Gradually then suddenly


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Africa » Ghana » Northern » Tamale
June 24th 2007
Published: June 24th 2007
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I have been sick as of late but this has afforded some personal reading time. I finished the Sun also rises by Ernest Hemingway and there is one line in the novel that is poignant to my experience in Africa. Mike is asked how he became a bankrupt and his response is 'gradually then suddenly'. This quote applies to so much of what I am going through: my understanding of development, language and Ghana in general. I am slowly seeing myself change my perspective but it has been slow and upon reflection I see how much I have grown.

I spent one week on in a rural village on a farm in one of the poorer districts. Despite all the hardships the farmer, Gmaden (pronounced Mada) is extremely successful. He has three wives and 27 children which provides a large pool of labour for assistance on the farm. With the large number of children there are also many grandchildren. In fact, one was born in the house after I arrived. He was healthy and the Gmaden decided that since I brought the child, I should name it. If it were a girl, I would have named it Dorothy. The EWBers should get a kick out of this. I decided to name him after Nelson Mandela. The reasons is the first they could not pronounce the first few names I choose and I thought he should be named after and African. The name went over well and Nelson is doing well.

Unfortunately I was unwell and as such did not have the opportunity to spend much time on the farm. Supplemented to this was a lack of rain thus reducing the work that farmers could do. When one is so dependent on farming for subsistence, this is a crisis. If the crops die, the food goes and there may not be enough to eat.

As I was not well I spent the majority of my time with the women and in the village. This presented many opportunities to witness rural livelihoods and the various struggle and opportunities that entail. I will focus on three here though there are many more.

First there were no toilet facilities and the closest covering was a five to ten minute walk in thick bush. After a week of illness I can describe in enormous detail the difficulties I encountered but I will leave the images to your imagination. I thought about the risks of snakes and how difficult and dangerous it must be at night in some areas. If you do get bit the nearest facility is 45 minutes away and not open 24 hours.

Second, was water. This village did not have a borehole, pump, deep water well or any filtration system. In fact, there were two main sources of wells. The first an open natural rock well and the second a dried up stream. Both were filthy and even with chlorine treatments I would not take it. Luckily for me there was a borehole in the neighboring community but the locals do not have access to this facility.

Third, I wanted to see if people were supplementing there income.
Many farmers sell there surplus. I met a man who makes alcohol using sugar, water and yeast. It is hard to describe the taste but I am sure I have friends from close to my hometown in Manitoba who have produced there own liquor may be able to describe the taste of moonshine. This was a profitable business and thanks to the money gained, he was able to send all of his children to school. The lack of water in the area reduced how much business he was able to do and I learned that bore holes and other projects may have large secondary benefits to the society.

Upon return to Saboba I decided to visit the hospital to see what was wrong. The hospital has a website and they do amazing work there www.sabobamedicalcentre.net . I would recommend that you take a look as they perform miracles under difficult scenarios. I was diagnosed (via blood test) with malaria though I did not present with the classical symptoms. The medicines have helped and the first hand experience has taught me what a devastating and debilitating disease this is.

Well I must head off but I thought I would share one wacky story. So I thought I would highlight my birthday which involved the roasting of a goat, 50 invited guests and beer. We then went and I spent time with the family drinking Peto, the local liquor.

Over and Out from Ghana.


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