Although these blogs may make it seem like all I am doing in
Ghana is playing with cute children and traveling to monkey sanctuaries, I
actually do have to do work while I’m here too (shocking, I know). Our first month here, we basically had the
opportunity to become oriented with the different areas of research at the DHRC
by going into the field and talking to different staff members. We were also simultaneously writing a short,
20-page paper about an aspect of the Ghanaian health system for our academic
program back at Georgetown. Once we were
done with that paper, it was time to start focusing on our big research
projects aka, the main reason we are here in the first place. These projects amount to what is essentially
our senior thesis, so they’re no joke.
Unfortunately, as soon as we began the process of writing our research
proposals to submit to the IRB (Institutional Review Board-necessary protocol
for any research done here, especially to have any chance of the work being
published), the majority of the DHRC staff left to go to the field for a
qualitative study of the UNICEF bed net hang-up campaign, leaving us in the
dust. This was quite problematic,
because the point of us being here is to learn how to do research, including
steps such as writing proposals and going through the IRB process, so with no
one left behind to show us how, we were quite concerned. In order to have enough time to collect data
and analyze it without rushing at the end, we had planned out a schedule with
Sheila, Irene, and Dr. Gyapong to submit to IRB before leaving on our fall
break to Europe (!) on October 13th.
Determined to stick to that plan, we have been writing our proposals for
the past two weeks and seeking any help we can, with such limited human resources
here at the DHRC. Between some help from
previous year’s girls (thanks Isabelle!), meetings with individual staff
members that happened to still be around the office, and imploring emails to
those who were out of the office, all three of us now have legitimate drafts of
research proposals today that, with a little revision and polishing, will be
ready to submit to IRB by the end of the week.
As I have mentioned in a previous post, I will be conducting a qualitative
and quantitative study of the school feeding program here in Ghana and how it
contributes to the nutritional health of primary school children. I’ll be conducting my study at the school
right next door to our house, and will be interviewing pretty much everyone
there: teachers, students, lunch cooks, the head of the school, and select
students’ parents. I’ll also be taking a
small sample of kindergarten students to travel with them to their homes after
school to find out their 24-hour dietary intake, as well as take some basic
anthropometric measurements: height, weight, mid-upper arm circumference, and
head circumference, in order to assess their nutritional intake and
growth. All this will come together to
form a picture of the health of kindergarten students, who, at the beginning of
their school years, can be positively impacted by this school feeding program
if it is, in fact, a nutritious and balanced lunch that is being provided. I cannot wait to get started, especially
because it means I get spend the entire week at the school with the kids, and
judging from the amount of waves and screams of “blafono!” that greet us
everyday during their recess, I will surely make many new little friends.
In the middle of all of this crazy stress about writing
research proposals with basically no guidance, we were also getting pretty
stir-crazy here in Dodowa. Between Oti
being gone in the field and us staying in town for two weekends in a row, we
needed to get away from the monotony (plus our water turned off last Sunday,
and the electricity had been spotty since Tuesday night). So we were all too eager to hop on a tro-tro
after work on Friday and head towards Akosombo, which is right along the Volta
River and Lake (largest man-made lake in the world, by the way). We got to Rhozo Hospitality, our hotel, with
almost no trouble, but the issues started right after we arrived. Turns out they thought we wanted three rooms
for three people, not on room for three people, so the double room we were
shown was quite inadequate for all of us for the whole weekend. The kind manager offered the chalet to us,
for only about $10 per night more, and though one of us still had to sleep on
two chairs pushed together, it was much more spacious and accommodating. The next morning, when we met Rhozo, the
owner, it became very clear how our request for one room with three people
became muddled. We were offered oats for
breakfast, and I asked if I could have eggs instead. Not a problem. However, then Rhozo turned to Erin and Hannah
and asked if they wanted an egg in their oats.
Um, no? We also asked for a
bottle of water to drink with breakfast.
Rhozo asked if we wanted a bottle of water boiled to drink. Again, not exactly. My scrambled eggs came out with cabbage (?)
in them, but otherwise it was a solid breakfast. Once done with breakfast, we set out to go to
the bead market we had heard about.
However, some tro-tro miscommunication had us miss the market and only
realize it when we saw a sign for Cedi Bead Industries, which we knew was
further away than the market. We yelled
for the mate to stop so we could get off, and figured we might as well check it
out since we were already there. My
skepticism mounted as we walked a half mile or so down a deserted dirt road,
but when we came upon the factory (misleading name), we were treated to a
pleasant exploration of how the beads are made.
Cedi himself gave us a demonstration of how they make the different
kinds from the powder of crushed glass bottles and other materials, and expertly
demonstrated how the intricate designs are laid out before firing the small
beads. We saw the kilns (made of ant
mound clay, since it can resist such high temperatures), the girls working
on stringing the beads into necklaces, and the technique for polishing the beads.
We figured there may be some beads to buy, but had no idea what we would find in the little shop on the grounds. Rows and rows of necklaces adorned the walls, and racks and bins held individual large beads as well as countless bracelets. Another item they had really excited me, but I’m not going to mention what it was because it may or may not be a gift for somebody J Cedi patiently waited while we browsed and debated and slowly filled our bowls with bracelets for us and some special people back home, and told us how he has been to the US to do bead making camps before. When the reality that we could only fit so much in our backpacks to take home, we cut ourselves off and paid and thanked Cedi for such a wonderful experience.
Off we went to find our initially intended destination, the bead market. We finally found it, nestled in the middle of the surrounding busy market selling everything from food to fabric, and browsed those aisles with interest. However, after seeing Cedi’s beads and their quality, we felt that we got what we wanted already and wound our way out of the market, to the dismay of many of the vendors. We headed to a resort that is actually right on the Volta River, unlike Rhozo’s, called Aylos Bay, and hung out before dinner on one of the tented docks over the water, before the torrential downpour started, and we had to move inside.
For the second night in a row, I ordered chicken (protein is hard to come by during the week-we eat a lot of rice and yams), and we were eagerly anticipating ordering ice cream, since it was on the menu. It had also been on the menu the previous night at dinner at Rhozo, but they looked at us like we were crazy when we asked for it, so this second night we were more hopeful. However, we unfortunately got the “no-we-don’t-have-that-why-would-you-ask” look again, despite the fact that IT WAS ON THEIR MENU, so we got pretty desperate for some ice cream. How desperate, you ask? After dinner, we proceeded to flag down a cab, climb in, and ask the driver to take us where we could buy ice cream. Shockingly, a gas station just down the road was where he took us, and though at first we only saw FanIce (frozen milk, not ice cream), we then laid eyes on the most beautiful tub of chocolate ice cream I have ever seen. Without a moment of hesitation, we bought the ice cream and three spoons, which went into my backpack to sneak back into our room at Rhozo. The next morning we struggled again in ordering breakfast from Rhozo, but managed to get passable oats and eggs again, then went back to Aylos Bay in hopes of going out on the river. We asked the lady if we could rent a canoe, and she said it was 15 cedis for half an hour with a guide. We asked if we could go without a guide, and she gave us the “skeptical obruni” look, which basically is what anyone looks like when we try to do something they know we can’t do. Without a guide, it was only 20 cedis for an hour, so we immediately asserted we could go alone and save some money. After all, between the three of us, we have our fair share of experience with boats-Erin did crew, I have kayaked a lot, and Hannah knows how to canoe. They reluctantly showed us to the big wooden canoe and shoved us off into the water with the requisite orange life jackets. For the first fifteen minutes, we were doing great. It was a beautiful day and the surrounding scenery was not to be believed. Then, well, things started not going so well. When we turned to start heading back the way we came, the river current had other ideas. In our large, bulky, wooden canoe, with two paddles that resembled a crushed soda can attached to a metal pipe, we stood no chance. Let’s put it this way: if you ever need a good team-building exercise to teach people how to solve a frustrating problem without ripping each others head off, send them canoeing on the Volta River. It was hot, sunny, the current was basically pushing us in circles, and people on the bridge above us were laughing and taking pictures. Not an amusing situation. All I wanted to do was get out to swim and pull our boat back in, but my lack of bathing suit and desire to avoid water-borne diseases stopped me. Finally, we managed to inch away from the crazy currents, and zigzagged our way to shore slowly. Let me be the first to admit that the lady was correct in assuming we’d need a guide, and was not just assuming incompetence based on our obruni status. We had a delicious lunch to refuel after the harrowing (but still pretty awesome) canoe experience, then packed ourselves into a tro-tro to head home, with what was a blessedly quick ride.
This Saturday begins our European fall break to Nice, France and Barcelona, Spain! Some of the things we are eagerly anticipating: cheese, bread, wine, showers, and fresh vegetables that we can eat without worrying about getting dysentery. Then we’ll be back in Ghana for seven more weeks before coming home! I can’t believe it-exactly two months from today I will be back in New York en route to Pittsburgh with a (hopefully) nearly completed senior thesis in hand!
We figured there may be some beads to buy, but had no idea what we would find in the little shop on the grounds. Rows and rows of necklaces adorned the walls, and racks and bins held individual large beads as well as countless bracelets. Another item they had really excited me, but I’m not going to mention what it was because it may or may not be a gift for somebody J Cedi patiently waited while we browsed and debated and slowly filled our bowls with bracelets for us and some special people back home, and told us how he has been to the US to do bead making camps before. When the reality that we could only fit so much in our backpacks to take home, we cut ourselves off and paid and thanked Cedi for such a wonderful experience.
Off we went to find our initially intended destination, the bead market. We finally found it, nestled in the middle of the surrounding busy market selling everything from food to fabric, and browsed those aisles with interest. However, after seeing Cedi’s beads and their quality, we felt that we got what we wanted already and wound our way out of the market, to the dismay of many of the vendors. We headed to a resort that is actually right on the Volta River, unlike Rhozo’s, called Aylos Bay, and hung out before dinner on one of the tented docks over the water, before the torrential downpour started, and we had to move inside.
For the second night in a row, I ordered chicken (protein is hard to come by during the week-we eat a lot of rice and yams), and we were eagerly anticipating ordering ice cream, since it was on the menu. It had also been on the menu the previous night at dinner at Rhozo, but they looked at us like we were crazy when we asked for it, so this second night we were more hopeful. However, we unfortunately got the “no-we-don’t-have-that-why-would-you-ask” look again, despite the fact that IT WAS ON THEIR MENU, so we got pretty desperate for some ice cream. How desperate, you ask? After dinner, we proceeded to flag down a cab, climb in, and ask the driver to take us where we could buy ice cream. Shockingly, a gas station just down the road was where he took us, and though at first we only saw FanIce (frozen milk, not ice cream), we then laid eyes on the most beautiful tub of chocolate ice cream I have ever seen. Without a moment of hesitation, we bought the ice cream and three spoons, which went into my backpack to sneak back into our room at Rhozo. The next morning we struggled again in ordering breakfast from Rhozo, but managed to get passable oats and eggs again, then went back to Aylos Bay in hopes of going out on the river. We asked the lady if we could rent a canoe, and she said it was 15 cedis for half an hour with a guide. We asked if we could go without a guide, and she gave us the “skeptical obruni” look, which basically is what anyone looks like when we try to do something they know we can’t do. Without a guide, it was only 20 cedis for an hour, so we immediately asserted we could go alone and save some money. After all, between the three of us, we have our fair share of experience with boats-Erin did crew, I have kayaked a lot, and Hannah knows how to canoe. They reluctantly showed us to the big wooden canoe and shoved us off into the water with the requisite orange life jackets. For the first fifteen minutes, we were doing great. It was a beautiful day and the surrounding scenery was not to be believed. Then, well, things started not going so well. When we turned to start heading back the way we came, the river current had other ideas. In our large, bulky, wooden canoe, with two paddles that resembled a crushed soda can attached to a metal pipe, we stood no chance. Let’s put it this way: if you ever need a good team-building exercise to teach people how to solve a frustrating problem without ripping each others head off, send them canoeing on the Volta River. It was hot, sunny, the current was basically pushing us in circles, and people on the bridge above us were laughing and taking pictures. Not an amusing situation. All I wanted to do was get out to swim and pull our boat back in, but my lack of bathing suit and desire to avoid water-borne diseases stopped me. Finally, we managed to inch away from the crazy currents, and zigzagged our way to shore slowly. Let me be the first to admit that the lady was correct in assuming we’d need a guide, and was not just assuming incompetence based on our obruni status. We had a delicious lunch to refuel after the harrowing (but still pretty awesome) canoe experience, then packed ourselves into a tro-tro to head home, with what was a blessedly quick ride.
This Saturday begins our European fall break to Nice, France and Barcelona, Spain! Some of the things we are eagerly anticipating: cheese, bread, wine, showers, and fresh vegetables that we can eat without worrying about getting dysentery. Then we’ll be back in Ghana for seven more weeks before coming home! I can’t believe it-exactly two months from today I will be back in New York en route to Pittsburgh with a (hopefully) nearly completed senior thesis in hand!
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