Hello!
I'm officially in Ghana! We flew in to Accra last night, and have spent most of the day traveling to Kumasi, where we'll be for the next few weeks. And tonight I took a shower with real shampoo and soap (I haven't figured out how the hot water works yet--or even if we have any--so it was refreshing, as well), so I feel wonderful.
The flight here wasn't bad--I sat next to a Ghanaian-Norwegian computer programmer who writes health tracking apps. He was raised in Ghana, but had moved to Norway as an adult, but was returning to take a short course and visit relatives. But if you ever want to see an incredibly conspicuous group, look at a group of University of Utah study abroad students headed towards Ghana. You could definitely pick us out of the crowd.
Flying into Accra looked like flying into any other city at night--a field of darkness peppered with spots of yellow and white lights.
We got off the plane, passports and vaccine certificates in hand, and waited. And waited. And waited. And waited. Fortunately, I have a very fun group, so it wasn't terribly unpleasant to wait in line for about four hours, even if we had just gotten off an international flight and were terribly exhausted. We passed through a body-temperature sensor (if you were worried, I officially don't have Ebola), flashed our vaccine cards at the inspector (I don't have yellow fever either), pressed fingerprints, had our passports inspected, and finally were free to get our baggage.
We all found ours, and we were off. We drove for about two hours to the Ensign College of Public Health, which is run by the U of U, and stayed overnight in the dorms. They had a shower! My bags were on the bus, so I had no shampoo, but washed my hair with a bar of soap. It felt wonderful (but looked less so).
We ate breakfast the next morning, and were off. The bus ride from Ensign College to Kumasi can take between 5 and 10 hours on a mix of dirt and paved roads, but it took about 6 and a half hours for us. There was little traffic, because it was a Sunday, and, although it rained, we were lucky enough to only have it rain on the paved parts of the road, so we weren't slowed down much by mud. It's pouring now, though, and not likely to let up until tomorrow.
The drive was fascinating. Ghana is gorgeous--I don't think that I've ever been in a place this lush. When you glance off the road, all you can see is miles and miles of green. And the sky is beautiful as well--layers and layers of fluffy clouds. It's so different from the US. I drifted off for a bit on the bus ride, and when I woke up, I briefly did a very sharp double take, until I remembered where I was.
Things have very odd names here. I passed Denmark Farms, Korea Rice, New Orleans Music and Talent School, and Staten Island Farms (I wasn't aware that either Denmark or Staten Island were known for farming, but it's possible. I haven't been to either). There are animals everywhere, mostly goats, but a few dogs, chickens, and a handful of cows.
We also passed a group of about 8 young boys--probably 6-11--all wearing suits and carrying musical instruments, including trombones, trumpets, and drums. I assumed they were going to church, as religion seems quite prevalent here (quite a few businesses have religiously themed names, including God is Able Carpenter Shop and Jesus Loves Fresh Pork), and it was Sunday morning.
Driving through Ghana is drastically different than in the US. For the most part, we were on paved roads, but at one point we hit a series of potholes so deep that our bus was tilted about twenty degrees. Whenever we're at stoplights, people come up to our bus windows and try to sell us a wide variety of goods, including mangoes and toilet paper. We didn't buy anything.
The dress here is interesting--a mixture of Western and traditional, and definitely more formal than you find in the US (although that could be because of the religiosity of the nation. I'm guessing a lot of people were headed to church). The women typically wear short-sleeve, empire waist, knee length dresses made of brightly patterned fabric, while the men wear shirts out of the same bright patterns and slacks.
And my favorite thing was driving past the little kids. Anyone under about the age of 10 would, upon seeing the bus, outright stare for about 4 seconds, mouth slightly open. Then they would start to wave, and when we waved back, wave their arms back and forth with incredible enthusiasm. They would then alert any other kids around them, point at us, and start yelling. They presumably don't get a ton of white people here. It was hilarious.
Ghana is probably one of the culturally farthest places that I've ever been from the LA suburb where I grew up, or Salt Lake City, where I live now (geographically farthest as well). I've never lived anywhere with dirt roads or goats roaming the streets. But one of the things that strikes me is how similar people are. Looking out the bus windows, I saw pregnant women with hands clasped over their swollen bellies, groups of men gathered to watch the World Cup Game, two elementary school boys appearing to have a contest as to who could pee the farthest, a young teen with an infant sibling or cousin perched on her hip, an adolescent girl who would shyly raise her eyes towards a group of guys, then quickly smile and avert her gaze. I'm half a world away from home, yet people are mostly the same.
That's all for tonight. It's so wonderful here. The real work starts tomorrow--we have all of our preparatory research meetings and meet the Ghanaians that we are partnering with, and we spend Tuesday at the hospital. I'm so excited! And the internet actually works well enough to post some photos, so enjoy!
I'm officially in Ghana! We flew in to Accra last night, and have spent most of the day traveling to Kumasi, where we'll be for the next few weeks. And tonight I took a shower with real shampoo and soap (I haven't figured out how the hot water works yet--or even if we have any--so it was refreshing, as well), so I feel wonderful.
The flight here wasn't bad--I sat next to a Ghanaian-Norwegian computer programmer who writes health tracking apps. He was raised in Ghana, but had moved to Norway as an adult, but was returning to take a short course and visit relatives. But if you ever want to see an incredibly conspicuous group, look at a group of University of Utah study abroad students headed towards Ghana. You could definitely pick us out of the crowd.
Flying into Accra looked like flying into any other city at night--a field of darkness peppered with spots of yellow and white lights.
We got off the plane, passports and vaccine certificates in hand, and waited. And waited. And waited. And waited. Fortunately, I have a very fun group, so it wasn't terribly unpleasant to wait in line for about four hours, even if we had just gotten off an international flight and were terribly exhausted. We passed through a body-temperature sensor (if you were worried, I officially don't have Ebola), flashed our vaccine cards at the inspector (I don't have yellow fever either), pressed fingerprints, had our passports inspected, and finally were free to get our baggage.
We all found ours, and we were off. We drove for about two hours to the Ensign College of Public Health, which is run by the U of U, and stayed overnight in the dorms. They had a shower! My bags were on the bus, so I had no shampoo, but washed my hair with a bar of soap. It felt wonderful (but looked less so).
We ate breakfast the next morning, and were off. The bus ride from Ensign College to Kumasi can take between 5 and 10 hours on a mix of dirt and paved roads, but it took about 6 and a half hours for us. There was little traffic, because it was a Sunday, and, although it rained, we were lucky enough to only have it rain on the paved parts of the road, so we weren't slowed down much by mud. It's pouring now, though, and not likely to let up until tomorrow.
The drive was fascinating. Ghana is gorgeous--I don't think that I've ever been in a place this lush. When you glance off the road, all you can see is miles and miles of green. And the sky is beautiful as well--layers and layers of fluffy clouds. It's so different from the US. I drifted off for a bit on the bus ride, and when I woke up, I briefly did a very sharp double take, until I remembered where I was.
Things have very odd names here. I passed Denmark Farms, Korea Rice, New Orleans Music and Talent School, and Staten Island Farms (I wasn't aware that either Denmark or Staten Island were known for farming, but it's possible. I haven't been to either). There are animals everywhere, mostly goats, but a few dogs, chickens, and a handful of cows.
We also passed a group of about 8 young boys--probably 6-11--all wearing suits and carrying musical instruments, including trombones, trumpets, and drums. I assumed they were going to church, as religion seems quite prevalent here (quite a few businesses have religiously themed names, including God is Able Carpenter Shop and Jesus Loves Fresh Pork), and it was Sunday morning.
Driving through Ghana is drastically different than in the US. For the most part, we were on paved roads, but at one point we hit a series of potholes so deep that our bus was tilted about twenty degrees. Whenever we're at stoplights, people come up to our bus windows and try to sell us a wide variety of goods, including mangoes and toilet paper. We didn't buy anything.
The dress here is interesting--a mixture of Western and traditional, and definitely more formal than you find in the US (although that could be because of the religiosity of the nation. I'm guessing a lot of people were headed to church). The women typically wear short-sleeve, empire waist, knee length dresses made of brightly patterned fabric, while the men wear shirts out of the same bright patterns and slacks.
And my favorite thing was driving past the little kids. Anyone under about the age of 10 would, upon seeing the bus, outright stare for about 4 seconds, mouth slightly open. Then they would start to wave, and when we waved back, wave their arms back and forth with incredible enthusiasm. They would then alert any other kids around them, point at us, and start yelling. They presumably don't get a ton of white people here. It was hilarious.
Ghana is probably one of the culturally farthest places that I've ever been from the LA suburb where I grew up, or Salt Lake City, where I live now (geographically farthest as well). I've never lived anywhere with dirt roads or goats roaming the streets. But one of the things that strikes me is how similar people are. Looking out the bus windows, I saw pregnant women with hands clasped over their swollen bellies, groups of men gathered to watch the World Cup Game, two elementary school boys appearing to have a contest as to who could pee the farthest, a young teen with an infant sibling or cousin perched on her hip, an adolescent girl who would shyly raise her eyes towards a group of guys, then quickly smile and avert her gaze. I'm half a world away from home, yet people are mostly the same.
That's all for tonight. It's so wonderful here. The real work starts tomorrow--we have all of our preparatory research meetings and meet the Ghanaians that we are partnering with, and we spend Tuesday at the hospital. I'm so excited! And the internet actually works well enough to post some photos, so enjoy!
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