Tuesday, February 06, 2007
Our lives in Tumu, Ghana
January 2007
Hello again. Christmas and New Year have come and gone, and life in Tumu carries on. Anyway, first of all, Happy New Year to you all, we hope it brings you everything you wish for. For us January has been a busy month, we visited Bolga again, work wise things are hotting up, and from a leisure point of view we’ve done a little more exploring.
We took the opportunity to visit Bolgatanga again in the first week back after new year to catch up on a few things. Firstly we had to pick up our passports, at long last they had been stamped with whatever stamp they had to be stamped with! Now we can start to think about getting to Burkina legitimately. Secondly, we had to stock up on our filter candles for our water filter. Thirdly, we had to top up our supply of Larium (anti-malaria tablets), we should be able to feed our paranoia, depression or whatever other tendencies this is supposed to give you for another few months – actually touch wood, we’ve been fine so far! And finally we took the opportunity to meet up with other volunteers in the area, and particularly with Maggie and John who had kindly brought us a bag of goodies back from the UK. They’d picked it up for us when visiting family over Christmas. That will keep us going for a while – particularly the Match of the Day DVDs (Alan) and the cheese sauce mixes (Diane). In Bolga we had the usual adjustments to make from life in Tumu: People everywhere, so many cars and lorries! It’s amazing how you get comfortable with the slow pace of a place like Tumu and then get such a shock to the system when you go to a relatively big town like Bolga. We also had the usual ‘tro tro’ experience. The fact that they won’t go until they’re bursting at the seams (so we sat around, waiting, for three and half hours on the return journey), and that you get off looking like a jaffa cake. – Crusty and baked on the outside, with an all over orange hue, and soft and damp on the inside!
Thanks to the moto, I’m becoming a bit more mobile in work, and this has resulted in a few visits to schools. I know the educational situation here is in need of support, after all that’s why we’re here, but the visits have allowed me to see first hand some of the problems. At one school, about 50km from Tumu, resources (not surprisingly) are scarce. Children use the dust on the floor to write in, as they don’t have slates. The teachers sleep anywhere they can, as they don’t have accommodation. And I believe the football team is pretty impressive, except they don’t have a ball! These are only three snippets of life in a typical rural school, but when you think of the fact that in our district there are another 40 or so schools in the same boat, you begin to see the problems they have.
Seeing village life was also fascinating. I was actually formally introduced to the Chief in one, experienced a funeral in another, and watched the locals pounding the maize in another (see photo). The one thing they all had in common was the warm welcome and their generosity. They have very little, but are prepared to give you what little they have. As I was leaving one school, the chairman of the PTA presented me with two guinea fowl (live of course). A great honour. I then had to ride 50km back to Tumu, on a really bad road, with these two birds tied to the handlebars (still alive). Any animal rights people out there, sorry I know it sounds bad but what else can you do? As they say…‘when in Rome (or rather Tumu)..’ On the way back, when stopped at a customs barrier, a chap required a lift back to Tumu, so he hopped on the back. 40km with him on the back, two birds on the front, and a road surface that was a cross between the Sahara and a quarry…just another day in Ghana.
At TUTCO it’s countdown to examinations, and similarly Diane experiences the bizarre systems that are operated, mixed with the woeful lack of resources. When Di went to take her class at 12.00 noon the other day, they all looked like they were about to drop. It turns out that they’d had a revision classes since 4.00am! (School should start officially at 7.00am) and food wasn’t to be served until 2pm. Needless to say retention levels are poor in situations like this, but no thought or planning goes into issues such as revision. Equipment is scarce, and fortunately Di has developed good links with the local secondary school that has things like microscopes, so she’s had access to them occasionally. The books that have been so kindly sent out are so appreciated, because there are so few texts available. Di has spent 4 months looking for a copy of the course text - She got it this week!
We have been trying to get more of a glimpse of African wildlife. We are in negotiations with the local wildlife office to pay a visit to the local reserve (Gbele Game Reserve). We’ve established really good links with the people there, and they want us to try out their facilities as if we were tourists and give them feedback. We’re also giving our ‘advice’ on literature they are starting to produce. The area is very much in its infancy from a tourist point of view, so pleasingly they are seeking us out as people who may be able to support them in their development. However, we’re still waiting for our trip. But you have to be patient here. It will happen, but in a while. The Head of the Wildlife Office loaned us his up to date bird book the other day, and we went up to the village near the Burkina border to do some bird watching. Just by a little village there’s a field that’s been dammed, and is an excellent environment for bird life. We took a picnic, (good old Di), and set off on our motos. When we arrived, not surprisingly we were the ones who were being watched. A crowd of locals appeared and looked bemused when we sat down and got the binoculars out. We invited them to join us and eventually had about 7 or 8 children and adults sitting with us trying to watch birds (see photo). It was great to see their reaction when things appeared so close. With binoculars in one hand, one lad focused on a goat at the edge of the water, quite near to where we were sitting, and kept trying to touch it with his other hand thinking it was next to him. We showed them the birds that we could see in the book, and then with great enthusiasm they showed us the ones they knew… all the ones they hunt and eat! It was a great couple of hours – very hot but great fun. Di ended up with a great two inch tan on her shins! Her shins, just above her socks, had been exposed to the sun whilst we were sitting there. For the record, and for those who like birds, we saw egrets (hundreds), black kites, numerous birds of prey, Abyssinian rollers (beautiful blue birds), some waders, jacanas, parakeets, pied kingfishers (taking fish directly in front of where we sat), hornbills, bee eaters and even a woodpecker! We’re led to believe that when the wet season arrives, then the bird life comes with it – can’t wait! We eventually got a couple of hours in the shade and had a bite to eat when we moved on – we’ve found a nice secluded spot right by the border. All in all a great day.
As we enter February, we hope that the Gbele trip will materialise, and we’ll fill you in with the details in the next blog. We’ve also got a visit to Wa (the regional capital) planned, a sort of union meeting for VSO volunteers, so we’ll let you know about life in the fast lane again! But for now, bye and take care….and keep the e-mails coming!
January 2007
Hello again. Christmas and New Year have come and gone, and life in Tumu carries on. Anyway, first of all, Happy New Year to you all, we hope it brings you everything you wish for. For us January has been a busy month, we visited Bolga again, work wise things are hotting up, and from a leisure point of view we’ve done a little more exploring.
We took the opportunity to visit Bolgatanga again in the first week back after new year to catch up on a few things. Firstly we had to pick up our passports, at long last they had been stamped with whatever stamp they had to be stamped with! Now we can start to think about getting to Burkina legitimately. Secondly, we had to stock up on our filter candles for our water filter. Thirdly, we had to top up our supply of Larium (anti-malaria tablets), we should be able to feed our paranoia, depression or whatever other tendencies this is supposed to give you for another few months – actually touch wood, we’ve been fine so far! And finally we took the opportunity to meet up with other volunteers in the area, and particularly with Maggie and John who had kindly brought us a bag of goodies back from the UK. They’d picked it up for us when visiting family over Christmas. That will keep us going for a while – particularly the Match of the Day DVDs (Alan) and the cheese sauce mixes (Diane). In Bolga we had the usual adjustments to make from life in Tumu: People everywhere, so many cars and lorries! It’s amazing how you get comfortable with the slow pace of a place like Tumu and then get such a shock to the system when you go to a relatively big town like Bolga. We also had the usual ‘tro tro’ experience. The fact that they won’t go until they’re bursting at the seams (so we sat around, waiting, for three and half hours on the return journey), and that you get off looking like a jaffa cake. – Crusty and baked on the outside, with an all over orange hue, and soft and damp on the inside!
Thanks to the moto, I’m becoming a bit more mobile in work, and this has resulted in a few visits to schools. I know the educational situation here is in need of support, after all that’s why we’re here, but the visits have allowed me to see first hand some of the problems. At one school, about 50km from Tumu, resources (not surprisingly) are scarce. Children use the dust on the floor to write in, as they don’t have slates. The teachers sleep anywhere they can, as they don’t have accommodation. And I believe the football team is pretty impressive, except they don’t have a ball! These are only three snippets of life in a typical rural school, but when you think of the fact that in our district there are another 40 or so schools in the same boat, you begin to see the problems they have.
Seeing village life was also fascinating. I was actually formally introduced to the Chief in one, experienced a funeral in another, and watched the locals pounding the maize in another (see photo). The one thing they all had in common was the warm welcome and their generosity. They have very little, but are prepared to give you what little they have. As I was leaving one school, the chairman of the PTA presented me with two guinea fowl (live of course). A great honour. I then had to ride 50km back to Tumu, on a really bad road, with these two birds tied to the handlebars (still alive). Any animal rights people out there, sorry I know it sounds bad but what else can you do? As they say…‘when in Rome (or rather Tumu)..’ On the way back, when stopped at a customs barrier, a chap required a lift back to Tumu, so he hopped on the back. 40km with him on the back, two birds on the front, and a road surface that was a cross between the Sahara and a quarry…just another day in Ghana.
At TUTCO it’s countdown to examinations, and similarly Diane experiences the bizarre systems that are operated, mixed with the woeful lack of resources. When Di went to take her class at 12.00 noon the other day, they all looked like they were about to drop. It turns out that they’d had a revision classes since 4.00am! (School should start officially at 7.00am) and food wasn’t to be served until 2pm. Needless to say retention levels are poor in situations like this, but no thought or planning goes into issues such as revision. Equipment is scarce, and fortunately Di has developed good links with the local secondary school that has things like microscopes, so she’s had access to them occasionally. The books that have been so kindly sent out are so appreciated, because there are so few texts available. Di has spent 4 months looking for a copy of the course text - She got it this week!
We have been trying to get more of a glimpse of African wildlife. We are in negotiations with the local wildlife office to pay a visit to the local reserve (Gbele Game Reserve). We’ve established really good links with the people there, and they want us to try out their facilities as if we were tourists and give them feedback. We’re also giving our ‘advice’ on literature they are starting to produce. The area is very much in its infancy from a tourist point of view, so pleasingly they are seeking us out as people who may be able to support them in their development. However, we’re still waiting for our trip. But you have to be patient here. It will happen, but in a while. The Head of the Wildlife Office loaned us his up to date bird book the other day, and we went up to the village near the Burkina border to do some bird watching. Just by a little village there’s a field that’s been dammed, and is an excellent environment for bird life. We took a picnic, (good old Di), and set off on our motos. When we arrived, not surprisingly we were the ones who were being watched. A crowd of locals appeared and looked bemused when we sat down and got the binoculars out. We invited them to join us and eventually had about 7 or 8 children and adults sitting with us trying to watch birds (see photo). It was great to see their reaction when things appeared so close. With binoculars in one hand, one lad focused on a goat at the edge of the water, quite near to where we were sitting, and kept trying to touch it with his other hand thinking it was next to him. We showed them the birds that we could see in the book, and then with great enthusiasm they showed us the ones they knew… all the ones they hunt and eat! It was a great couple of hours – very hot but great fun. Di ended up with a great two inch tan on her shins! Her shins, just above her socks, had been exposed to the sun whilst we were sitting there. For the record, and for those who like birds, we saw egrets (hundreds), black kites, numerous birds of prey, Abyssinian rollers (beautiful blue birds), some waders, jacanas, parakeets, pied kingfishers (taking fish directly in front of where we sat), hornbills, bee eaters and even a woodpecker! We’re led to believe that when the wet season arrives, then the bird life comes with it – can’t wait! We eventually got a couple of hours in the shade and had a bite to eat when we moved on – we’ve found a nice secluded spot right by the border. All in all a great day.
As we enter February, we hope that the Gbele trip will materialise, and we’ll fill you in with the details in the next blog. We’ve also got a visit to Wa (the regional capital) planned, a sort of union meeting for VSO volunteers, so we’ll let you know about life in the fast lane again! But for now, bye and take care….and keep the e-mails coming!
