Dad is in Ghana

Accra has quite a small airport and most flights (even from London) have very few bearded white guys on them. I knew that my Dad couldn't have come through customs without my seeing him so an hour and a half after his plane landed, I started to worry a bit. Finally, I saw an incredibly sweaty man pushing a luggage cart with four large bags piled on top. Just as he got to the exit, rather than pushing his metal cart outside as every other passenger had done, my Dad decided to unload the overabundance of luggage from the cart and carry it outside. Roughly one hundred Ghanaians looked on as the sweaty Obruni unloaded the first bag. When pulling the handle to the large rolling suitcase, the piece fell apart and the bag fell to the ground. No more than five feet from the door, Papa Shag was forced to do some impromptu problem solving and drag all of his bags (much appreciated since the contents were mostly for my benefit) into the sweltering heat of his first Accra night.

The sweating hasn't stopped but things have gotten a bit easier. We spent a day at the beach to allow for some jetlag recovery, spent this morning in Cape Coast (deserves more attention than I can give now) and just finished a 5 hour bus ride to Kumasi. He is now watching CNN while I charge my ipod and check e-mail. We'll see some traditional Kente cloth weaving tomorrow before continuing the trip up north.

In case you didn't know that all white people look the same, it's true. Within an hour of travel this morning, I was told that I look just like each of the fellows below.




More updates go come.

Love to all!

Dad is coming

My Dad will arrive in 4 1/2 hours and I'm sure I'll be unable to write any comprehensive blog updates for a while.

I went to another PTA meeting this week. This time it was at the primary school in Bormase. I learned that the two room mud school is 52 years old. Nobody was aware of the schools age until recently so the meeting involved planning the 50th anniversary. A very belated birthday!! They hope to have "big men" attend so that they can see the condition of the school and possibly feel inclined to donate money.

Bormase and a neighboring community each had their baby weigh-ins this week. I attended each and was able to discuss (with translation) the benefits of adding Moringa to the diet. 75 mothers attended and most were very receptive to the information. Vitamin A, Calcium and Protein don't really trigger much in the minds of these mothers so I had to discuss the physical benefits of each. As harvesting continues, I plan to provide fresh and dried leaves at these weigh-ins.

The Bormase bead group met to discuss future plans of production. Some members still didn't seem to enthused about the idea of producing beads to ship to America. When work doesn't immediately provide money, many people aren't interested. At the end of the meeting, I handed just short of 50 Ghana Cedis to one of the members and others' eyes lit up. Upon seeing the money that they also could have earned 50 or more Cedis since our last meeting, enthusiasm increased dramatically.

The severity of the food shortage has helped put new plans in motion. Dorothy, Emmanuel and I have discussed the idea of raising money for the construction of a food storage facility. Most farmers work all week in order to prepare maize or gari (ground cassava) for market. When merchants and middle men from Accra offer below market rate for their goods, these farmers are so desperate for money that they sell their goods for well below market value. It may take quite a while but the hope is to provide a pest free storage facility in which the community can store their goods. I'm too tired to go into the benefits but I hope we're able to put everything together. Though I have over a year and a half left, it feels as though I'm running out of time. Very weird!!

Love to all!!

Back in action

I returned to site Monday evening and within hours, I received a new mattress!!! I had previously arranged to buy my neighbor Casey's extra mattress but I had no idea how big the improvement would be. When picking up my old mattress, I could honestly feel my fingers through the thing. I can no longer feel every board as I sleep. I no longer have to position my body in such a way that my hip bone falls between two boards. When I stretch my legs, they hang off the end of the mattress and are not contorted atop a wooden bed frame. I may have been healthy already but I'm sure a good night sleep will help me stay that way.

As far as site goes, things are picking up. I made my first mini harvest of Moringa. There is a baby weighing tomorrow so I cut some Moringa to ensure that I'll be able to tell the mothers about dry and fresh leaves and the different ways to prepare each. Prior to the baby weighing, I will meet with the bead makers to discuss the success in Portugal and ask what they hope to accomplish moving forward. I still have some "American employee," in me that makes me nervous to return to "work" for fear that people will resent my absence and pile work on my immediately. In Bormase, people sincerely ask how I am feeling, they are honestly thankful that I am healthy and they are patient yet eager to begin work.

Love to all!!

"Flexing"

It looks as though I'm heading back to site tomorrow. I will sit down with Cynthia tomorrow to make sure but I feel better every day and honestly I'm getting pretty tired of sitting around in Accra.

While writing my last entry, I forgot about two interesting tidbits from my last weekend in and around Bormase.

While riding in the tro between Odumase and Adukrom (between PTA meeting and farming with Travis), I started a conversation with a Scottish couple when they joined the car. They enjoyed finding another Obruni and we got to chatting about our respective projects. I saw that the husband was wearing a Scotland shirt and spoke with a strong accent so I asked if they were visiting from Scotland. The couple replied that they were visiting from Santa Ynez, just north of Santa Barbara. It turned out that the three of us were all going to Dawu, a tiny village between to small towns. It turns out that the couple came from a high school in Santa Ynez to visit a soccer clinic in Dawu. The high school at which they teach currently has 6 Ghanaian players, all of whom have been trained in the same small town. I told them that I once had aspirations to play at UCSB and they responded by telling me that a player recently graduated and is heading to UCSB on a scholarship. What a small world!! I later looked up the recruiting page for UCSB and this Ghanaian player is one of two recruits mentioned in a headline. Go Gauchos!!!

Another small story about a common Ghanaian misconception. Months ago, when a high school aged friend named Abraham helped clear land for the Moringa field, I jokingly offered to pay him 5 American dollars rather than 5 Ghana Cedis. I assumed that he would prefer the local currency but Abraham insisted that having American money would allow him to "flex" at school. He wanted to show off the fact that he could get American money. I explained to him that the conversion (at the time) wasn't exact and that I would have to add forty pesewas to make it completely even. Abraham was very happy with the transaction while I felt bad that he did so much work and might not be able to spend the money that he earned.

Last Monday, while Abraham and I were weeding the Cassava field, he brought up the 5 dollar bill. Instinctively I thought that he realized that he would have to have the money changed and that Foreign Exchange Bureaus offer lower conversion rates for smaller denominations. It turns out that while "flexing," at school, the 5 dollar bill attracted great attention. One of Abraham's teachers continued to make offers for the money and Abraham insisted that he wouldn't part with it for any less than 10 Ghana Cedis. Thinking that Abraham was naive, the teacher eagerly forked over twice the value of the American money and walked away thinking he had pulled the wool over Abraham's eyes. When the teacher realized that he had overpaid, he tried to get the money back but Abraham reminded him that the teacher was the aggressor and had no right to revoke the offer. The teacher and I both thought that Abraham was being foolish but he managed to double his earnings simply by "flexing."

Love to all!

Short notice

Only a few days after returning to Bormase, I learned that I had been named the new Eastern Region VAC representative and would be attending a 3 day conference in Accra 3 days later. After a month away from site I was leaving again for at least three days.

Before leaving for Accra, I enjoyed the unique experience of attending a PTA meeting at a Ghanaian Secondary School. I don't think I convinced anyone that I was a parent but I did my best to take accurate notes for Dorothy and Emmanuel. Raphael will soon take exams that should allow him to enter his third and final year in as a Secondary School student. Manya Krobo Secondary School (Makrosec) is one of the top schools in the region and is quite pricy as Ghanaian schools go. Given the price of the school, it was no surprise to find myself in a room full of "big men and big women." Many people who like to be heard in one room can lead to a lot of talking without much progress. There was much chatter about the outstanding tuition payments (total of 27,000 Ghana Cedis. A lot considering a one month summer school session costs 20 Ghana Cedis per student). Many recent graduates took the floor to lecture current students on the importance of an education. They were surprised by how hard it is to get a good job if you aren't accepted into University. The meeting was scheduled to start at 9am. I arrived at roughly 9:30 and was one of the first ten to arrive. By 2pm, the bickering had stopped and it was time to see Raph's school.

First, Raphael showed me his room. His bunk was one of 66 in the room. I counted 33 sets of bunk beds with no more than 3 or 4 feet between each set. This dorm room was one of three male dorm rooms on campus. I was introduced to many friends and got to see some of the facilities but due to the length of the meeting I wasn't able to stay long. I had to leave in time to help Travis transplant seedlings before he left for 3 weeks in Greece.

Back in Bormase the next day by noon, I ate, slept for two hours, ate, slept for two hours, ate dinner, bathed and went to sleep. I was sneezing a lot but didn't feel too bad. I thought I may just be tired from so much running around.

I arrived in Accra late Monday afternoon and was still quite lethargic. I joined a number of other VAC reps (including Cheri as the Northern Region rep) for a huge Lebanese buffet in honor of a birthday. After a wonderful dinner of kebabs, falafel, hummus, babaganoush and a wide selection of fresh fruit, the majority of our group went out on the town. Cheri and I called it a night as she was exhausted from a 12 hour travel day and I was still not 100%. A DVD player and air conditioning made for a relaxing night but by the time I went to sleep I was wheezing and couldn't take a full breath.

Tuesday was intended for a simple pre-vac meeting amongst volunteers and a nice BBQ at the Country Directors house. It was Ghanaian Republic Day so the medical unit was closed and I wasn't able to check with the PCMO (sadly, I think I've already had to explain this acronym) upon arrival at the office. After a few hours of coughing and wheezing, I was urged to call the PCMO on call and ask if I could be checked out. Cynthia arrived around fifteen minutes after the pre-vac meeting began and tests began.

I had no fever but was clearly short of breath and had a high pitched whine in my lungs when listened to through a stethoscope. When told to blow into a tube to test my lung strength, I consistently reached 320 when 640 should have been my normal score (not quite sure what the numbers represent). I was given claritin, several puffs of an inhaler and two treatments of albuterol (a medicinal mist used to reduce bronchial swelling) but showed no improvement in lung strength.

At 2pm, Cynthia left for lunch and I rejoined the pre-vac meeting with a scheduled follow up with Cynthia scheduled for 4pm. The pre-vac meeting ended as I sat down, leaving me pretty much clueless regarding the agenda for the following day but with my energy level as low as it was, I wasn't too worried. I was just hoping to gain enough strength do be able to enjoy chili, bocce ball and ping pong at Bob's house.

By 4pm, I was clearly developing a fever as I sat bundled up in the computer room with a scarf wrapped around my head while others complained that the AC wasn't high enough. Cynthia found that I had a fever of just over 100 degrees and my lung strength was diminishing. Since it was a holiday and no clinics were open, we were off to the hospital!!! I was as shocked as anyone when I had to tell my fellow volunteers that I was headed to the hospital rather than the feast at Bob's house.

Cynthia and I arrived at the hospital at around 5pm and after a few tests, I was clearly getting worse. My pulse was 100 when I arrived but up to 118 within the first hour. I was breathing at three times the normal rate and my blood oxygen level was at 93 percent (99-100 is normal, below 90 is extremely bad). After a chest X-ray and a bit of miscommunication, Cynthia and I sat in the ER waiting for blood to be drawn and for the X-ray to be read. Apparently I was supposed to have had blood drawn immediately after my X-ray so no staff knew that I was waiting. The fifteen minute wait felt like an eternity as I constantly shifted from sitting to laying down, trying to find a position in which I could breathe. No matter how much I shifted, I couldn't catch my breath and I was actually getting scared.

A doctor, a nurse and a nurse's assistant arrived and fumbled around to get things in order. I was given an oxygen feed which brought my blood oxygen content up to 95 percent but none of the staff were aware that I hadn't had blood drawn and upon finding out, they were ready to send me back across the hospital for blood work. The doctor eventually decided that it was OK if they did the blood work where we were and I watched as a small vial was balanced below the needle in my arm in order to catch enough blood to test. When my doctor left with my blood sample, the nurse and nurse's assistant struggled to assemble an albuterol mask that neither had ever seen. I did my best not to lose faith as the round peg in round hole contraption was finally figured out.

My oxygen feed was removed and a mask was put over my mouth for another albuterol treatment. Within minutes, I was able to take deep breaths and felt infinitely better. During my second albuterol treatment, Cheri arrived with a tupperware full of chili, only to find me with an oxygen mask, an IV and an oxygen monitor attached to my body.

After the second treatment, the X-ray and blood results arrived. The X-ray showed nothing but the blood results showed a VERY high white blood cell count. It was decided that I had pneumonia and I was given a strong antibiotic drip.

I was out of the hospital by 8:30pm with a box of antibiotics and was able to breathe relatively. I was able to attend the VAC meeting the following day but wasn't especially active in conversation.

A follow up X-ray is scheduled for tomorrow. Apparently, pneumonia isn't visible on X-ray until 2-3 days after the initial signs of illness.

For now, I'm eating as well as possible, watching movies and getting a great ab workout from all the coughing I'm doing. Cheri has been nice enough to stick around and help take care of me but she's had terrible allergies so we're quite a pair. We ventured out to get food last night while she was groggy from heavy allergy meds and I got winded with anything more than a snails pace.

Today I feel much better and will make updates when necessary.

I brought in New Years with poop in my pants and blood on my face. The 4th of July will involve recovery from pneumonia. Can't wait for Thanksgiving and Christmas!!!!

Love to all.