Blogs from Northern, Ghana, Africa - page 7

African Cup of Nations - Ghana Style By Nichole Huck Life is divided between watching football and not watching football. Even as I type this entry at an Internet Cafe I am watching football. The African Cup of Nations has taken Ghana by storm. Four brand new multi-million dollar stadiums were built in the major cities in Ghana - including one in the Northern Capital of Tamale. When the Ghana Black Stars are playing - you know it. Everyone is dressed in Ghana colours, motorcycles and taxis are draped with Black Star flags. And every TV in town is tuned to the game. But on days when the other teams play in Tamale the stadium has thousands of empty seats. Seats range in price from $4 to $15. The four dollar seats are usually fairly full ... read more

A friend of mine had a conversation with coyote in a project that he is working on. I thought that I would give it a try. Coyote is a mythological creature in West Coast Native American stories. If you want more information on him please go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coyote_%28mythology%29 . I thought it would be fun to share some thoughts with him about my African experience. Coyote is known for being somewhat of a trickster. A walk into the Savannah Cold Cold Cold I see Coyote walking through a marsh. I ask: “Shouldn’t you be in Canada” He replies: “Does an animal not roam free like ideas?” “Yes I guess that they do but how can an animal come so far?” With a smile coyote responds: “Shouldn’t you be asking yourself the same question? You are studying ... read more

A Christmas Poem for Family and Friends By Nichole Huck Twas the night before Christmas And all throughout Ghana… Not a creature was stirring except for the goats, sheep, roosters, donkeys, Iman who announces on the mosque’s loudspeaker outside our bedroom window and the horn blasting taxi drivers. Nichole and Shawn were curled up under their mosquitoe net covered bed. With hopes that malaria would not strike them dead. It has been only three months since they left the city that rhymes with fun. In that time - the Saskies took power and the roughriders won! Nichole spends her days at Radio Justice FM - Where the first week she was told women are inferior to men. A “human rights media trainer” - is what she was told. But she’s much more of a student - ... read more

Paga, Northern Ghana Eco-tourism or community centred tourism projects are popping up all over Ghana. The North of Ghana has a long dry season - which scorches the earth and makes growing almost anything impossible. The Savannah grasses start to dry up in November and they won’t see rain again until April. The harsh growing conditions coupled with difficulties securing land has driven many young people to turn away from farming. Those who don’t go south in search of education have started looking right in their own backyard for opportunities. Many have started community based tourism projects - everything from crocodile petting zoos to slave camp tours. They are digging into their culture to turn sacred rituals into modern day photo opportunities. Others are turning a tarnished past into a profitable future. The village of Pagga ... read more

Our first major stop in Ghana was the Mole National Park. Home to hundreds of species of wildlife and birds. The campsite is located at the top of a hill overlooking a large watering hole where wildlife comes to drink and bathe. Frequent visitors around our tents included warthogs and baboons. The baboons as we were warned are "terrorists" and will go out of thier way to cause trouble. We often saw them raiding garbage cans and anything else that was left out un-guarded. One particular morning Kathie and I looked out the window of our tent and noticed we were being observed intently by a particularily large baboon. We did our best to stay quiet and not provoke him and he eventually moved on. On our full day in the park we went for a ... read more