Roy's got a brand new fuju

It’s now been a week since our Nanaimo Rotary team left Vancouver for Ghana.

Last night the sky was clear with speckles of stars and a crescent moon like a white smile suspended overhead. This morning we are greeted by a steady downpour of heavy rain.

Yesterday was filled with meetings. The Rotary team met with staff from the Sunyani Municipal Office, exchanged introductions and updated them on projects underway and potential new projects such as providing facilities and equipment to recharge malaria nets with insecticide. Team leader presented the Sunyani Municipal staff with laptop computer donated by the Regional District of Nanaimo.

Next it was off to the Sunyani Landfill for a tour with the Sunyani municipal environmental officers. The landfill is like those in Canada before environmental regulations were introduced. There is no bulldozer or compactor so the garbage is dumped with some effort to cover it with soil. One surprise was local herds of cattle being driven through to feed on the organic waste and the corn that is planted on the landfill’s perimeter.

Most of the rest of the morning and early afternoon was spent arranging our team’s flight from Sunyani to Accra on May 6. The Rotary team were treated as honourary guests for the investiture of the new leaders of the Sunyani Municipal Assembly.

I spent Sunday evening at the home of my Rotary mentor Nana Ansu, 74, who is a local heriditary sub chief, vice president of the local Rotary and who serves as director on the boards of many local companies and charities.

He lives with his wife Beatrice and other family members in large estate house with beautiful gardens on the outskirts of Sunyani. We sat in his garden, enjoyed drinks, and I showed pictures of Nanaimo and my family on my Ipod. Nana’s younger brother joined us briefly. as the sun set and then went inside for dinner. His wife served joloffa rice, chicken, a cole slaw type salad and a dessert made with fried plantain and peanuts.

Nana and his wife presented me with a blue-striped fuju – a traditional northern tribe tunic (see photo).

Today we’re off with the Sunyani Rotary to Korkors Charity Medical Centre, an AIDS orphanage, to do a planning session for future projects at the facility.

Sunyani, Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Yesterday the Nanaimo Rotary Team and reps from Vancouver Island University met with the local school supervisors -- quite the eyeopener -- they have about 4 times the number of students as Nanaimo but spend about much less and have a better graduation rate. Lots of discussion around stats to compare the two school systems and then more discussion about the local districts needs around health, computers and maintenance of the schools.

After meeting with the supervisors, the next itinerary item was meeting with the hospital administrators. One potential project is arranging and outfitting rooms to recharge malaria nets with insecticide as the nets lose their potency.

I went back towards the guesthouse and found a great restaurant - The Berlin - you can see some photos of the restaurant and the beautifully landscaped grounds. Great service and food. I had redfish - half a fish deep fried with the head on, plain rice, a piquant tomato sauce, a large Star lager and a refreshing salad -- all for $5. Afterwards I went to a roadside barbershop and had my hair shaved and beard shaved and sculpted - 85 cents. Went for a lovely walk, saw butterflies one landed on my shoelace and was quite comfortable resting their. It felt like I had been accepted by the critters.

Went back to the guesthouse and crashed for an hour. Then back to the hotel to join the bus for a meeting with the local Rotary club at the Sunyani Polytechnic. Our club members were the guests of honour. Extensive introductions and even singing vive le rotary - truth is our right, love is our might - vive le rotary!

We exchanged Rotary banners before going to a fellowship dinner at the Polytechnic cafeteria. Great meal and conversation.

Tonight is my dinner with my mentor at his home.

Here are some new photos of Sunyani streetlife and the celebrations at the Sunyani Central Rotary Club Meeting.

Good morning from Sunyani, West Africa

Sunday and Monday - April 26-27, 2009
The Nanaimo Rotary Ghana Mission team and Vancouver Island University students and faculty have arrived in Sunyani and started to work on projects.

Just about to start my 3rd day in Sunyani. Had my first decent cup of coffee. Maggie the nurse brought Starbucks coffee and a coffee press -- YUM!

My dinner with my mentor at his home is Wednesday with his son and family. I gave him a shirt for the 2010 Vancouver Olympics and he was very pleased. We all enjoyed a big dinner at the hotel last night and then spent an hour trying to find the guesthouse where I am staying (no st

Today we're off to visit the local hospital and then to the Sunyani Central Rotary Club's regular meeting at 6 p.m. Tomorrow we go to the swearing in of the new Sunyani Municipal Assembly Council and then visit the local landfill.

Here are more photos - some from Kumasi - the group photo is of the traditional Ghananian wedding we attended in Kumasi on Sunday. The photos of the guy with the huge tray of sunglasses on his head, the two guys pushing the big cart, the guys playing pool, and the family in the courtyard. The other photos are of the guesthouse in Sunyani, Sunyani street scenes, and some local flowers.

The people here are very friendly and warm. They all want me to take their photos and the students all want to be my penpal. The needs here are so basic, esp. at the poorer urban school -- 4 computers for a school with 400 students, blackboards that are so worn you can't see the chalk, desks and chairs that look like antiques from a Canadian prairie schoolhouse. The students all have a great attitude and are so appreciative of what we bring.

wo ne Nyame ntenaoo, me da wo are (ashanti for goodbye I am told and i hope)
Roy--

First days in Accra and Kumasi

The Nanaimo Rotary Ghana Mission team and their Vancouver Island University partners met up at the Amsterdam Airport on April 23 at 1 p.m. We flew together on KLM to Accra, Ghana and after a 5 hour flight finally arrived in Africa. It was culture shock for first time visitors, the crush of people waiting for arrivals outside the Accra airport, the heat and humidity, the electric vibe of being on a new continent.

Our first evening and first full day in Accra (capitol of Ghana and its largest city) were spent visiting the Canadian High Commission to discuss our current and possible future projects in Sunyani with representatives of the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA).
Highlights of the stay in Accra included a trip to the coast, visting the Artist's Alliance Gallery with its fabulous African art and antiques, meeting the friendly locals, breakfasts and drinks on the patio at the Byblos Hotel, and learning to deal with the persistent hawkers of crafts and souvenirs.

Saturday, April 25

Up at 5:30 a.m. to pack and get everything loaded on the Toyota Coaster bus for the 200 km trek to Kumasi, Ghana’s second largest city. Breakfast in the Hotel Byblos Courtyard and then everyone in the bus.

Michael our faithful driver from the Sunyani Polytechnic estimated it would take 4 hours at the most to get from Accra to Kumasi. The traffic was horrendous and it took seven hours of steady driving with a short break at a rest stop. What an adventure, passing trucks with precarious loads of wood, water, fuel, hawkers and vendors of bread, giant snails, fried plaintain, trinkets everytime we slowed down. The road from Accra to Kumasi follows an ancient trade route (tbc) and it’s Africa’s version of a 200 km strip mall. Every 100 metres is a container made into a stall, shop, restaurant, etc. Most with religious branding – God’s Own Transmission Repairs e.g.

At last after leaving West Africa’s suburban sprawl we arrive in the savannah (tbc) green and lush – cocoa trees, calabash – Magpies everywhere. All too soon nature succumbs to traffic – vehicular and human – as we enter Kumasi celebrating 10 anniversary of its latest chief. Kumasi’s squalor, noise, the crush of humanity on the march to survive, concrete block buildings in various stages of construction and collapse, hawkers and vendors with bread, fruit and god knows what else on their heads. I’ve got to go back to tomorrow and get some photos.

Finally we arrive at the Kumasi Cultural Centre at about 3 p.m. for lunch, a look around the museum and the artisans shops of paintings, batik, wood carvings, metal work. The restaurant is overwhelmed with an Italian tour of visitors and the press to watch some ceremony involving local chiefs. At last I manage to scrounge up some quarts of Star beer (Guiness subsidiary) and we sit down for our first authentic Ghananian dinner – plain rice, spicey rice, battered fish, spicey chicken, fried plaintain and a spicey lentil dish.

Last stop our rooms at the KNUST (Kwame Nkrumah University of Science & Engineering) Guest House – comfortable, clean rooms, good showers – and a complicated but working Internet connection. The campus outside the City of Kumasi and its so quiet you can hear the sounds of nocturnal insects and other critters. Brief dinner with the gang and then off to my room to write this extended email.

Tomorrow is a long day with a baby naming ceremony, an engagement party, and then a celebration involving Vancouver Island University’s Ghana partners at a football stadium. We hope to make our final destination and the working site of our holiday – Sunyani by 6 p.m.