Wednesday, February 21, 2007
Tamale, Northern Region, Ghana
As each day passes my reports get smaller. This is primarily because the days seem to be the same. Wake up tired. Rush around to get ready for the next event. Pack. Miss breakfast. Try to find water.
Team two was already gone by the time I climbed out of bed. They were off to Sunyani for more advance work.
The rest of us loaded the truck, refilled the torches and prepared for the big event.
Around 10 a.m. we arrived at the dusty Police Park near the centre of town. After a series of speeches, the flame was once again off. This time I walked the entire route, sweating off the pounds while I captured some great images.
Asamoah shot video but wondered why I was shooting so many stills. After explaining how we were going to use them (like in a Ken Burns documentary) he understood the importance of what I was doing.
It struck me that this entire adventure will not only make a great documentary for local television, but I should be able to spin something off for radio and print back home. A little extra income would go a long way.
It was a long drive over good roads to Sunyani, the capital of Brong-Ahafo district. One disconcerting part of the journey was the large number of wrecked cars along the side of the road. The worst example was a tipped-over transport on one side of the road and the burned out remains of a car on the other. Whatever happened, it was not good.
Another feature in this part of the country was the number of ant mounds that towered several meters high. Very National Geographic.
The round homes that we'd seen a lot of up north slowly gave way to square buildings made from mud bricks. As we left the dusty and dry flatlands behind, we found ourselves surrounded by green rolling hills and familiar flora and fauna.
Inside our vehicle things were not only uncomfortable because of the cramped conditions, there was lots of stress between the organizers. Once again my lack of Fanti prevented me from understanding exactly what the problems were, and maybe I was better off not knowing. There is more to discuss, but I will leave that until after the event is over.
I knew nothing about Sunyani and was surprised to find it a good-sized burgh. It was quiet and orderly, with most of the main roads divided by broad medians. The people were friendly and I heard few shouts of "obruni."
Our hotel was located on the edge of town, but was very nice. But with the good, there is always some bad.
My clothes at this point were smelly and covered with dirt from all the dusty roads and parade grounds. I desperately needed to do a wash, but when I turned the tap in the bathroom out came a mere trickle.
I filled the handy bucket that was in the shower stall and began a two-hour attempt to wash my soiled clothes. I had a bit of liquid laundry detergent with me that I supplemented with a bar of hand soap. I scrubbed and rinsed and scrubbed and rinsed. I was shocked at how dirty the water was, even after a second scrub and rinse.
The next issue, of course, was how to dry everything overnight. Again, a challenge. There were plenty of windows to hang my clothes from, however there was a large outdoor party going on next door. I decided to put up with the over-modulated music in the hopes that I would at least have damp pants in the morning. Failing that, I'd be wearing my swimming shorts.
I had also hoped to charge up the batteries for the various electronic devices. But even that was a problem. The power slowly rose and fell -- sometimes enough to power the lights and ceiling fan, sometimes not. This kind of power is murder on electronic devices. It is so bad, that I travel with a special surge/low-power protection unit. When the power gets nasty, it halts the flow before electronics can get fried. More weight to lug around, but certainly worth it.
I plugged in the video camera and hoped for the best. But the protector immediately switched to safety mode, stopping the flow of dirty power. I crossed my fingers and headed out for a nice dinner of street food -- rice and chicken, my staple. I also bought some bread and a bottle of water for the next morning.
Back from dinner I was happy to see that the power had stabilized enough to at least partially charge the video camera's battery. When fully charged, it can easily handle a full day of shooting. I hoped the partial charge would be enough to get through the following day.
After a trickle shower, I jumped into bed - one that I was sharing with Asamoah and Smiley. That's right: we were now sleeping three to a bed! What a treat!
Cheers!
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