EWB-NAU Yua Development Project: Northern Ghana

Return

2012-01-26T10:50:00.000-08:00

The Ghana trip has come to an end, and we have safely returned to Flagstaff.

We would like to extend a heartfelt goodbye to all of our new friends and acquaintances.
You will sincerely be missed.

Thank you again to our sponsors, teachers, fellow students, project alumni, in country partners, and Northern Arizona University.

Thank You!

Day 27-28: Dijya Island

2012-01-14T22:31:00.000-08:00

Day 27: Traveling

After two days of travel, we havearrived in Dokokro, a peninsula on Lake Volta. This evening we metDr. Akunzule for dinner to discuss our plans for Dijya island, wherewe will spend tomorrow night, and will hopefully be installing asimple solar lighting system. We are in the Volta region now, sotravel has become difficult. Any direction we go requires crossingwater, and although there are a few normal routes, they do not reachthe area that we will be going. Tomorrow we will be on a boat for 5hours in order to reach the clinic where we will be working.

Day 28: Island

We have returned from Dijya Islandafter a successful trip. The community's welcome was spectacular. Thedancing and singing was similar to that in Yua, but had a feel of itsown. The solar light installation went smoothly, although the panelslook out of place on the thatched roof. Thank you to all who donatedmaterial to make this installation possible.

I am excited to see what the futureholds for our relationship with the Dijya Island.

Matt

Day 25: Last Day in Yua

2012-01-14T13:08:00.002-08:00

Our last endeavors in Yua includedadding angle iron supports to the solar array structure and visitingthe primary and secondary schools. Visiting the schools was awonderful experience. We said goodbye to all of the children, thankedthem for having us in their village, and told them a little aboutFlagstaff. We then handed out postcards and took class photos.

We left SWOPA by noon, and were sad tosay goodbye. What a wonderful time we have had in Sirigu and Yua!Farewell!

Day 24: Water!

2012-01-14T13:08:00.000-08:00

The morning began again in Yua. We satdown with a few elders and the remaining members of the Yua 6, theworkers for the water plaza, and continued to discuss dry seasonfarming. This we determined would be the drip irrigation committee.Ideas for transporting water, what would be required for maintenance,and other confusions were hashed out. Farming here is typically donethrough creating swamp like conditions on a plot of land. So, theidea of concentrating irrigation through a pin needle size holedirectly onto a plant may have initially sounded rather absurd, butit is a tested method, and we are confident that this first pilotsystem will provide fruitful results.

Max then showed James and a few othersa method that we had found for putting holes into the PVC usinglighters and pin needles. A short while later Matt returned fromBolga with the pump and specialist for installing it. A few hours anda minimal amount of headaches later water was flowing.

In the future we hope to have the solarpump repaired and installed alongside the mechanical pump.

Anna

Day 23: SWOPA

2012-01-12T04:00:00.001-08:00

Times here move in waves of very busy to very slow. With no internet, TV, or transportation, we get creative. Here is a poem that was written:

Chief

by: Kate and Anna

Underneath the Baoboa tree

The old man smiled

His Armani flip flops of red and green

Covered in a thin layer of gold dust

The old man's knitted hat

Held as a frame his immobile smile

His teeth shone like quartz

Breath rank as attic furniture

His eyes vacant, his mind wandered

Oh to be a man who has witnessed

The seedlings of the first Baoboa trees

A life of hardship, struggle, thirst

With roots stretching for the last drop

Toes digging in the sand

Thinking of the days of his first love

His hand clenching around his walking stick

Remembering the drummers' bangs of pangs

They could never have kept up with the pounding of his heart

Her hair braided into tight rows

As the onions in the field

With ordered prestige of a woman

Who made demands

And gave herself

So their love clings to the weathered soil beneath the trees

Refusing to be washed away

Past Few Days (20-23)

2012-01-08T15:02:00.000-08:00

Today we made preparations for theinstallation of the manual pump. Despite the initial disappointmentfollowing the realization that we would be unable to see the solarpump at work during this trip, every one seems to have rallied. Everyone seems optimistic about bringing water back to the plaza,even if for now it will be pumped by hand. Another lesson for usabout how to be grateful for what we have, how to have patience andtake things one day at a time. Our plan for now is to return to theU.S with the pump, repair it and ship it back to Yua for thecommunity to install it. Thankfully, this trip has been verysuccessful in building a relationship between the community and awide support network of technicians that they can call on forassistance when the need arises. Once we ship the pump back theyshould have no problem getting it up and running.

Today we had our first successful testof the drip irrigation system. We were able to get the tankrunning, despite a small leak which we hope to patch easily withepoxy. We set up the pipes, flushed them with water, replaced theend caps and “let her rip”. Actually, it wasn't so much a “rip”as a small trickle but that was great because that is what we weregoing for. We were working with a few farmers from the area whowere eager to see how it was going to work. They have been veryskeptical all week but I think once they saw it in action they areoptimistic. The holes were the perfect size. The water seemed to becoming out at exactly the same rate as the ground could absorb it. We let it run and watched the size of the wet spots on the ground ateach hole. The water covered a circle about 6 inches in diameter andmaintained that size during the whole test. No run off, no time toevaporate, a success!

Kate

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The mechanical pump is on it's way, andso far the concrete base around the borehole for the pump has beenset and the screws set in place. Otherwise the next big thing is thatHenry had agreed to help with the installation of the old solarpanels on the primary schools in Yua. We began today! The firstinstallation had been done and shown to Patrick, one of the Yuaworkers, who will use the equipment and the business connections wehave set him up with to continue the installation on hopefully twoother schools. These solar panels will be used for lighting theschools, so the students will still have the opportunity to attend class atnight (during the wet season, many students help in the fields during the day). It is great that these old solar panels are being put to gooduse.

In unrelated news we went to Bolgayesterday to run some errands along with feeding gas to theinsatiable beast that is our van and revisiting the welder.

The other day we had dinner at Pok'shouse, it was a beautiful time. We were glad to see him, even thoughhe had to drive a casket to Sirigu for the funeral we were luckyenough to witness today. Funeral's are a two day celebration here,where the entire village gathers at the family's house to drum anddance. We saw about 30 men dressed in tribal war gear holdingsatchels of arrows and dancing in a line around the house. Two daysof this, wow; James one of the drummers looked exhausted. He has beenworking with us during the day and drumming all night long for thepast few nights. It's a relentless fiesta! There had also been a cowkilled, and it laid at the house's entrance as some of the villagersdanced on it. Rock on!

Anna

And the community has given us Zamatikas (Smocks)!

Day 19: Breaking down the wall

2012-01-06T00:57:00.000-08:00

A mechanical pump, is going to bebrought to us from Ben Adongo. This is very good news. Even thoughrepairing the solar powered system for the borehole was the primaryfocus, the mechanical pump is less convenient for the villagers but a much moresustainable method. Ideally we would be able to implement both intothe same borehole this trip, but obtaining a functional solar pump islooking rather difficult at this time. The plans for a mechanicalpump are underway.

Today in Yua we began preparation forthe installation of the mechanical pump. To do this we needed to takedown the east facing wall. We began by standing in front of the wall,curiously looking at it, heads tilting left and right. “How manydays do you think it would take to get this down?” was questioned.One hour later, the Polytank was fully exposed, the rubble beingcarried away, and three tired men holding sledgehammers werebreathing heavily nearby.

Patrick

Sonia a peace corps volunteer living inSirigu met up with us in Yua today. She also joined us for dinner,and explained to us more about the unique area that is the upper eastregion of Ghana. We learned about Murango, a seeded plant in the areathat is used to heal just about any ailment, how Shea butter is made,and many other interesting facts and stories.

Kate and I took another long walkthrough the village today as well, and it's strange how accustomedwe've become to life here. Greeting people on the street, you'realways asked the same questions “Where are you going?”, “Howare you?”, “How is your body, are you strong?”. Replying in FraFra has become well ingrained, but as a team we are all trying tobranch out to new response phrases. The time has begun to go by veryfast, and it is unbelievable that our time in Yua is nearing it'send.

Anna

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With the plans for installing themanual pump underway, the drip team is working to have systems readyfor when water is flowing again at the plaza. Today was another dayof melting emitter-holes much to the begrime of Kate and I as thelighters we must use get extremely hot and are unreliable outside ofa closed building. Despite our burned fingers we press on to finishone of our two systems soon.

James

Although we were not able to finish afull system today we have brought supplies to SWOPA and have set up asmall system to troubleshoot tomorrow morning. Hopefully we won'tencounter any problems and are able to build a fully functionalsystem tomorrow, fingers crossed.

Max

Day 18: The pump

2012-01-06T00:37:00.000-08:00

Day 18: The pump

Screeech. Bang. Halt. Kapow!

The above collection of onomatopoeiaare not only here because we need to remember to get new brake padsfor the van, but also as a metaphor for the Water Plaza portion ofthis project. We've come to a screeching halt in the finishing of thesolar powered water pump. When we had assumed that it was because ofthe failing wooden structure that held up the panels, and themiss-operation of these panels that caused the plaza to stop workingit may have been in fact that the pump had failed. We do not know forcertain, though. The structure still needed to come down, and the newpanels are better and far more applicable to the power needs of theplaza. The pump, though, just isn’t working which is what has beendetermined so far. This was found today once we had two specialistsfrom Bolga come look at it and Henry the solar guy, along with Matt'sastounding thorough knowledge of the entire system.

With Matt's calm guidance we set forthfor the aid of Pok and Ben Adongo in acquiring a new pump orrepairing the old one in Accra or Kumasi. A new pump would require anew control unit, and hopefully we will be able to source amechanical pump as well. Other options are also being considered. Wedid source more items in Bolga today, especially for drip thanks toSolomon and his helpful enthusiasm.

From here contacts need to be reached,price assessments made, and a plan determined for getting done whatwe can before we leave for the south again next week. We also need tomake certain of the functionality of the pump.

All in all, we are hopeful, andappreciate all the help we've been receiving from everyone involved.

Anna

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The last few days have been great forthe progress of the drip irrigation system. The manifolds which willattach the system to its tank were made with relative ease (usinghammers and other heavy things to tighten them) . We also started theprocess of melting emitter-holes into the pvc that will lay next tothe crops. Having changed the design of our overall plan we will beusing two separate tanks instead of one large tank, this will allowus to test out a system sooner and foresee any problems that mayspring up in the second system.

After Matt, Anna, Henry & the watertechnicians determined the pump was damaged we moved to Bolga andsourced a few more parts for our tank (with the help of Solomon) .Tomorrow we hope to begin the final steps towards finishing onesystem.

Max

Day 17: Troubleshooting

2012-01-04T00:38:00.000-08:00

Day 17: Troubleshooting in Yua

Today we continued troubleshooting onwhat could possibly be wrong with solar panel-to-pump connection. Wepulled the pump out of the borehole and tried to consult the manualand fiddle with the wiring but nothing seemed to work. It seems thatthe solar panels are hooked up properly so we are assuming there iseither a problem with the pump itself or with the controller thatsends power to the pump. I have to say today was a littlediscouraging as we hoped to have water flowing by now. We have anumber of technicians meeting us at the solar plaza tomorrow to takea look. Hopefully tomorrow we will get it all sorted out.

While Matt was in Bolga gatheringtechnical support, I had the opportunity to take a bike ride intoBurkina Faso to take a look at a dry season farm that is in operationthere. It was really quite a sight. They really have an ingeniousirrigation system worked out there which involved pumping water fromthe river and flooding a series of irrigation ditches one at a time.They control which ditch is flooded by placing and removing dirtbarrier walls at the entrance to each channel. It is a great systemif you happen to be farming near a river.

Hopefully the drip systemwill be way more efficient for those who have less access to largeamounts of water. After seeing the farm in operation and explaininghow drip was different, I think the people of Yua are ready to trydrip and they have a better idea of what to expect. They have beenhaving a little trouble coming to terms with the face that we aregoing to be poking pinhole sized holes in a PVC pipe and watchingwater trickle out. They were skeptical at best but James (a Yuacommunity member who has been helping out a lot with the projects)said today that though they have never seen anything like what we aretalking about doing, they are ready to try. Good enough for me. Tomorrow we build!

Kate

Day 15: New Years!

2012-01-03T15:26:00.001-08:00

We hope everyone had a wonderful newyears. With many prosperous wishes for you and your family's healthand happiness in 2012.

Yua brought in the new year with fullforce! We were very fortunate to have been able to share this daywith them and experience more of the Yuan way of life. The day beganonce more in the pews of Yua's open window church. Another threehour service, and lucky for us, Steve (the traveler from New York)had to dance for everyone just as we did.

After the service, we went straight tothe water plaza in hopes that we could get the water running for thisspecial day. Unfortunately, once the proper connections were madewith the solar panels, the pump still didn't run. So some furthertroubleshooting will be necessary. We didn't have enough time tocontinue, as we had to go back to SWOPA and prepare for theafternoon's big event!

The program for the ceremony began twohours later than planned, but that is to be expected in the timelessdays of village life. There was a small arena made, encircled bychairs containing the elders, us, and Steve. Everyone else filled inthe remaining chairs and the area around us. Once seated, theassembly man announced that we would have to get up and walk over toa small clearing to watch an impersonation of a tribal fightingscenario. Two men dressed in nothing but a diaper and sash of animalskin (and tennis shoes of course). They pranced around shootingarrows at each others feet. They held the innocent expression ofconcentration and excitement one could find on the faces of youngschool yard boys in an intense game of Cowboys and Indians. It wasquite a show, and when they shot arrows at a nearby tree we allcheered when the target was successfully hit. This is when theappearance of the drumming group caused us to return to our seats.They thrilled us with a performance and set the evening's backgroundmusic (James, one of the plaza workers among them). There were alsoseveral speeches that followed, an expression of thanks to EngineersWithout Borders, with intermissions of female dance groups. Theirdancing was feverish and strong. As Kate mentioned to me as an aside,which I found interesting: “its curious how dancing here resemblesworking, while dancing in the US seems to be more of an expression ofsexuality”. Regardless, it looked like so much fun. One song hadeven been written for us and I noticed Veronica, the wife of one ofthe elders among them. How special!

Then came the EWB return speech; Matt,Moses, and I walked forward to the elders and I said a few words ofthanks followed by Steve. The drummers got shooed away during thespeeches so the crowd died down. As we waited for the program tocontinue, we began dancing with the small children.To our surprise drummers had returned and a large crowd had formed aroundus. Moses jumped in and grabbed my hand to pull me into the midst ofthe group and we danced! Oh was there dancing! It was thrilling. NextMax got pulled in, and that boy sure can move, it was the talk of theevening.

Anna

This is blog post is approved byBelinda.

Day 14: Installing the Panels

2012-01-03T14:05:00.000-08:00

Gafara. Sorry for the slight absence incommunication. The past few days have been rather busy, and wehaven't been spending too much time at SWOPA so there has been lesstime to spend on the blog.

Day 14: Installing the Panels

Saturday started out rather slowlybecause we were waiting for a welder to show up from Bolga. Joe, afriend of Pok, uses an oxy-acetylene torch which allows him to berelatively portable (he does not need the power grid, which does notexist where we are working).

Joe showed up to the plaza andimmediately looked disappointed. He could not weld the thick angleiron that we were using to build the structure. I was alsodisappointed as the welders in Bolga had made our supportsincorrectly. There was nothing more we could do about that then, sowe had to move on. After deliberating with the local contractor,Moses, Joe, and the team, and hearing Pok's confidence in thestrength of the structure, we decided to postpone the additionalbracing. Because we cannot weld, it will have to be bolted on to thestructure, so can be done after the panels are mounted withoutrisking damage to them.

Joe was able to help us correct thelevel of one side of the structure before he went back to Bolga.Thank you Joe for taking a day off work to help us in Yua.

After seeing Joe and the girls off toBolga, Max and I began working on laying out the cable for the panelswhile Moses painted the top of the structure. We ate a lunch of riceballs while the paint was drying, then began to mount the panels. Wehave carried these panels with us from Accra, so although we weredisappointed, we were not surprised when one of the four was broken.Thankfully, the panel was still fully functional, so we can use ituntil we find a solution to the problem.

We ran out of daylight to complete theconnections, so must wait to see what problem will arise next.

Matt

Day 12: Concrete and Drip

2011-12-30T03:19:00.000-08:00

More time at our beloved work site, thewater plaza. Watching the workers mix the concrete was a great thingto see. They mixed the sand, rock, and cement in a large pile in themiddle of the four dug holes, then made a large hole in the middle,and poured water in. To me it almost looked like a mountain of mashedpotatoes with gravy, as they continued to work the sides of themixture into the water being careful not to let the liquid contentsspill out. It did take a while to agree on a propercement/sand/stone ratio, but with John Yatzko's words in mind andMatt's wonderful skills at compromising, a workable ratio was decidedon. How cement is utilized here is just simply different I suppose,trying to understand this was a little difficult. The workers didwonderfully, and I am very thrilled to be learning from them what Ican. All their work is voluntary, a contribution to the betterment oftheir community, a taking of responsibility for what is beingcreated.

The beginning of drip also continuedtoday, led by Kate. She spoke with the workers about the generalplans and had them get familiar with the materials. They explained tous what they planned to use it for, which would be tomatoes, and howfar apart the plant spacings would be, along with any other ideasthey had. They had several suggestions, but we couldn't begin testinguntil we acquired more materials and tools.

I've also had the pleasure of meetingthree more of Phillip's wives today, and yes I am catching on to thisnew humor. Silly Phillip.

We then also met a guy named Steve from NewYork who is traveling through the area and staying with Akunz'sfamily in Yua. He joined us this evening as we went into Sirigu forthe big Youth Celebration. What I managed to gather was that this wasa celebration of heritage and the youth of the communities in thearea. There were many speakers and periodically a group of olderwomen in similar traditional dresses would dance for everyone in themiddle of this large congregation of people. The dancers would bedifferent each time and would represent each community. Sirigu itselfis made up of five communities, and Yua six. It was a fun time, acharming social event. Moses spent most of the time wandering aroundcatching up with old school friends, while Kate, Max, Matt, and Imade new ones. Luiza found Kate and I in the crowd and surprised us.Luiza, whom I formally met earlier this week on a bike ride intoSirigu was the singer during Christmas mass Saturday night, the onethat sang the twelve days of Christmas at one o'clock in the morning. We hadpeeled onions together that day and she tried to explain to me how tomake FuFu. It really is wonderful to begin recognizing the faces andpersonalities of the people here, and being recognized ourselves as individuals as well.

Anna

Day 11: Materials

2011-12-29T12:25:00.000-08:00

Sitting around the breakfast table thismorning over tea and lemongrass-milk we certainly didn't expect theexhausting day that followed. What a day, “gee-mah-nee” as Mattwould say.

First thing, we drove to Bolga to visitthe bank and source a few items. These few items turned into a truckfilled with the entire solar array support structure and 45 lengthsof PVC pipe. The truck driver was a nice man, that patiently tried totranslate the labels on the broken cassette tapes from the passengerside door, that I obnoxiously began reading aloud. He also explainedto Matt and I how rice and tomatoes were grown in the region betweenBolga and Sirigu. The water comes from a large reservoir nearby, andthey sow seeds in a small area and transplant them into the fieldslater.

Kate, Max, and Moses remained in Bolgato find some extra supplies as Matt and I went to pick up the supportstructure. We went to the welding yard with Henry, our technician, toget it. They were still working on it when we arrived, so we watchedfascinated at the resourceful welding techniques used to make theremaining holes in the frame. What a place! A fury of metal, heat,and wires.

Once we arrived in Yua, the workersbalanced the holes in the ground to exactly match the dimensions ofthis large beastly metal frame. We supported it to stand up throughthe night, but could not cast the concrete footings as we hadplanned, as there just wasn't enough sunlight. This was slightlydisappointing since we needed the time for the concrete to cureenough before much more construction could continue. So we agreed topour the concrete the following morning and install the solar panelson Saturday.

What was most interesting, was that inthe Yua market near where our work was being done a large bus wasbeing filled with goats, pigs, chicken, and guinea fowl to be broughtto Kumasi that night. How they fit so many goats in such a smallspace on the roof of this vehicle, within it, and underneath in thecargo, is beyond me. It was most definitely an acquired art, a longand careful process. How loud it was too, the goats scream likechildren, and the squealing of pigs was deafening as they weredragged across the ground and into several pairs of hands that wouldlift them up and onto the top of the bus. A village girl who isaround 18, Edna, sat with me as we watched all this go down, theEnglish she learned in school wasn't enough to sustain a goodconversation and my Fra Fra is far from useable but talking with herwas nice all the same. Our driver, Phillip, also came over and toldme that he was going to drive the bus all the way to Kumasi and backbecause the current driver was sick. He told me he was going to dothis so that he could have enough money to marry Edna. I believedhim, and really wish the language barrier didn't make jokes sodifficult to catch on to.

Anna

Day 10: Community Meeting

2011-12-28T12:30:00.000-08:00

A community meeting was held today. Wediscussed with the community elders what the expectations of theseprojects are and looked for approval and input from them. The meetingwent well and we came to several agreements on where the first dripirrigation system will be placed and how the water plaza/solar arraywill be maintained and fixed. We also discussed the need for a way toshade the Polytank in the water plaza from the sun and thepossibility of a mechanical pump. The community in general seemedenthusiastic about our plans, and we hope that this joint enthusiasmwill provide the teamwork we need to make this project a success. Pokalso urged the community to take advantage of our assistance while weare here and do their part to take responsibility for what we areproviding. He also advised us that we shouldn't get the expectationsof the community too high at this time, but instead should focus on planningfor future projects after we have successfully gotten the water plazato work again and the test drip irrigation system built.

Pok also explained that we were likethe lifting of a bucket to the knee that the community must raise upthemselves (a local proverb). The Chief himself spoke that he was very thankful that wehave come, but expressed concern for families in Yua to be able tomonetarily contribute to a fund to support any repairs of the waterplaza. An extensive amount of Fra Fra ensuedamong the people within the meeting, especially Pok and Moses. Thecommunity agreed that a bank account would be a plausible plan, andPok mentioned later that the produce from the drip irrigation systemscould also be sold to support this fund.

The elders were such a focused group ofpeople, who truly care about the well being of the people within Yua.It is our hope that they are not afraid to express their opinionswith us and give all the input possible. Matt and Kate emphasized theneed for their communication with the drip irrigation. That they arethe farmers and know this land best, therefore what they make of oursystem will determine how well it works.

I have to say, the atmosphere of thesemeetings is a wonderful change to the school settings we areaccustomed to. Around us children were playing along with goats,pigs, and chickens running about. The warm breeze under the shade ofthe tree, simply brilliant!

Anna

Christmas Time

2011-12-27T00:04:00.000-08:00

December 24

Christmas Eve! Though none of us couldquite believe it. Another 90 degree day and not a cloud in the sky. Sorry Bing, no White Christmas for these kids. So we weren't outmaking snow men or hanging stockings by the fire, there was plenty ofChristmas spirit in the air. Our hosts were kind enough to invite usto a midnight vigil Mass in Sirgu. The church was decoratedbeautifully with white and blue streamers. The balloons hanging fromevery available surface gave the whole place the air of a birthdayparty which I suppose is what Christmas is really all about.

As we sat in the the pew in the frontof the church and waited for the ceremony to start I don't think anyof us anticipated a 4 hour service. By 1:00 am, it was becomingobvious that the rest of the congregation was feeling a little antsyto get home too,, as some of them were walking up to the soloists andtrying to pay her to stop singing. Alas we survived, even those of uswho are not catholic .The service was lovely, vaguely familiar butunlike any service we had ever attended at the same time. I'd haveto say, I would be at church many more Sundays in the States if wehad a choir like that... or a drum section...or a 30 minute break fora giant dance party in the middle of the service. We came homeexhausted, and dutifully went to bed to await the sound of sleighbells and hooves above us.

The next morning we were surprised tofind ourselves again in the pew. Another Mass but this time in Yuaand this time only 2 and a half hours. We sat in a building ofconcrete blocks with open doors and windows. There was a wonderfulbreeze blowing throughout. Everyone was dressed in the mostelaborate colors and textures. It felt more like Easter thanChristmas. This time we were not allowed to be silent observers. Wewere led to the front of the church to be officially introduced tothe community. After a rather awkward introduction we wereinstructed to dance as the eager faces of Yua looked on. After whatseemed like a lifetime of shuffling about in front of the alter wewere mercifully led back to our seats.

After church we enjoyed a wonderfulChristmas dinner or Guinea Fowl stew, rice, and Pitu ( a fermentedjuice drink which I think tastes like unrefined Mead... Maxdisagrees). We sat under a large tree in the shade with the breezeand the Father, a very pleasant afternoon. We were so humbled by thegenerosity and welcoming nature of the community.

After coming back to SWOPA for a shortrest, it was off to the Sirgu market to join the night's festivities. We went to Big Joe's Spot and relaxed before hitting the streets tojoin the party. The streets were crowded and dark, lit by smallfires here and there along the road. We found our way to the centerof town where a DJ was pumping jams from giant speakers. Big SeanPaul fans, I have to admit I may be a convert. Nearly all of theyoung people of Sirgu were here dancing it up in the middle of thesquare. We made our way to the center of the cloud of dust and DANCEWE DID! The whole experience was amazing. I don't think this will bea Christmas that any of us will forget.

Kate

December 26^th

Another great day of work in Yua today!We set out early from SWOPA to dig the four holes for the solararray. Once we arrived in Yua we begun work at once clearing therocks from the area to make room for the footings. Anna and Katehelped keep the children entertained with her various means while themen worked to dig the placements. Matt oversaw the overall projectand made calls to Henry to verify the dimensions to the structure.Despite the difficulty of digging the holes the men joked and laughedthe entire time, showing a genuine enthusiasm in working for theentire community's benefit. With the help of the Yuan villagers wefinished quickly and had time to survey areas for future projects inthe community. Soon we will be pouring the concrete footings thatwill support the water plaza's solar panels and beginningconstruction of the drip system.

Finishing early today allowed us timeto catch up on our respective hobbies, Kate has her knitting whichshe is teaching to Matt, Anna is exploring the area around us andtending to her reading, and I have started up running again (alongwith the the subsequent naps that follow). Along with having time toourselves we have been able to spend time as a team outside of workand learn more about each other. The relationships we form on thistrip will be indispensable for the NAU chapter and ourselves as well,because this is a trip that will change and challenge the four of usin ways we never could have imagined.

Max

Day 6: Day in Bolga and Navrongo Dec 23

2011-12-25T00:08:00.000-08:00

Evening family and friends from Sirigu!

Today was a rather uneventful day whencompared with others so far, but that does not mean that exciting andimportant things didn't happen. Today we met with the DCE of theregion to discuss sustainability of our projects now and in thefuture. We also began the initial dialog for education of thecommunity about the the water plaza and irrigation system. We spentmost of the day in Bolga searching for a modem so that we can updatethe blog regularly (to the glee of our families I'm sure). Tomorrowit will be Christmas eve and work won't continue until Monday, thisweekend we will be relaxing and doing our very best to experienceGhanaian tradition.

Our guide, Moses, has helped us in manyof our endeavors so far and will surely be an essential asset in thecoming weeks as we spend more time in Yua working on our twoprojects. It has become a common theme for Moses to pile more andmore food onto our plates telling us that “we do not eat enough”.I swear I have eaten more on this trip than ever before because ofMoses, but he has become a great friend for all of us on the teamand I hope that we will keep that friendship alive while on differentcontinents.

Max

Moses our Ghanaian Guardian

Day 5: Return to Yua (Dec 22)

2011-12-23T15:00:00.000-08:00

We returned to the water plaza and weremet with a large group of men and very young boys. From there wecontinued to assess the structural integrity of the wooden structure.It was rotted and falling apart, the community had managed to add afew supports to the middle of the shade portion and reinforced theexisting supports with metal beams. It was still falling apart andneeded to come down.

The solar panels were taken down first,one by one. From here Kate and a few children wiped down the panelsand held them up while we wrote down voltage readings. They all readbetween 18.3 and 18.8 Volts. The nominal voltage of the panels whenfirst installed was 20 V. This is great, it means we are able tostill use the panels elsewhere in the community. We collected themand stored them in a building nearby owned by Stephen, Moses'brother. The control box was also taken down.

This is when the deconstruction of thewooden plaza structure came down, led by Max. He did wonderfully,making sure the panels came down safely and into the hands of thehelpers nearby. We managed to get the structure to the ground today.Success!

We also visited a site a little waysfrom the plaza that the community had specified as the ideal placefor the drip irrigation test system. It was a good spot because itwas a large amount of community land but was too far from a source ofwater to be maintainable so will not be used this trip.

I have to say that the best part ofthis event was the fun we had waiting for the workers to take downthe panels and disassemble. Kate would take pictures of the children,they loved seeing themselves, as she would show them what she hadtaken. After finishing the documenting of the voltage values onKate's notepad, I decided to draw a young boy that stood next to meand gave it to him. It came out as a silly cartoon, but the otherkids got a big kick out of it. I chased down a pig and drew that too,they took the picture of it and laughed even harder. That's when oneof the men walked over and asked me to draw him. I was nervous mypicture would offend him, but he insisted. He loved it, and insistedhe was very handsome, we agreed.

The children were fun, the people veryfriendly, Yua has been very good to us so far.

We then went to the Sirigu market andhad lunch. More Banku! Tonight we also then had dinner with Joe fromthe Afrikids clinic in Sirigu. He discussed our drip irrigation planswith us and how to manage such a system if it were to becomesucessful throughout Yua and Sirigu. He also expressed a biginterest in having us install one in Sirigu too.

Anna

Day 4: SWOPA and Yua (Dec 21)

2011-12-23T14:13:00.001-08:00

Yesterday afternoon we arrived atSirigu Women's Association for Pottery and Art (SWOPA) in Sirigu,which is a center for women to create and sell their art as well as ahotel. This is where we will be staying for the majority of the nextmonth. The place is beautiful; all of the buildings are painted withred, black and white, and stand out against the backdrop of thecountryside. The weather here is perfect, and although it will stillget hot during the day, the morning right now could not be better.

Last night we met with the chief ofYua. The formality of the ceremony was surprising, and every moveseemed to be choreographed. We were seated in a circle, and aftershaking all of the elders' hands, we began the back and forth processof speaking through the translators, Moses for us and his brother,Stephen, for the elders. Because we were speaking to them throughMoses, he was able to translate what we were saying into Fra Fra,then add what we were supposed to be saying. The ceremony endedrather informally, maybe due to the fact that we will be meetingwith the community again today.

Matt

Day 4 became the frame for this entiretrip. It is when we first encountered Yua, the past projects donehere (water plaza, nurses quarters), and the community members. Wewere hit hard with the reality of what we were doing here.

We left Tamale in the early morning andarrived in Navrongo soon after. Navrongo was a small community with acharming school that we went to in another attempt at internet. Mattand I formally introduced ourselves to the headmaster and thenventured through the courtyard, up some stairs, and into a roomfilled with computers. Moses mentioned that he, at a time, taught atthis school as part of his educational training.

From Navrongo we went to Bolgatonga andvisited the market for lunch. We ate rice and chicken and Moses hadmore Banku. Banku is the better tasting version of Fufu. Fufu isfermented millet while Banku is made from maize and calebesh, asquash. We ate these in Accra along with goat meat. From there we metwith Frank from a solar company, to involve him in the project andget a consultant to look over our project and determine whatmaterials we may need for the solar array. He was a well dressed man,in a fancy car, and sat with us on a bench outside of the Afrikidsclinic. There we met Pok as well. Pok is the contractor for ourproject, and will be helping us, he is a very friendly man that hasworked with EWB-NAU previously.

The big event: coming to Yua for thefirst time. It was a strange feeling to see all the previous projectsthat we have seen many pictures of in the past few months. We saw agroup of elderly men assembled under a tree with six empty chairsarranged in the middle, we knew this would be where the officialceremony for our arrival into Yua would be. We didn't realize theprofoundness of this event until we stepped foot out of the van andmade our way over to them. We lined up and shook hands with everyone repeating the phrase “nabar” as they said “ozare” (myamerican translation of Fra Fra aka completely wrong). We rememberedto only shake with the right hand, as this was customary.

The formality of what followed was asurprise. Moses spoke an introduction on our behalf, a prayer wassaid, and then we introduced ourselves. Matt then introduced what theproject was, and asked if we could work together to accomplish thesegoals. He also mentioned that he would like to form as close of arelationship with these people as John Yatzko and Jessica Lum wereable to previously. Matt did an excellent job, and we were veryfortunate to have Moses translate for us. I'm pretty sure he changedeverything that we had said into exactly what was suitable. Stephen,Moses's brother, spoke for the community. He gave thanks for all thatwe have done to come here, and welcomed us into the community. Theceremony then ended with Matt giving the chief a bottle of Americanwhiskey. That's when everyone clapped the hardest. With Moses askingfor consent we left the tree. We all said thank you, and inremembrance of Danielle's visit I yelled “Yua!” Amidst laughter,a strong “Yua!” rung out from the group, and we left.

Anna

Day 3: Travel North to Tamale (Dec 20)

2011-12-23T14:05:00.000-08:00

We woke before sunrise. Kate and I walked out front of the main house in an attempt to get internet, trying to be quiet as the hotel watchman was peacefully asleep in a chair. Leaving Accra today and heading north toward Yua left a lot to be seen. We traveled by van and experienced the full breadth of Ghana through the road that brought us straight through the country. We left at 5:30am and arrived in Tamale by evening.

The drive was beautiful, and if you've never been in Africa before, perhaps slightly overwhelming. Its a fantastic place, but there are many things to get used to. The food, the dialect, the heat. As we left Accra the landscape became a dense rainforest, and thinned into a savanna as our journey progressed. The density of people along the street also lessened, and mud huts replaced the previous housing structures. Komasi was one of the major cities we passed through, the second largest city in Ghana (Accra being the first). It was a mass of people, noise, street vendors, and dust. What stuck out most to me about Komasi was how most streets seemed to be filled with car parts: full engines, hub caps, tires, frames. Huge masses of these items intended for sale. The entire trip held many colors too. I loved the school uniforms worn by the young women; bright blue, yellow, or green. The houses were brightly colored as well, very often with the vodaphone, mtn, or glo telephone company logo across the front. We were told that these corporations painted the houses in return for the free advertising it gave them. There were many people through the trip, chickens, cows, children playing, a funeral progression, and very often goats.

We rode with Moses, Dennis, and two drivers. Dennis is Akunz's son, and since he is in high school he relates well with us, it's very nice he decided to come on this trip. Yua is actually where he was born and his father is from, but he has not seen it since then. We tease him about this every so often: “Hey Dennis how cold is it in Yua?”....”oh...right....” Moses has also been indispensable. He is very informed and on-top of everything. He has also begun teaching us Fra Fra and Twi. Mostly Fra Fra, because this is the language spoken most in Yua.

Tomorrow we will leave for Bolgatonga, Sirigu, and finally Yua. “We're doing it!” Matt would say.

Anna

Day in Accra

2011-12-19T14:57:00.000-08:00

Moses

Just a quick post before we get some sleep tonight: We have had a successful day in the city. Although it was a lot of waiting and a lot of traffic (as is to be expected), we have picked up the solar panels, set up in country phones for the team, met with Akunz to plan our van trip north, and tried some truly Ghanaian food. The day was hot and humid, a stark contrast to the weather that most of you are experiencing, but we have been enjoying it. We walked from lunch today so were able to see different parts of the city, and were able to get to know the people that will be so important to us during this trip: Moses and Dennis. They will be accompanying us to Yua and, along with many others, will be working with us in the community to coordinate our efforts towards constructing drip irrigation and rebuilding the solar plaza.

Thank you for your prayers.

Dennis

Day 2: Arrival

2011-12-19T00:10:00.000-08:00

We made it! As we landed (two hours late) in Accra yesterday at four, we were met by the smiling faces of Isaac, Moses, and Dennis. The airport was a cinch, and there were no problems getting our luggage through customs. So far, Ghanaians are as friendly as we have been told.

Isaac

We were accompanied to the beautiful Afia Beach Hotel, where the girls' room is not even 100 feet from the beach. We went out to dinner with Dr. Akunzule (Akunz) and his wife. The team was excited to meet this figure that has had such an impact on our projects (Anna says he gave good hugs too). This great doctor, entrepreneur, and volunteer was busy however, as his three phones were active nearly continuously. I was able to speak with the woman from Las Vegas who had donated the van that we will be using. Thank you Las Vegas, maybe we will see you at the international conference.

It was a productive meeting as well. We were able to confirm the travel plans and rough itinerary for the month that we will be here in Ghana. Today will be our last day in Accra before leaving for Yua. We are planning on picking up the solar panels and running a few other errands before leaving.

And Mom, as promised, here is a link to a map: Sirigu, Upper East, Ghana
Sirigu is actually where Google maps says Natugnia is, and Yua is east of Sirigu on the Burkina Faso Border.

Matt

Left to Right: Matt, Kate, Moses, Max, Anna, and Dennis

Great summary Matt.
What a wonderful welcome we had! The air is warm and humid, a great contrast to the snow we left in Flagstaff. Isaac has been an enthusiastic tour guide so far and Akunz a delightful man. Dinner last night was just what we needed. Rice with Hibiscus juice. Akunz had also told us of an island he plans to take us to within Volta Lake. The Volta is the massive body of water you can see on most maps of Ghana. It was created by the Akosombo dam, and is the largest reservoir in the world (for surface area, fourth in volume). It is thrilling to be given the opportunity to visit it.

Dinner with Dr. Akunzule

This morning we enjoyed the beach while preparing for our day. We plan on picking up the solar panels and getting cell phones in the city. It'll be great to explore the city we only briefly drove through yesterday. Hopefully we'll have internet again soon. In summary, this trip is starting off perfectly! We are ready to head up to Yua to begin our work.

Anna

July 3rd 2009, Back in the United States

2009-07-03T09:26:00.000-07:00

My apologies for the long wait between blog entries. The team is now back in the U.S.A! We were unable blog for the last couple weeks of the trip due to a major internet line being cut outside of Bolga. However I can tell you the project was an overall great success!
Even with the difficulties the team encountered with the absence of John and Aaron we were able to almost complete the entire project. The only part of the clinic we were unable to complete was the solar array. Jessica, who will be staying in Ghana until August for an internship, will over see the final part of this project. It truly was a great success.
After saying goodbye to all our new friends and wishing Jessica good luck we were on our way home. We spent two days before we left the country touring the Cape Coast outside of Accra. The south truly seems like a different country from the north. Where as the north is hot and arid, desert like in the dry season, the south by comparison is rainforest. The sights were amazing! We particularly enjoy the hotel we stayed at called Hans Botel. The "Botel" was built over a lagoon filled with crocodiles and yellow weaver birds. It was fantastic.
Then it was back into Accra, onto a plane, and 36 hours later we arrived in Phoenix. It is overwhelming to be back in the states. Ghana really is a different world. It will always be an amazing memory, and though I can't speak for the rest of the team, I can't wait to go back some day.

2009-06-09T12:44:00.000-07:00

June 7th 2009

2009-06-09T12:39:00.000-07:00

I want everyone to know that I have arrived safely back in the US. It has been a difficult couple of weeks. After resting a few days in Bolga, I returned to work again at the Clinic site. Without warning, I suddenly began to feel very ill and had to be rushed back to Bolga.

The doctors informed me that it was again Malaria(+++). The strain I’ve developed is resistant to Quinine, as well as the rest of the drugs they had given me. My last treatment was six shots of Chloroquine in combination with a mega dose of Malarone. When my condition stabilized, I was evacuated to a medical facility in Accra where further tests could be done.

The doctor in Accra determined I was healthy enough to travel back to the States. Dr. Denham and I got on a plane that night and arrived in Phoenix on Saturday. They tell me I should recover completely with a few weeks of rest.

I realize my situation over the past few weeks has left some people a bit shaken. My biggest concern now is the impact this will have at the University. This is not an event that should be buried, nor should it be used to champion some motion to restructure the project. I don’t want to see people acting as though the realization of danger is some great epiphany. I was aware of the risk and was prepared for it. This is not the first time a volunteer has fallen ill on an EWB trip and it won't be the last. Africa is not Disneyland. The danger is real. So long as volunteers are informed of the risk, as adults they should be entitled to it.

I have complete confidence in the four students left in the North. Jessica and Bryce have stepped up to manage the project and clinic construction. No time was lost on account of my illness.

I will continue to help and advise the project from my home in Flagstaff. It was unfortunate that I had to leave on such a poor note. This will not be me last visit to Yua.

-John Yatsko

June 4th to June 7th 2009

2009-06-08T02:57:00.000-07:00

The clinic is moving along at an alarming pace. We will be building the roof tomorrow. The village seems committed to seeing it finished by the time we leave!
The day before yesterday Jessica and I took a walk through the village. Because we have arrived at the very beginning of the rainy season everyone is planting their crops. On our walk we ran into a group of five women that we know from working at the clinic. They gave a tutorial on hand planting. Here all of the work is done by hand, there are no tractors to plant the crops. The women take a sort of hoe, made out of a bent piece of wood and hit it into the dirt making the hole. Then, almost faster than you can see, they dump ten seeds from the bowl in their other hand and sweep dirt over the hole. The process is fun to watch because the women are so skilled. Jessica gave it a good try, but was only able to fill a few holes before the women took it back over.
At the clinic we have been adopted by a herd of children that live near by. We played a game of soccer with them. The ball they use is completely flat. When we left the states we brought two soccer balls with us, and will hopefully give one of them to these kids. The other one will go to the local kids soccer team. Their coach has been working with us on the site.
Yesterday there was an annual gathering of the areas Catholic churches in the village where we are staying. We attended the festivities. Though the churches do follow many practices of a traditional catholic church they do so in a very African way. There were drums an dancing, everyone was dressed in their best brightest colors. It was amazing to see! We are all beginning to have food cravings (cheeseburgers, mac and cheese, milkshakes, etc) but are loving the trip!
(Oh and make sure you look at some of the older posts as well, I was finally able to add some pictures to them!)
-Kate Dorrell

May 29th to June 3rd 2009

2009-06-08T02:38:00.000-07:00

Though our days are increadibly long here, it feels as though time is flying by. Since the last blog post a lot has happend. Construction on the clinic should be completed by June 9th, leaving only the solar to be completed. Every day the number of workers at the sight increases. Women are constantly bringing water, on their heads of course, to mix concrete. Children help carry blocks. Men are everywhere laying block, mixing concrete, and doing carpentry work. It is chaos.

We have had great expiriences since we have arrived. Jessica and I both have tried our hand at carrying water on our heads. It is much more difficult than it looks. Connor has been touring the town on a moto (motorcycle) with his guide Razaak while they fix broken bore holes. Bryce has been working hard to fill Johns managerial shoes now that John has arrived back to the U.S. It has been a lot of work, but a lot of fun too.
Everything is so different here from anything I have expirienced in the U.S. We were able to enter a family compound the other day and see what it is really like to live in Yua. When I entered the compound I had the sense that I had stepped back in time, like some Anasazi village or something. Everything is made of a sort of mud adobe material. There are traditional rooms such as the womens room lining a large courtyard where I believe the families spend most of their time. We were shown the huge stone table where the women grind their millet into powder. It was truly amazing.
The heat and humidity is effecting the entire team. We are going through a ton of bottled water. Yesterday we were told it was 109 degrees with 80% humidity. Every night we hope it will rain to cool things down a bit. When it does rain the storms are these huge impressive thunderheads that light up the sky with lightning. This truly is the expirience of a lifetime.

-Kate Dorrell

May 27th 2009

2009-06-03T02:47:00.001-07:00

We finally made it to the north! This morning we drove twenty minutes from Bolgatanga to our home for the next month in a village called Sirigu. The place is called swopa and it is run by a women’s group from the area. The place is a series of four sleeping huts, a kitchen, a dining hut and a large courtyard with several trees. There is roof access to two of the buildings. All of it is painted in a vivid traditional red black and white tribal paint. It almost looks very Hollywood Africa with its grass roofs and bright colors.
We did not linger long in Swopa, merely claiming our huts and introducing ourselves to the staff, before jumping back into the car and heading to Yua.

For me it was very difficult to tell where Sirigu ended and Yua began. Other than the market places the traditional mud made family compounds seem to be equally spread out between the villages with little delineation between the two. The market areas were made of many buildings sitting much closer together and with a greater mass of people milling about.

We arrived at the clinic expansion worksite to a multitude of men women and children. The elementary school building right next to the clinic was apparently in session when we arrived because as soon as the jeep pulled up children began literally pouring out of the doors and windows. Everyone greeted the team with happy smiling faces and handshakes. We stumbled through the local greetings and managed to take a look at the site.
Though not as far along as he had hoped, John and the village had made a lot of progress on the clinic. There were many workers there and it looked as though the foundation was almost finished.

Next the whole team stopped by last years project, the water plaza. Unfortunately two of the three water spigot had been broken. We were told that they were broke by fighting women and therefore we will be having a meeting with village members in the near future to explain that this is unacceptable and they will need to make and pay for the repairs although we will help them do that.
The rest of the day was spent greeting various contacts around the village, such as the Afrikids representatives as well as resting after out long journey. Tomorrow the work begins.

-Kate Dorrell

May 26th 2009

2009-06-03T02:45:00.000-07:00

Bryce and I woke up at 5:50 am, and were at the truck by six. Kate and Jessica joined us shortly after, then we piled into the back with our bags and rushed off into the morning traffic of Accra.

Accra is overwhelming; sight, smell, and sound, all in a wave, too much to really process. The roads are clogged with people on foot, bicycle, and motorbikes, along with cars, busses, and trucks, all surrounded by hawkers and beggars. Not to mention chickens, goats, stray dogs, cows, and the like. The way to announce your presence to others on the road is to honk repeatedly until everyone knows exactly where you are.

There is no such thing as an individual sound in Accra; just one congealed mass of noise. In any instant you will hear cars honking-motorcycles roaring-engines sputtering-women singing-babies screaming-children laughing-hawkers shouting-goats baaing-sheep bleating-chickens clucking-dogs barking-radios playing-all rolled into one furious transcendent roar. It’s more awe-inspiring than anything.

The smell is another story: mildew, smog, dust, feces, urine, burning garbage, too many people, dirty water, sewage. It smells so bad, it tastes sour. It was not too bad at the hotel, with the sea breeze coming in off the Atlantic, but a block away in the back of the truck, it hit me like a wall.

We pulled into the bus station early, and grabbed egg sandwiches at the bus depot which were pretty good. There were some adorable little kittens in the diner, eating the roaches off the walls. When we got back and climbed aboard the bus we were pleasantly surprised by the general good shape of the thing, and the blessed presence of air conditioning throughout. I was sad to leave Accra so soon, but excited to finally see the North.

At eight we rolled out of the depot and through Accra. It took us about an hour to get out of the city, in a cloud of dust. I still have no idea how big Accra is, because it just sort of peters out, after wrapping around hills and through the Southern jungles. The trees there are towering things, with smooth grey trunks up seventy-five or one hundred feet before spreading into a wide green canopy. The bigger one sheltered entire shanty-towns in their broad shade.

The architecture was fascinating, mostly due to an apparent lack of any guiding principles. Block, mud, brick, mud brick, concrete, metal, glass, wood, bamboo, and millet stalks all seemed equally acceptable and used. Usually, one material dominated, but sometimes there were combinations, but not always. Expansions were often in the process of being built of completely different material from the others. For example, a bamboo second story on a cinder block first, or, just as ok by local convention, a cinderblock second story on to of a bamboo first. It’s all good in Ghana.

The advertisements along the road were works of art. Billboards are amateur hour here. If you want to sell your product, you paint your logo several times on every standing structure visible from the street for a city block or two.

The bus ride itself was an adventure where we slept when we could, and the bus stopped every three hours or so for food, water, and a break. Not to mention some totally sketchy food. The bathrooms were spotlessly clean, fancy, and pay-to-pee.

I could write a book describing the bus trip, and all the things we saw, but suffice to say it would be pointless, because some experiences are empty when put into words.

I will say a word about Ghanaian travel movies, though! Oh, wow! The stories are basically soap opera-ish, with terrible sound editing. It will drop down to near silence, too quiet to make out the dialogue, then, you will jerked from sleep by a blood curdling scream as the heroine is stuck by a car and paralyzed—don’t worry though, she’ll be struck by lightning and healed in time to tell the girl who’s stealing her husband.

“She will rot in Hell.”
“Yes, she will rot in Hell.”

All the vendors work out these metal crates, sort of half shipping containers, labeled Zain. No idea what Zain is. I’ve got to wrap this up. We’re all having an amazing time so far. I’ll leave you with my top ten best Ghanaian store names for the trip:

10. Except God General Store
9. In Him is Life Electronics
8. Good Husband
7. It’s Just a Day
6. Roll Model
5. Still Flamingo
4. Commercial Company
3. Best Coca Cola
2. Club de Texas
1. Stupid. Stop Urinate Here.

-Connor Rickett

May 25th 2009

2009-06-03T02:43:00.000-07:00

Today Connor, Bryce, and I arrived in Accra, the capital, at 9:00 a.m. Over the previous 48 hours we calculated that each of us had accumulated about 6 hours of sleep in the last 48. Needless to say we were exhausted and thrown into a culture completely different from our own.
Leaving the airport in Accra was chaos. There were three of us, carrying a ridiculous amount of camera equipment, three fifty pound oversized boxes of solar panels, and all of our personal items. In front of the airport people wait to help carry your bags for a small fee, this means there are about twenty people surrounding you vying for your attention while you try to shoo them away and keep a hand on your stuff. However, we made it out of the airport just fine and into the back of our driver’s truck. I, the only female in the group at the time, sat up with the driver while the boys piled into the open back of the truck with the luggage and our driver’s kids.
The drive to our hotel was an excellent way to see the city. As I’m assuming it is in all developing world cities, it was easy to see the poverty on the streets, malnourished children, beggars, a canal so dirty you could smell it about a mile before we drove by it. However, we were also greeted with smiles and waves. Maybe I’m completely wrong in this opinion, but the people don’t seem unhappy for the most part. In fact I was overcome with a sense of vitality.
The people are extremely active. Women carry amazing loads of goods on their heads while they walk down the streets chatting with others and selling their items. Children rove the streets in packs, playing soccer and rough housing. The men laugh and talk while they work. Everyone in the city seems to be busy.
Our hotel, Affia Beach, is owned by an Australian woman. It is a very nice place to be even by American hotel standards. After our first quick tour of the hotel we went back into the city to gather supplies for the next days bus ride. We purchased cell phones, a few other basics and Bus tickets. This took us nearly four hours. When you buy things in Accra you must go to all of the different booths along the street to find all the components you need as well as the best deal. We would go to one booth to get the phone (a used Nokia brick that says, “God is my shepherd” every time it is turned on), then on to another booth for the charger, then on to the booth of the charger guys brother to get minutes and the card that makes the phone work. It is a very long process.
After finally purchasing our bus tickets for the next morning we went to get some much needed sleep in the hotel. The air conditioning worked, a wonderful thing in a city that averages 100 degrees, with 80% humidity. Aaron and Jessica arrived in Accra safely around eleven at night, tired but otherwise doing well. The day was extremely successful and tomorrow our adventures really begin as we head to the north of the country.

-Kate Dorrell

May 27th 2009

2009-05-27T11:45:00.002-07:00

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

2009-05-27T11:45:00.001-07:00

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

2009-05-27T11:44:00.000-07:00

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

2009-05-27T11:43:00.002-07:00

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

2009-05-27T11:43:00.001-07:00

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

2009-05-27T11:42:00.004-07:00

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

2009-05-27T11:42:00.003-07:00

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

2009-05-27T11:42:00.001-07:00

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

2009-05-27T11:41:00.002-07:00

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

2009-05-27T11:41:00.001-07:00

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

2009-05-27T11:39:00.000-07:00

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

2009-05-23T22:17:00.000-07:00

May 16th 2009

2009-05-20T11:10:00.000-07:00

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

2009-05-18T04:58:00.001-07:00

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

2009-05-18T04:57:00.000-07:00

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

2009-05-18T04:56:00.000-07:00

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

2009-05-18T04:55:00.000-07:00

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

2009-05-18T04:51:00.000-07:00

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

EWB-NAU IMPLEMENTATION TRIP, PHASE I

2008-08-05T05:47:00.000-07:00

Hello,

Below you will find our blog for the first half of our implementation trip in Ghana. The team is doing great and the project is coming along wonderfully. We promise to get more photos up as soon as we can! Feel free to leave comments!!

-Yua Development Project Implementation Team

Day 27 (June 14, 2008)

2008-06-15T12:55:00.000-07:00

Another early start for the ewb crew. We arranged to meet at Kakum for a guided hiking tour of the park at 6:30am, always a challenging task for this crowd. I told the team I would use the commute as my long run in the morning and meet them at the park. The run was a thrilling experience to say the least. The Ghanaians are surprisingly supportive of my athletic pursuits. I seem to be universally known as "The Sportsman" in all parts of the country. It caught me off guard to see large machete-wielding men step out of the shadows and suddenly breakout with toothy smiles and shout "Sportsman!" Fourteen miles never felt so short. The team pulled up to the visitor's center just as I arrived at 6:30.

Kakum National Park proudly boasts the only Rain Forest Canopy Walk in Africa. It certainly did not disappoint. Rope bridges span the tops of seven giant trees reaching 150 feet above the forest floor. The hike continued to one of the largest trees in the forest. Danielle, Berai, and Olivia stand at the base of the old giant. And yes, that's the tree behind them.

Later in the day we spontaneously decided to go check out some of the castles down at Cape Coast. It was a scenic drive along the coast highway to some historic castle I had not heard of. The van pulled up at the base of a beautiful white castle overlooking the ocean. We piled out of the van and gleefully walked across the draw bridge. I was the first to spot the chilling inscription on wall beside the main doorway. On it was written
IN EVERLASTING MEMORY
OF THE ANGUISH OF OUR ANCESTORS
MAY THOSE WHO DIED REST IN PEACE
MAY THOSE WHO RETURN FIND THEIR ROOTS
MAY HUMANITY NEVER AGAIN PERPETUATE
SUCH INJUSTICE AGAINST HUMANITY
WE THE LIVING VOW TO UPHOLD THIS
I remember thinking to myself "what is this place?" Elmina Castle was the first, oldest, and largest slave trading post in Africa. It served as a major hub of the Atlantic Slave Trade for almost four hundred years. Men and women were marched in from as far away as Mali to be exported from the castle. We saw the slave dungeon where they were held and the loading room that docked to the transport ships. The door was intensionally narrowed so that captured slaves could not slip through to join their chained family members.

Dinner was quieter than usual tonight. David in particular seemed especially reticent. I think it hit him the hardest.

Day 18 (June 5)

2008-06-07T09:00:00.000-07:00

Contributed by: Olivia

We arrived at the site determined to adhere the roofing felt to the panel seams and build the masonry wall for our hose bibbs. Both Johns and James from the Crew adhered the felt while I began supervision of the masonry structure. Matt and Berai walked to the local hand dug wells with their interpreter to test the water quality. Jared and Danielle journeyed via taxi to Bolga to upload the blog at Afrikids and return the oxyacetylene torch. The team was working with much gusto through the morning (assured from the previous day's success of pumping water) before John Campbell checked the CU 200 with the digital multi-meter and found that there was insufficient voltage to operate the pump. There was speculation as to whether a “short” was created when the felt was nailed to the panel and plywood. Work was momentarily halted when the team troubleshooted the problem.
A test panel was punctured with a nail around its perimeter and through its center to compromise its integrity. It was not easily compromised (which was great news) and deduced the problem to a spliced line to the CU 200. The team discussed solutions over lunch at SWOPA. Upon returning to the site, the team isolated an area of the cabana and bypassed the spliced line. Meanwhile, trenches were dug for the 5” x 8” x 16” solid concrete masonry blocks to elevate the polytank. A tic-tac-toe pattern was trenched at Dale's suggestion. Steven from the Crew of 6 assisted with his mason experience.
Danielle and Berai befriended Sherina to assist them on their home visits and women's group meetings. It was with great delight to have the people of Yua visit the work site and greet the team with “Bulika” (Good morning) and “Toma! Toma! Toma! Toma!”

Contributed by: John Yatsko

Disaster!

Perhaps the most difficult part of construction so far was finishing the roofing and waterproofing the solar array. The process consisted of cutting twelve precisely measured strips out of two felt rolls and lacing them carefully around and between the panels. We then nailed all of the strips to the panels and secured them to the edges with industrial adhesive. The sun felt especially intense today and the morning's work carried into the afternoon as we awaited the return of our teammates from Bolga.

At last, we finished the roofing and climbed down for a well deserved drink from the cooler. To our dismay, we were told the water ran out three hours earlier and the van was in Bolga...drat! One brilliant individual suggested we turn on the pump. So we sent John Cambell up the ladder and... nothing. The pump stopped working.

Thoroughly sun baked and demoralized, none of us had the energy to troubleshoot the system before lunch. We sat under the cabana and discussed the possibilities. The worst case scenario was that we completely destroyed our array by hammering nails through all the panels. If that were the case, we would have to scrap the plans for the school and return home with a half completed project. To rule out this possibility, Cambell opened up the tool shed and banged a few nails through an extra panel in an attempt to reproduce the damage on the roof. The panel was unaffected, so we had some peace of mind while we ate our lunch.

We returned to the site and began the investigation. The system registered 25 Volts on the multimeter, where it had read 130 yesterday. 25 seemed a peculiar number since there was no part of the circuit that should read anything close to that. We had no choice but to tear up the roofing and undo all the connections we had assembled yesterday. I almost cried. We diligently redid all the connections and measured the voltage of each of the eight strings of panels individually. All eight registered 130 volts. We put the strings of panels back together and again...25 volts. Cambell and I sat on the roof and stared at each other for a while until I finally realized the problem had to be in the jump wire buried underneath the array. We cut the wire out of the circuit and replaced it with a fresh one. 130 Volts. We must have hit the jump wire with a nail and grounded out the system when we laid down the felt strips.

We heat shank all the connections again (with hot embers from the camp fire of course) and replaced the damaged roofing. Cambell and I called it a day and Olivia's team began work on the masonry structure.

Day 17 (June 4)

2008-06-04T05:13:00.000-07:00

Contributed by: Jared

Water!

Today, water flowed by the sun's power and into the mouths and headpans of the Yua people.

Yesterday, we secured an acetylene torch from a local welder. Bartering the man down from $30/hour to $30/day for five days, we were sure the heat-shrink splices would proceed with ease—and they did, for about twenty minutes when the gas in the tanks ran out. (Not that we hadn't asked if the tanks were full; we had been assured that they were.) So, it was a day of heat-shrinking by sticks embered by a small campfire. The pump went down the well, the array upon the cabana, and soon thereafter, water flowed into the open air. Folks dashed seemingly from every point on the horizon, and a crowd was soon assembled for water gathering and even splashing and playing—truly a moment we have all been waiting for.

Day (June 3)

2008-06-03T09:33:00.000-07:00

Contributed By: Berai

Today, Dale, Ken, Trotta and I went to another hospital it was better than the others, but still could benefit from the Help of Medical Hands for Healing.
We also traveled to the Sirigu and Yua clinic to deliver supplies that the Medical Hands for Healing crew brought along. Both clinics received the medical supplies joyously and happily as “Santa Ken” handed them out.
On a side note: Olivia and I are roomies in one of the SWOPA guest houses and every night we hear a little creature pitter- pattering all night long—keeping us guessing as to what is lurking above. Keep ya posted if we find out what our little friend is.

Day 15 (June 2)

2008-06-02T05:08:00.000-07:00

Contributed by: Jared

The local children holler three words at us: ponga, Yatsko, and Yua!

Ponga means “strength”, a term we've been steadily hollering at one another for a loose translation of “keep it up!”

Yatsko is our beloved John's last name, who perhaps stands out more than others due to his lovely golden locks. And as a chief designer of the cabana structure, his name is regularly called during the work day with enough emphasis, enunciation, and response from Yatsko himself that the children have caught on.

Yua I think is a beautiful exclamation, which began last year when Danielle found herself briefly without words for translation at the Welcome Ceremony. She hollered “Yua!” and the response of “Yua” in unison from the community spurred Danielle to repeat the cry, each time with a spirited response from the group. Now, Danielle is typically greeted with a “Yua!” cheer, serving as her nickname. This has evolved to the point that when our van drives down the Yuan dirt roads, children chase after us yelling “Yua! Yua! Yua!” with enormous smiles on their faces.

The work continued today and we were able to finish sheeting the roof. Tomorrow we hope to get the panels assembled and placed on the roof. A major obstacle has been locating a torch for heat shrinking the gazillions splice fittings we have integrated into the array design. As you might guess, hardware is not as readily accessible in northern Ghana as it is in your typical American town. For instance, this photo [] is of a bolts and nuts shop, aptly name “BOLTS AND NUTS”. Bolts and nuts are all that are available at this shop. Down the road, you might find a wire shop, which carries little but wires. I've spent at least half of a day trying to find pipe wrenches—and although bolts are common enough, I can't for the life of me get across what I mean by the term “wrench” (let alone pipe wrench). Finally, that always observant Matt Moan found a pipe wrench in the dirt outside of a welding shop (another story entirely), and we found ourselves soon equipped with two “all-spinners.”

Anyhoo, back to the torch. In Ghana, a torch is a flashlight—so I find myself describing a hand-held fire device to no avail. We have already sent Trotta to the welding shop where the welders built a simple cone shaped funnel out of sheet metal, which we will hopefully place atop a small propane oven (which is common). The funnel will channel the heat to our heat-shrink splices and we will move forward with the construction of the water plaza.

Day 14 (June 1)

2008-06-01T05:01:00.000-07:00

Contributed by: Jared

The work on the “cabana” continues. After last night's late hours, we took it easy in the A.M. and commenced work at a leisurely hour. We met with the Crew—the six folks from the community who have been designated “system chiefs”—and explained the day's intended proceedings: we were to paint all of the wood to protect it from the elements, cut the posts to match the designed angle of the roof, and begin raiser rafters and fascia. We explained the design angle, or the “angle of incidence,” which is the optimal roof/panel pitch for harnessing the sun's energy.

The Crew, many additional members of the Yua community, and EWB worked side-by-side throughout the day, ultimately resulting in: (photo)

Day 13 (May 31)

2008-05-31T10:21:00.000-07:00

Contributed by: Berai

Huge! Unimaginable! Says, David at the completion of the first day of construction on the water plaza design when I asked him what he thinks. It was indeed huge and unimaginable, but it wasn't easy. I myself wasn't involved with the construction of the 30ftx12ftx14ft canopy foundation, but I did witness something incredible.

The beginning of the day started off meeting with the six people chosen to be our core helpers with both the water plaza and solar power for the school along with an entire sleuth of others ready and willing to help us with the task at hand. The dimensions were setup using local wood and string to ensure that as the 14 foot posts were hoisted into the air they would be straight, level, and structurally sound or panga (“strong” in Fra-Fra). After the meeting Jared, Matt, and David headed to Bolgatonga for more supplies and the rest of us stayed behind in Yua helping where needed. The men and Olivia started work on digging the footers while Dani and I went with women to fetch water. Let me tell you, fetching water is not an easy task and requires a lot of strength. Dani and I tried putting the large basins of water on our heads, however, we couldn't keep them on long because they were extremely heavy and could have squished our necks. Dani did carry a smaller of bucket of water on her head for about 1km and she was exhausted by the end. Lesson learned: never underestimate the energy required to fetch water.

As the day progressed the men and Olivia kept working on the water plaza design while waiting for Jared, Matt and David to return with the “goods” from Bolga. Then finally the guys returned from Bolga with the gigantic polytank, 160 cement blocks, and tons o' wood. There was a battery crisis for a moment and if you saw John Campbell's face you may have thought the world was going to end. The crisis ended when the batteries arrived, well it almost ended since the batteries were gone and the “goods” didn't arrive until a couple of hours before sundown,so everyone was nervous that the six 14 foot posts would not be up before daylight was lost. Getting the posts up before the next day was crucial because if not it would set us back a day and we don't want to be behind.

Now, this is where amazing happens. Everyone: EWB, Medical Hands For Healing, and the community of Yua became one unit and worked as fast as possible to get cement ready for mixing, posts in the right position, rebar cages fabricated, and getting the security posts ready in the amount of sunlight left. But naturally, the sun went down and we only had one post hoisted in cement. Instead of stopping we pulled up the two vans and used the headlights. Everyone kept on working at rapid speed to finish (even though as Jared pointed out the sun is down there is no rush anymore), but everyone kept working calling out “mallet”, “nail it in” and John Campbell climbing up on Joseph's (one of the six picked to work with us) shoulders to nail in the security boards I honestly wish that everyone could have been there to see how amazing everyone worked together, it was one of the most incredible things I've seen happen between a group of people. Amazing.

Day 12 (May 30)

2008-05-30T10:21:00.000-07:00

Contributed by: John Yatsko

The ceremony was electric. We could hear the drums and chants from a half mile off. We felt like royalty as they escorted us to the front row of chairs under a shade awning. The Yuan people surrounded the entertainment, a thousand deep. Across the wide circle of villagers sat the elders of the community. One by one, they introduced themselves and thanked us personally for our efforts. Most didn't speak English, but the sincerity in their eyes said enough.

David began by introducing each of the ten of us to the crowd. Every introduction was followed by uproarious cheers. Many of the upstanding members of the community commended us for our efforts and urged the people to support our needs for the project. The “Elders” of our group were then presented with custom made scarfs, handwoven by the people of yua. Pictured below is Professor Trotta (Prof Prof) with his sheepish grin. The ceremony was then opened up to all the performing groups that had anxiously awaited our arrival.

One after another, the singing groups danced their way around the circle. One group of girls from the junior high school actually wrote us a song and performed it in front of everyone. At the end of each performance, the singing groups would form a smaller circle in front of us and then throw down in a “dance off.” It was incredible to watch. The groups would begin with a steady clap before breaking it down to a fast paced rhythm that I could reproduce if I tried. People from all around would jump into the circle and begin dancing violently. Everyone did this. Elders would dive in and rival the intensity of the youngsters. A few brave members of our own crew even jumped in and threw down. The crowd exploded.

As a musician myself, I found the drummers particularly impressive. They would put my high school drum line to shame. Their style was so abstract, for the life of me I couldn't figure out how they stayed together. They didn't appear to be counting or following any repetitive pattern. They just felt it. Their was no beginning or end to it; even when they left the circle, we could hear them in the distance. The sound of drums carried through the night air. We could hear them from Sirigu that night as we went to sleep.

Day 11 (May 29)

2008-05-29T10:20:00.000-07:00

Contributed by: Berai

Today I went with Dale Gray and Ken Baillie from Medical Hands for Healing and Dr. Trotta to visit the Municipal Health Center in Bolga and Afrikids Medical Clinic. We gained great insight into the true health status of the Upper East region and further established the link between health and engineering.

Our meeting with Dr. Alexis Nang-Beifubah from the Municipal Health Center was honest and alarming, but equally helpful and productive. For more than an hour Alexis painted a picture of the reality of the health in the Upper East through statistics and anecdotes. There are a lot of opportunities for EWB-NAU and Medical Hands for Healing to collaborate health and engineering to improve the quality of life in the Upper East. Alexis responded positively to Dale and Ken with their potential plans to return to the Upper East with a surgical team and supplies to alleviate some of the stress on the doctors in the Upper East. The surgical team would also be able to train and educate local doctors to do procedures with the equipment they bring, so they can provide more services to the citizens of the Upper East. Alexis said it best, “health is not medicine.” This is when engineering and EWB jumps in because health is related to water quality, infrastructure, waste water management of a community----medicine is merely a response. Alexis' point was if engineers can come to the Upper East and improve the aforementioned then his medical staff can have time to focus on patients with other ailments that are not directly related to water or infrastructure because everyone else would have good health, thus improving the overall quality of health in the Upper East.

After meeting with Alexis we drove over to meet with the staff at the Afrikids Medical Clinic. This portion of the morning was heartbreaking. When we entered the clinic there were a good number of people: men, women, and children waiting to be seen by the doctor. Despite the look of being overwhelmed and exhausted, the doctor and nurse expressed their desire to improve their clinic so they can continue to help people. The doctor expressed that he is overwhelmed with cases relating to malaria, and diarrheal diseases that it is difficult for him to help others who may be going into labor or have other illnesses. He also mentioned that his clinic needs more space for beds, but there is a problem of staffing more doctors and nurses as well. Some roofs within the clinic were leaking---a great place to have some engineers or construction management folks come in and do some repairs. The need for additional medical equipment is there as well.

By the end of the morning my heart was saddened by the health conditions of the Upper East, but simultaneously my heart was uplifted because EWB and their partners can bring positive change to many peoples lives.

Day 10 (May 28)

2008-05-28T10:19:00.000-07:00

Contributed by: Danielle

Following local protocol, we went to Bolga to meet with the District Chief Executive (DCE) for the Kassana district, Hon. Emmanuel Chegeweh, to inform him about our work in the area. Last time we visited the district he was very supportive of our work and even agreed to help us by providing some tools if needed. Indeed, it went very well, Jared led the meeting and explained the projects we would like to implement in Yua and expressed our excitement for being in the area and working with Yua again. Dale Gray also had the opportunity to talk about his feasibility study with Ken for Medical Hands for Healing. The Hon. DCE was again very supportive of our plans and thanked EWB-NAU and Medical Hands for Healing for our efforts in the area. He also kindly updated us on the events and developments that the district has experienced in the last year. Notable were the floods that occurred last August (only two weeks after the last team had gone home), which he concluded left 50,000 people displaced and destroyed 9,000 homes. Since then, much new construction has taken place, some of it to replace fallen homes and some is the result of development. There have been two new primary schools built in Yua and the important concrete bridge between Yua and Sirigu (which began 6 years ago) will finally be finished after two months time. The DCE also agreed to let us borrow some useful tools we need for the project including wheelbarrows, hammers, pickaxes, and shovels.

We were invited and took lunch by the DCE at his wife's restaurant in Bolga. Afterwards we raced to Yua for an equally important meeting with the Yuan chief and elders. We brought them the traditional gift of Koala nuts, tobacco, and Schnapps and asked for their blessing to do this work in Yua. Embarrassingly, we discovered that one of the Schnapps bottles had been broken after we gave it to the chief, later I joked that it was indeed David who had secretly drank the Schnapps! Despite this the chief and elders gave us their full blessing and thanks.

With the appropriate blessings given, we were anxious to get started. We drove directly to the Yuan market, where the drillers had just begun their work. A group of people were already gathered there and many jubilantly called out “Yua!” to us as we walked closer.

For me, actually seeing the drill rig working there was one of the greatest moments yet. It marked the beginning of what we all have been working towards for months. It gave me a feeling of great accomplishment to make good on a commitment to Yua. As we were all watching some of the elders would come up and shake our hands and some even gave us hugs!

As the sun was setting we got the opportunity to visit Mussa's house, a patchwork of circular homes molded together to form a large and beautiful complex. Before we got the chance to go inside we visited a shallow well nearby. To reach the water in this particular well they had to draw a bucket (another paint thinner can) down about 30 feet. Although, most of the adults know this water is dirty , they continue to use it because the borehole is too far. We all prayed that the borehole would indeed reach the water we had been promised to see!

Day 9 (May 27)

2008-05-27T10:18:00.000-07:00

Contributed by: Matt

Today I woke up with the sun, bright and early around 6 am. This was not so much because of the restful day we had had yesterday, but more because I was puking my guts out. Once everyone got up we compared sleeping stories and discovered that both Jared and myself had eaten something bad. Jared seemed to have the worst of it and he got progressively sicker until the afternoon. I was sick all night and morning but mustered the energy to go to Bolga in the afternoon. Because I am in charge of the keeping track of the expenses, I decided that I must go to the bank to see if our project money had transferred to Ghana.

Dani, John Y., and myself met the fellas, fresh from Tamle, at Afrikids headquarters in Bolga. There, we discussed our money transfers with Andy and Nich of Afrikids. Roughly half of the money had already transferred, so we could provide a down payment to the Adongo and buy some more supplies.

Day 8 (May 26)

2008-05-26T10:17:00.000-07:00

Contributed by: Matt

Today was not only Memorial Day back home, but it was also African Union Holiday here in Ghana. Due to the holiday, our long day before, still adjusting to no AC at night (it's hot), and many other excuses, we took it easy today. We did some sourcing of materials in Sirigu, but with the banks closed we were too short on cash to make many purchases Pigs, goats, guinea fowl, and dogs roam the market and breakfast spot regularly. I'm not sure how the people keep track of their animals, however, it is a great social offense to steal an animal that is not yours.

After “window shopping” (there are no windows in North Eastern Ghana), we were tired and indulged in some drinks under a beautiful mango tree. The mango tree is an amazing gift to people who live in such a hot place. The canopy provides a perfect shade and the leaves seem to radiate a cool mist down on you. Leisurely, we discussed our plans for the next few days and how busy we would be for the foreseeable future.

We said goodbye to David and John Peter, who headed south to Tamle to pick up Paul Trotta (our faculty adviser), Dale Grey (our professional advisor, sponsor, and chair of Medical Hands for Healing), and Ken Bailey (a surgical technician also with Medical Hands for Healing). The volunteers ate dinner at SWOPA, where we will now be eating most of our meals. After tonight's dinner of flavored rice, goat, and guinea fowl, we are excited to have found such great place.

Day 7 (May 25)

2008-05-25T10:17:00.000-07:00

Contributed by: Danielle

Today was a full day and our first one back in Yua!

In the morning we put on our best and went to church. The church was packed, people were spilling out of the doorway and gathered around the windows, peering in to watch the action. Today all the churches in the area gathered together to celebrate Corpus Cristi jointly. Even though we were late we were welcomed in and ushered to one of the benches inside. After a few songs the speaker asked us to stand. He greeted and thanked us for our presence in English and explained to the rest why we had come to the area, which was followed by applause. The rest of the service was given in FraFra, however, because it was a catholic church some of us understood the prayers being spoken. The service was full of singing and impressive joy, everyone stood for the songs and most danced along in the pews. After the service, we took part in a large precession to the market and back.

Later, we enjoyed a breeze with cokes and cookies under a mango tree and finally met Mr. Bernard Adongo, our driller. Mr. Adongo is a strong and confident man who also serves as a preacher in a church nearby. As we talked over the details of the borehole placement Adongo assured us that in fact he “does not drill dry boreholes.” He was so certain on his abilities that he explained he would take on the financial responsibility if the borehole should be dry. We were extremely satisfied with this as a dry borehole usually comes at a steep cost to the costumer.

Together with Pok and Adongo we traveled to Yua. My belly was shaking with excitement as we came into town and the faces I remembered began to line the road. Some of them shouted, “Yua!” to us as we passed. I chanted this to them during my speech last year and it was a compliment to see that it had stuck.

We arrived and Adongo pointed to the first spot he had chosen, about 30 meters to the east of the market, it was marked by a large stone. The stone was in the middle of a sizable field that had been made into perfect rows. Although it was very dry, green leaves persevered through the dirt. Mussa, the owner of the land, was among those now gathering to greet us. He explained to me that this was his land and made it clear he was happy to donate it for the plaza. We all took a photo at this spot and then moved on to another possible location for the borehole that Adongo had selected nearby. This one had lost its marker so Adongo demonstrated his dowsing skills of which we all had the opportunity to try. No one had much success detecting water, however, Jared played a joke on the community that he did. He pretended that he had detected so much water that the dowsing stick went out of control and hit him smack in the forehead- it was a successful comedy. After a short discussion and spontaneous vote of those community members present, it became clear that the first location was the best. With that settled, we drove to the clinic where Adongo located a great site that everyone was content upon. While there, we had the chance to talk to some women and elders who danced and sang a sweet welcoming song for us before we left.

We moved back to Afrikids place, collected our things and moved to SWOPA (Sirigu Women's Organization for Pottery and Arts) where our reservations were being held. SWOPA is a cooperative guest-house and successful income-generating project for local women. Each guest-house is built and painted in the tradition style and comes fashioned with two beds, bookshelf, mosquito net, and fan. There is one self contained room and the rest share bathroom and shower facilities. Staying here allows us to show our support for a great local project while being very close to Yua.

Contributed by: John Campbell

Yesterday, Joe invited us to go to church. We were unsure that we should because of all the preparation we need to do for the project. We haven’t bought a lot of the stuff that we need for both the projects. Joe insisted that we come because today was Corpus Christi. We all got ready and headed off in the van with Benjamin, (the driver, who is awesome. He is always so jolly, and wears sun glasses all the time. We are not even sure that he has eyes, but he is always wearing a smile). We went to breakfast at little stand in Sirigu. The place looked a little sketchy but the breakfast was excellent. They made these egg sandwiches that were awesome. So far this little place was my most favorite food. We were almost late as we rolled up to the church and there was a crowd outside of the church. Joe had told us that there were two services, and so I assumed that the first service was not quite out yet. We got out, walked up to the building, and as we did, you could hear the rhythmic beat of drums. We waited outside for about five minutes while David went in and soon we were escorted inside and were sat down in a completely empty row (in hind site they must have cleared some people out to make room which didn’t make me happy but what can you do). The place was packed. The first service was finished and the second had already started. There were probably 400 people inside and at least that many outside of the church. The worship music was absolutely incredible. Because of the holiday, there were people representing the seven villages in the eastern corridor and each village had there own section to lead worship. This consisted of only percussion instruments (mostly drums, but there were a variety of shaker style instruments as well) and people singing. Most of the women and some of the men also were dancing at their seat. I couldn’t help but start to dance a little, but had to restrain myself. We stuck out already, and I didn’t want to draw too much attention. Beside the music, the service was a traditional catholic service held partly in Fra Fra and partly in English. After the service, there was a parade and each band and its singers lined up for the march. There were seven groups all playing different songs and marching in the parade. There must have been at least a thousand people there. It was incredible. After the parade we went to Yua for the first time. As we drove there the people seemed to be more welcoming that the other villages we went through (which I didn’t really think was possible). Almost every person we drove by was waving and some were running along side of our van. As we pulled in to the market (Yua is pretty small so the market isn’t big at all) we got out and greeted all the elders that were there and everyone that came up. We met Adongo, the well driller to check out the two possible well sites. We went to the first possible site and it was marked with a stone. We then went to the second spot, and the marking had been moved. Adongo the called for a “dowsing” tool, and David got him a forked stick. The then walked back and forth and the stick seemed to rise when he got over a certain point. I couldn’t believe my eyes! This is how a hydro geologist picks a well site! John Yatsko wanted to try and Adongo said that he had to have type A blood, and Yatsko said he did. He walked back and forth for what seemed like a half an hour and couldn’t get it. The whole thing seemed a little hokey pokey to me, but Jared assures me that there are all sorts of accredited journals on the topic. I still don’t know, but I won’t say that there is no way it could work, it just seems EXTREAMLY unlikely. After that we went back to AfriKids to get some dinner. We ate on the roof (because it was cooler) and that is the end to a very great and long day!

Day 6 (May 24)

2008-05-24T10:15:00.000-07:00

Contributed by: Olivia

We walked to the Sirigu market at 9 am the next morning. We had egg sandwiches and tea at a local eatery for breakfast. Danielle and Berai adored a caramel-colored puppy napping under the table by our feet. We watched the townspeople stroll by leisurely to watch the “Solmisi” (white people) eat breakfast. A little boy with a handmade, full-brimmed straw hat walked by before sitting nearby. When we drove out of Sirigu, we saw an old man with a pile of these same straw hats on his bike. We asked the driver to stop so we could all purchase one. There was a flurry of excitement in the car when we pulled off to the side of the dirt road and the David asked the old man to sell his hats to the Solmisi in the car. Each person tried on a hat for the rugged work to be done in the hot sun until everyone was satisfied with the size and style of the hat.

We reached Bolga in its prime of the day. It was very alive with activity. We witnessed the daily orchestration of shopkeepers, consumers and street peddlers haggling for the best price of their wares. There were trenches parallel to the road that were carelessly littered with empty water satchels that sold for 5 pesowas (5 cents).

We kept notes of prices for tools and material in our moleskine notebooks. Photos were taken of the shops that offered the lowest price for the items. Other items were sourced to be borrowed from the District Chief of the Kassena-Nankana region. Some materials were priced higher than what we anticipated but it was offset by other items that were deleted from our Bill of Materials or modifications made to our designs in-country.

David took it upon himself to scout restaurants that practiced Solmisi-caliber food preparation. We had lunch at a restaurant next to a television station. There was a party of UK FSA workers celebrating a birthday beside our table. Our server was a young man about 20 years old. Traditional Ghanaian food was ordered because each plate was 4.50 GHC in contrast to other dishes that sold for 6.50 GHC. We had our first taste of banku, a thick white maize sour porridge served with the main dish.

After lunch, David haggled with more shopkeepers about the items still unpriced from our Bill of Materials. Each shop we visited was nestled between two other shops that sold a different item. Finding the right wire size and light bulb socket was a challenge. After visiting more shops in our taxi in a 1 km radius, we found what we needed and drove back to Afrikids.

The heat from the sun left its imprint on our weary bodies. Upon seeing our tired faces, Joe offered to have dinner prepared and delivered by a relative from Sirigu. The rooftop patio was revisited a second night. Joe had Aaron Denham's bag of inflatable mattresses and sheets. John Campbell took one mattress to sleep on the rooftop patio.

Everyone felt upbeat when David's boyhood friend asked John Yatsko if his daughter could join him on his morning run. She trained for us, running in circles outside and we cheered from the rooftop each time the little girl ran by the porch of Afrikids. The father would stop her to pour a bucket of water to cool her down.

The nightly meetings was beneficial for the volunteers to discuss the next day's events with each other, our shareholders, or other VIP crucial to the success of our projects. The Bill of Materials was consulted on many occasions for our financial standing. We discussed the feasibility of next summer's implementation projects after dinner with David and Joe.

Day 5 (May 23)

2008-05-23T10:14:00.000-07:00

Contributed by: Olivia

We had breakfast at 6:30 am and left the hotel at 7:30, an hour later than we had planned. We stopped in Tamale for lunch at the Marian Hotel. We watched a Nigerian drama while we ate our jollop rice and chicken. By 3pm, we were on the road again. We stopped a couple more times to refuel and stretch before we arrived at Pok's house, Ghanaian People's Network (GAPNET) representative in Bolga and also an agricultural extension worker. We introduced ourselves and then followed him to our lodging at Sirigu. We trailed his red truck with green canopied truckbed with our rattling taxi over dirt roads. Each time there was a heavy thud above our heads, we hoped that the metal rack would not fall off the roof with our cargo. It was noticed from the first stop outside of Accra that the rack's supports bent from the heavy cargo.

We drove in the dark and could see only what the headlights could light on the road. The traditional maroon, white, and gray chevron patterns on the cement walls could be seen by the lights from the open shops. It was market day (Friday) in Sirigu. Vendors sold their wares by the light supplied by expensive grid power.

We arrived at Afrikids new office and guest facility around 9 pm. We met Joe Asakibeem, Afrikids Sirigu Operation's Manager who worked alongside EWB-NAU last summer. He greeted us with a big smile and a strong handshake. A quick panoramic view of the area hinted a handpump nearby under the trees, children pumping water, and passersby on their way home. Pok and Joe gave us a tour of the new building. It includes a library, an administrative office, a boy's room, two bathrooms, two showers, a kitchen, a supply room, and three bedrooms. We were told that we were the first guests to stay in the rooms.

The rooms were outfitted with two beds on wooden frames, a ceiling fan, a desk, and curtained windows with wire screens. Immediately, the fans were set to high. After settling into our rooms, we congregated on the rooftop patio because of the cool breeze and open air. We watched two children study by porchlight. We heard a processional of singing from people returning from a funeral. The stars could be seen very clearly and children were heard singing from a far off distance.

Amidst the local sounds, a scream was heard below the rooftop patio from one of the rooms. It was the sound of a man shocked by sticking a key into the outlet. Jared sheepishly admitted to unsuccessfully grounding electricity while we laughed at his unfortunate consequence of conducting electricity. We sat and talked before we had a meeting in one of the rooms. After the meeting, we retired to our rooms for the night. The children outside had unrolled their mats and slept on the ground under the porchlight.

Day 4 (May 22)

2008-05-22T10:13:00.000-07:00

Contributed by: Olivia

We left Afia Beach after our luggage had been tied to the roof of our taxi by the driver and several helpers. We settled the tab with the hotel owner, Kofi, and packed into the taxi for the trip to Kumasi. We left the city in the late afternoon after we made a stop at Interplastic for the polypipe. A 150 ft-45 mm polypipe was purchased and tied atop our heap of panels. At the next stop, we purchased 6 batteries for the schoolhouse PV system. They were plastic-wrapped in case of rain during the drive. We left Accra around 4 pm in the afternoon. Oh, and just to give everybody an idea of how the shopping goes around here, it took an elapsed 4 and ½ hours to by the $90 worth of polypipe, after we had found the place that sells it.

The weight of the 12 packages of 30 kg solar panels punished the rack when the taxi dipped in the dirt potholes or swerved to miss them on the paved roads. Immediately after we'd left the city, the volunteers fell asleep when the air conditioner was turned on. We stopped on the way to have coconuts. Several young boys used their machete to cut the coconuts for us at 10 pesowas (10 cents) per coconut. We drank the water and ate the milky inside. At our next stop, pillows were bought from an Ashfoam vendor. The driver set the radio dial to news or played his tape of American R&B music artists. Beyonce was heard many times over before we arrived at our hotel in Kumasi at 9:30pm. We checked into our rooms and had a late dinner. I was very excited to watch Battlestar Galactica in an air-conditioned hotel.

Day 3 (May 21)

2008-05-21T10:11:00.000-07:00

Contributed by: Berai

After waking from a deliciously cool sleep we met David (see photo) again and had some breakfast. Jared, John Campbell, Matt Moan,David and Isaac headed out for the city in search of materials for the project. While Dani, Olivia, John-John and I stayed at the hotel to work on project logistics. Once the guys returned from shopping we all went out into the city together and had dinner at Papaye (or Popeye's as Dani would call it) for some Guinness or fanta, fried chicken and rice. After, Papaye we went to the airport in quest for our luggage. The awaited football (soccer) game between Manchester United vs. Chelsea was on a TV outside the airport. Everyone was standing in front of it tense, excited, and yelling as the match continued. Ghanaian's are extremely excited for the World Cup 2010 to come to Africa. We got our luggage (phew!), it took awhile, but everything arrived safe and sound. Afterwards we traveled to Afia Beach and had a meeting with ourselves, David, Isaac and Akunz. Again, it was an exhausting day and after the meeting we hit the sack to get rest before our long haul up to Yua.

Contributed by: Danielle

We spent our first day in Accra shopping and planning for the project. Jared, John, Matt, and David were designated as our shopping crew and went out to battle the bustling markets of the big city. The rest of the crew stayed behind and organized the community health and project assessment plan. Later Olivia, Berai, and John Y. took a stroll to a nearby market, not entirely prepared for the advanced style haggling they met. They survived and John Y. (who had been referred to as “Peter Pan” by a local merchant boy) came back with two beautiful oil paintings at a good price. For dinner we tried the local fare and ended up at a very busy fast food joint called Papeye's (Which means “we can do it” in Twe). We were served a very delicious dinner of chicken and rice with a spicy black sauce called “shito” which provided us with laughs for the rest of the evening (our team has become very easily entertained). It stormed hard this night, the sound of the thunder and rain mingled with the frogs and ocean, made an exciting new sound, even more calming than sleep. Olivia and Berai giggled at Ghanaian TV and went out to briefly play in the warm rain.

Day 1 & Day 2 (May 19 & 20)

2008-05-20T09:55:00.000-07:00

Contributed by: Berai

We made it! All seven of us and roughly 2,000 lbs of luggage. While at Phoenix Sky Harbor we had been carrying the weight of our tremendous amount of luggage in fear that we wouldn't pass inspection. We knew that British Airways may have easily taken one look at our load and said, “No way.” Thankfully everyone was extremely helpful and let us and all our bags on board for the long journey to Ghana. While on board, we were all entertained by the personal screens equipped with TV, movies, and radio stations for the lengthy flights. The transfer in London was a breeze minus the mad dash sprint through airport to our connecting flight. Luck or something was on our side because we made the flight when we were told we had no chance. Finally, at 8:15pm-Ghana time we arrived tired and stiff, but smiling. We were greeted at the immigration line by Akunz's delightful smile and warm hug. He helped us figure out our luggage situation (since we arrived late in Heathrow our luggage didn't make it on our connecting flight),we had to take a moment... a long moment to fill out the necessary paperwork, so we could get our luggage the next day. Finally, the moment we were all waiting for happened, we stepped outside (and for some of us) saw Ghana for the first time. We were met there by David and Isaac, our guides last year on the project. It was dark which didn't allow us to see the city and scenery quite yet but we hopped into the taxi and headed for Afia Beach, our hotel located right next to the Atlantic Coast...awesome! John Yatsko, a.k.a “John-John” had never seen the Atlantic, so in true John-John fashion he took a little swim. We were all pretty exhausted leading us to pack it in pretty early. Olivia and myself were highly entertained by Ghanaian television,but I of course fell asleep in a heartbeat and didn't open my eyes for another 11 hours. Oh, I haven't mentioned that it is H-U-M-I-D here! Fortunately, Afia Beach had AC which was nice for us “dry-heaters”.

EWB-NAU SITE ASSESSMENT: N. GHANA

2008-01-07T09:38:00.000-08:00

August 2007

Welcome!

The following entries were written in the summer of 2007 by team members of EWB-NAU on thier site assessment trip to Northern Ghana, specifically, a community in the Upper East Region of Ghana called Yua. These entries chronicle their journey and the discoveries they made during that time. Please read the 2008 implementation blog for updates on this project and the EWB-NAU Ghana Project Team.

Day 17 (August 11)

2007-08-15T17:39:00.001-07:00

A few of us got up at daybreak to catch the golden hour down by the piers. I had read that Ghana had a very active fishing community in Accra and I wanted to see it. Akunz and David kindly agreed to pick us up at the hotel and show us around.

Something I noticed pretty quickly was the number of people gathered by the piers. The people washing boats, cooking fish, repairing lines, and going out to sea was endless. No sooner than I began to take photos of the scene, were we reprimanded by a man carrying a large bench. "Don't take photographs without permission, someone is going to get really angry at you!!"

Akunz motioned for me to put my camera away. "He's right, people here can be grumpy."

Soon the man came back. He quickly explained something to Akunz and then mentioned all of us to follow him. He led us into a relic of a building and into a small office decorated with a large metal filing cabinet in the corner, a bulky brown captain’s desk, and a smallish man with glasses.

"So what exactly do we need to do?" Akunz asked the two men. The man who carried the bench spoke up first- you need to sign the guest book!" He pointed assertively toward the clerk behind the desk. The clerk bent down and retrieved a giant red book from one of the drawers of the desk.
"Please, we need you to sign this," the clerk said
"Okay then, I'll sign for everyone." Akunz said smiling
"Okay" the clerk said
"Now what?"
"Well, we need money. The fee is 20,000 cedis per person."
"Reduce it." Akunze said politely "We will give you 10,000 cedis each"
"Okay." the clerk said
Akunz handed him a five pesawa note (new Ghanaian cedi equivalent to about five dollars) and ushered us out the door chuckling to himself. Like many Ghanaians Akunz is very good at getting things done. This is one of his many qualities I admire.
The man had followed us out and was now our guide. This was good- he found us a kind of hidden place among the boats. He assured me that I could take photos here, just not of individual people.
What we saw was amazing- everything was very exciting there. Our guide explained to us that there was more people than usual because there was a celebration taking place. I took as many photos as I could- and wished sorely I had brought my better camera. It was beautiful- the entire beach was covered in a light fog and the morning light was still a reddish-orange. We only spent a half an hour by the beach before heading up the large stone stairway for the view. Although some people were still very adverse to being photographed some people outright demanded they be in a shot. One man came and introduced himself to me on the stairs and asked me an interesting question.
"How do you see this place?"
"I think its beautiful, and alive, and different." I said
He nodded and said, that’s good, I'm glad you got the chance to see it. Other people waved and said hello as we continued toward a small community formed on top of the building alive with morning activities. It was a collection of small tin
shelters, smoke from people cooking, clothing lines, basins, and a thousand other things I didn't have the chance to see. People there were the most interesting to me- they seemed tougher, rowdier somehow- I wish we could have stayed longer. We passed some children playing an energetic game of foosball and winded our way from between the buildings and on to the street. Soon we found another place to view the beach. A few men were talking at the entrance of a very old building. One of the men was sitting on an old fashioned cannon.

This man called me over to him and introduced himself. He began talking about working on a cruise ship and traveling the world. He also pointed to a building directly across from him. It was tightly locked by a giant metal door. This was a slave fort and prison, the infamous Fort Ussher.

This man had connections and soon we were behind the door.

The building was built in 1649 by the Dutch as a holding place for slaves. After this, the fort was used for many years as a prison. The last residents of the fort were refugees from Sudan. Now, they have it closed to the public (except for the occasional visitors who get lucky like us).

The tour was really a sad one. It is hard to believe that people endured this kind of torture. My heart especially went out to those that were captured to be sold into slavery. What a dark period in the world’s history!

By the time we returned to the hotel it was time for lunch. All of us traveled with the GAPNET crew (Akunz, Isaac, and David) to a nearby restaurant and then down to the market for some last minute gift shopping.

After this, we had only a small amount of time before we had to leave. I went down to the beach with David and Akunz to look at the sea, to say our goodbyes, and to exchange our gratitude to each other for the successful experience.

We all got to take some last minute photos before we left and before we knew it we were on the flight back home!

--Danielle

Day 14 (August 8)

2007-08-15T12:44:00.001-07:00

We left Bolga today. It was sad to leave so soon- we have made wonderful friends and had such remarkable experiences while in Bolgatanga. In the short time we spent there, we have been transformed in a way. Getting the chance to know this community was extraordinary, the people we have connected with are so welcoming, energetic, funny, and sweet. There were many times during this trip that we were moved to tears by their kindness and sincerity.

This project has become so much more to each one of us. The people of Yua, their home, and their life have encouraged us to examine our own lives and ambitions. Yua's biggest dreams for the future are simple: access to clean water, health, food, and education. These dreams are rare in our communities simply because most of us are never without them. Clean water, for us, is as easy as a turn of a knob. In Yua, it is a thing you work hard to obtain. Yet water like food and education is a human right. In this age, why should securing those rights be so difficult? The awful truth is that it is our lifestyle that is rare. Most people in the world live without full access to thier basic human rights.For sure, we had a long way to go before Accra and a lot to think about.

Our good friend and advisor Pok drove our team to the station and kindly gave us some hard boiled guinea fowl eggs for the trip. The bus was a little late so we got an opportunity to visit a local leather shop and talk more with Pok. I got stung by an innocent enough bumble bee and David left one of his bags at the station. Aside from this- we left Bolga without a hitch.

We made the trip to Accra via the Ghana's luxury bus service. Although some might not match the adjective "luxury" to a 16 hour bus ride, the scenery made for a beautiful trip. I particularly enjoyed watching life in the villages and towns we passed. People swimming, selling, running, laughing, dancing kept me entertained during the daylight hours. After that? Well, you always have the ever lively Ghanaian radio.

--Danielle

Day 13 (August 7)

2007-08-10T04:37:00.001-07:00

Our last day in Bolga was spent covering some last minute logistical details. We visited the office of the Hon DCE again for some information, the district statistical service, and the Community Water and Sanitation Agency (CWSA). We had the opportunity to talk with the director CWSA for over an hour about local efforts to provide water systems and sanitation. We learned a lot about appropriate technology and local standards. This is yet another organization we can count on for technical and logistical support in our efforts.

We also went by the Afrikids office to say goodbye and pick up a DVD they had made for us of our welcome day into Yua!

We then went back to the hotel to pack and prepare before attending our last dinner with Mama Laadi. Tomorrow we embark on the long ride back to Accra.

--Danielle

Day 12 (August 6)

2007-08-10T04:27:00.000-07:00

Today was a day of research! Ben led water sampling while Jaina led the community health assessment.

Water was sampled from more sources, as a crowd of sometimes twenty children gathered in silence to watch. We learned that nitrates and fecal coliform are present (if not off the charts), and likely the cause of much ailment in the community.

Jaina and Danielle interviewed a series of community members, ranging from the schools’ headmaster, Paul (the same man who chaired the welcome and farewell), to the nurse to some local farmers. The assessment touched on myriad subjects, including health, health care, water sources and usage, food type and availability, and transportation

We then rushed down the long dirt road and beyond to Navrongo to dine at the home of the Honorable District Chief Executive, Emmanuel Chegedwe. This is quite the honor; the Honorable DCE is equivalent to a state governor in the US.

--Jared

Day 11 (August 5)

2007-08-10T04:06:00.000-07:00

Yua has done it again. After collecting water samples from various sources (hand-dug wells, hand pumped boreholes, and the dammed irrigation pond) we met with community members for a farewell. Initially, the crowd was slimmer than the massive welcome on August 1^st, but the crowds soon came. The Chairman was again designated to be Paul, who had chaired the welcome as well. Paul spoke, and Pok and Trotta and Joe and Danielle, whose cheers were returned when the crowds lifted their arms and hollered “Yua! Yua! Yua!”

As the dancers were introduced intermittently, the Chair would direct them off the floor, and the women would dance more vigorously. As they danced and clapped, the Sons and Daughters of Dr. Akunzule, a troupe of young women roughly fourteen years of age, sang a farewell song to us in English of such beauty it moved many of us to tears.

We broke for a short period to see some of the wares the community produces. We saw ornate spears and arrows, small sculptures of men and crocodiles, woven baskets some of which are covered in leather and shells, horned warrior helmets, and leather goods of local design and pattern including small purses, larger bags, and sandals.

What moved us most was the community’s presentation of gifts. First, Trotta was called to stand as he was presented with a hand woven smock of local design, and a woven sash which read “YUA – NAU PARTNERSHIP”. Danielle, Jared, Ben, and Jaina were presented with similar garb, the women’s being of a longer design reaching mid-calf and including a long head wrap.

--Jared

Day 10 (August 4)

2007-08-10T03:35:00.000-07:00

Today we had an opportunity to visit some interesting sites around the area. First we visited a famous crocodile pond.
The Crocodiles of Paga pond are protected by a promise given to them by Prince Panlogo. The ancient crocs had guaranteed the Prince’s safety in exchange for an eternal pledge of protection. With certain death trailing him- he made the deal and ever afterward kept his promise.
The current crocodiles- three hundred in number- enjoy their time at Paga Pond together surviving on a healthy diet of fish and chicken. As their human protectors in Paga tell us, the crocodiles quite enjoy crawling, hunched-back, onto the shore in order to let tourists hold their scaly tails. I hope, anyway, that the crocodiles enjoyed our exchange more than I. You might see from the photos that most of our group had a different feeling and seem to rather enjoy holding coarse crocodile bits.
It was only two dollars to see, experience, and cuddle the sacred crocs of Paga and then only three dollars more to buy a sacrificial chicken. At Paga they use poultry to lure the crocodiles from their liquid hovel by waving them over the pond so as to encourage the chickens to squawk wildly. I’m not sure what process the crocs use to determine who will go on shore and retrieve the tasty morsel but it must be one of the most peaceful and dignified. There wasn't a horde of crocodiles rushing toward the chicken but instead one single croc politely slid out of the water and toddled toward us a few paces. The croc then paused before turning sideways and composing himself with the precision of a supermodel. Shortly there after another croc appeared behind the first, creeping a bit before stopping, partly submerged, in another perfect pose.
We then took turns, rather awkwardly, holding the crocodile’s chewed-off tail as he sat silently breathing with his jaws widely ajar. We each got our photos “snapped” as our new tongue-less friends patiently awaited their prize: a live chicken. After the crocs were tossed their prize they both slid smoothly back into the pond. After they were gone I noticed something small above the pond: I watched as a solitary chicken feather fell lightly on the still waters (sniffle-poor lil' bird).
Next we headed for the large dam of Navrongo built in the early 80’s. As always we rode in the back of Pok’s Nissan truck. He had made it quite comfortable for the six of us including a bench, a couch, and a nice canvass covering. It is always entertaining to ride in the Nissan during the day, watching the landscape and waving at everybody as we pass. Children are especially exuberant when they see us, jumping up and down, waving energetically, and calling out “Solmia!” (White man!). At night the truck has its own unique charm- smells become more accentuated and alive while the sounds surrounding us become vibrant and pulsating. The sounds squeeze in around, the world becoming a noisy stadium with the resonance of frogs echoing off the sorghum stalks.
We were riding to the dam on a dirt road deeply pitted by pools of rain and mud. If we had looked more closely at the road we might have guessed what would happen next…however we were too busy waving. Stuck. The Nissan was suddenly caught by the mud and our right side began sinking fast. We hopped out to asses the situation. “Try stepping on it!”… “Try moving back!”… “Maximize the suspension!”… “Left the back!”… “Put some branches under the tires!” …. “Time to Dig!”
Soon, some local men came down the road and helped us dig and push. David and Isaac, dressed better than the rest of us, happily took off their shoes, rolled up their pants and jumped into about three feet of rich mud and began to dig. Due to everyone's hard work we were out and on our way within an hour. We stopped at the dam for a few moments before getting back in the truck and hurrying to dry ground. We had a dinner date at Mama Laadi’s place- always a wonderful conclusion to the day.

--Danielle

Day 9 (August 3)

2007-08-04T07:10:00.001-07:00

Today we arranged with Pok to take us to a couple of the different water sources in the area so that we can have a better idea of the drinking water sources available for the Yua community. We traveled a different route this day, stopping at a local, small-scale eco-tourist attraction in Sirigu. The Sirigu Woman’s Organization for Pottery and Arts, or SWOPA, is a beautifully painted structure containing a gallery of traditional arts and pottery. It also serves as a guesthouse providing, affordable rooms decorated in the traditional style reflected throughout the SWOPA grounds. While here, we toured the gallery and rooms discussing the possibility of future accommodations for EWB project volunteers.

We agreed to return to SWOPA for lunch and hopped back into Pok’s truck and continued on to Yua. Our first stop was at the Taribisi section of Yua. Here we visited two shallow wells used for drinking water during the wet season. At the second well, a man from Yua showed us how they get the water. He pulled out a very old can that had once contained an industrial adhesive, dropped it into the well using an old, frayed rope, pulled up a can full of murky water, and bent to drink from the can. These wells, we were told dry up completely during the dry season.

The next water source we visited was a small earthen dam at the edge of the Taribisi. Used as a reservoir to water animals, we also observed people washing their clothes and children swimming in the reservoir. Although the small reservoir held what seemed to be a sufficient amount of water, we were told that it dries to be a mud puddle by December during the year and there is not sufficient water for the remainder of the dry season.

Our last stop along the tour of available water sources was at a borehole, located a kilometer away from the dam. The water here appears to be very clean. The hand pump provides a fairly strong stream of water. This source is used somewhat during the wet season, but is one of very few sources during the dry season. (The man shown in the photo lives nearby and is blind. We had the chance to meet and talk with him while we were there. Northern Ghana has some of the highest incidences of visual impairment in Africa-estimated at 14% , around 21,000 people. The foremost cause of the epidemic is a direct result of Trachoma. Caused by bacteria, Trachoma spreads rapidly in communities where people don't have enough water to wash their hands and face regularly and can be prevented by simply washing with as little as one litre of clean water each day.)

We then traveled back to the SWOPA complex for lunch, which was more expensive than food in Bolga, but fairly cheap by US standards (about $2.75 for lunch and a Coke). Then it was back to Yua to meet with the farmers’ and women’s groups. There we again heard that water is very scarce during the dry season, and that the community has already begun prioritizing sites for boreholes, and has a potential site or 2 determined for a future dam. Priorities for boreholes are the health clinic and market.

We left a bit earlier for Bolga than usual so we could clean up a bit (it can get very dusty riding the dirt roads in Pok’s truck every day) and go once again to Pok’s house for another wonderful dinner. We left a bit early so the Pok and his wife, Peace, could attend a wake. It seems like there are many funerals here, mainly on Saturdays. I guess this illustrates the problems facing this region, high mortality due to malaria, poor sanitation, and malnutrition, all compounded by the high level of poverty.

--Jaina and Ben

Day 8 (August 2)

2007-08-04T07:02:00.001-07:00

Today we went to Yua again for our first meeting with the Yua Development Organization (YUDO). This committee was recently formed by our partners with GAPNET to help us better understand the challenges facing Yua. The committee is represented by two people from each of the major groups of Yua, such as the farmers association, teacher’s group, elders, and women’s group. There were about thirty people in attendance at the meeting. Our advisor and friend, David, translated in Fra-Fra for us as we spoke in turn. Trotta began with the introductions and a beautiful opening metaphor of marriage between Yua and EWB-NAU: “The product of a traditional marriage would be offspring while the product of our union would be an improvement in the quality of life of Yua.” The rest of our presentation touched on the mission and goals of EWB, the history of the Yua project, as well as our particular mission during this visit. Above all this meeting was an opportunity to finally hear from the people of Yua. Trotta began very appropriately by asking a simple question, “If each person here could change one thing for Yua, what would it be?” We were to go around in a circle, giving each person a chance to speak. The first spoke up (in Fra-Fra), “improvement in health!” and then the second continued, “we need quality drinking water.” The third spoke on the need for quality education. This went on and on until everyone present had the chance to speak. The majority of the feedback echoed the first three, except for the students present who all heartily exclaimed, “Light for the school!” After this we explored their responses a bit more in depth: we asked about the most common health problems they suffer in the community as well as how an increased and improved water supply might change their lives. At the end we took a few minutes for questions and comments and then concluded the meeting with some gifts for YUDO (pronounced “you do”). These were NAU t-shirts Trotta had obtained from the marketing department at NAU. We took another few minutes to take photographs and then transitioned into another meeting, this time with the Yua teacher’s group. This gave the teachers an opportunity to talk to us more in depth about the concerns they have for the welfare of children in Yua. Most of the issues come back to the ubiquitous issue of poverty and lack of accessible drinking water. Some children must walk all day for water or work in the fields and at the end of the day have no time to go to school. They also touched on the need for improved facilities including electricity, water, and a library.

We presented the Teacher’s group with, as Trotta said, “a small token of our friendship” in the form of two soccer balls, a pump, pens, small note pads, and calculators. One of the teachers kindly assured us that this “token” was no small gift but instead something very much appreciated. He assured us that the people of Yua are so happy that we have even come to Yua –that this in itself is a gift. After this we all wanted to cry but kept composure enough for yet another group photo.

By the time we left Yua the sun was going down. We had dinner plans at Mama Laadi’s place again so we were a bit late but to no great offence to Mama Laadi as she welcomed us in and served a wonderful dinner with children hanging from her arms. I wish everyone at home could see what a wonderful facility Mama Laadi created with Afrikids. These children are as precious as they come and are well pampered by the staff and by Mama Laadi herself.

--Danielle

Day 7 (August 1)

2007-08-04T06:51:00.002-07:00

Humbled.

We have been humbled by the greatness that is a Yua welcome. From the back of the pickup which delivered us we could first hear the women singing. A group of twenty or thirty women garbed in a matching rich deep blue and white textile clapped from the shade of tree as their song emanated toward us. We looked forward to a crowd of maybe 1000 people.

First, we drove past the throngs to meet with the Chief and the Elders. The Elders had gathered outside of the Chief’s home, sitting on benches as low as the roots of the tree which provided us shade. Ceremonious banter bounced back and forth between our presenter, driver, and guide Pok, and the Chief. The Honorable District Chief Executive Emanuel Chegeweh arrived by truck and joined us. Trotta crouched to the seated Chief’s eye-level and presented him the traditional gifts of kola nuts and schnapps. We asked for the Chief and Elders’ blessing, and for permission to work with their community.

From here, we re-entered the vehicles, and proceeded back to the crowds. The few alongside the dirt road would holler and clap, even jump up and down and wave, as they recognized us as the long awaited team from America. The music—the drums and whistles—had already begun. We stepped out the back of the vehicle, each of us a bit pale from the shock, each of us overwhelmed in a manner we had never before conceived of us, each of us with goose bumps.

We walked forward toward the crowd and formed a line. The people had formed a wide circle 125 feet across into which we entered. David had taught us a few words. We would say “Poori” upon a hand shake. The receiver would reply “Azaare,” and we would respond “Nahmbaa.” An elderly woman moved by song took Jared’s arm and led him into the circle as she danced and grinned a toothless smile. We sat at behind the length of tables at the chairs appointed to us, seated beside the Chairman and the Honorable DCE.

An MC emceed, and the Chairman spoke on behalf of the community. Speakers included the Honorable Mac Adale, Assemblyman for Yua, and Nich Kumah, Director of Afrikids in Ghana. A procession of men entered and performed the War Dance, a dance typically reserved for the funerals of the most esteemed elders. We learned later that the Chairman was surprised the Elders had allowed the War Dance to be performed on this occasion, which speaks to the level of appreciation, the pinnacle of appreciation, the people of Yua have toward our visit and our work.

A welcome rain interrupted the proceedings, and we relocated to a classroom.

Engineers Without Borders sat in the front, underneath the chalkboard interspersed between the Chairman, the Honorable DCE, Nich and our guides from the Ghana Poultry Network. A floor was cleared in front of us some thirty feet. The first rows were reserved for the Elders; the other seats filled quickly. Everyone else remained outdoors, clinging to the concrete latticed walls.

Between speakers, dance troupes would enter. The majority of these groups were women’s groups, others were men, or younger women and girls. Most groups had no instrumental music; their own song, clap, and stomp proved more than enough accompaniment. The dancing was never lethargic, ranging from a swift pace to outright frenetic. The room was hot. Every dancer pooled sweat from their skin, and soon the heat rose and combined with the humidity, we all had a generous coat of sweat upon us. They would form lines and circles directly in front of us—I often found myself curling my toes to protect them from the heavy stomp.

Around mid-ceremony, Trotta was introduced, who spoke as Pok translated. Trotta introduced Danielle, who needed no translation to warm the people’s hearts as she cheered “Yua!” With David as her interpreter, Danielle asked for the community’s blessing and guidance in our work, and assured the crowd we will be meeting with the various factions of the community in the upcoming days to speak with them.

Dignitary after dignitary, dancers after dancers. Some minutes into every performance, the bell would ring, signaling that the group be off, that there was more to be done. The bell only seemed to invigorate the dancers; they would not be budged. Last minute half circles were formed around us for optimal viewing and individual dancers would showcase their powerful skills. The MC and other men would guide the dancers out the door, and the next speaker would speak. The welcoming was constant in its energy and its formality for three hours. Even after the meeting closed, other dance groups remained outside, insistent that they be allowed the opportunity to express their gratitude to us.

Finally outside, Jaina and Danielle were both pulled into the crowd of dancers, waving their arms and stomping in the mud to the music which continued, the drums and the whistles, by the kind hands of an elder.

Upon the insistence of our guides David and Isaac, we were ushered into another classroom, to sit and rest and breathe. A cooler of ice cold beer (in this community without power) was brought in. Guinness and the Ghanaian beer Star attempted to calm us, though most of us were eager to join the people outdoors. Darkness fell as were trucked and bumped over the puddled roads back to Bolgatanga, unsure of our ability to sleep this night.

--Jared

I have never in my life been so completely surprised and impressed with a day. The welcome that we received was overwhelming. When Akunz told us that there would be a welcome with dancing and singing I thought maybe there would be 15-20 women giving a performance. However, this is by no means what we received. As we entered Yua there were people lining the road- waving and clapping for us as we drove on. As we came closer to the center, a women’s group was singing under a huge baobab tree. Their singing trailed in and faded out as we drove past the center toward the chief’s palace. I could see in the distance hundreds of people had gathered in the center yet I still did not realize the extent of this event.

We came to the chief’s palace- a collection of traditionally built homes made of adobe and painted in the local style. The chief and elders were sitting under a tree to the side of the house. I was walking behind Nich (Director of Afrikids) and Pok (GAPNET representative) toward the tree. “Just watch us and follow what we do,” they whispered back to us. There were about fifteen elder men gathered there. We shook all of their hands before taking a place on the bench. As Pok and Nick began speaking with them in Frafra more and more people began to gather around us. Pok took Trotta’s hand and pulled him to his side as they knelt in front of the chief in order to present him with a traditional gift: Kola nuts and Schnapps. Trotta and Pok shook the hand of the chief and cameras flashed in the daylight. All of a sudden there were a lot of people there. I began to race. We had agreed on the way that I would speak on our behalf as the project leader yet I was beginning to realize that I wasn’t prepared to speak in front of such distinguished company and in front of so many. There must have been thirty people or more there now. Just then a very nice car pulled in- The Honorable District Chief Executive had arrived! He came under the tree with us and began to greet the chief. After some more formalities we all stood to leave. “Thank God!” I thought- now I won’t have to stand in front of all these people to speak. I snapped some photos before loading up into the truck again and heading back toward the center. As we approached it began to sink in: this is way bigger then I had imagined! Literally hundreds of people were waiting for us. We were ushered into a giant ring of people toward some chairs and a long table. An elderly woman grabbed Jared’s hand and began leading him down the path- cheering and dancing the entire way. We sat down all of us trying to keep our mouths from hanging open and our hearts from overwhelming us. In the middle of the circle there was a tree that was being occupied by an older man and a little girl. Within the next few moments we began to realize that the man was crazy and also unwilling to leave the center of the ring under any persuasion. Finally and kindly the community allowed the man to stay. Later I was told this was partly due to his threat he had given to the crowd: if they made him leave he would make it rain and offset the program. Shortly there were some brief introductions and greetings before the first group came out to present. Their performance was phenomenonal- about eight men dressed in traditional clothing beating drums and moving intensely. This was a war dance- little seen by anyone and little performed but for the rarest of circumstance. Later even the MC would pronounce he was surprised to see this dance approved for us. A second group came and a third before we heard Nich and the assembly man of Yua make a speech. I was also informed at this time that I would still have to present my speech. This time not in front of thirty but a thousand! My palms began to sweat.

The mad man in the middle was ultimately ushered out sometime during the assembly mans speech after which the rain, as promised, began to fall. Again- I felt saved from my speech. The rain made it imperative to move into an empty school room nearby. They quickly set the room up with desks in the back for the elders, chiefs, and other respected leaders. In the front they set up a line of chairs for the esteemed and distinguished guests: The Honorable District Chief Executive, Executive Director of Afrikids and staff, and four students and a professor from Northern AZ University… were we in the right place? Surely we were because as soon as the room was set the MC began to thank us for our presence those guests who, “from America had gotten on the plane, flew over the ocean, and virtually risked their lives traveling to Yua.” All of a sudden we began to feel less like the pampered travelers we knew ourselves to be and more like extremely tough individuals we had been made to become.

After this warm introduction Trotta was called up to introduce me. I was to make the speech now yet somehow I suddenly wasn’t as nervous as before.

Luckily, David was there to fill in all my faults and mistakes with meaning and sense. Thank grace for that one. After that we heard from the Hon. DCE and a few others. Unfortunately, with the rain on the tin roof I couldn’t hear the DCE at all and began to notice the room around me. It was so full of life! Save a stage in the middle of the room there were people everywhere. People were standing along the edges, looking in from the small windows and flooding in from both entrances. You could also see countless people outside from the windows- dancing and walking about.

After everyone had finished speaking- in came the dancers: They spilled into the room from the right-dancing, singing and playing their heart out. They would get very close to us and take turns dancing- many of them going as fast as their body would allow and a great deal faster than any of us have ever moved in our lives. One after another they would come in from the right and into the middle, everyone putting on a fabulous show only then to be “gonged” so to speak by the MC with a giant bronze bell. After the bell would ring the dancers would try to win over the crowd with an even more exuberant performance. Some were allowed to stay and continue but most were ushered out very quickly. This went on for hours and way beyond the planned schedule. Before each group the MC would turn to us and apologize for yet another group who wanted to perform for us.

To say the least we were well welcome into Yua.

After the dancers all had a few minutes to shine we went outside to see the dancing that had continued there. I was looking into a circle curiously when an elder grabbed my hand and pulled me into the ring to dance. Very nice!

After this all the guests were served some beer and then we were on our way wondering if what we had seen was real.

For sure this day put our “small” Yua project in perspective. This project means a lot to these people and our welcome was their way of showing us this. They welcomed us in, making us “honorary citizens of Yua.” We all hope that this is the beginning of a partnership that will not only bring Yua a better quality of life but also give all of us a greater understanding of one another.

--Danielle

On closing of today’s blog, we would like to express our gratitude for the amazingly warm welcome we received by the community of Yua. We never imagined that our visit to this beautiful country would be welcomed with such a vibrant greeting. We stand in awe of the incredible people from Yua and our friends from Afrikids and GAPNET.

–-Jaina and Ben

Day 6 (July 31)

2007-08-01T05:00:00.000-07:00

This morning we met Mr. Emmanuel Chegedwe, the District Chief Executive of the Kassana-Nankana District- a position equivalent to a governor. This position is appointed by the president and approved by the district assembly men (mayors). We were to refer to him formally as the Honorable District Chief Executive or the Honorable DCE for short.

This meeting was arranged as an opportunity for us to describe to him our organization and inform him of our intention to work in Yua. This was a rather formal meeting but we did very well especially since we were guided through it by our local partners: The Ghana Poultry Network and Afrikids. Jared and Trotta both spoke and did very well at portraying our goals and intentions. Hon. DCE identified for us those issues he has found most pressing in the Kassana-Nankana district. These include: the lack of access to clean water, sanitation, irrigation, health, and the increasing problem of desertification. His office and those in power in the district have been working very hard to solve these problems but he described to us that their own lack of resources have prohibited them from extending themselves very far. The Hon. DCE gave us his full blessings for our project and has even offered financial and logistical support to complete our mission.

We will be meeting with him again tomorrow in Yua for our first community meeting .We will also see him later in the week for dinner. He is very supportive of our efforts and it turns out that the Hon. DCE is also a trained engineer!

After this wonderful meeting we headed to lunch at the International Café where we ate lots of goat bits with two dishes: rice and black eyes peas with red sauce and rice with peanut stew: very nice!

The market was next: I got to pose with a giant pig, take photographs, and see some wonderful fabric work…. –Danielle

In the evening we ate dinner at what is essentially an orphanage, although they don’t use that term for it.

It is a house, built by Afrikids, where one woman, Mama Laadi, takes care of 45 children (with some help from the older children). There we had an excellent dinner that was cut a bit short by a scare, a situation that would be a bit embarrassing, if the final outcome was not such a relief.

With 36 hours of plane travel (hectic at that, with switching terminals 3 times, delayed flights, etc.), one day off followed by 17 hours on a bus (with another hectic start as we were initially told a 10:00 AM departure time, only to be abruptly awoke at 7:15 to learn that the bus leaves at 8:00), little sleep, and culture shock, some of us have been feeling a bit fuzzy headed from time to time. It’s difficult to tell fatigue from more serious symptoms. The doxycycline that we are taking to help fight against malaria is most effective on an empty stomach, but this can lead to nausea and dizziness. Ben and Danielle were both feeling very weak when we arrived at Mama Laadi’s. There we met 3 medical students from the UK, who all had reportedly contracted malaria in their one week here so far. They told us that we had the symptoms of malaria, and that we should go to the clinic to be tested. Ben didn’t initially believe that he had malaria, but the students’ stories made him begin to wonder. 2 of the students had essentially no symptoms when they were diagnosed as positive (although a few of us are beginning to doubt the accuracy of that diagnosis).

We left for the 24 hour clinic, where all of us were going to get tested. Due to the other patients however, only Ben and Danielle we tested. As we waited for the slides with our blood samples to dry for microscope analysis, the technician explained that malaria does not generally show up for 10 days past exposure, and that symptoms are present before detection is possible. He seemed very knowledgeable. He showed us the slide of a positive case, a 3 year old child who had phase 3 malaria, very serious. Our final diagnosis: negative! The symptoms were likely fatigue, and possibly low sodium or blood sugar due to the differences in the African diet. Still, malaria is a major concern, although it is treatable should one of us contract it. As the technician was writing the diagnosis, Nich from Afrikids (who was gracious enough to wait through the process with us) said to Ben “this is your ticket to Yua.” The next day we would all find out what a blessing that would be.

-Ben

Day 5 (July 30)

2007-08-01T04:51:00.000-07:00

Finally – a chance to sleep for a while. Not quite long enough, but better than we have had in four days. We woke more or less refreshed and prepared to meet the Afrikids staff for an introductory meeting. We met with Nick, Linda, and Joe at the Afrikids office in Bolga. We were then presented to 15 additional staff members and learned of the many wonderful projects sponsored by Afrikids. We listened with admiration as they explained work ranging from rescuing children from working in mines to education and awareness about child trafficking to providing children with greater access to education. Each EWB team member was given the chance to explain our individual roles in EWB and our reasons for working in Ghana. The Afrikids staff was very welcoming and supportive of our project. They even treated us to lunch at a local restaurant – the International Travelers Café in Bolga. There we ate egg sandwiches and rice with goat meat and got to know our new friends from GAPNET and Afrikids.

After lunch, we caravanned in two trucks to visit local Afrikids projects in Sirigu – a village located about 30 km north of Bolga and only 5 km away from Yua. Our first stop after a bumpy and muddy drive was the Health Clinic for the Sirigu-Busongo district. We spoke with the clinic nurse, Norbert, who told us of the severe problem of malaria in the region and his work in the community. A shorter distance away, we were warmly greeted by a women’s group called the Afrikids Daughters of Sirigu-Busongo. We stood enthralled as they danced and sang to welcome us. With Joe and David as our translators, Dani thanked them for the warm welcome and explained our purpose for being in the region. Jaina followed up with questions regarding their water source. We were shocked to learn that in the dry season, it takes over four hours every day to fetch water for their homes! The women must walk a long distance and then wait their turn to pump the water from one borehole that serves over 600 people. We learned that women sometimes fight for access to the water. We were pretty somber after hearing this, but Dani loosened up the mood a bit with her own charades of fighting. The women laughed and performed a theater for us – they all played as if they were fighting for water at the borehole, pushing each other out of the way and sneaking behind one another to pump the water. With everyone feeling a little more comfortable, we expressed our gratitude for their welcome and took some pictures of the children and the women.

Our next stop was at a home a little farther away. There we met a young girl who had suffered from severe burns to her back after her dress caught on fire from a cook stove. Afrikids adopted her and raised money to send her to a hospital in Kumasi, a city in southern Ghana. Because of their help, she was able to receive skin graft treatment and had recently been reunited with her home. It was amazing to see the spirit of this young girl! Despite her burns, she smiled at us the whole time we were there. From her, we truly understood the meaning of the Afrikids slogan – “bringing big smiles to little faces.”

Our final stop in Sirigu was at the Afrikids field office. There, we met another child sponsored by Afrikids - a young, mute girl, no more than nine years old. Believed to be possessed by evil spirits, she had been abused and abandoned in the Sirigu market. Afrikids heard of her and adopted her. She is now living at the field office under the care of their staff – her scars visible, but healing and sharing shy smiles with us.

By this time, evening was closing in. We headed back to our hotel in Bolga for a little freshening up before dinner. Mr. John Apokerah from GAPNET– we call him Pok – picked us up in his truck and drove us to his home where we were treated to traditional Ghana cuisine. We feasted on tuo zafi (a maize-based porridge) with okra and goat stew and a spicy cabbage stew with rice. We learned a great deal about the agricultural problems in the area from Pok, who in addition to work with GAPNET is an extension officer for the Ghana Ministry of Agriculture.

With our bellies full and our heads overflowing with information, we were taken back to our hotel for some much needed rest.

--Jaina

Day 4 (July 29)

2007-08-01T04:50:00.000-07:00

This is Ghana! The EWB crew traveled for over seventeen hours by bus today, from the southern coast to Bolgatanga, just south of the northern border and Burkina Faso. We saw lush low growth develop into towering palms and baobabs under the full moon, banana trees became fields of millet and peanuts, concrete blocks and tin became mud and thatch.

Just five stops in eighteen hours proved a challenge in gastro-logistics. We could not eat and drink quantities that might allow discomfort between pit stops. Evidently, the women’s facility adventures were more aromatic than the men’s, but that is a story you may ask them about another time.

Did you know it can rain inside a bus? It managed to—above Jared’s head. It must have been the lowest spot in the bus for whatever reason, and any dozing was sporadically shattered by a splash of dripped condensation on his nose or leg.

Trotta, a brilliant man, learned than two U-shaped travel pillows are better than one, and enveloped his sleepy skull amidst them. No potholes could wake the armored man!

We arrived in Bolga at 2:30 AM, where our friends, Nich Kumah, Director of the Ghana offices of Afrikids, and “Pok” Apokerah from the Ghana Poultry Network and an extension officer for the Ministry of Agriculture, were awaiting us. Can you believe that these busy men would stay up until such an hour to meet us! Not to mention that the bus had run late; they had been waiting at the bus terminal for over three hours when we finally arrived.

--Jared

Day 3 (July 28)

2007-08-01T04:43:00.000-07:00

Our first full day in Ghana, in the capitol city of Accra. Our friends from GAPNET, David and Isaac, led us from the hotel to a city market. The booths seemed to span acres; everything under the Ghanaian sky could be found here for sale. Many men and women shaped their wares within their small allotted space. We saw drum makers, weavers, leather-workers, wood carvers . . . We found ourselves to be very popular—many hellos and free-to-looks in thick accents. Trotta received mostly hello papas and just one hey prof.

From the market we made our way to the extravagant gardens built in memorial of Ghana first president, Kwame Nkurumah.

After the memorial, we were given a backstage tour of the National Theater.

With bellies full of rice and what we believe may have been chicken, we made our way by hired car an hour and a half or so out of Accra to Asuntare, to meet with a women’s group who has been working with the Dutch NGO Sankofa. Thirty-eight women work together in rearing poultry. Sankofa’s role has be small loans in the spirit of micro-enterprise, and coop augmentations which lead to poultry health improvement, allowing for more eggs/product. The women welcomed as with various ceremonies, including a clapping routine and a few songs. A hand reached out and pulled Jaina up into the action.

Tomorrow, the big ride . . . --Jared

Day 1 and 2 (July 26 - July 27)

2007-07-28T02:25:00.000-07:00

Travel accounted for 28 hours from Flagstaff. A one hour delay in Phoenix nearly held us back severely, as we would have missed our connection in Chicago, then in London, and all flights to Accra, Ghana, are booked through August 6th! Jaina led us to several terminals, racing to inter-terminal busses and ticket counters, under the guidance of our friends, Michelle and Monika, from Avenues of the World. Michelle and Monika worked wonderful magic (we will never book through internet again!) and finagled us seats on the relatively luxurious British Airways. Our connection is London was shortened to nearly instantaneous, leading to some luggage not meeting us in Accra.
We were plucked from the lines by a man in military garb, which initially gave us some hesitation. It turns out our in-country liaison, Anthony Akunzule (a.k.a. Akunz), has friends in high places and we were escorted around the lines to quickly meet Akunz and his friend Ayua. Immediate smiles and hugs greeted us all. After placing the appropriate luggage descriptions with the airline, we were exited the airport to be greeted by many more friends of Akunz’s, including our two guides, David and Isaac.
Landcruiser-ed through the streets of Accra, we made our way to the Afia Beach Hotel, where Akunz briefed us on Ghana, its political and traditional structure, and the various meetings he has organized for us.
After some struggle figuring out how to get a plug in the wall in Ghana, we charged our cameras and our laptop, and slept like logs until breakfast at 7 AM Saturday. Morning greeted us with lush greenery, shockingly colorful and sizeable lizards, humid air, the crashing waves along the shoreline of the Bight of Benin, and toast. --Jared

Departing Phoenix

2007-07-26T13:33:00.000-07:00

Hey all,
Trotta, Ben, Jaina, Danielle, and myself are sitting in Sun Harbor Airport about to board the first stretch of our flight--thirty hours 'til Accra!
It's been a hectic several weeks, with lots of fundraising and the AzOWRA BBQ, organizing our bags, the health assessment, and the water testing techniques, and now we're ready to travel.
Keep checking in, and we'll be sure to keep you posted, with photos as we go.

--Jared