The Stilt Village (May 28th)

Since we got into Beyin late on Wednesday, we had to wait until Thursday to go to the stilt village. Our trotro driver from the previous night said the earliest you could go was 7am, so we woke up around 6:15 and were ready to go at 7. Someone at the hotel gave us a ride, squished into his pickup truck, through the small village of Beyin to the dock where you go to the stilt village. We paid in a small building and then boarded a canoe, me in the front and Diana in the back with a guy rowing in the very back, to the stilt village.

Are we really getting in this??

Sunrise on the water

Through the swamp to the lake.

 The stilt village reminded me a little bit of the floating village/stilt village I saw in Venezuela, except this one seemed poorer.
Not a minute after we stepped onto the dock we saw a cat run by, leap to another piece of the dock, miss, fall in the water with a huge splash, and literally shoot out of the water away from us, with villagers laughing all around. This was a dry cat.

The village doesn’t have electricity and they use the lake as their water source. I didn’t get all the specifics from the guide, but apparently they keep it pretty clean since they drink from it. They only have one boat with a motor for emergencies; otherwise they make the 45 minute journey by canoe whenever they want to go to land. There is a primary school in the village, as well as a nursery (which looked more like a preschool), but kids that want/get to go to high school do it on the mainland. Although the water looked very clean, there were piles of trash around the docks in the marsh, and chickens and goats and other animals roaming the docks and the trash.
I can’t help but wonder how they keep the water clean enough to drink if there is so much trash, and if its ever been tested to see how clean it actually is. Our guide scooped some up to drink on our way back, but Diana and I knew that if we drank it we’d have serious stomach issues. The people in the village were very polite and almost ignored us, going about their daily activities. Apparently they can get up to 150 people a day visiting the village, so I guess they are used to it and don’t have time to stop whenever someone comes. There were signs and verbal warnings not to take pictures of the people unless you asked permission, which seems to be the norm in Ghana in general.

After about 1 ½ hours we left again by canoe, and there was a dug-out canoe of villagers leaving at the same time.  They said we could take their picture, so I have a few shots.  I have some videos of the canoes also, but I don’t have the internet bandwidth to upload them here in Ghana.  Maybe after I get home.

After returning to land, we walked back to our hotel through a small village- I could imagine myself living somewhere like it in the Peace Corps.  Then we bounced back to civilization on a few Tro-tros and taxis, and spent the night in Takoradi with Diana’s cousin at her apartment.   We visited Diana’s Grandmother and also met her aunt, who were both super nice.

Feeling better and a tourist-y day

I guess I should start by saying I’ve felt pretty good the last few days, and that I was able to go to the field on Wednesday and Thursday.  Friday is our day for data analysis so we don’t usually go to the field that day anyway.  This week we switched Friday and Saturday, so yesterday we actually went to a large craft market.

I know a lot of people have been worried about me and the fact that I got malaria.  However, I’ve been in good hands and seem to have recovered pretty well.  I’m still waiting on the results of the rest of my bloodwork to make sure it wasn’t anything else, but since I finished the malaria medicine and now feel better, I’m calling my illness malaria until I hear otherwise.  What makes it complicated is that I had malaria tests run three times and they came back negative.  However, a negative malaria test in a malaria endemic area doesn’t rule out the diagnosis, because the tests aren’t perfect.  Anywho.

Yesterday I was a typical American all day it was was nice :)  I slept in and then Diana and Sylvie and I went to the Culteral Center in downtown Accra, which is a large semi-tourist-y craft market.  You can buy almost anything in the normal open air markets, but most people don't sell a lot of crafts there, its more like food and household supplies and clothes and such. 
The craft market was very large, and really the first place people were trying to get us into their shops to buy things since I've been in Ghana.  Even then they were pushy but not completely in our faces (mostly); I know a lot of other places in West Africa are much worse.  We walked around and haggled and bought some things for about 3 hours, and then took a taxi to Oso, a tourist-y part of town where we found a rather western restuarant and I got a good hamburger.  We also got ice cream there, my first since I've been in Ghana.  Then our on cab ride home we sang along to random country songs and Christmas carols off my friends' iphones.  I think our cabbie must have thought we were a little nuts.  We continued to listen to Christmas music once we were back at our house, and started planning other sightseeing adventures for the rest of the summer. 
I was also able to briefly talk to my mom and then my uncle for a while, so all in all it was a very good day.  Yay for not being sick!

Not currently on fire

The short version: I'm not positive it's malaria so I'm going to get a few more tests run tomorrow to make sure its not something I would need antibiotics for or another drug.  I'm still running a low grade fever 2x a day, but I haven't felt on fire in about 24 hours (but that could change with a moments notice).

All of the Ghanians are taking good care of me and are sure its malaria and I need to eat more and give it time.  The Americans and Danes are worried its something else and want me to see another doctor. 

I'm in the middle, I wonder why my fever still comes and goes, so I'm okay with verifying its not something else. 

Also, quinine is a really rough drug to be on.  Just saying.  My ears are ringing, I'm exhausted, dizzy, my vision was funky yesterday, and my blood sugar drops every now and then.  These are all expected side effects of the drug and I'll only be worried if they don't go away when I stop taking it.  But damn.  It rivals the actual malaria in how it makes me feel :P

I spent today at Diana's house because it was her father's birthday in addition to fathers day.  Her family is great and I have a room there for the summer, so I could go lie down when I needed to.  And her mother is a fantastic cook; I ate more at dinner than I think I have in the last 2 days total.  And I was getting a serious case of cabin fever being cooped up here at Denmark house, so it was great to get out.

More tomorrow in the saga of the sicky.  Try not to worry, I've got people on 3 continents looking out for me :)

Sorry I haven't posted in a while

We were pretty busy with training last week and then I think I got malaria.  My lab results have been negative, but my symptoms are a textbook case.  So I've started some drugs and we'll see what happens.  My roommates are starting work tomorrow, and I hope I'm well enough to join them Monday.
And yes, I have been taking my malaria prophylaxis- that might be why my blood tests are negative.  It might also be why I'm still feeling okay some of the time, because my roommate tells me that malaria can be much much worse than what I've experienced (which is kind of a scary thought, because it felt like part of me were on fire last night until my fever broke).  I have good spells and bad spells.
But if I'm not on fire tomorrow, I'll try to catch up on some blogging.

Training

This has been a great week of training, getting to know the people we are working with, learning about equipment, and trying to sort out as much of the logistics as possible before we start the research.
I haven't had a lot of time to write about it, but I'll try to catch up this weekend.

Also, African rainy season is not to be messed with :P

Traveling Day 3

(May 27th)

Wednesday we got up late and checked out of the hotel.  We didn’t want to give them any more of our business so we went back to the restaurant near the castle for breakfast/lunch, where I discovered I’m not a huge fan of Ghanaian omelets.  Then we went back to Cape Coast Castle to see the museum and gift shop, and got slightly wet as it was trying to rain.  After the museum we called our cab and started the journey to the stilt village.  We took another cab for 2 legs of the trip and finally a Trotro.  For the last part of the trip we were literally bouncing down a dirt road towards nowhere, Diana and I laughing and trying not to panic about how far away from civilization we were.  On the way we saw small very rural villages and passed a UN refugee camp for Ivoirians.   By the end we were the only two left on the trotro besides the driver and his assistant.  They were like, there are 2 hotels in Beyin; one is concrete and one is wood, so we chose the one made of concrete.  It was also expensive, 60 cedes a night for air conditioning and no breakfast.  But we figured it was only for one night, and we definitely didn’t want to spend the night in the stilt village or the wooden hotel.  We ate at the bar at the hotel and it also took more than an hour to get our food, but the pizza was better than the last night at Cape Coast.  We attempted a game of pool while we waited and discovered that we are both really bad at pool.

                In the hotel Diana found a gecko on the wall and started freaking out that it was actually a person that was going to kill us during the night.  Apparently the area we were in in the western region is known for believing in voodoo and witchcraft and stories of people turning into animals and such.  It led us into a really interesting conversation about faith and family and myths.  I slept really well for the first time since I got to Ghana, although I did wake up when the generator shut off and it got hot around 3am.

This was in the Cape Coast Museum.

And then Africa Happened

So after my nice cheery post about things going so well yesterday... Africa happened.  You could also call it Murphy's law, but yeah.
We called our driver who was supposed to be free to take us to the store and he was having the car serviced, which just turned out to be a big miscommunication because he didn't know we wanted him to be free.  Then at the mall when we were trying to buy food, my ATM card wouldn't work.  Ack!  I had specifically called my bank* to tell them to NOT shut off my card when I went to Ghana, and I was ticked.  Although I had a phone, I didn't have enough minutes to call the US to talk to them, and it wasn't working on Diana's phone either.   Then I tried online in an internet cafe and the online form wasn't working. Ticked ticked ticked.
Then Diana tried her card and the ATM... ate it.  !!!  When she went to the ATM's bank, they told her they would have to mail the card to her bank in the US, which will then contact her and mail it to her here.  This will probably take months.  Luckily her dad can cover her this summer.  Then I tried that bank's ATM... and my card worked!  So apparently it only works with certain ATMs?  At least it wasn't shut off.
Then there has been the water.
When we woke up the first morning at the University on the 2nd, we had no water because the tank had run out.    We were told not to worry that it wouldn't happen again.  Well yesterday the gardener somehow busted a pipe and they had to shut the water off again to fix it, which they managed to do in only a few hours.  Diana and I had decided to spend the night at her parents house anyway, and when we got there- their tank had run out also.  Seriously?  If there is a water god, I think we angered it somehow.

As a completely off topic side note, I graduated from high school 10 years ago yesterday.  And while I've had ups and downs since then... I had no clue on the day that I graduated that 10 years later I'd be in Africa- how cool :D

*The point of this is not to bad mouth my bank, which with the exception of an aggravating online form, did nothing wrong, so I won't mention it by name.

Settling In

When I post about traveling I'll try to backdate the posts or something; just saying 'last Tuesday' will get very confusing very quickly.  However, this post is not about traveling.... so there! :)

Diana and I moved into the annex of the Denmark House at the University of Ghana on Wednesday afternoon.  The house belongs to the U of Ghana, but the University of Copenhagen has a deal that they can rent it at certain times, including most of this summer.  The main house has 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, a large-ish kitchen, and a sitting room.  The annex has 2 bedrooms, a bathroom, a small kitchen and small living room.  We will move to the main house in about a week and a half; until then there are various people from Denmark coming and going and its just easier this way. Both places have an AC unit in the living room that we turn on at night which cools that living room very well and our rooms slightly- but all of the bedrooms have good ceiling fans so it's quite comfortable.  When I first got to Ghana, all I could think about for several days was, I need air conditioning!!!!  Now I think I'm good with a good fan.

Yesterday Diana and I went with our supervisor Michael to Prampram, where we'll be conducting sanitation research.  We met some of the village assembly men and asked their permission to talk to people, which they readily gave.  This community is used to being surveyed because something similar to a DHS (demographic health surviellence) survey occurs there frequently.  This is one reason this place was chosen for the study- they are used to answering somewhat random questions from surveyors.  Our study will be using some of the same people that conduct those other surveys, so they are familiar to the community.

We also went to the Dodowa health research center yesterday, which is where our week of training will occur next week.  Learning how to work with the translators, testing the survey questions, learning how to use the electornic devices to put in the survey answers and capture GIS data.  I'll try to get some pictures of Dodowa and Prampram, but we are very limited in picture taking at the research site for privacy reasons.  I'll post some latrine pictures I'm sure :)

Today through Sunday is our last free time for a while- we pick up Sylvie, a friend of mine from Emory, at the airport tomorrow- she's the 3rd student doing research this summer.  Sylvie and I are doing surveys with 4 Ghanaian translators, and Diana and another translators are doing interviews and more qualitative research.  Today I'm trying to acquire a phone, internet (I'm in an internet cafe), groceries, and a working GI system- Ghanaian food/something finally caught up with me.  But there's a housekeeper that does our laundry and I had a hot shower for the first time in 2 weeks last night, so there are no complaints about Ghana here :)