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Ghana – Chapter 21
Accra and Buduburam, April 2, 2006
"Weather, the Eclipse and an Update from Buduburam and Kiafa Youth Center"
First the weather update from Accra. We're into the hot season (at least it feels hotter because it's a little more humid.
| Accra Weather |
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| 5 Day Forecast |
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Solar Eclipse
The biggest event last week was the total solar eclipse. The path of the total eclipse passed right over Ghana, as you can see from this BBC map.
Of course, this was a great excuse to call off work in the middle of the morning. The build-up to the eclipse lasted nearly 15 minutes (as the moon slowly covered the sun.) Everyone had purchase "eclipse glasses" on the street for a dollar and we all looked a little silly when it first started standing in the parking lot in our glasses staring at the sun.
But it was worth it!
At the peak of the eclipse (which lasted for about for minutes), it wasn't just a little dark. It was like night with just one street light on. (That's me in the middle in the red shirt and khaki pants looking up). At full eclipse, you could look right at it, but only for a second or two at a time.
Update on Buduburam and Kiafa Youth Center
The work is progressing really well. Mom's Methodist church and friends in Lindsay, OK have raised over $1,500 and an English company, Armajaro Commodities Ltd (a large cocoa and other commodity trading company) has donated $1,000 so far. Other friends and family have contributed another $1,300, bringing the total to date to $3,800. I have spent about $2,300 of that on renting the land and getting it plowed, buying farm tools, paying the first year's rent on a new office, and buying hardware, paint and fixtures to get the office fixed up and electricity installed.
Here's a pictorial update:
This is what the land for the agricultural project looked like when we first went to look at it. It's about 1 1/2 miles from the camp - which everyone has to walk to get there to work since no one has a car. That's why they're so happy to see me show up in my pickup. We're hoping to buy a couple of used bicycles for the young people to ride out to the farm and back, but for now it's flip flops in the dirt. Everyone was dressed up on this day (except Mike) to show us around.
The first chore was to get a tractor in to turn it all over a first time. The elephant grass is really tough (like Johnson grass in the southern US) and almost impossible to get out with a hoe. The roots can spread 6 feet to the side and three feet down.
But the tractor had to go around a lot of stumps. So we bought axes and machetes and the kids went to work.
This stump may not look like much, but they're like octopuses with eight or ten large roots running down into the ground as big around as my biceps. The wood is extremely hard. In fact, we have had three steel axe heads actually crack apart. There are no stones in this soil: the wood is just incredibly hard.
Here's the pile of stumps they had gotten out as of yesterday (April 1):
Here's the work crew at the end of the day yesterday. There's no drinkable water at the site, so they have to lug everything down with them every day - and if you'll look back up at the weather update, you'll see that someone working hard for 12 hours can go a through a lot of water here!
The first real sign of progress for me was that they got the first few beds made yesterday for the nursery. The tomatoes, eggplants and onions will get planted on Monday then transplanted to the main field in a few weeks when the seedlings are strong.
The tractor that we used for the first plowing has broken down, but by Monday (April 3) they hope to find another one to get in and re-plow the area that they've now cleared of stumps. Then they will start making planting beds. Because of the heavy rainfall in the rainy season we need to build elevated seed beds. They're about 35 feet long and 4 feet wide, and about 8-10 inches high. This helps get good drainage and keeps the plants from washing away. We make bundles from the grass (like a big grass rope 8-10 inches in diameter and peg it all around the sides of the seed bed to keep the bed from getting washed down. As the grass rope rots, it gets turned into the soil to enrich it and we add more grass around the sides. You'll get photos of this in a few weeks.
This coming Tuesday, Kanton Wright and I are going to buy seeds, some plant protection products and sprayers, so that they can start planting as soon s the seed beds are finished.
Meanwhile, we've been working on the new office. When I first visited Kiafa, they were housed in two small rooms in a spare building at a school on the edge of the camp. It was dark and cramped. There was a small office and one all purpose room. The "office" was just a big closet with only room for one small table and chair. The school needed the space and had to evict them last month. Here's the original office.
With everybody's help they have been able to find a new place - in the center of the camp and much more accessible. The rent - as is - is $500/year. It has five rooms, one of which runs the length of the building and is about 14 feet wide and 30 feet long. It will make a decent classroom. The others are all about 18' x 18'. The windows and doors were falling off and there is no electricity or water, but the roof is pretty sound, as is the rest of the structure. So we have set about getting it fixed up and painted. Here's the new office:
Mike Filipiak, who's one heck of a mechanic and all around Mr. Fix It, helped them figure out the electrical needs. We have scoured Accra for wiring, light fixtures, sockets, switches, ceiling fans and such stuff. We have also bought white wash, paint, and a lots of hardware for doors and window. They found an electrician who knows what he's doing and he has started roughing in the wiring and switches. He's charging $55 to do all the wiring and installation. Here are pictures of the new fixtures going in.
They have also been patching the walls. There were lots of holes and deep gouges, but the walls are cement block and pretty sturdy.
The roughing-in and patching was finished yesterday. Today after church they're going to start whitewashing. Local white wash is what we use as a primer. All the walls are all going to be painted a nice off-white to make it bright and cheery, but right now it's pretty dark with the blue walls and no lights. It will take all week to get the painting done.
I also bought some lumber to repair some of the window sills. They've got a carpenter who is going to build them some new doors and window frames and patch what is salvageable. He's also going to build some rough desks and chairs. That's going to cost about $200 for more hardware, lumber and the carpenter's time.
I'm looking for a 500 gallon PVC water tank for them. They'll set this up next to the house and can at least put a sink inside. They've also got plans to put one-holer outhouse just outside with a septic tank. That's going to take time and more money.
Sasha is going to visit me in Ghana the week of the April 10. The Liberians have set Good Friday (April 14) as the date for completing all the work so that Sasha can drive out to visit them that day and break a bottle of champagne on the front step to inaugurate the new office. That will be worth a photo or two!
As I was leaving the camp, I saw a sign painted on a wall. It was an announcement of an upcoming basketball game between two teams in the camp. It's the Buduburam Basketball Association (BBA) game, today, between the "Royal Legends" and the "Budd Trotters" (Budd is the nickname for Buduburam camp). Admission is 1,000 Ghanaian cedis (about 11 cents US).
Some how this really captured for me a lot about the plight of youth in the camp. The basketball court is dirt and gravel. The backboards are made by a camp carpenter. The rims are the tops of 55 gallon oil drums that were cut off, the rough edges filed down, and then nailed up on poles. No nets, of course.
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Here's the latest new project idea:
How about a low powered FM radio station for the camp run by the Kiafa youth?
Mike and I have been talking about the idea with the youth center; it can't take much of a transmitter and antenna to just cover 2 or 3 square miles. The young people can do the technical stuff, broadcast, and be journalists.
They want to use the radio to broadcast local news, announcements, music and educational programs just within the camp. I think it's a great way to inspire them to learn to write and speak well or develop other skills. I asked them to check on what it takes to get a broadcast license in Ghana.
Now I've got to find some friend and families that know more about setting up a radio station than me!
Until the next chapter, go out an enjoy your life. It could be a lot worse.
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