The North

Another busy week with travel and research. I have established a pretty solid routine of working extremely hard during the week and then traveling to fun places on the weekend. This past weekend Galit and I rode with Joseph (the Science Coordinator for MVP) up north where his family lives. He makes the 12 hour round trip every weekend to see his family, and he had been saying that we needed to come with him because the north is "very different". And he was right....unlike the south of Ghana where we are stationed, which is lush and tropical with rolling hills, the north is a dry, flat sahel environment. In addition to the environmental differences, the construction of their houses are very different and 90% of the people are Muslim (everyone in the south is a Christian).

We arrived late Friday night and got up early Saturday morning to catch a bus going to Mole National Park. On our way, we stopped at a small village called Larabanga where the oldest structure in Ghana stands - a stick and mud Mosque that was supposedly built in the mid-1400s. It also supposedly houses one of the original 7 Korans from Mecca, but since we were not Muslim, we could not go in. Once we got to Mole, we did the Ghanaian version of an afternoon safari. The roads are so bad that they do not use vehicles, but instead go on walking safaris. A small group of 6-8 people is paired with a park ranger who is armed with a gun. Since there is no protection from being in a vehicle they carry the guns in case they need to scare the animals away. On the afternoon safari we saw Cobs, Waterbucks, Bushbucks (all related to the deer family), Baboons, and Warthogs. Different animals are active in the late afternoon and morning, so after an evening of relaxing by the motel pool (which is also frequented by the local Baboons) we turned in early so that we could rise in time for the morning safari. This time we got to see what I came for...the elephants! We first spotted them in a watering hole where they were bathing, then they all came out of the water and walked around the area we were in. It was amazing how close we were to the elephants. Multiple times the rangers had to tell us to back up, and at one point when one elephant turned walking directly at us the ranger even took the safety catch off the gun in case he needed to use it (only to scare the animal of course).

After the morning safari we headed back to Tamale, the city where Joseph lives. This city is the center of operation for most of the NGOs present in Ghana so they are more use to seeing Caucasians. And because of their increased presence, some of the Ghanaian shop owners make an attempt to cater to them. My personal favorite was being able to buy a Diet Coke (Ghanaians do not eat or drink anything diet, light, or fat-free). That evening we went to Joseph's house to meet his family, and then we went out to dinner with him and his wife. By Ghanaian standards (and even by US standards) they are a very successful couple. They both studied in the US - he has his PhD and she is a high court judge. While many people who reach this level of education try to leave Ghana, both he and his wife are devoted to staying in Ghana and helping the country revive itself. Their dedication to their family, their work, and their country was truly an inspiration to Galit and me.

On our ride back down south on Monday we made a few more tourist stops. Joseph wanted to show us the Kintampo waterfalls that are a common resting stop for Ghanaians. Like any waterfalls, they were of course very nice. Our second stop was at a small village which has inadvertently become a monkey sanctuary over the years. The monkeys live in the forest, but also come into the village, where they peacefully live with the villagers. There is legend behind why they are able to live so peacefully. The short version is that some of the monkeys are actually people. The monkeys even have their own village priest, and they morn their death like humans. They came down from the trees and let us feed them bread - they were the most adorable little things you just wanted to take home with you.

I had been telling people in the office that I did not REALLY feel like I had come to Africa yet because I had not seen any of what we traditionally think of as African animals. So after the weekend I was able to come back and tell everyone, after at least seeing elephants and monkeys, I could say I had been to Africa :-)

This week I FINALLY finished up the survey data collection. I was able to spend more time in the kitchen with the cooks. I continued to measure ingredients and portion sizes, and when I wasn't busy doing my research I helped them cook and serve. I even have blisters on my hands from ladling so much rice. We had a fun time trying to communicate. I am picking up more phrases in Twi, but everyone still laughs at me when I try to use them. The cooks liked having me around so much that they offered for me to sleep there with them - I graciously passed.