Email Number 6
Email Number 6
July 21, 2006
Accra, Ghana
Hello to everyone!
We thought it was time to write again and let you know how we are and how things are going. In a word, we are fine, and for the moment, things are a bit slow. Our last trip was a couple of weeks ago to Hohoe in the Volta region, (northeast of Accra) where as we told you we did 3 ½ days of training at our project site there. Since then, we have been here in Accra where life is pretty slow.
As for work, while we are productive, (as usual for us), our pace seems to be slow and steady, and again, that feels a bit slow for us. Never the less, we are getting things done: grants, computer stuff, and lots of one on one mentoring and problem solving. We have actually made all of the computers virus free, which may be a first for Pro-Link, and perhaps even for Ghana. The last computer we “de-virused” had 1,646 viruses on it, and we are still wondering how it even booted up, let alone “computed”! Not only that, but we created a schedule for computer maintenance which most folks in the office seem to be following (more or less).
Another small project has been the making of a photo archives for Pro-Link. We have been taking lots of digital photos around the office and at the project sites and have created a computer archive for them. (BY THE WAY, WE ARE STILL ON THE LOOKOUT FOR A DONATED DIGITAL CAMERA IF YOU OR SOMEONE YOU KNOW HAS ONE, SO IF SO, LET US KNOW)
The weather here has changed considerably, and it almost feels like traditional Seattle weather – cool and cloudy, but the cool is a relative thing. When one is used to 100 or close to it, then the 80’s feels actually cold. Last night at our favorite local food restaurant, we actually moved from the patio inside, and tonight we are planning to do to a place on the ocean for dinner and dancing and will bring along long sleeved tops and even a jacket and socks for Peter! Hinda is worried that we will lose our tans and return to Seattle to see our friends and family tanned from the hot weather you seem to be having.
As you may know, Ghana is one of the most stable nations in Africa. They became independent in 1959 under Kwame Nkrumah from England. Despite the relative stability, Ghana is quite poor – an average of 40% poverty, and in some areas up to 90%. Everything is relative: AIDS is a problem here, and it is perceived as a significant one, however, at a national rate of just over 3% it compares with some other African nations where the rate approaches a whopping 40%!. Because of the low rate in comparison to other countries, Ghana does not receive a lot of funding from international aid organizations to deal with this problem. And like other places on this continent, there is a serious malaria and TB problem.
Another big problem in our opinion is the lack of infrastructure: poor roads, pollution, lack of potable water, power and water shortages, poor communications, lack of basic sanitary facilities, etc. It seems to us that there needs to be a concerted effort to solve these problems, otherwise there will just be continuing problems. And so we see new government buildings being built while people live near open sewers and live in huts with no water, electric, or basic sanitation.
There is a problem here with child labor. Children work in illegal gold mines and quarries, they work in restaurants, and as servants, and much more. We helped Pro-Link write a proposal that wlll be funded by the International Labor organization to develop a program in the North that will begin to deal with these problems, and several other NGO’s will be doing the same in other areas. Will it be enough? No!. But it is a start and if we can help just a few, it is better than doing nothing.
When we moved into our new place, we hired a woman – Janet – to come in 3 days a week and cook and clean. We pay Janet 300,000 cedi’s a month, (about $32.60). She is a very good cook – she cooks local food for us, and Western food as well (spaghetti and meat sauce). Hinda who has always been sensitive to spicy foods has been doing quite well. Janet make us omo tuo, and groundnut soup, (rice balls and peanut soup with chicken or goat), palava sauce, (chopped up kontombrey leaves – leaves of the cocoa yam), joloff rice, (rice cooked with vegetables, kind of like Spanish rice, but spicier), and other good things. For Peter the food is good – much spicier that southern and eastern Africa. (Check out her photo accompanying this blog).
For those of you have contributed to the Keta Tree Project, it is going very well. While we haven’t received all of the money yet, we are optimistic that your contributions will pay for 10,000 coconut seedlings to be planted by all of the families in Keta. We will be going to Keta on September 2, just a couple of days before we return home to make the presentation to the Keta District Council. We will give them a small certificate listing all of your names, and will send you a copy of it. WE CAN STILL USE SOME MORE CONTRIBUTIONS AND HOPE THAT SOME OF YOU WHO HAVEN’T YET RESPONDED WILL DO SO – AND PLEASE TELL OTHERS! T H A N K S ! ! ! We have been helping Pro-Link with some proposals to try and get more money to expand the project for other kinds of trees such as acacia which is easily and quickly grown for firewood and will be an income generating mechanism for some of the families. The coconut trees when matured will also provide material for roofing, feed for fowl, much needed shade, and of course most important will stop the erosion from the Atlantic.
The week after next we will be visiting another project site in Aflao on the Togo border. Aflao is spelled as it is here, and pronounced with the “f” sound unless you live there when it pronounced “Aplao”, so it can get a bit confusing.
After Aflao / Aplao we will be taking a week off to visit the north and go to Ghana’s only real game preserve – Mole National Park - which we have been told will not be anything like what we have seen in Namibia or Uganda. One of the places we will visit is Kakum National Park which has the only tree canopy walk in Africa and one of a handful around the world. It is about 120 feet off the ground and you walk on a footbridge made of rope with a wooden walkway, and yes, it will sway a lot. Is Hinda going to go? Who knows? Anyone want to place a bet. Then we will go to another project site for a couple of days to do some more training – this time in Mankessim on the coast. Finally another week of personal travel to the Cape Coast where we will visit several of Ghana’s slave forts, and just relax on some nice beaches. And then, just a couple of more days work and we’ll be off the home. So, we’ll be having lots more to tell you with accompanying photos as well.
Peter’s learning of tri is still progressing however some people laugh at his pronunciation while others remark on how accurate it is. Go figure!
That’s about it for now. Stay well and hugs from us to you.
Love, Peter and Hinda
July 21, 2006
Accra, Ghana
Hello to everyone!
We thought it was time to write again and let you know how we are and how things are going. In a word, we are fine, and for the moment, things are a bit slow. Our last trip was a couple of weeks ago to Hohoe in the Volta region, (northeast of Accra) where as we told you we did 3 ½ days of training at our project site there. Since then, we have been here in Accra where life is pretty slow.
As for work, while we are productive, (as usual for us), our pace seems to be slow and steady, and again, that feels a bit slow for us. Never the less, we are getting things done: grants, computer stuff, and lots of one on one mentoring and problem solving. We have actually made all of the computers virus free, which may be a first for Pro-Link, and perhaps even for Ghana. The last computer we “de-virused” had 1,646 viruses on it, and we are still wondering how it even booted up, let alone “computed”! Not only that, but we created a schedule for computer maintenance which most folks in the office seem to be following (more or less).
Another small project has been the making of a photo archives for Pro-Link. We have been taking lots of digital photos around the office and at the project sites and have created a computer archive for them. (BY THE WAY, WE ARE STILL ON THE LOOKOUT FOR A DONATED DIGITAL CAMERA IF YOU OR SOMEONE YOU KNOW HAS ONE, SO IF SO, LET US KNOW)
The weather here has changed considerably, and it almost feels like traditional Seattle weather – cool and cloudy, but the cool is a relative thing. When one is used to 100 or close to it, then the 80’s feels actually cold. Last night at our favorite local food restaurant, we actually moved from the patio inside, and tonight we are planning to do to a place on the ocean for dinner and dancing and will bring along long sleeved tops and even a jacket and socks for Peter! Hinda is worried that we will lose our tans and return to Seattle to see our friends and family tanned from the hot weather you seem to be having.
As you may know, Ghana is one of the most stable nations in Africa. They became independent in 1959 under Kwame Nkrumah from England. Despite the relative stability, Ghana is quite poor – an average of 40% poverty, and in some areas up to 90%. Everything is relative: AIDS is a problem here, and it is perceived as a significant one, however, at a national rate of just over 3% it compares with some other African nations where the rate approaches a whopping 40%!. Because of the low rate in comparison to other countries, Ghana does not receive a lot of funding from international aid organizations to deal with this problem. And like other places on this continent, there is a serious malaria and TB problem.
Another big problem in our opinion is the lack of infrastructure: poor roads, pollution, lack of potable water, power and water shortages, poor communications, lack of basic sanitary facilities, etc. It seems to us that there needs to be a concerted effort to solve these problems, otherwise there will just be continuing problems. And so we see new government buildings being built while people live near open sewers and live in huts with no water, electric, or basic sanitation.
There is a problem here with child labor. Children work in illegal gold mines and quarries, they work in restaurants, and as servants, and much more. We helped Pro-Link write a proposal that wlll be funded by the International Labor organization to develop a program in the North that will begin to deal with these problems, and several other NGO’s will be doing the same in other areas. Will it be enough? No!. But it is a start and if we can help just a few, it is better than doing nothing.
When we moved into our new place, we hired a woman – Janet – to come in 3 days a week and cook and clean. We pay Janet 300,000 cedi’s a month, (about $32.60). She is a very good cook – she cooks local food for us, and Western food as well (spaghetti and meat sauce). Hinda who has always been sensitive to spicy foods has been doing quite well. Janet make us omo tuo, and groundnut soup, (rice balls and peanut soup with chicken or goat), palava sauce, (chopped up kontombrey leaves – leaves of the cocoa yam), joloff rice, (rice cooked with vegetables, kind of like Spanish rice, but spicier), and other good things. For Peter the food is good – much spicier that southern and eastern Africa. (Check out her photo accompanying this blog).
For those of you have contributed to the Keta Tree Project, it is going very well. While we haven’t received all of the money yet, we are optimistic that your contributions will pay for 10,000 coconut seedlings to be planted by all of the families in Keta. We will be going to Keta on September 2, just a couple of days before we return home to make the presentation to the Keta District Council. We will give them a small certificate listing all of your names, and will send you a copy of it. WE CAN STILL USE SOME MORE CONTRIBUTIONS AND HOPE THAT SOME OF YOU WHO HAVEN’T YET RESPONDED WILL DO SO – AND PLEASE TELL OTHERS! T H A N K S ! ! ! We have been helping Pro-Link with some proposals to try and get more money to expand the project for other kinds of trees such as acacia which is easily and quickly grown for firewood and will be an income generating mechanism for some of the families. The coconut trees when matured will also provide material for roofing, feed for fowl, much needed shade, and of course most important will stop the erosion from the Atlantic.
The week after next we will be visiting another project site in Aflao on the Togo border. Aflao is spelled as it is here, and pronounced with the “f” sound unless you live there when it pronounced “Aplao”, so it can get a bit confusing.
After Aflao / Aplao we will be taking a week off to visit the north and go to Ghana’s only real game preserve – Mole National Park - which we have been told will not be anything like what we have seen in Namibia or Uganda. One of the places we will visit is Kakum National Park which has the only tree canopy walk in Africa and one of a handful around the world. It is about 120 feet off the ground and you walk on a footbridge made of rope with a wooden walkway, and yes, it will sway a lot. Is Hinda going to go? Who knows? Anyone want to place a bet. Then we will go to another project site for a couple of days to do some more training – this time in Mankessim on the coast. Finally another week of personal travel to the Cape Coast where we will visit several of Ghana’s slave forts, and just relax on some nice beaches. And then, just a couple of more days work and we’ll be off the home. So, we’ll be having lots more to tell you with accompanying photos as well.
Peter’s learning of tri is still progressing however some people laugh at his pronunciation while others remark on how accurate it is. Go figure!
That’s about it for now. Stay well and hugs from us to you.
Love, Peter and Hinda
posted by Peter and Hinda Schnurman at 9:45 AM
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