And also, I have some pictures to share!
But I'm tired, and I've been sitting for so long this week I can hardly sit anymore without it hurting.
So here is the condensed version of each of those stories.
Independence Day
Ghana celebrates its independence from the British on 6 March, 1957.
What is now called Ghana has a far longer history than its colonial past. Rich with forest products, gold, and other such things it was deeply involved in the complicated trade routes of West Africa for a long long time, and the 70+ languages spoken here give you an idea of the diversity of populations in the area. I'm not a historian and the books I've read on the matter have not impressed me, so I won't say much more. However, I think it's important to point out that the area of Ghana where I am working, the Volta Region, was not actually part of the British-occupied Gold Coast for most of West Africa's period of European invasion. It was, rather, part of German-occupied Togoland.
When preparing for Independence Day, people around here would sometimes start singing songs in Ewe about the military and 1916, which was the year that Togoland was divided up by the French and the British, and what is now the Volta Region officially became a part of modern-day Ghana in 1957, after a fairly close 1956 vote to do so.
I hope that makes sense and isn't too factually inaccurate. I have a bit of a fever, so please don't quote me on any of that!
Anyway, the independence day celebrations involved marches in Black Star Square and a speech from the president. We watched it on TV from Logba. When the president drove out in a chariot/SUV to inspect all the military personnel lined up, it started raining very heavily. "Oh Mr. Mahama! Sorry-o!" But he kept on with his inspection, in spite of having no roof to protect him. It continued raining for a few hours, and the school children who were gathered to show off their marching were excused, but the military all had to stay, because, as was explained by the TV announcers, it is part of their training to endure harsh conditions. Or, as agreed upon by my homestay family and also the president himself, "Showers of blessing!"
Adome Bridge
Adome Bridge (located roughly at Kpong) was built around the time of Ghana's independence and is one of only a handful of crossings of the Volta River, I believe. I had gone to Accra last Friday to meet with and bring the botanist from the university back with me to the Logba Traditional Area to help me with plant identifications (and also to make use of the faster internet of the big city). On Monday, the botanist and I left Accra early in the morning in a trotro headed to Hohoe, which felt very luxurious as it had padded seats, air conditioning, and enough space for everyone to actually have their own seat!
I was feeling pretty grateful for those little luxuries, when we found ourselves shortly afterwards stuck in a miles-long line which didn't appear to be moving. The driver turned on the radio and after a bit of highlife music played, an announcement came on: "Adome Bridge is closed today for repairs for the next two years." They repeated, in case anybody didn't understand: "Adome Bridge is closed today for the next 24 months."
Well, that was news to me, and also to our driver!
There were two ferries set up to take vehicles and passengers across the river to replace the bridge, but of course they couldn't possibly handle the capacity needed, and given that it was the first day there were bound to be some problems. We waited in line for a few hours and then, with the water finally in sight, our driver got fed up with waiting and pulled angrily out of the line and drove straight back to the main road in the direction we'd come. Oh boy.
He decided to take the long way round to Sogakope, where there is another bridge, and was demanding an extra GHS 5 (about $2.50) from each of the passengers. This led to a pretty heated debate, which I didn't understand, followed by everyone somehow coming to the agreement that, since we couldn't get our spot in the line back anyway, we would go the long way around. But we would only pay GHS 4 each. So off we went.
You may recall that when I was ill previously and tried to go to Ho for treatment, I ended up on a bit of a tour of the southern part of the Volta Region, passing through Ho, Sogakope, Sege, and Battor on the way down, and then from Battor to Kpong to Logba on the way back. Well, I managed to top that with what should have been a very straightforward, four hours maximum trip from Accra to Logba!
We went from Accra to Kpong, waiting for several hours, then drove from Kpong past Battor, past Sege, through Sogakope, and north to Ho, finally going up Mountain Gemi and back down to Logba. We all sat in our seats in that luxurious trotro (the AC was quickly turned off when we got in the long line and didn't come on again during most of the detour) for a solid nine hours of travel. I think it would have almost certainly been faster if we'd waited a bit longer in the line, but maybe it never would have moved, I don't know. Needless to say, my bottom is still sore from the non-stop sitting.
Don't Make Plans
I have spent the past two months planning for this week, when the botanist would be able to come and work with me here. I had planned for us to go over the equipment and methods together with my research assistant Monday afternoon after we arrived so we were all on the same page and had a good understanding of each other's work. Since we arrived five hours after we were supposed to, that didn't work out.
I had then planned that we would spend four days working with the people we previously had made arrangements with, going to the bush and learning about plants together, documenting the names in Ikpana and collecting voucher specimens to be identified, thus connecting local knowledge to a broader shared system of knowledge.
The day we started work the power went out. Normally the power goes out for a few hours, or at most, half a day. So, I thought I was being really well-prepared to bring two full day's worth of batteries for everything! We finished our work and came home, and I did my best to quickly back up the materials we'd recorded. Power still out.
The next day, we woke up and carried on our work, and my video camera batteries started to get a bit low. We came back and I backed up the photos and audio but nothing else as my laptop soon died. Power still out. By this point, most everyone we were working with had run out of batteries in their phones, so we confirmed our arrangements for the next day in person.
On day three, we climbed to the top of the mountain and began our work there. Partway through the video camera died completely. The audio recorder and camera were still going, and the botanist didn't need any batteries for his secateurs, so we carried on with the work, just without any video. Rather frustrating given that I have three spare batteries for it (two of which are extra big) and it still wasn't enough, but not the end of the world since the audio, photos, voucher specimens, and field notes (Ikpana name and field identification) are reasonable. By the time we finished that day's work we learned that the power had at last returned! Hurray!
We rushed home and I rather desperately began charging batteries to prepare for our final day of working together here (at least on this trip).
Our final day, however, was not to be.
Today
At 4am I woke up and felt cold. I pulled a cloth over myself, which usually does the trick when I wake up in the morning feeling cold, but found that I still felt cold. Strange! I climbed under my bed sheet and put the cloth over top of that, and still felt cold. I got up and put on a sweater and some warmer pajamas and climbed back under the sheets, but something didn't feel right. I shouldn't be feeling that cold, I thought. So, I got out my thermometer and discovered I had a temperature of 100 F (37.8 C). I was still really sleepy, so I bundled myself up and fell asleep again.
At 6am I woke up feeling worse and took my temperature again: 101 F (38.3 C). At this point I went and told my home stay family and called home since it was still a reasonable time in that time zone. There was general consensus that I needed to see a doctor and I decided to try calling the university insurance folks again but convincing them to let me go to the nearer hospital in Kpando to avoid a repeat of last time (see blog post below). They were okay with that but asked me to let their own doctor speak to the hospital's doctor when I got there. I said fine.
It took a couple hours for us to leave, but the journey to Kpando wasn't too long or complicated (though I was in a bit of a fevery daze the whole time). I thought we were doing pretty well!
But being at the hospital and being seen by a doctor are definitely not the same thing. There was a long long line of people waiting to be seen, and it was moving very very slowly. So I sat in a very hard chair for a few hours (definitely not enjoying sitting anymore!) and was finally seen by a nurse, and after a little bit more waiting, by a doctor, who spoke with the travel insurance doctor as requested and then shocked me by not saying, "You have malaria." He said I was not dehydrated (hurray!) therefore it was very unlikely to be malaria.
Instead, he declared that I had dysentery. (I thought to myself, "And two of my oxen died trying to ford the river?" for those following along on the Oregon Trail.)
Apparently in tropical places dysentery is usually caused by a parasitic amoeba, entamoeba histolytica. Goodie.
So, I'm home in Logba Alakpeti again, taking my medicine and drinking plenty of fluids. I'm told I'm not supposed to eat any fruits or vegetables for a couple of days, which doesn't leave a whole lot for a vegetarian, but I had some boiled rice and an egg and the nurse in the compound gave me some vitamins. I had a hot bucket bath and a cup of tea and have just been resting since I returned. I still have a fever, but my spirits are feeling much better and, as usual, I will be better!
Photos
Now, don't worry. "Things you can buy from a trotro window" is still coming! In the meantime, here are some photos which I managed to upload while in Accra.
This is the fruit of dialium indum, more commonly called Velvet Tamarind. In Ikpana it's known as ikadza and in Accra most people call it yoyi. It makes a great travel snack, as you peel off the hard outer shell and eat the slightly sweet, slightly sour fruit inside, spitting out the seed (or seeds) in the middle.
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| Dialium indum fruit, seeds, and a couple small leaves |
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| Dialium indum cracked open to show fruit inside |
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| Dialium indum seed |
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| Tangerine in family's compound |
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| Part of the walk from Logba Klikpo to Logba Alakpeti |
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