The average day

After some messages from friends, telling me that I'm not writing enough about what the usual life is like over there, Iwill now attempt to do that. If you are not satisfied or are curious about things I haven't , please feel free to ask questions in the comments section:)


I get up in the morning at around. Although I am prone to sleep until noon, it's just not possible in Ghana. I'm not sure what it is, but I rarely sleep through the night without waking up one time or another and it's really hard to sleep longer than 7. I usually wake up having to go to the toilet, which by the way is a pit toilet as mentioned before. However, it's not as bad as it sounds, because there is a pit toilet just for the three volunteers staying in that compound. And it's got a wooden seat compared to just a hole in the ground in all the others. So the toilet has upgraded comfort, but at night you can't really enjoy it due to the cockroaches coming out of the pit. I'n not going into detail any further...


The food was great. Breakfast consists of either rice or wheat porridge, bread with omelette or bread with peanut butter, or everything together on a Sunday. Since my host mother was a baker there was always plenty of good, fresh bread.

Lunch was either some cream crackers with a mineral (Coke, Fanta or Sprite that is), Red Plantain (I'll explain later) or a fruit salad. The main fruits by the way are oranges, pineapple and bananas. I was told that nobody will care if you grab an orang from a tree, because they grow everywhere and cost just 5pesewas (~2.5p / 3ct) on the street; but if you steal an apple, now that's a real felony. I don't know whether they're imported or homegrown, but there are only few, they are expensive and they are sooooooooo green, they can easily compete with grass in their greenness.

Dinner was a warm meal, which was so big you could mistake it for 2-3 meals. Plus there were always fruits for dessert;one of the three kinds mentioned above.

The Ghanaian food is generally - my Bradt Guide Book put it very nicely - "great when you're there, but forgettable once you're gone". They eat a lot of rice and meals usually differ in the sauce. Nevertheless, there are meals that cannot be compared to any Western dish. Red Plaintain is something truely Ghanaian (or West African; I don't know). Plantains (=Kochbananen) are large, green kinds of bananas that have to be cooked, before you eat them. Otherwise they're not sweet and won't taste very good. They are cooked or fried together with red palm oil, something that is used in huge quantities in Ghanaian dishes; makes you quickly gain weight... They are usually served with beans, which obviously isn't that special.

Then there's Fufu with groundnut soup: Groundnuts are very similar to peanuts and the soup is hot and usually contains chicken. Fufu is very hard to describe and so far I have only been able to describe it with a high yuck-value. I can only tell you that it's better than it sounds: if you want to imagine it, think of it like a light beige slime or paste. Search in google images for fufu and you can also see, how it's prepared: with a huge wooden stick bashing the fufu while constantly turning it inside the bowl.

Also there's Banku, which I only had once because the two German girls didn't like it at all. I personally thought it was strange, even though the tastes were familiar. I know that doesn't make a lot of sense:) If you speak German you can wiki it, but if you don't you're out of luck, because I can't really explain it; also I'm too lazy:)

To be continued...

Pure Misery: Episode II - Attack of the Antibiotics

When I wrote the first "Pure Misery" post, I didn't think there was gonna be a sequel. Sadly there is! Also I didn't think I was not going to write a post for such a long time.

I have some sad news and some really, really, really, really, really sad news. Sad news are, I'm not gonna write many more posts. Just the one about politics, I promised, and maybe 2-3 more non-specific posts. (I'll put a big fat THE END beneath my last post) because the really, really, really, really, really sad news are I'm back in London due to health issues. Had I just had Malaria, believe me, I would have stayed, because over there everybody has Malaria. But I didn't.

It started with a topical fungal and bacterial infection 5 days after I had arrived in Ghana (you may remember my post), which got worse over the course of 4 weeks, because none of the doctors I saw, were able to treat me probably. The doctors from the government hospital couldn't even make a propper diagnosis. It started to spread and two weeks ago (Saturday) I became really sick: Headache, nausea, abdominal pain ... but NO fever, which made the whole thing very strange. The following monday, I had a malaria test in the next door clinic in my village. I wasn't surprised, it was positiv, because that's always the result when you're sick and might just have a viral infection. So I took my Malaria stand-by treatment, Malarone, which you take over a course of three days. However, on Wednesday morning I woke up feeling hot as hell yet having no raised temperature. After two hours sitting in front of a fan and emptying the stomache, I took a taxi to go to the Nyaho hospital in Accra, which is supposed to be the best one in Ghana. The ride took 3 hours and it was the most horrible time of my life. Not knowing whether I would stay conscious until arrival, I had to keep convincing myself I was not going to die. My host mother was really great, because she actually came with me. In the Out Patience Department of the Nyaho hospital, I sat there waiting to be examined and actually translated some words into FRENCH for the receptionist, because there was a woman from Cote d'Ivoire who didn't speak. Translating into French is one thing I never dreamed of doing in my life! Anyway, the doctor there took a malaria, typhoid and a blood test, with the conclusion that I supposedly did have Malaria and should just take my last dose of Malarone.

So I left the hospital with the intention of staying in Accra for some days to recover and spoke to my local organisation, my insurance and Rainer Gerstner for some long-distance medical advice (thank you very much for that!). In the late afternoon, I went back to the hospital to be admitted, not feeling great. There a doctor had to admit me, so I explained everything again to a different doctor this time, who told that me that I didn't have malaria, but typhoid. He also took a blood and urine test for cultivation. The latter one showing two days later that I had coliform bacteria. After being pumped full with antibiotics and some anti-malarials - just in case - and staying at the hospital for 8 days I barely felt better. Nevertheless, when I showed the resident doctor the leaflet of my malaria-prophylaxis, Lariam - Mefloquine, and seeing that most of my symptoms (which now also inlcuded blood circulation problems) were written under side effects he was quick at blaming everything on the Lariam. Lariam is notorious for having some not so uncommon and some really bad side effects, but it could not explain all my symptoms. Most of my symptoms are very likely "just" side effects of the four weeks of 6-7 different antibiotics and partially maybe even the Lariam, but some are not.

I was then (Thursday) discharged on the grounds of just having side effects from Lariam and stayed in a hotel in Accra, with two other volunteers from my village. They came to the Nyaho clinic as well, because one of them was very sick, and was told by a different hospital in Accra that they could not find anything wrong with her. At least she doesn't miss out on that much because she's in Ghana for only another two weeks. On Friday I managed to change my flight to that evening, which means I arrived in London at 7:30 this morning.

To summarise and clarify my health:

I possibly, but not very likely, had Malaria;

I possibly, but very unlikely, had typhoid;

I did have coliform bacteria;

I currently have blood circulation problems, headaches and other pains, most of which is probably caused by the side effects of the antibiotics (hence the title) and Lariam, but I have a full check-up.

My immune system is very low (that's just a conclusion I drew, but I don't think anybody who knows my story will challenge me on this)



I really hate to have left Ghana early, because except for my health issues I loved it there. My plans for the near future are obviously to fully recover before making any definite plans. I will go to Germany this week and stay there, because my mother and brother are going there, because (for those who don't know) we are moving there soon. Whether I will go back to Ghana for the rest of my volunteer service, I do not know yet. However, it's not very likely, as I don't have the money for a return flight to Accra AND for travelling. Instead I was thinking of making a backpacking tour around the Baltic sea or through Eastern Europe. The idea of travelling through Eastern Europe is not a new one. My friends from school know I wanted to do it on a bike, but that plan was abolished/postboned because I was going to Africa. Now however, that plan creeps into my mind again:) Having met many Norwegians and Swedes in Ghana, I am also curious about Skandinavia now.

For those who have been been notified by me about this blog via internet: They will be notified by me again, should I resume this blog or open a new blog. If you've been told about the blog by my parents you'll have to hope they'll do it again. That is of course, if you liked the block or just wanted to spend some time in the office not thinking about work (sorry for reminding you:)

Just to remind you, there are 2-3 more blogs to follow (and I will write down the address of the new blog, if I start a new one). Recovering is not a very exciting activity so I might write a lot in the next posts and some irrelevant stuff (see below). After all, this and the next paragraph were written because I have time and I am bored:)



For those who did not (fully) understand why I chose the title: It's very obvious that this is a sequel to Pure Misery (at least the part where I talk about my health, and I truly experienced Pure Misery in the taxi to Accra). So that justifies the II. When I thought about movies that had a II in their name, I thought about Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones. The Clones are sent in to fight the bad guys (the Separatists), thus keeping the Republic intact. But then, they start killing the good guys (the jedi), turning the Republic into an Empire...
I know explaining a title (or even worse a joke) kinda destroys it, but I'm bored! Remember?

Diamonds aren't just a girl's best friend

I'm a bit behind, so for now, I'll start telling about what happened on Sunday the 25th of January:

I met a guy, Musah, a few days earlier on the trotro, who comes from Akwatia and wanted to show me the diamond mines there and present me to his brother the Deputy General Secretary of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), the current ruling party.
So when I arrived in Akwatia, Musah took me to his home to meet his family. There I met his brother sitting in a circle with his associates. I talked to him about politics in Ghana; he's obviously one of the best people to do that with. Basically, the Ghanaian system is a mix between the English and the American, with a President and checks and balances and a Parliament consisting of members voted for by their constituencies. (I'll explain the system in greater detail in a different post, but since it is time-irrelevant I will write about it whenever I've got time)
I also challenged him on the security of the constitution and thus the possibility of a totalitarian regime, but just because he does not see any loop holes in the constitution does not mean there aren't any.
After that, Musah and I went through the town to see some of the diamond dealers. Sadly I came too late to see the vivid diamond market, where the individuals sell their mined diamonds. Nevertheless, the dealers have their offices and since that morning was the diamond market, the dealers had plenty to show. We first sat down in the biggest dealer's office. There was a pile of low-quality diamonds worth approx. 50-100$, there were high-quality ones worth about 200-300$ and he also had a few processed diamonds worth about 500$. I even got to keep one diamond!!!
Afterward, he took me on his motorbike to see one of the old diamond mining plants, which are no longer in use due to the fact that the mining company went bust soon after the British had to hand it over to the Ghanaians because Ghana was decolonized.

This is the deserted plant, where only two security people remain, to make sure nobody does anything foolish. One of them walked round it with us to explain the process that happens when mining for diamonds.

This is Musah on his bike.

The week after that was the sports tournament, where the volleyball girls became third and the boys reached the final where a winner has yet to be determined because some people from town disallowed the game to continue. As I understand it one football team tried to bring on an unregistered player, which the organisers disallowed. I hope the match is going to be continued, but I'm not certain.
After having been in Accra on Saturday, I went to Swedru to have a dip in the pool of the Greenland hotel and to use the internet. The internet was closed because it's Sunday and the pool was being cleaned with chemicals... So I just sat by the pool all day relaxing, reading etc.
Yesterday, my headphones (one of the things I forgot to pack in London) arrived which really made my day. Today, I was asked by some students from form 2 whether I could teach them maths instead of the normal maths teacher because I explain better, which also made my day. However, coming home fairly late yesterday, I was too tired to fulfill their request.

Just a note on the side: If you want to test the quality of a football, give it to an African child! The football I bought in England for 3GBP and gave to my host brother, was kaputt after about 2-3 weeks.

Pure misery

I'm currently reading a book from Bartholomaeus Grill: "Ach, Afrika Berichte aus dem inneren eines Kontinents (~Oh, Africa Reports from a continent's interior) and today I read the chapter about the genocide in Rwanda in 1994. However, that's not the only reason I chose that heading.
Some of you might be under the impression that I am purely enjoying myself over here. Although that is mostly true, there are some downs, that I will tell you about now. So if you want to keep the impression that Africa is a paradise, please skip this post!
The worst thing I have experienced so far is the medical service over here. I would advise anybody not to get sick over here, but since that's not so simple, I would advise to seek European medical help if you fall sick. I have had an infection for 4 weeks now, which the doctors from the next town have been unable to diagnose ad thus treat. So after 3 weeks I decided to seek medical help in a private hospital in Accra. Although they seemed to be able to diagnose it, they have not been able to treat it properly. So yesterday I went back to Accra, but with the determination to seek a German doctor. Since the German regional doctor from the German embassy is in Germany at the moment, I had to telephone around until I ended up going to a German gynaecologist (which I never even dreamed of doing before). Hopefully, it will get better now, but there is a small chance that I will have to go to Europe for 2 weeks or so. (This is one of the reasons why I haven't written anything in the last two weeks and it is the only reason for the crashing of my travel plans last weekend, the Saturday before and this weekend).
Secondly, I must admit my own hypocracy. You might remember, that I made fun of some people wearing jackets, because they think it's cold. Well, I caught a cold two days after writing that.
Thirdly, the strenght of the GBP seems to oscillate. For most of you that might not have a big impact, but for me that can be horrible. With the normal exchange rate at about 1.9 Ghana cedi to the British pound, I was devastated when I saw that the exchange rate had dropped to 1.75. I don't know what happened, but whatever it was, it made me loose 20-3o pounds and I would have lost considerably more had it not gone back up by now. (For reference: 20-30 GBP is 40-55 Ghana cedi which is worth one weekend of travelling or about 5 weeks of not travelling).
Fourthly, Ghana has a garbage problem, caused by the lack of a garbage disposal service. People either burn the litter in front of their house or just drop it on the streets, which causes terrible stenches in the gutter. So walking on the side of the road is not always very pleasant.
Fifthly, I do get the occasional urges for something specific from home, for example while listening to Vertigo from U2 I had the sudden urge to play electric guitar.
Last but not least, and probably the most annoying thing is the Oburoni calls, I talked about in an earlier post. That can really get on your nerves, especially when you're in a bad mood. There are times when I just want to show my two fingers and say :"Fuck you!"
For now I'll stop the moaning and get on with writing about my experiences.