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.