I'm telling you!

On Thursday morning, we were planning on leaving straight from my hotel at 7AM on our journeys of the day to Karanga and Gushegu. I had gone to breakfast and when I came out to settle in for my wait, Ernest was already there and had been waiting. The car we were supposed to use needed servicing (tires seem to go pretty quickly) so we would having to go back to the office and wait for it. So we found a cab and I saw my first traffic light.

When we got to the office the power and internet were working, the building was cool and working conditions were nice. We settled in for a few hours and got some really productive work going. It’s a pleasure to work with Ernest because he is so good at explaining things to me so that I can figure out how all of these figures need to come together.

We got on the road at about 10:30. As we were leaving the city’s edge we saw goats crossing the road and one of them had a passenger. A bird was clearly hitching a ride and the goat was its happy guide. Kwammi told us the story of why goats run away quickly from cars while sheep saunter. One day a goat and a sheep took a cab. The sheep paid up front but the goat said he would pay when they get to their destination. Just before they got there, though, the goat jumped out and scurried away. The driver, seeing that the goat and sheep had come on together assumed they were friends so he refused to give the sheep his change. So when a goat sees a car coming he runs away to avoid paying his fare and the sheep sticks around hoping to get his change.

A tree covers the road

As I had been warned, the roads got a lot rougher than they had been the day before. I’m a bit slow, but  I finally realized why so many people seemed to be trying to flag us down. They were hoping to get a ride in the back of the truck. I assume the drivers are not allowed to do that. We just drove on.

At one point there was a huge tree completely across the road. I thought we were going to be stuck for hours, but there was a backhoe already at work pushing the tree off to the side. It couldn’t have delayed us for more than 15 minutes.

The baby doesn't need a helmet, right?

I missed the picture of the farmers working the ground with oxen – it went by just too quickly. We got to Karanga, met the data clerk there named Paul, and repeated our road show. I got to see the spray operators coming back from the field and going through their three stage pump washing system. I also got to see a woman who works for her village come to collect payment. She signed with her fingerprint before she and her baby got on her husband’s motorcycle and off they went.

Shortly before we arrived an Gushegu. a fear that I had was realized. A goat ran the wrong direction and we hit it. We didn’t stop, we didn’t even check if he was dead. For all I know we just nicked it, but no one else seemed as traumatized as I felt. Some made a “tsk” noise, it was quiet for a moment and then the mood went back to normal. This may be a very common event, but it shook me.

The guys love to talk about politics. The conversation goes back and forth between their native language and English. When the roads were really bad they made jokes about the president. When the roads were improved they said that it was because it was an election year. Their comments were often followed by, “I’m telling you!” It's wonderful to hear and I found myself laughing even when I didn't understand just because their laughter is contageious.

Phillip and Ernest in Gushegu

In the Gushegu office we met Phillip who had a few questions and then we wanted to head back so that we could see the chief of party for a wrap up. We needed to make one quick stop for lunch at Level 400. I wasn’t yet hungry but we did talk about food. I told my friends that I want to try banku (a spongy ground corn ball) so Kwammi promised me that he knew a place in Tamale that makes a great banku and fish. I was told that the foods that I had missed out on were fufu (a ball made of plantain and cassava), rice balls and Tuozaffi (aka tezit.)

We made it to the office a bit after 5 and the Chief of Party was still there. We summarized the week and bade farewell.

Level 400 "Restaurant"

Kwammi and Ernest continued to take care of me as the took me to a few shops to buy some gifts (and negotiated for me,) and to the promised banku shop. I found shopping to much less stressful that Maputo. The banku and talipia was fantastic! It is a dish that is eaten by hand which is an experience in itself.  I find the portions very large, though and couldn’t make it through. Ernest told me that the darker sauce on the side is a special sauce called Shito. It takes months to make, it is used a a preservative and is comprised largely of black pepper.

As we drove I realized that Tamale can actually have real traffic and in the more central areas there were several traffic lights and a lot of people. While the traffic lights were working, the street lights were not – another power outage.

Finally they dropped me off at my hotel where I packed my bags in-between moments when the internet was working. I was thirsty, but I had already showered and changed and didn’t want to go down to the restaurant to get more water and I had to reserve most of the water that I had for brushing my teeth, so I made do with a sip.

Sleep was really difficult and at 3:30 I gave up and decided to work on the blog. I know I’m going to pay for that later, but it just did no good.

Today I will be picked up any moment now, go to the airport and fly to Accra. I have a twelve hour layover there. Ernest has arranged for a driver to spend most of the day with me to take me shopping, perhaps a museum and to get some fufu. We can’t go too far from the airport because we don’t want to get stuck in traffic. I don’t know when I’ll get internet access again.