus got in once they got to Larabanga and headed out. So we figured that we would just walk in. Well the park is about 6 km from Larabanga and it was now around 10 am and approaching the hottest part of the day. A good walk would do us good and give us a chance to catch up. Along the way we shared some of our experience and changed ideas and it was a good chance to reflect with others going through a similar experience. Also we had a chance to see a few animals even before we entered the park, mostly birds but a few antelopes and some baboons. After just over 90 minutes of walking we arrived at the park and booked our rooms. The first thing I did was go to the lookout where the park motel overlooked a large water hole. There must have been around half a dozen elephants in the water bathing and drinking and another 10 or so in the nearby area. It was kind of surreal although they were still very far away these were real wild African elephants. Soon enough hunger calls so we sit down to eat at a way over priced by Ghanaian standards but still affordable in Canadian dollars meal. A couple at a table beside us leaves after finishing eating and like a flash a baboon rushes out of the nearby bushes jumps on the table knocking it over and into the pool and sending the dishes and cups crashing onto the deck but not before it makes it off with a bottle of ketchup. The baboons pretty much hang around the motel area and some are pretty huge and intimidating. But they are also quite mischievous which gives them some bonus points in my books. That afternoon and the next day we go on a nature walk with a ranger trough the actual park and get the chance to get really close to some antelope, lots of birds and HUGE elephants. When they were bathing again we were literally within 50 feet of them maybe closer. The ranger who is about 5’ 1” at max assures us he knows them all very well and will let us know when to back off and at last resort he has a riffle that must be 30 years old that he will fire into the air. As we go back he takes us through the rangers and staff area where a old elephant that has been ousted from the group hangs around. He is walking between their houses and eventually right into a children’s football game who look at the elephant and disgust and try and shoo him off but of course when we are about 100 times bigger you take your own time. Just struck me as fascinating that an elephant walking through your backyard was pretty much normal here.

As I go through the park and enjoy all the wildlife, especially the many birds, I think of all the Ghanaians who do not have this opportunity. Although it was a great chance to unwind a bit and catch up with some friends it still served to show the privileged position that I am just as a Westerner. Hopefully I can do something to reduce this priviledge or at least understand it better.

Anyways the second night we stayed in Larabanga because it was much cheaper and made it easier to catch the bus that came through at 4am which was really around 5:15. The bus ride back was mush more enjoyable as it was a bigger bus and I actually got a seat although it did seem much bumpier.

Nest issue I promise will be about what I have been doing here work wise.

Take care and God bless,

Jason

Ps. Update on things on bicycles:

Driver + bicycle + 18” Television on head

Also not a bicycle incident but yesterday I saw a fully alive cow in the trunk of a taxis with only its hooves and horns sticking out of the trunk as it drove down the road!

Kabonbu...

Sorry for the long delay in posts and I apologize for the quality of this one in advance I have been pretty busy with work but wanted to get something up just to let everyone know what I have been up to and that I am still alive.

Well the last week and a half I spent back in the Saboba-Chereponi district. This time however no termite cloud trying to invade my accommodations. The first day I spent meeting with some of the partner organizations and local government getting a feel for how they work and run the project in the district. At about 1 pm on Monday a storm was starting to brew up on the horizon. No big deal I thought just a typically thunderstorm sounds about right for the beginning of the rainy season. We were supposed to meet with the District Corodinating Exective at 2-2:30 to say our hello and what we plan to do in the district as he is the representative from the government responsible for the district. I guess the DCE is kind of like an MPP or county Mayor in the Canadian system. Well the clouds on the horizon where really starting to churn up and there was no doubt that it was going to rain and soon. As the dark blanket began to cover the town you would have thought that something was chasing everyone as they hurried on their way and closed down their shops. On our way to the DCE we stopped to meet another PO only to find that they had left for the day on account of the impending rains. Soon after at about 1:30 the skies opened up and dropped what seemed like bucket sized rain drops to the earth. So off to the district assembly I went with the hopes of meeting the DCE to get the formalities of the visit out of the way.

2pm…then 2:15…then 2:30…2:45

I soon have the feeling that he may have either forgotten about our meeting or has also called it a day. Unfortunately meeting with him was not an option so after a few questions we are prompted to just drop by the DCE’s residence and he should be there. Off we go. Upon arriving at his residence his caretaker directs us to the front door and assures us that he is in as he tries and shields himself from the deluge. I quickly trudge through the rain and knock at his front door. Luckily his residence has a cover porch so I am out of the rain for a bit. Good thing too because just when I think that he is in fact not in and am about to leave the door opens. On the other side is the DCE in his boxer shorts and undershirt inviting us to come in. My first reaction is to say we can come back at a more convienent time and apologize for interrupting him but to him it is no big deal. So we enter and have a seat at the couch with the DCE still in his underwear mind you and have a discussion about the weather, our plans for the week, the noise of the rain on the tin roof and various other things. Just imagine having small talk with your mayour or MPP in their underwear and it not being a big deal at all. After all why should it? We all have underwear on don’t we?

Anyways for the rest of the week we met with some more organizations, communities and key stakeholders. Expect more detail on the actual project and contribution in on the next posts. As I am in the process of compiling my thoughts on work both for this and for a presentation I have to make next week at CWSA. So I promise project specific details in an upcoming issue in the near future.

But the big news is Kabonbu Village. From Friday to Monday I spent living with a community or about 250 people near the Togo border. Kabonbu is about 3 hours east of Tamale and about 40 minutes south of Saboba down a dirt road that at times is questionably passable. But the turn of to the village can onlky be found to someone who knows the area to me it seemed like a small animal track like a dear or rabbit track in Canada. The only real marking is a tree at the side of the road but how you tell it from all the other trees is still up in the air to me. The foot track soon widens as it leaves the “main” roadway and is more desernable. Another 10 minutes down this path and up a small hill and at the top is Kabonbu a community of 250 people in 8 houses. Earlier in the week I visited and asked the chief for his permission to stay in the village in order to better understand their daily lives. Well as my vehicle left on its way back to Tamale and I stood in the village trying to find someone to speak with I was wondering if this was the best plan I had ever thought of and that this could be a long four days. I young boy runs off into the surrounding farm land to bring back the chief. I great him and we make out with a bit of English and hand gestures that he is to sending for his brother at another farm who I will stay with and is good at English. About 30 minutes later George Ugbanjab arrives, the chiefs brother, and my new landlord for the next four days. Luckily Goerge can speak a bit of English so he helps me to learn Kokomba the local dilect in the region and shows me around the village. This doesn’t take very long as there are only eight houses and I suggest that we go back to his farm as I don’t want to keep him from his work. I explain that I want to just try and live like they do and farm when they do. At first he is unsure of this but off to the farm we go. The heat of the afternoon is unbearable and I wonder how anyone could keep up working in this all day. I wonder if this is the best idea and if I can actually do this. We move away from the main community and into their farming area. The first day we really don’t do any farming and George just shows me around and explains the different types of crops and introduces me to more members of the community. At around 5:30 we head back into the community.

By this time most of the men have returned from their fields and are siting around the main tree drinking pito a homemade wine. As we sit around I soon learn that they are discussing what they will feed me and if I will actually go to farm tomorrow. I try and explain that I will eat anything that they normally have and to not go out of their way on my account. However that is not there way I am a guest and am soon presented with a guinea fowl, which I learn afterwards is the highest delicacy in the kokomba tribe, which I am to inspect and we are to eat tonight. It is whisked away and the next time I see the creature is split in two and being prepared for dinner. My host directs me to the bath house which is a section within the compound with short walls and a drain to the outside for water to run out. It is now long after night fall and I proceed to take a bucket shower (kind of like a bird bath). It is pretty surreal. Over head is an open sky darker than any I have ever seen with the stars as the only form of light. There is not electricity around for a few kilometers I imagine. As I bathe I can here the rhythmic thumping of a mortar and pestle as the women are preparing TZ to go with the guinea fowl. Accompanying the hypnotic beat are flashes of lightning in the distance as a storm passes over another part of the country or perhaps Togo. I finish bathing and move into the Obi that I will be sharing with George and his wife Mary for the next three nights. It is small but comfortable with mud walls and a thatch roof. Soon Mary arrives and brings in a heaping bowl of TZ and the guinea fowl soup. TZ I really enjoy and guinea fowl is really good too so I thought I would have no problems with this meal but then I wonder what are those yellowish-orange globes staring at me through the night air and thick soup. I find out that they are partially developed guinea eggs that were inside the bird and a delicacy. Oh yeah and also they are for me to “chop” (i.e. eat). So there is no avoiding it the bird was especially killed for me and those yellow globes which I swear are pulsating have got my name all over them. Well no beating around the bush I reach down into the soup and grab one and through it in my mouth. And they are actually not bad once you get paste the psychological factor. So after we eat which by the way is way more than I could normally ever eat but I try my best and finish as much as I can it is pretty late and I am tired to George directs me to the obi to where he has made me a cot to sleep it. I try and convince him that I will be fine on the floor on the mat and that he can have his fot but once again he is having none of this as I am the guest and that is the end of it. Tomorrow we agree to get up early and go the farm.

It is about 5 am or shortly there after when the women get up to go fetch water for the morning and start to make the morning meal. The men get up at around 5:30-6 and start by greeting each other and chewing on chewing sticks which are kind of like tooth brushes. It is shortly after 6:15 when we finish our TZ and head out to the farm. Today we will “farm small” George says and he finds me a hoe to use and off we go. As we are walking to the field I notice that my hoe is much smaller than George’s. As we get to georges plot of land two of his brothers are there already and I notice that my hoe is much smaller than theirs also. Of course I say nothing at the time and it is only afterward that I learn that they gave me a smaller hoe so it would be easier for me. We begin by using the hoe to turn the soil in order for the grasses to die and to prepare to plant ground nuts (peanuts) after the next rain. Luckily the rain in the distance the previous night has turned into complete cloud cover and the heat of the day is stayed off for a while. I try and get to work trying to till the soil and geoerge and his brothers and more than willing to instruct me in how to use the hoe. They make it seem so effortless but now I am grateful that I have the small hoe as it is much more difficult than they make it appear. As will be no surprise to my father I am soon developing blisters on my hands as I do not have the hands of a labourer. My host finds this amussing and requests that I rest “small-small”. I take a quick break to lick my wounds and watch the three men really get into it. They work together to till a row at time one behind the other. With me out of the way they really pick up the pace. Not to be left out tof the action for too long I pick up my little hoe and start at another end of the field. We carry on like this for a few hours and just when I think my hands will fall off and my back will stayed permanently curved over Mary arrives with lunch and some water. It is still very overcast and I realize that if it were not and the sun was up I’m not sure if I could actually do this. These are really hard workers. We carry on after work. All told we till about an half an arce of land I guess. Well really george and his brother till about 95% of the land and I try with about the rest that they sometimes go over to make look good. During this time the women have been preparing breakfast and lunch, fetching water and cleaning, after they have fed the men in some of them come out to tend their own fields or fetch fire wood. The women are truly amazing. Where they find the energy to keep it up day after day is a wonder. I really don’t think that I can articulate how hard they work from before sunrise to long after sunset. It makes me think about why I am here.

I may not be able to solve all the problems or come up with a magic solution to poverty but I can make a contribution however small. This may be what it is all about, if we all can make a contribution in our own way we can work together to end poverty. In a thunderstorm no single drop of rain is going to make that much of a difference but counted together if it rains long enough it will create a flood. If we want we can create a flood of support, support to our politicians to make pro-development decisions, support to each other to help our fellow man and support to someone half way around the world. All we have to do is choose to make a stance.

I think that is all I have for right now I will try and get to some more reflection and writing soon.

Take care and God Bless,

Jason