Mole National Park

Our trip was planned as a 4 day excursion which became 5 while we were in the process of going. However, the entire trip was amazing, even the bits where buses weren't running and we did not know what to do.

We began on thursday afternoon, planning to catch the 3pm MMT bus to Kumasi. We waited for 2 hours and then got on a tro. The bus arrived and we were going to get out and get on it, when we were informed that this was the bus for tomorrow. NOT tonight, even though there was a scheduled 3pm bus...

Our tro was fine and in 4 hours we were in Kumasi. It was dark so we took a drop taxi to the STC station since we knew our hostel was nearby that and he had never heard of it. Luckily, it is about 20 feet away and we saw the sign as we drove in. The hostel was amazingly nice and we meet a few other obrunis eating dinner. Ironically, we would meet again.

We woke up at 5:45 and went to the STC station at 6am to buy our tickets to Tamale. It was deserted and we should have slept longer... So we went back, showered, ate breakfast, and reported back to the station at 9 since our bus was leaving at 10. At 10 to 10 we were informed via announcement that the bus was not coming. There was an issue somewhere and it would be here at 2pm. HUGE TIME DIFFERENCE! So we talked with the peace corp members who were headed to Tamale for and HIV/AIDS conference and the obrunis from the hostel the night before. The consensus was to wait for the bus since the tros are not direct and you can have issues finding a tro for the next leg of the journey. The bus finally left at 2:45pm and then we needed gas, which was on the opposite side of the city from where we were and needed to leave from. This added another 45 minutes due to the traffic.

The ride however was beautiful and we managed to observe an stunning sunset as well as a lighting storm over the open plains. It was amazing!

In addition the obrunis from the night before were also going to MOLE NP and the one guy, Cameron, had done it before, so he knew what to do. Ironically, we had also booked the same hostel again that evening, so we decided to travel together! Our team was now 3 americans, 3 austrailans, and 1 brazilian. Yeah team! Our new found friends were Cameron (been in Ghana 3x), Nicole and Ryan (who are dating and it is Ryan's 21st birthday on sunday), and Maraina (Cameron's girlfriend from brazil). They are all amazingly nice people and a good deal of fun to hang out with.

We had a filling breakfast at the hostel and it was pretty cheap which we appreciated. We then ended up exploring Tamale in order to find a way to get to Damongo (two towns away from Mole). We tried MMT without luck, the tro station had no one going, and then the boys found the Zongo station which is clear on the other side of town. So we got to see a bunch of the city and all the beautiful Mosques. The north is mainly muslim, since they are near the Sahara and that was how islam spread into Africa, through the trans-Saharan trade routes.

Our bus/tro was a good deal of fun. We made it to Damongo in 3 hours and the ride was bumpy but not unbearable. We also saw a good deal of termite mounds and traditional round houses which was rather neat.
Once in Damongo we chartered a tro to Mole. Everyone piled in for Larabanga, which resulted in the boys sitting on the roof.

Once in Mole we checked into the hotel and then explored a little. It was beautiful!

Our first taste of the wildlife was the warthogs that ate dinner with us. The ran around the table and chased each other while the 7 of us were eating...

The next morning was our walking safari. Our guide, Telly, was amazing. We literally tracked and elephant following scat and foot prints (which are huge!) and found the elephant within a half hour. We were 15 feet from it and were there for nearly an hour following him through the bush. At one point he seemed to be annoyed with us and turned to us an grumbled. Our guide immediately told us to run past him and over to the next set of trees, which we did and thankfully the elephant did not follow! It was a little scary at that point... It was amazing though. We watched him eat (he ripped off half a trees) and drink and ford the river. It was amazing!

We did not just see an elephant though. We saw reedbuck and antelope. We saw a troop of baboons, a herd of warthogs, and some reptiles.

We also saw a Patas (aka red) monkey. He can to visit us at the tables in the restaurant at the Mole Motel. This seemly innocent little guy quickly became a thief. He stole Danielle's loaf of bread, which was incredibly funny when you think about it. They apparently are also incredibly fond of ketchup... :)

Our final stop on our trip was Larabanga. We road on the back of motorcycles to get there. We were staying with the Salia brothers. They are 4 brothers who run a compound of huts or you can do a homestay with the family and sleep on the roof. We choose the latter which was awesome! They were the ones to come and get us with the motorbikes (which were 2 cedi/ ride vs 20 cedi/ride for a jeep that the mole national park provides to take you to larabanga). The eldest brother's wife made us fried yam and vegetable stew for dinner, which was the first real food we had eaten other than eggs in the mornings. It was wonderful. We ate on the roof with the youngest brother and watched a lighting storm roll in over the park. It eventually rained and they had a room prepared for us just-in-case so we were fine. It was awesome seeing that many stars though. Where there is 1 or 2 in the USA there are 20-30 here. Small faint stars in the background that look like glitter. It was wonderful.

We also saw the Larabanga Mosque. It is the oldest in West Africa and has an interesting history. Brother #3 took us to see it and told the history to us. The imam had been traveling to find a place away from the fighting of the Christians and Muslims to build a mosque. He had stopped at a large stone and was inspired to through his spear. Where it landed he would build. Upon finding the spear the next morning it was in a location that already had a foundation, but no signs of human habitation. After praying for guidance, he was shown that the sight was blessed and intended for him to build upon. As he laid each branch to build the frame another would fall into place, allowing him to complete the work in less than a month. The imam then lived out his life using the mosque and teaching Islam. When he died he asked to be buried nearby. After 3 months out of his burial sight sprung a great baobab tree. It stands today and is cared for in times of need, supporting the mosque to this day. (Cool story right?) The mosque is quite beautiful and is a stick and mud construction which is amazing.

We also got to see quite the sunset before we went to bed and made friends with many of the local children who escorted us everywhere!


We then traveled home in one day. (not recommended) We awoke at 3:30am and caught the MMT bus to Tamale. From there we caught a noon bus to Kumasi. We arrived in Kumasi at 7:30pm and caught a Ford Van back to Cape arriving at 12 midnight. I then walked the rest of the way home from Kotokraba (10min). The walking was the best part since i was not crammed into a small space with my backpack and could stretch my legs! In addition everyone that i ran into inquired as to where i was coming from and if i needed help getting home. So nice! Americans would try and mug you...

My mom, Matilda, also was awake and waiting up for me to get home so she knew i was safe! She is wonderful!!!! She checked in on us throughout the trip, which is so cute and wonderful of her! (See parents, i am fine here since my family here would be just as up-in-arms as you would be if anything happened!)

The whole thing was just an amazing experience. I loved the animals and the people and am thankful i was able to experience it all!

Tree Platforms

What does a jungle, a taxi, a flashlight, and water all have in common?

Our last trip of course!

Danielle, Mckell, and I set out to sleep in the Tree-platforms in Kakum National Park. You do not go to Kakum National Park though, the first issue we had since we went there the first time we tried.

Our second try was to the correct location, the Mosomongor village. This requires a trotro out of Cape Coast to Foso, but you alight at Fanti-Noyrkomasi. From there you get a share taxi (with 4 people in the back, 2 in the front, and the driver) to the village. This ride is down a series of old red dirt roads lined with potholes and ditches. It also takes 2 hours to traverse.

This would have been normal, but luck was not with us. We drove into a bank of storm clouds, which resulted in a down pour. We ended up taking on 4 more passengers who all climbed into the trunk of our taxi. We then got stuck 3 times.

The first was in a detour around a cement blockade of the road (no idea why it was there...) So you drive off to the side on some tree branches, which of course sunk into the mud and resulted in us being unable to move. Some of the passengers got out and pushed, although they would not let us help.

We got moving again, but now encountered a hill. The road at this point had a small river running directly across it, which the car did not want to traverse. It instead slide to the side and got stuck in the gutter. This was much more difficult to get out of. We had to slide back down the hill while lifting the car out of the gutter and avoiding the river. It took 2 tries to get out and then 2 more attempts to actually get up the hill.

The final location was the last hill before the town. This was a lot of wheel spinning and required some pushing, but we managed to get out rather quickly. Of course, as we made it to the top of the hill the rain stopped and everything was back to normal.

We therefore arrived in the town by 4pm. Yet upon our arrival, there was no one there for the tree platforms. We inquired where to go and one of the locals took us to the school, which is were the guesthouse is located. We then met Samuel, the community tour guide. He explained that you need 2 guides to enter the forest. A community tour guide and a forest guide (the one with a gun). Samuel also explained the manager of the program was out traveling as were 5 of the 7 forest guides. We told him that we wanted to go in this evening and had been trying to call all week to make an appointment without success. (We were informed that the numbers had changed and he gave us a new one for next time.) We meet the 2 forest guides who were still in town and the first said he would not go because was sick and the second said he would not go because it rained...

Its a rain forest... ?... Yeah...

So we then decided to return to town that evening because we had to be back in town by 10 to do a beach clean-up and there was no point in paying 30 cedis to sleep in a guesthouse just to leave as early as possible. This however required that we wait for the last taxi of the evening to come and then drive us back to town. We played with some of the school kids while we waited for the 2 hours.

Our ride back was just as good as getting there. We started out fine (with 8 people piled into a tiny little car with no trunk so we had to hold all our bags) and made it to the point with the cement block before we got stuck again. So we got stuck and the car stalled and the headlights went out. We were informed that the driver was an electrician and would have it fixed in no time. After 30 minutes of tinkering without success, we set off again with no headlights in the middle of the dark tropical jungle on a pot-hole ridden red dirt road...

The solution to this was that the right-most passenger held a flashlight out the window so that we could see the holes and the other cars could see us. It was insane! We were convinced that something would happen, but we got back to Fanti Noyrkomasi in one piece. The longer we reflected the more hilarious the whole situation became...

This is the ancient flashlight they were using... Image from flashlightmuseum.com

We then got a tro to Cape with the help of one of the other passengers. We were told by a local that we could stay at her house if the tro did not come, and her daughter gave me a huge hug! She was so cute!

The tro ride back was relatively normal and fast since we were back in Cape by 9. The whole trip seemed like it took forever though and was crazy!!!!

We did not get to sleep on the platforms again... So third time is the charm! (We hope...)

Abra Medical Lab

I am beginning my service in a medical lab this week. I arrived at 10am and was there until 3pm for my first day. The lab is subdivided into the reception room, the sample collection station, the biochemistry area, the hematology area, the microbiology room, the scanning room and xray. The building is large and the lab is able to test for almost any of the common diseases within Ghana. There are 11 full time staff members, 5 women and 6 men.

I opted to follow Mr. Daniels around yesterday. He ran the biochemistry section and was doing testing for Cholesterol, Triglycerides, Protein, Glucose, Uric Acid, and Urea as well as Bilirubin for some. All the tests are kits from Accucare making the procedures strait forward.

He was really nice in explaining each one and how to adjust the spectrophotometer to the proper wavelength and how samples need blanks and controls. At this point i managed to thank him and explain that I do some lab work at my home university and understand all this... :)

We also did some microbiology, which I again got a full explanation of pouring plates and antibiotics and autoclaving, at which point i informed them i have just completed a microbiology course. I was then quizzed as to what goes on a gram stain: crystal violet and iodine. This apparently proved that I knew something at least...

I also was able to watch a typhoid test, which is rather simple. You add 2 drops of serum to a tile, add a basic and acidic solution and then rock for 2 minutes. If there is agglutination then you have typhoid.

The Hep B test is also very straight forward. Bilirubin levels are initially examined and if these are off then a test strip is used. You dip the strip into the urine and wait for the liquid to cross the line. A control line appears and then if another line is shown, you have Hep B.

The lab seems to determine their results with accuracy, which i cannot believe due to the techniques used. Professors you may want to read this sitting down...

1. The plastic disposable pipet tips are reused and rinsed with diH2o in between as a means of cleaning them. They are reused for both reagents and samples with the same pipet tips going into every bottle and sample...

2. Gloves are entirely optional, including when drawing, handling, and processing the blood of patients who are here because they have a disease.

3. The standards for each test on the spec are calibrated once in the morning and that is it. We redid the urea one and received a different reading but that did not seem to concern anyone...

4. There is no EtOH anywhere. I keep waiting for someone to clean the bench, but it does not happen. We were plating in the micro lab on a dirty counter top and i want to know how they could possibly trust those results.

5. The things they are missing are interesting as well. There are no eye showers or goggles, no hoods, water baths, or bio-hazardous waste containers or reagent waste containers. All the reagents and blood go down the sink or thrown in the trash...

However, even with the flaws, the lab clearly gets the results that are needed by the patients. Hospitals, clinics, and private individuals all use to lab for diagnostic testing. All of the members are well trained and competent in what they do. There are no protocols anywhere or MSDS sheets for that mater, but everyone knows what they are doing in the end and get the results. It will be interesting to continue working there and see how things progress...

Me and the Ladies! (Missing Maggie, the receptionist)

Me and Lidia and Daniels (My favorites)

Nzulezu

The weekend was an amazing adventure that can be broken down into a sequence of hilarious excursions.

It begins with 1 Scottish and 4 American girls meeting up with 4 German boys resulting in 1 trotro full of white people. We received so many stares as we drove through the towns and on our way to Takoradi... We parted ways at the main tro station and the 5 of us girls went for a walk through town.

Here begins part 2. Everyone assumes we are new tourists and wants to help us out. We are happily walking and looking, deciding where to go on a whim since all one has to do is head to market circle to prevent being lost. However we cannot stop too long to make a decision or we risk being mobbed by taxi drivers who want to take us somewhere or sellers who want us to buy. We decide to take a side street and ask a real local for directions to a place for lunch. He is kind enough to not only explain but also hail a taxi for us and tell the guy to not overcharge us, we will go for 2 cedis. We get to the restaurant, eat and relax.

So begins part 3. We hail a taxi and pile in telling the driver we need a tro to Beyin. He takes us to the main tro station, which is not the one we want... However, after paying for the ride we ask around and find that there is a tro to Elubo that we can get out of at Aiyinasi and then catch a cab to backtrack to Beyin. (note that i am the only one who thought to bring a guide book and therefore am the only one who thinks this is not a good idea and would like to go to the actual station...) We get in since it seems like a reasonable plan to some and off we go. Its 2 hours out and the driver flags down a full taxi and tells us to get out. The people from the taxi get in the tro and we would get in the taxi but the driver wants 40 cedis! All of us could get to Burkina Faso and back for that... We kindly explain that we are not getting in unless he will take 10 cedis which is finally agreed upon. So off we go!

Part 4 of the journey is interesting. Our driver stops in the middle of no where to talk with another taxi driver. He then tells us to get out, as we are switching cars since he can go no further (no explanation past that). He has a little car taxi and the next is a Subaru like taxi, which makes sense now... However, this taxi already has a passenger and there are 5 of us with bags. After a minor argument the guy will not get out but we have to pay less so we will deal with it. Michaela sits with random guy up front and then the other 4 of us sit in the back. The ride begins again. Why we needed a different car: the road is nothing but potholes!!!! We are bouncing and hitting the roof as we drive at a conservative pace. We all break down into hysterical laughter at this point until we reach Beyin...

Part 5: We finally arrive...

The resort is quaint...

The sunset is beautiful and perfect...

Dinner is candle-lit and fun...

We don't sleep well but it is the excitement and the new location. The sunrise is also beautiful...

And the fort (Fort Apollonia) is a stark contrast against the community...

Part 6: Nzulezo
This made the whole trip worth all of the effort that we had to put into it! The trip was riddled with hidden fees labeled as donations but were actually required. However, the boat ride was awesome and I got to paddle! My arms hurt now as I am writing this but it was awesome at the time. :) In addition we went through marsh, swamp forest, and lakes to get to the town (composing the Amansuri wetlands!).

Nzulezu itself is a city on stilts, The community is around 400 people who all live lives on the water. The fish and canoe inland to farm. However, the also travel inland to the local markets once a week for supplies. The town is unique due to its existence since approximately 500 years ago. It is however rebuilt often due to water damage and fire. The last large fire was in 1968, which is probably why the oldest home is approximately 70 years old. The town builds its own stilts and boats allowing it to be self renewing. The tourism it attracts helps pay for the local school and continued upkeep as well as keeping the canoes running back and forth!

I probably could have spent the rest of my trip paddling around the wetlands happily...

Part 7- The trip home, which was planned better. We had out guide, Charles, explain the best way for us to go. So we took a tro from Beyin to Tikobo. There we bought bread and bananas for lunch (a common staple) and then got a tro to Takoradi. They dropped us at the Cape Coast station and the tro from there dropped us each in succession, where we needed to go! Kirsty and Michaela at Yes FM, Danielle at Pedu, and Mckell and I at Kotokraba. It was great and saved us a taxi fare!


The whole adventure was fun and rather well done. I know the others are taking their parents back there and it is defiantly a place I would recommend!!!

Teaching

We have been teaching a lot recently since we spend about a week at a school before moving on. Thus far we have taught in Kakumdo, Akotokyir and now town. HEPENS as a whole has been able to serve 17 schools within the last year, providing all with hand washing buckets and trash bins. We the classes have all been taught with personal hygiene in mind, teaching about showering, hand washing, and tooth brushing.The older students also receive a lesson on nutrition. We make sure to have a demonstration in each class so that it is not just obrunis teaching, but also peer-to-peer education.

We are not just teaching the students. On Friday at the Pedu public school we taught the parents of the PTA about adolescence and HIV/AIDS to reinforce what the children are being taught.

We are now planning on beginning a recycling program for empty water sachets within the schools. We will provide the school with trash bins and through a partnership with a local recycling company, make sure to have the water sachets collected on a regular basis. In order to make this a greater success the plan is to have a competition between the schools to see which can collect the most by a set date. We will then provide that school with a prize and hopefully will have created a habit which they will continue. If we can have them bring in their water sachets from their families at home as well we will drastically be able to reduce waste in the communities! (And also provide HEPENS with a small but steady income, since they now depend solely on volunteer donations.)

Trip to Accra

Accra was an interesting weekend. The trip there was delayed. Our STC bus was a little late, only an hour, so not so bad... Lauren and Mckell set out on the early morning STC on Thursday. Danielle and I took the 3pm STC (which didn't leave till 4pm) and then Micheala and Kirsty took a Ford Van a little after 3pm. The trip was actually nice since we had AC (which dripped, a lot). The guy next to me, Kofi, works for a mining company and also a media company. He loves Obama and hopes he is reelected (so does every Ghanaian. When you say you are from the USA they say "oh, Obama land!" the girls then add "and Michelle") We had a long discussion about politics and Michael Jackson and music. I tried to be as diplomatic and non-committal as possible. He does however approve of my music choices of classic rock and jazz.

We arrived at 7:30pm and found a taxi with the help of a local who was waiting for a bus. The driver tried to swindle us for 20 cedis!!! (we paid 8 for the 2 of us to get to Accra with AC). We talked him down to 10 and then went on our way. We dropped another women on the way so we literally drove from the west side of Adabraka to the east side of Osu then north trough Cantoments to the airport. There was traffic and it took 45 minutes, so i guess it was good we paid what we did but still, that is insane! Kirsy and Micheala beat us there even though we arrived in Accra first!

The airport was an interesting adventure. They don't let you into departure unless you have a ticket for departing. We just wanted to see Lauren and eat dinner. We therefore told the first guard we are going to the US. Which is true in 2 months. We then told the second the truth and that we would be be in the restaurant and then back within an hour and he let us in after telling us to bring him some food :)

We had a simple dinner, rice and soda (airport food is expensive) and chatted with Lauren until 8:30 when she had to go through security to catch her plane. Departing (or what we saw of it) is much nicer than incoming. It seems more orderly as well... As we said goodbye it seemed very unreal and that it was likely we would see Lauren again on Tuesday at Fante. However, we will all keep in touch!

We all spent the night at the Mormon temple in Accra. We were allowed to stay in the Guest house with Mckell, since she and Lauren had stayed the night before. It cost 2 cedis a person, which saved all of our budgets for the weekend. Everything in Acrra is expensive! The temple was beautiful and the room was amazing. I was shocked that we had AC, were provided with water, and there were laundry facilities! We all stayed awake talking, but slept well and awoke early, as normal.

We spent the day in Osu, a less crowed but very friendly part of town. We started the day by walking up and down the street chatting with venders until the shops and restaurants opened. Kirsty haggled for a bag, Danielle bought a bracelet, and I bought a wrap bracelet for Zoe (guess the color...)

We then checked out a clothing boutique, all made to order of course (read as expensive!). We then had breakfast at Frankie's which was on the second floor and very nice. They have a bakery downstairs so i went with a chocolate croissant and coffee. The bill for this was 7 cedis (so around 5 USD) and i was annoyed since the bakery in souderton's is better and i would have never been charged 3 USD for a black coffee! However, it was a pleasant way to start the day and it tasted great, so the complaints are minimal.
We set out on a shopping hunt after breakfast. Our first stop was the Vidya Bookstore which had shelves and western books! Danielle actually bought an African fable that was an illustrated children's book. Kirsty bought a few more western novels for her and the office so that worked well as well.

We then walked back up the street and stopped at Global Mama's. It is a fair trade shop that teaches women a craft and then sells the goods at a fair return. The store sells everything from clothing, ties, and bibs, to trinkets, earrings, and full table settings. We had fun looking around and we purchased a few small items. Everyone plans to drag their parents there once they arrive so that larger items can be purchased with consent... :)

Our final stop was the Koala supermarket:

The cute sign was nice, but the inside was better. It is a real grocery store! Danielle bought some twix bars and the others got cookies and the other random things we are all missing.

We saw a lot more just driving through town on our way to different places.

Football stadium:

Ministry of Defense:

Presidential Palace:

And we also drove by most of the embassies. At least I now know where to run to if there is an international incident...  :)