Some photos

Tomorrow we go back to Nkwanta, so let me take advantage of the high speed internet while I can.

My front porch. When it became fairly evident I would be staying in Nkwanta more than a few months, I started looking for a slightly less temporary living arrangement. My hotel room was really nice, but it doubled as a work space, and was where people in Nkwanta would come to look for me for GW info. It wasn't very hospitable not to invite people inside to talk, but was rather uncomfortable, especially in this cultural context, to invite officials into my room and offer them a seat on the bed! SO, in November I moved to another space at the same hotel. Has a sitting area, bedroom, office, and even a kitchen. Also has a couple electrical glitches...without precautions, showering can be a shocking experience!

That blue chair on the porch is where I have a cuppa and watch the sun rise most mornings. This is the view...


Turn your head a bit to the left...

The New Year: A few Carter Center (CC) folks rung in the New Year in Accra (at a sports bar, replete with quesadillas, margaritas, football, and....ribs!) Ghanaians like to celebrate. Funerals and religious holidays top the list, but the New Year warrants a big party, as well. I do enjoy a bash every now and again, but not so much when it's going to be right outside my hotel room (on the night after quesadillas, margaritas, football, and...ribs!). This is the stage set for the New Year's Day (and presumably well into the night) street festival in Accra.

Fortunately the stage was set up before check-out time...I fled to Coco Beach for the night.

Lots of folks celebrating the New Year at the beach, as well, but it calmed down pretty early. This fellow was giving rides on his horse.

The next morning was quiet--a nice chance for a stroll and thought collecting.

Some of the team. This was taken after a meeting with the 5 zonal coordinators and the area coordinator for Tutukpene Subdistrict.

Charles and Djato (area coordinators) conduct a role play to teach a new village volunteer how to bandage a Guinea worm patient.

Water.

In the dry season, water can be hard to come by. In the rainy season, it's everywere. We weren't driving in a stream, water had covered the road (for a period of weeks).

One of my favorite things to do is facilitate the repair of hand pumps on boreholes. (Boreholes are like really long straws that reach down to the water table. The hand pumps suck the water up to the surface.) Communities are responsible for maintaining their own pumps, but replacement parts can be purchased only in a few major cities. And without phones, it's difficult for communities to contact the borehole mechanic. What we do is notify the mechanic when a community needs his services, bring the needed parts (and the mechanic) to the community, and re-sell the parts to the community at cost. They pay for the parts and the mechanic's labor, we provide transportation. Not a bad way to spend a day!