May 27th 2009

My apologies for the lagging blog posts. There is no internet in Sirigu or the surrounding villages, and circumstances over the past week have prevented me from accessing the internet café in Bolga.

The other four students arrived late last night by the STC bus from Accra. Kate, our designated documentarian, will hopefully do a better job of keeping up with the blog. She’ll take it from here. For now, I’ll relax in my hotel room and catch up on some Steinbeck. Thank you for reading.

-John Yatsko

May 26th 2009

Dr. Denham, our chapter advisor, visited me this morning at my bedside. He flew from Accra to the north on the 6am flight. I was in good care before he arrived, but it’s still reassuring to have a friend nearby.

I can now join him in the “Triple Plus Club”. He knows what I’m going through because he also had Malaria(+++ ) during an EWB trip. Most cases of malaria are categorized as (+), which is the lowest concentration in the blood. (++) is severe. (+++) means you need to get to a hospital quickly.

Malaria does not cause excruciating pain as some might think. It’s more of a sustained discomfort, an inescapable agony. I was fortunate to receive medical attention as quickly as I did. Once they take the fever down, the condition becomes much more tolerable.

I already feel much better than I did yesterday (I should. My blood is half Quinine). I was released this evening and moved across the street to the Sand Garden Hotel. I will stay for at least two nights before I go north again. They gave me another set of medications and a checkup date next week.

It is difficult to imagine what someone from Yua would have done in a similar situation. Most people have no access to phones or vehicles, much less the money to pay for treatment. Even the ones who could make it to the clinic in Yua would not receive adequate medical treatment. They don’t even have a ward to admit sick patients. The extra room freed up by the nurses quarters will help, but it’s clear that further work is required to meet the need of the 4000 people in and around Yua.

-John Yatsko

May 25th 2009

I woke up this morning feeling good as new. I took my usual breakfast and headed to the site with Francis. When we arrived, I began to feel a bit queasy. I figured it was probably just the malaria medication getting to me. I put down some bottled water and started measuring rebar for the column bases.

The queasy sensation quickly worsened until I had to dash for the nearest tree. I thought it might have been spoiled eggs for breakfast. So I drank some more water and went back to my work. After the second time, I decided I needed to go back to Bolga. I tried to quickly mark out the measurements on the rebar before I left, but Pok snatched it from my hands and said “John, you have to go to hospital.”

I hit a big wall after that. I was perspiring heavily, blown both ways. I had to stop the Safari Wagon at least five times on the way to Bolga. My breakfast was gone, and then some.

The doctor did a quick blood test and hooked me up to an IV. It was a relapse of the malaria. I will stay the night in the hospital this time.

-John Yatsko

May 24th 2009

The malaria feels much better today. With no work scheduled on Sundays, I can take the day to gather my thoughts and strength for the next week of work.

-John Yatsko

May 23th 2009

We began laying bricks for the foundation sub-structure this morning. It’s important to have a few courses of block below the foundation slab to support the weight of the building walls. It also raises the floor high enough to prevent flood damage.

Three masons from Yua turned out to lead the process, including Stephen, head of the “Yua Operations and Maintenance Team”. Steven apologized for not being present yesterday. He went on to explain that his younger brother had been hit and killed by a car the previous morning. The vehicle struck the boy from behind as he was walking to school. I offered my condolences to Steven as I would to a friend in the States, and asked if he needed to be home with his family. He saw no reason for doing so. In fact, he was eerily unaffected by the loss. He explained “We must take it light. It’s by nature, so what can we do?”

This kind of cold pragmatism seems counterintuitive for such a socially oriented group of people. I suppose it’s necessary when you live in a region where one in five children don’t reach the age of five. People must grow a thick skin.

This mindset could also stem from the widespread belief in predestination. Everyone here is highly spiritual, whether it be Christianity, Islam, or traditional beliefs. Many people will shrug off a tragedy as “God’s will”.

Whatever the reason, Steven did not seem phased. He was definitely still in a better mood than I was, laughing several times during our conversation.

-John Yatsko

May 22th 2009

We laid the concrete footing today, narrowly finishing the work before dark. I was afraid we would not complete the day’s tasks and be set back a day. Laying concrete is grueling work, particularly in the summer sun. It was getting late and the men were clearly exhausted. Most were resting idly on bricks and sand piles. It took all my will power not to pick up a headpan and help them along. I knew we had to complete the footing by sundown. Yet, I hesitated to confront the men leaning on shovels. It seemed wrong to order tired men to work as I sat in the shade. Much of what I know of leadership comes from my years as a cross country captain. I could never tell a teammate to finish a workout unless I was leading it.

Fortunately, my shallow encouragement was not necessary. The people’s will to see development proved motivation enough. They realized the problem and put in one last good push.

Pok called in today informing me that he would not make it out to the site. He has also been taken ill with malaria.

-John Yatsko

May 21st 2009

It was another hard night at SWOPA. The locals call the condition a “running stomach”. You get the idea.

I was greeted this morning by Francis, informing me that we had a flat tire. After taking care of that, we picked up breakfast for the workers and headed to the site. I informed the workers that I was going to the clinic in Bolga and left Pok in charge.

I was happy to hear that my stomach wasn’t too soft for the water. Apparently a running stomach can be a symptom of malaria as well.

The doctor in Bolga prescribed me some drugs and told me to get some rest. When you have malaria, all you want to do is get out of the heat and sleep. I remember our chapter mentor, Dale Grey, would sometimes take a few team members back to an air conditioned hotel in Bolga to give them a break from “the line”. Right then, that sounded like just the ticket.

The first six hotels we tried were full, but the seventh had a nice air conditioned room where I could rest the day. I sent Francis back to Yua with fuel for the tractor and passed out.

Later on, Pok came by to check on my condition. He forced me to eat some rice balls he had prepared from home. It was the first time I had eaten in over a day. I thanked him and asked about the day’s progress.

The crew has finished the trenches and is now ready to lay the concrete footing in the morning. The work requires precise measurements and can’t be undone. I’m not comfortable delegating the supervision of this to anyone else. I can watch from the shade if I have to, but I need to get back to the line.

-John Yatsko

May 20th 2009

Things went much more smoothly on the construction site this time. I picked up a drum of porridge for the crew’s breakfast, which a woman in the market prepared for us. The workers still complained the porridge was too light and wouldn’t give them enough strength to work. It needed to be accompanied by bread or cakes. That one I couldn’t have seen coming. I’ll buy bread with it tomorrow.


The men continued to dig the trenches, form the blocks, and cut the sand. I stopped by the Sirigu market on one of my cement runs to pick up a bag of rice for lunch. The women prepared it for the workers by mid day. The meal was satisfactory, but I think we can still do better by buying bulk ingredients from Bolga.

The work is co-managed by Pok. He is much more knowledgeable about construction than I am, but seems to avoid calculation whenever possible. Between the two of us, we handle the site pretty effectively. One unexpected help came in the form of a young man by the name of Edward. Edward has emerged as a leader among the workers. He keeps the men on task and takes careful record of everyone in attendance. I left Pok and Edward in charge this afternoon while I made the trip to Bolga for supplies.

I’ve been feeling a bit off for most of the day. I wasn’t able to take dinner this evening. I suspect it may be the result of the borehole water I’ve been drinking. The Ghanaians say the white men’s stomachs are too weak for their food and drink. I was hoping I’d be over that by now. Maybe I can sleep it off.

-John Yatsko

May 19th 2009

Today I showcased how little I know about construction management. The requested twenty-five men and women showed up for work this morning. Though I had arranged for a woman to cook breakfast for them, it had not occurred to me that I would still have to provide the food for the women to cook. It was too late by then. We had to get started.

One group of men rode with the tractor to fetch sand from the river bed. The rest stayed at the clinic with me. We began by measuring the precise locations of the corners of the building, being very diligent to insure that the corners were perfectly square. This task is important, but can only be performed by two people at one time. So, fifteen men sat in the shade for the first hour while Pok and I placed stakes on the corners of all the rooms.

There was plenty of work to go around once the crew began digging the foundation trenches. The ground under each wall must be excavated before we can begin work on the foundation.

At lunch time, having prepared no meal as promised, I simply handed out one cedi to each worker who had contributed. They were happy to receive it (most people eat for less than one cedi per day), but this is a costly way to go and I know most of them will save the money for their families instead of actually using it for lunch. In effect, this is just giving them a pitiful wage without making them any stronger for the work. We still made it clear that the money was meant to cover the cost of a meal.

When the tractor returned, the molders were able to begin making blocks for the foundation. Blocks in this area are notorious for their poor quality. Any block that contains cement is considered usable in a region where mud buildings are the norm. To cut costs, builders will water down their mixture with sand so much that the blocks barely hold together. Many of them don’t.

Pok insisted that blocks built to government standard, that’s thirty to a bag of cement, need ten days to cure. I instructed the molders to make our blocks at twenty to a bag (a richer mix). This should give the building more strength and allow us to build on them after four days.

A typical Ghanaian block next to ours

Part of the reason I arrived early was to ensure the quality of the materials going into the building. One of the suggestions of the group was to have the blocks ready for us when we arrived on site. However, my fear was that the cement may be watered down to save materials and the structure would not be as sound as our team planned. The only way I can insure the price and quality of the materials is to do as much as I can myself.

-John Yatsko

May 18th 2009

I rode with Pok to the district capital of Navrongo this morning to meet with the District Chief Executive (DCE). Just like informing the chiefs in Yua of our work in their village, it’s customary to let the ranking politician know what we’re doing in his district. He happily approved our project and our request for the use of tools and a tractor. We picked up the tools from a local store room. The tractor will meet us at the site in the morning, when work will commence.

We stopped briefly at the Clinic on the way back to prepare for tomorrow. The nurse looked over the plans and picked out a spot for the building. We placed four blocks on the approximate corners and called it a day.

-John Yatsko

May 17th 2009

Sundays here are traditionally days of rest. For now I don’t mind taking them. I know there will be plenty of work from here out.

-John Yatsko

May 16th 2009

There’s not much that can be done now without tools or sand at the site. I know it’s going to be a struggle to get this building completed in five weeks. But for now, all I can do is wait.

I passed by a soccer match on my way home from lunch. It was the finals of a boys’ 15-and-under tournament which began three days ago. Ten teams from all over the Eastern Corridor had participated. Despite being the only team that wasn’t wearing jerseys, the boys from Yua made it all the way to the final round. I noticed they were also considerably smaller than their competitors. Yua put up a good fight, but Sirigu came out ahead for the win.

All of the women at SWOPA go home at dark. So in the evenings the only other person around is Simon, the security guard. I went out to talk to him for a while after dinner.

Simon has six children, five of whom are currently in school (the sixth is two). He explained that his oldest daughter has just graduated from secondary school and has been accepted into nursing college. Unfortunately, he can’t afford to pay her school fees. So she won’t go. He also has a son who alternates years going to school and working in the South to pay his school fees. Simon wishes he could come up with the money for them, but work is scarce in the North. There is no government assistance and no credit here in Ghana. Without an education you have two options: you can be a farmer, or you can be a security guard. Neither can pay for nursing school.

I’ve noticed at least 10 junior high schools in the area. I’m sure there are more. There’s definitely only one high school though. That’s one six-classroom school for all seven villages, a population of at least 20,000. Granted some students can afford to go to boarding school in Bolga or Navrongo, but the numbers still aren’t good. Regardless of how brilliant or motivated a child is, he/she will never have a chance at an education if the family can’t afford it. We’ll discuss this issue in more depth when the rest of the team arrives.

-John Yatsko

May 15th 2009

The Safari Wagon ran out of gas on the way to Bolga this morning. Though Pok did leave a container of gasoline for the car, he didn’t realize that the Wagon takes diesel. My driver, Francis, had to flag a ride back to Sirigu, barrow Pok’s truck, and come pick me up on the road side. He dropped me at the internet café and went back to sort out the car issue.

Later in the morning, I rode with Pok up to the chief’s palace to request permission to begin work in Yua. The compound is not really a “palace”, nor does it actually house a “chief”. In fact, the village of Yua has not had a chief in at least 20 years. When the last chief died, it was the responsibility of his house to organize the ceremony to appoint the new chief. Now, whether they couldn’t afford to perform the ceremony or they didn’t want the chieftaincy to leave the house, I cannot say for certain. We only know that the ceremony was never performed. Every time we came they would tell us the chief was ill, or that he was in the South. It was not until our third visit that we actually discovered he doesn’t exist. The people had been holding fast to the tradition of not mentioning to outsiders of the absence of a chief. Historically, if a village was known to be without a chief, then a rival tribe might move in to seize control over it.

It’s still a sign of respect to ask permission from the elders of the chief’s palace before entering the village. In the past, we have presented them with gifts from the local market such as gin and kola nuts. This time though, I felt it would be more appropriate to present them with some traditional American luxuries instead. I presented them with a box of homemade brownies, a pack of cigars, and one bottle of fine Tennessee Whiskey.

Next, we met with the construction team that will work with us on the clinic site. More than thirty people have volunteered to help with the building. We won’t pay them directly for their help; their labor is their contribution to the project. We will only pay for their meals during working hours to keep them strong. The people will begin gathering rocks for the concrete and piling them at the site.

We then made our way down to the neighboring village of Kindiga, where a large funeral ceremony was taking place. It just happens that the funeral was being held for the father-in-law of the DCE (District Chief Executive). After proper introductions, we spoke to him about acquiring tools and a tractor for the construction site. We’ll receive an answer when we meet with him in Navrongo on Monday.

On the way out we observed a group of men carrying around a large ornamental stone. I asked one of the men at the ceremony what it was for. He explained that a man in the community is entitled to his own grave if he has reached a “ripe” age at the time of his death. Once the new grave is dug, a stone will be placed on top to mark its location. The man’s family will then be buried with him under the same stone as they too pass on. This man has earned his own stone.

-John Yatsko

May 14th 2009

I arrived at SWOPA (Sirigu Women’s Organization of Pottery and Art) in the early hours this morning. Pok, our main in-country contact, arranged for my transportation from Bolgatanga. I’ve never seen anything like the vehicle he dug up for us. It has no US equivalent. The best way I can describe it is a safari wagon. It cost 22 cedis to take the bus 18 hours from Accra to Bolga, and then 60 to hire a driver for the 40 minute drive from Bolga to Sirigu. I was too tired at the time to care.


I slept late into the morning until it got too hot to stay inside. SWOPA is the best accommodation around, but there is still no air conditioning in the huts. I remember it being a lot harder to sleep the first time I was here, though I can’t say you ever get used to 105 and humid. I notice the Ghanaians still sweat a great deal. More so you just get used to being hot and wet all of the time. I spent the better part of an hour today sitting in front of a fan.

I met with Pok for dinner this evening to discuss our plans for the clinic construction. Pok is a prominent contractor in the area. He has built dozens of structures similar to the one we have planned in Yua. Pok has agreed to serve as general contractor for this project

We looked over the plans and decided to scrap the inner hall and replace it with an outside veranda. This is a design that is much more characteristic of the area. He also suggested a completely different style of foundation than the one we designed. I agreed to the change for the sake of having the building “built Ghanaian”. Pok insisted that he has used the same foundation in his buildings for decades and never experienced problems.

-John Yatsko

May 13th 2009

At last the notorious eighteen-hour bus ride on the STC. Akunz dropped me at the bus depot early this morning. As a seasoned Greyhound patron, I was prepared for the worst. The leg room could have been better, but otherwise it wasn’t too bad. The route to the North covers a lot of good country.

Around hour fourteen, I was flipping through my design plans without any real purpose. They caught the eye of the young woman sitting next to me. Her name was Ida. I had spoken to her intermittently throughout the trip. Ida was a professional photographer out of Tamale. She had traveled to Accra to visit her three-year-old son who lives with his grandmother.

She asked to see my plans for the Nurse’s Quarters at the Clinic. I handed them over and explained them as I would to anyone lacking in a technical background. She flipped back and forth through the pages with a bewildered look on her face. I figured I must have done a poor job of explaining the drawings. Before I could start again, she looks up and says “No. This is no good.” She then explains that the back door of the building should be in the kitchen instead of the bathroom. The women will need to throw the dirty water out of the kitchen when they are finished cooking. An extra door in the kitchen would also provide better ventilation for clearing smoke.

Apparently Ida had taken several computer aided drafting classes during her time in secondary school. I’m really not sure why I even thought to include a backdoor in the building at all, much less one in the bathroom. With no flammable materials in or anywhere near the building, the idea of it just seems silly to me now.

I doubt she was even listening to my initial explanation. She appeared confused because the front and side profile views of the building were out of order and didn’t match what should appear on the floor plan.

-John Yatsko

May 12th 2009

One thing that will help the financial situation is the favorable exchange rate from Dollars to Cedis. Last year, the exchange rate was 1 to 1. This morning I bought cedis at 1 to 1.43. To my surprise, prices don’t seem to have inflated at all. Everything is the same, if not cheaper, than it was a year ago. It’s nice to catch a break on that.

After exchanging currency, Akunz took me around Accra to look for some of the materials that will be difficult to find in the north. It's obvious where the US has left its mark on Ghanaian culture. This is a billboard along a major street in the city.

We stopped briefly at a warehouse selling drip irrigation supplies. They offer a half acre system out-of-the-box for about 600 cedis. While this is what we need, I’m hesitant to simply buy a “project” from a private vendor and then turn it over to the farmers in Yua. Serving as humanitarian delivery boys does no exactly meet the rigorous engineering challenges characteristic of this organization.

Our next stop was the Solar Light Company. They have a website advertising a household solar system for 2500 cedis. That’s less than our current solar budget, so I thought I’d at least give it a look. As it turns out, the system they refer to on the website includes just two 100 watt panels. Even if you could buy all the components of the system for 2500 cedis, which you can’t, a 200 watt array is not half of what’s necessary to power any reasonably sized home.

There were, however, some components they offered for an affordable rate. The charge controller, batteries, and lights were all comparable to what we’d pay in the US. Panels here go for around 9 cedis per watt. That would be about 9000 cedis for the size array that is actually needed for the system I have in mind. We’ll be much better off shipping our own panels over for around $1500.

I took* dinner this evening with Akunz and his family. Dr. Akunzule is a veterinary doctor, born in Yua, and educated at Cornell University in the US. He is a well respected elder in both his home village and in Accra, where he currently resides. Akunz’s claim to fame is that he was the first man in Ghana to perform surgery on a lion.

His daughter prepared a traditional meal of riceballs and groundnut soup. The soup contained bits of what appeared to be snake. I thought it might be rude to ask. Honestly though I didn’t want to know.

*Local idiom. You “take” meals rather than “have” them.

-John Yatsko

May 11th 2009

I was met at the airport in Accra this evening by our good friend Dr. Akunzule. I suppose he’s just my good friend now. Of the 8 NAU volunteers who embarked on the last implementation, I am the sole returner. The rest have graduated or moved on. It won’t be a problem for me so much as for the new volunteers. They have big shoes to fill.

The new team will break up into four groups to tackle the various tasks we have planned. Bryce Gillies will lead the Drip Irrigation team, Conner Ricket the Borehole Repair, Jessica Lum the Assessment, and I the Clinic. Kate Dorrel will serve as Documentarian and Dr. Aaron Denham our cultural advisor.

The construction at the clinic will occupy most of my time for the coming weeks. Considering the scope of the task at hand, I’ve chosen to stay in country for a full six weeks, two weeks longer than the rest of the team. So, this time I travel alone.

It’s a familiar scene at the airport. The flight was late and so was the baggage. I’ve learned by now to pack as though I’ll never see my luggage again; so I was prepared for it. In three years, our bags have never made it to Accra on the same day that we did. Today, however, both of them made it safely to the conveyer belt at Kotoka International…even if they were two hours late. I take it as a good omen.

For those unfamiliar with the project, our chapter of EWB has worked in the remote village of Yua, Ghana for the past three years. The community has no electricity, plumbing, sanitation, adequate medical care, and very limited access to clean water. On the previous implementation trip, the team constructed a mechanized solar well at the Yua market, a solar lighting system at the junior high school, and sponsored the drilling of an additional borehole at the clinic.

This year we have a larger project, 3 fewer volunteers, and half the budget. We’ll have to run things a bit differently on this one.

-John Yatsko