Blogs from Brong Ahafo, Ghana, Africa

Six days before departure we are all getting ready for our trip. We will be flying from Vancouver to Accra via Amsterdam on KLM. Still waiting for our visas to be returned from the High Commission in Ottawa. Our fingers are crossed that they will arrive in time! Our group has sent enough money ahead of time to purchase 350 mosquito nets for distribution to hospitals and orphanages in the Sunyani area while we are there. Our team members are Past District Governor Ross White ( Rotary Club of Nanaimo), Gordon Butt ( Duncan Rotary Club), Laraine Butt, Garry Cox (Rotary Club of Parksville AM), Alexis Hammer, Ken Hammer (Nanaimo Daybreak Rotary Club), Don Luke (Rotary Club of Parksville AM), Michael Procter (Rotary Club of Qualicum Beach).... read more

Well here I am, Newmont gold mines and the dumper trucks are HUGE I feel like a borrower in Hamleys toy store in the boys construction toy section everything here is seriously big! especially my backside so everyone keeps telling me I even had a woman sit next to me today because she wanted to sit next to "the big white safety lady" hmmm Thanks - I think :) - what I dont understand is why are the africans not fat? they eat so much food!!! and then they say to me that I dont eat enough. It is sooooo hot here I mean 40 degrees hot, forget getting the BBQ out you could BBQ a steak on the pavement. I became pals with a cat yesterday and I saw him again this morning, they apparently ... read more

I’ve had a few requests to revive the old travel blog so here goes. I’ve started writing a series about living in the US and the funny things I have seen or had to do but that’ll come later. I’ll try to write about my time in Ghana while I’m here and things are fresh in mind. To help give this entry a bit of a framework I’ll describe a bit of its geography. Ghana is on the west coast of Africa, west of Togo and Nigeria and just east of Cote D’Ivoire. I flew into the capital, Accra, over 24 hours from Denver to Heathrow and Heathrow to Accra. It was a pretty good flight, business class, which was pretty cool, I learned that the brits make a decent imitation caesar. Since I left at ... read more

Greetings from Sunyani, capital of the Brong Ahafo region of Ghana, right near the border with Ivory Coast. So the internet may be down and out, but I am in high, high spirits. We just finished our first of two weeks of data collection, and it feels great to be getting out of the offices and theoretical realm of papers, and actually talking with people--and playing with their kids. After the first three weeks in Ghana's two largest cities, I had a very incomplete perspective on this country, but that has changed this week. Every day me and six Ghanaian researchers (four students, two employees of the organization), meet up with a man they call "The General," who takes us in a taxi down a red clay road to some crossroads city, small town or other ... read more

Wishing Kenya well. and welcome to Ghana! Leaving Kenya was bittersweet. Time to go, but also wanting to stay. After three months, was attached to the Dago/Ranen community, Odoyo family, and other friends. My brief stay with the Maasai only showed me how much I missed when my two week program scheduled for February was cancelled. But, the short time there was valuable in making a connection with program hosts and community leaders, Emmanuel and wife Lilian. Also, in introduction to Maasai culture, basic history - had previously read, but got personal insight - and current lifestyle in the Transmara, which may be in the southern Rift Valley. Not sure where the boundary is. Though a short time with the people, they are lovely. Emmanuel and Lilian are saintly people, giving all to their community. They ... read more