Katya

On June 1, 2010, Yekaterina Noreen was born into our family. Little Katya was 6 lbs, 6 oz, and 18.5 inches long. She and her mother are perfectly healthy.
This song, Katyusha, is a Russian folk song written during WWII. Katyusha (Kate) is the diminutive of Yekaterina (Catherine). Katya (Katie) is the nickname form.
The English translation of the lyrics is below. The song is performed by the Russian Red Army Choir.



Pears and apples blossomed on their branches.
River mist was spreading high and wide.
On the steep and lofty bank at morning
Katyusha came walking by the riverside.

Katyusha came walking, singing in the morning
Of a brave gray eagle of the steppes,
Of a man she'd come to call beloved
Of a man whose letters she had kept.

"Darling song, song of a loving maiden,
Following the sun fly high and straight
Toward a soldier far out on the border
Bringing greetings from yours truly Katyusha.

Bid him then recall a simple woman,
Bid him hear her voice in every verse,
Bid him with his life guard mother Russia,
And his Katyusha shall guard their love with hers."

Pears and apples blossomed on their branches.
River mist was spreading high and wide.
On the steep and lofty bank at morning
Katyusha came walking by the riverside.

When Will She Arrive?

With delivery looming ("hopefully," Cori says) it's time to have a little baby fun.
Who can guess Katya Noreen’s birth: day, time, weight, and length?

Here is some basic information to help you get started. Cori's due date is May 28. Katya's last estimated weight was 5.5 pounds on April 28. At birth, Cori weighed 7 lbs 0 oz, and measured 19". Now-a-days Michael is 6' 3" and Cori is 5' 7".

So, list the following in the comments section:
Birthday (Cori will only accept dates on or earlier than may 28th - ha!)
Delivery Time
Weight
Length

Good luck!

The Benefits of Traveling the World

I’m currently reading Lunatic Express by Carl Hoffman, a gift sent to me by my sister, Mary Ellen (thank you, again!)

It’s a relatable (for me, anyways) true story of a travel writer who embarks on a trek, the only goal of which is to experience transport by the world’s most dangerous means, in other words, transport the way most of the world’s nearly 7 billion people move from place to place.

At one point the author’s 17 year old daughter Lily flies to Lima to join him during her spring break from high school. They boarded a rickety old bus for a 450 mile journey that would take 36 hours, through the rain forests and over the Andes Mountains on single-lane, winding, clay roads.

Here the bus has taken a brief stop for the driver to urinate and have a bite to eat:

I wolfed down a quick meal of rich, gamey chicken  soup ladles from a pot big enough to throw a couple of toddlers inside, sitting on a wooden bench the width of a single two-by-four under a ragged blue tarp. Lily didn’t want any, but the chef could spot a hungry, nervous girl and brought her a bowl, insisting that she eat, which she did under the pressure of a mother, even if it wasn’t her own. Then, as church bells pealed, we piled on an even older bus. "Aren’t you afraid you’ll get sick?” said Carleton (a Canadian tourist who was clearly in over his head at this point), shaking his head. “I’m starving, but there’s no way I’m going to risk eating that!”

I looked at Lily and we laughed. “See how brave you are!” I said, secretly praying she wouldn’t get sick. As soon as the sun went down, roaches swarmed out of the curtains; they fell into Lily’s lap, crawled into my coat, scurried under our feel. It was black outside, the bouncing headlights illuminating dirt road and sheer drop-offs. Lily was scared; I felt bad for her and proud of her. I hoped she’d love the journey, but even if she didn’t, at least I knew she’d remember it and feel, perhaps only later, strengthened by it. That she’d learn that the world was big, rich, complex, sometimes dangerous, always interesting. That you could hide from it or explore it and embrace it in all its complexities.

Amen.

Life Without Electricity

In the rural parts of Ghana life is very different than in the cities. And as you move north, away from the capital, away from the concentration of population and industry conditions change. I should note, however, that certain characteristics apparent in these people, who live in a village without electricity, are also visible in city dwellers, a certain blend of hopefulness and optimism along with resignation to fate. (hat tip to my dad for the video)

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

True Journalism

(Updated Below)

A free and independent press is an essential component for a functioning democracy – one that is appropriately people-centered. In 21st century America the so-called ‘fourth estate’ is failing us. Dominated by corporate-owned, profit-driven firms, modern media has become a ratings circus, a mix of eye-catching headlines and commentary aimed at polarizing the audience in an attempt to generate loyalty.

Jeremy Scahill is an independent journalist and author best known for his investigative reporting into the actions of private security firm Blackwater. He was recently awarded the “Izzy Award” for outstanding independent journalism. In an interview with alternet.org he does a wonderful job describing the proper role of a free and independent press:

I would define an independent journalist as someone that's totally un-embedded when it comes to their relationship with the powerful. In other words, you don't get into bed with any political party. I'm not a Democrat; I'm not a Republican. I'm a journalist. It means that you don't get in bed with the military, with the CIA, or wealthy corporations, and you don't compromise your journalistic or your personal integrity in the pursuit of anything, including a story.
I believe that the way independent journalists are most effectively able to conduct their work is by maintaining their independence from the powerful. I don't hob-nob with the powerful. I don't count among my friends executives or other powerful people. I think it's important for independent journalists to not be beholden to any special interests whatsoever.
On the flip side of that, it's the role of independent journalists to embed themselves with the victims of U.S. foreign policy -- in the case of U.S. journalists -- or domestic policy. What I mean by that is to actually go out to where the people live who are most affected by these policies -- be it Afghanistan or the slums of the United States. You have to be un-embedded from the powerful and you have to embed yourself with the disempowered, because I think part of our role as independent journalists is not only to confront those in power, but to give voice to the voiceless.

Can you imagine the conflicts of interest that arise when Katie Couric or Chuck Todd shares a glass of Champaign with the Obama press secretary at the White House Christmas Party? Apart from the obvious insider’s club that is created, do you really think 6 and 7-figure earning media personalities are able to relate to the rest of us, or to the billions around the globe who are affected by our actions?

During my stay in Ghana I have been pleasantly surprised by the quality of Ghanaian journalism. Though not as ‘polished’ as their American counterparts, journalists here do a much better job of focusing on the concerns of the people. Reporters cover issues such as access to clean water, corrupt customs and police officials, and dangerous or unsanitary working conditions, all without pandering to government or corporate interests. Beyond refreshing, it has been nothing short of eye-opening. A reminder of what journalism can and should do for a nation.

Back in the US, and around the world, there are many ‘Jeremy Scahills,’ embedded with the disempowered, helping their voices to be heard. Unfortunately their reach is limited, and moreover, all but drowned out by the braindead megaphone (.pdf) of corporate media.

Update

With perfect timing for my posting, salon.com blogger Glenn Greenwald offered this today:

Every now and then there are little vignettes that capture what Washington really is:  an insular, incestuous, fundamentally corrupt royal court, populated -- as all sickly imperial capitals are -- by political and media courtesans and other hangers-on.

Click here to read the rest

Protect Yourself

I have spent a lot of time in Ghana helping people with their computers. I have helped people clean their computers of viruses and malware. I’ve installed security software, operating systems, and utilities. I’ve repaired damaged folders and drives. I’ve consulted(made decisions) on what type of computer to purchase, and I’ve tutored colleagues and friends on computer use – from using a mouse and setting up email, to creating PowerPoint presentations and editing movies.

Computing in Ghana is just coming of age. Internet access is quickly improving here, evident by the number of Net Cafes springing up. Home computing is a bit less common, but still occurs – usually through mobile networks (the cost of home broadband is prohibitive for most: anywhere from $25 to $50 a month for a connection that would have American users tossing their computers out the window). Many home computers are purchased used, hand-me-downs from the UK and US – one I worked on recently still wore its ID tag from Heinz Corporation, others have the marks of academia or government. The sellers of these devices normally sell from road-side stands or cramped, closet-like offices. “Buyer Beware” prevails.

Technology is expensive here. Massive import tariffs, high shipping costs, and the inability to buy online in Ghana combine to pinch supply. Many Ghanaians turn to the Diaspora to buy computers abroad and ship or carry them back home. Some enterprising folks are able to acquire a bulk supply of computers, then work to market them at schools and universities. I’ve seen two such efforts take place here during my time. Their prices seem to be fair – for the Ghana computer market – with prices running about 10-30% higher than the US market. This markup seems to cover the cost of acquisition, leaving only a slim profit margin. For specialty hardware – routers, card readers, projectors – prices are much higher, often 2 to 3 times higher than in American. I recently looked for a wireless router and found asking prices to be in the $140 range. Similar equipment might run you $50 in the US.

But acquisitions aside, three more problems plague computer users in Ghana – and likely in many other developing countries as well. First, computer owners have invested a huge share of their incomes to acquire this technology. To buy a new, but run-of-the-mill, laptop many have to cough up a sum equal to, or more than, their entire monthly pre-tax income. And, as computer users know, technology in this sector quickly becomes outdated, so upgrades and replacements become a huge burden too.

Second, the cost of acquiring software is prohibitive: Operating systems, office suites, anti-virus. I’ve seen more pirated versions of Windows, Office, and Norton in 5 months here than I have in the rest of my life. In fact, apart from a few brand new computers, I think every one I have come across is running a cracked version of one of these three softwares. In most cases, pirated software either doesn’t work properly (for instance, most cracked versions of Windows will not allow patches and security fixes from Microsoft) or is riddled with viruses. It’s a crude analogy, but completely accurate: The vast majority of portable drives (flash, pen, or thumb drives) carry viruses. If you aren’t using protection in the form of a working, updated anti-virus program, you will become infected. Practicing safe-computing here is a must!

And third, the dawn of the cyber-era in Ghana is coming more than a decade into the Internet Age. This means computer users here are entering a world that is rife with threats from experienced online crooks and bullies – and I’m talking advertisers. If you have been surfing the web for a few years, you probably have learned to differentiate between a valid link to desirable information, and a sponsored link that will take you to a vendor’s portal. Often there are subtle clues that help us spot the dark cyber-alleys: links whose text is slightly different in styles or size than the rest of the page; a tiny, well-hidden disclaimer noting “ads sponsored by Google”; a difficult-to-spot ‘x’ that allows the user to close the advertisement; or sometimes the ad’s location on the page (along the top of side banner). But a new computer user, entering a cyber market that’s as unregulated as the wild west, has little chance of emerging from these dangerous digital alleys unscathed. Spyware, adware, malware, trojans, worms, spam, phishing…all out there waiting for the unsuspecting surfer to fall into their trap.

Take these problems as one and you have a daunting challenge facing Ghanaians trying to join the digital age. In a dangerous world one needs the savvy to avoid danger, the tools to protect themselves when they do encounter a problem, and the resources to repair any damages done, none of which most Ghanaians can claim.

 

(In a later post I plan to detail some steps, and free tools people in LDCs or the US can and should use to protect themselves from digital threats.)

Clear and Present Danger

The weather here has been notably abnormal this year in Ghana. When I arrived in December I was told to expect Harmattan – the annual prevailing wind shift to the north, bringing Saharan dust and “low” humidity to the coastal region – and that it would last until March or April. Well, it never came. Instead, these months have been marked by warm temperatures (low-to-mid 90s), high humidity (low 90’s at night), and very little rain.

Harmattan is supposed to end with the rainy season and temps begin to fall into the low-80s.

Since we had no harmattan I guess all rules are off. Now it’s mid-April, and we haven’t seen the rain, and temps are only going up!

Check out the heat index table below. The black lines shows today’s combination:

Sakawa

In Ghana there is a word, ‘sakawa’, that means ‘fake’ or ‘fraud.’ It’s the Ghanaian equivalent to the Nigerian 419 internet scam. Young Ghanaian men (and rarely women) use the Internet to defraud foreigners, often Americans, by convincing them to send large sums of money to bank accounts or wire services abroad. The victims usually think they are enabling a pretty, young woman to come for a visit. Here’s an example from a news report this month:

A 19- year-old man, Adnan Abdul Ralph, believed to be a cyber fraudster (known in local parlance as 'sakawa' or 'pen pal' boy), is aiding the Agona Swedru Divisional Police Command in its investigations into his alleged defraud of an American to the tune of $6,420.

Ralph, described by the police as a school dropout, and jobless, reportedly used a feminine voice under the name Grace Rockson to defraud [American] Simone Layfield Duke through the Internet.

According to the crime officer, Duke sent down a message to the police complaining about the suspicious demeanour of Ralph who had duped him (Duke) on several occasions (through the use of a female voice) claiming to be called Grace Rockson, thereby making him fall in love with 'her'.

As a result, in December 2009 Mr Duke sent down $1,300 for Grace to visit him in the US as a tourist, adding that an additional $2,000 was sent, since tourists to the US were required to have that much on them.

However, the purported lady never arrived in the US, only for Ralph to send a letter telling Duke that his sister (Grace) who was to have visited Duke had been arrested at the airport by the airport security for carrying two bags of gold just when she was about to enplane to join him (Duke) in the US.

Ralph was also quoted as having said in the letter that he needed $2,000 from Duke to enable him to free Grace from that trouble.

"And it began to dawn on Duke that it was a scam," the officer noted, adding, "Then, again the boy communicated with Duke, saying that he (Ralph) had managed to get his sister out of jail but that their mother had had a heart attack with, the likelihood of dying if she did not have immediate surgery."

"Meanwhile (Ralph) had sent a letter on a fake police letterhead signed by Major Courage Quashigah (retd), now deceased, together with a fake medical report from the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital, purportedly signed by Dr Emmanuel Smith, allegedly coming from Miss Grace Smith with a request for $1,500 from Duke to enable Miss Rockson to get medical treatment for her mother," he added.

The officer stated that the American smelt a rat and informed the Agona Swedru Police that he suspected that he was being duped by Ralph and his sister.

"Duke added that he was going to inform Ralph that he had sent some money through a bank in Swedru so he should go for it. And just as Ralph was about to withdraw the said amount from the bank, we swooped in on him," he added.

The Ghanaian attitude towards sakawa is usually critical, but there are a number of people here who tolerate, and even applaud, such scams. Here is a representative sampling of comments posted to the website that hosted this sakawa story:

This white people came into our country without invitations, and took us as slaves, stole our golds, why britain is our pricesing gols but we don't get gold in britain? now this is the only way we can pay them back and now this Ghana police who have no job to do will spent their time to investigate this, when spiritual killings are in Ghana, you can't investigate, we have Bawku issue, we have Techiman issue and so many, Ghana police its time you respect Ghanaians and stop yr foolish act of respecting the white people,

Arrest them all.Ghana's future is at risk if this is all the youth will be indulging in.Swedru is the heartbeat of this sakawa deal.Quick money,extravagant life style n corruption on the part of the security agencies are what have promoted this tax-free trade to date.

please leave the boy alone and forget about that dam american because the boy didn't steal from government .Many have stolen from government but are walking freely . leave the boy ooooo. shameless police dsp

THE MIRROR CAN GO TO HELL.THERE IS NOTHING WRONG TO TAKE THAT WHITE MAN'S MONEY .

FIRING SQUAD, SIMPLE AS THAT. GHANAs NAME IS AMONGST THE WORSE IN THIS KINDS OF SCAMS. WHY SHOULD GHANA BE KNOWN FOR THIS , WHY ?

Okay, I don't wish to encourage criminal activity, but seriously, how do you fall in love with a woman you have never met, let alone send so much money to the said lady? Aren't there women in America? This Duke fellow is obviously not too smart. I don't see any Ghanaian falling for this nonsense. It seems like living the soft life in America erodes people of their street smarts. At this rate even I am tempted to try this sakawa nonsense...just kidding! LOL

This boys and girls are a disgrace to this nation.They hate hard work and they want cheap money.So if this free money does not come then they go into stealing.They sit in the cafes from morning to evening or day break.What future do this children have? This are the future leaders. Look at the lies they design to get the cheap money.I pity them.

he should be pardoned cuz the white man also should have been matured enough to have viewed the so-called woman in a cam.he has lost.

let him go he didnt steal or even kill,did he? the white man should have been sensible enough to know what he was doing why is he the only person who knows love if then why didnt he watch the supposed woman on cam.foolish white man

For me, if all the facts presented in the case is the truth, then set the boy free. this is because the so called American could not read dep into a third world country sense, he had suc a big hole in his mind to be outwitted by a scholl dropout.

I find this story laughable and Stu...d, especially trying to understand this. I have heard several of such escapedee by US Citizens and poor African guys and I sometimes wonder if the OLD Man upstairs had given us a similar enviroment that these guys have in US, we would even come to the US and buy their White House. I just cant believe these hollow stories. Someone claims he/she loves you and then you part with so much money? Duke is even lucky and I urge the police to leave this boy alone. I have even heard of between 35 to $160K, so this $1K is peanut. As for using the fake documents, sometimes they even use the Ghana Police letterheads, the Judiciary etc. even fake Newspaper publications. These guys are "smart". What I find wrong is what they use the money for and what impression they create in their neighbourhood. The police must just investigate what he used the money for, and make sure it is not hard drugs. The whites have all the medium to check through the website. We must not use our resources trying to educate the international world about how to deal with Ghanaians. We should just make our websites very easily accessible. And try to past photographs of officials to every news story. The Photograph of President Ngueso of Congo was used to defraud a white guy of millions of dollars, Why?

this is no criminal offense........ in fact what even makes it one... ah......

GH¢2

Ghana is getting a new bank note: a GH¢2 (2 Ghana Cedis). It has a picture of Ghana's first president: Kwame Nkrumah (This year is the 100th anniversary of his birth). Just like in the US, Ghana has bills for values of 1, 5, 10, 20, 50, 100 (I think, never seen one). But so many things cost in the .50 to 5.00 range I can see why a bill of 2.00 would be handy.

Videos

Wednesday mornings the students and staff are required to attend a worship service.

 

I met this girl in a village in the Eastern Region, and she was proud to show my how they tie the cloth wrap used to carry babies on their back.

 

While attending funerals in a colleague's home village I stopped to try my first road side fried bread - hot as lava!

How Many Ghanaians Get By

Everywhere you look in Ghana people are selling things. Hawkers. Foodstuffs. Market sellers. It’s a hard working, industrious society. There is no government safety net. No unemployment/disability insurance. No mandated social security. People here know that if you don’t work, you don’t eat. But just the will to work doesn’t mean there’s money to be made.

Millions of Ghanaians, and refugees from nearby countries who have fled for one reason or another to the region’s most stable democracy, struggle to scrape together enough to sustain themselves.

Minimum wage here is just over 3 Ghana Cedi. That’s about $2.50. And that’s per DAY. And huge numbers of people here are not employed, so that minimum wage doesn’t apply to them. Some street hawkers, often sturdy teenage girls, tote bowls full of chilled plastic bags of water atop their head, selling each ‘sachet’ for 5 pesewa, clearing a profit of 1-2 pesewa per transaction (100 pesewa = 1 cedi).

So, if these girls manage to sell 50 sachets a day they earn 1 cedi. What can that buy? The good folks, Gail and Godwin, over at g-lish have assembled some pictures to show you. Please click over an take a look!

Futile

Feedback loop – a system in which an input results in an output, and that output affects the level of the input
The United State military is currently engaged in such a system. Its War on Terror is, by many accounts, actually causing terrorism.
A while back I wrote a post attempting to illustrate the human tragedy of war. This week the world was confronted with that tragedy in graphic fashion with the leaking of the 2007 Baghdad helicopter incident, in which US Army gunmen slaughtered a group of Iraqi men that included two Reuters journalists, and then first once more when a passerby in a van stopped to help the victims. To add to the matter, in the weeks following the incident the Defense Department lied about the substance of the matter and the western media went right along with it, ignoring the accounts of witnessed on the ground that were reported by Afghan and Arab news.
In February the military engaged in similar reckless action killing 5 innocent Afghan civilians, and then lied to cover up the incident. Now, the patriarch of that murdered family has indicated that his anger may drive him to become a suicide bomber, as explained by Salon.com’s Glenn Greenwald:

(editor's note: to access Greenwald's article, click the logo above. My commentary continues below)
 As the US military bombs and strafes its way across the Hindu Kush it leaves a trail of death, destruction, and anger in its wake. In its effort to execute this war with a minimum number of American casualties, the military employs methods that put innocent Afghan citizens in greater harm’s way. This is not a strategy that will lead to peace across that land, but it does let politicians avoid the inconvenient matter of having soldiers returning to the US draped in the American flag, a condition that would end the culture of citizen apathy that allows this war to continue.

Wikipedia as a Source

I am not ashamed to admit that I read Wikipedia.

I may be in the minority of public opinion here, but I think that's because Wikipedia is an easy target for criticism, supported by only one claim: anyone can edit it.

But that doesn't necessarily make it a bad source. In fact, it is precisely because of this that Wikipedia so reliable. Consider: a published text is a static resource. It can not be edited any further, and its sources, while usually printed in the footnotes, are often out of reach for the average reader to do his own fact checking or verification. However, a well developed Wikipedia entry will reference numerous source, many of which are linked and can be immediately verified with the click of a mouse.

Perhaps more importantly, because anyone can edit the information in Wikipedia, errors of commission or omission are easily (and usually quickly) rectified. And any changes made clearly recorded in the page's history for more discerning readers to review. You can not get that with a printed text. The book that sits before you is, at the moment, being viewed by only one set of eyes. If errors are found by another reader elsewhere, they will not be pointed out to you and your copy will not be corrected. Plus you have no way of knowing the methods used by the author and editors to determine what information to include or exclude in the text (just look at the travesty taking place with the Texas School Board and their history textbooks!). In fact, if you’re not familiar with the subject of the text, you may not even know what information was left out. With Wikipedia, if the entry is of a controversial nature, or there’s a suspicion of bias, it is flagged, and a link to the relevant discussion is provided (Take, for example, this entry about the 1953 Iranian Coup d’etat)

In the end, the army of Wikipedia contributors who work to improve the website's content far outweighs the legion of vandals who occasionally scrawl sophomoric graffiti, or write biased entries. 

Up with Wikipedia, the people's encyclopedia! (But don’t be a sheep – verify the citations and think critically)

Snow Leopard Retires

Kwame Nkrumah-Achampong, better known as “The Snow Leopard,” has announced he will retire from competitive skiing and will not pursue a spot in the next Winter Olympics.

Below is the full text of a brief interview AfricaNews had with the Snow Leopard at his base in the United Kingdom:

AfricaNews: As the first ever Skier from snowless country like Ghana, how do you feel about it?

Kwame: It is a great experience that money cannot buy and it was a bit of difficult for me because unlike the other athletes, mine was more of a struggle to get there. It was good. It was something wonderful but I don’t want to go through the whole process again. That was my first and last ever Olympics, so somebody else will have the privilege of representing Ghana in future Olympics but for me it was good enough.

AfricaNews: Are you saying you wouldn’t participate in any Olympics again?

Kwame: Yea, I’m not going to break another Olympics, I might just peak for another season just to carry on the continuity while somebody else is being prepared to take-over. So that’s my will, I don’t want it to die with me. I’ll just carry on for another season and help some other people to get on board, that is better than being in a competition for just competition sake. Competition is about playing very well not every time going in there as just a participant. No!

AfricaNews: Any particular reason why you wouldn’t participate again?

Kwame: One, I’m too old and two, I think it is time for me to focus on my family and also back the area work of getting an Olympics team. I should focus on that and some kind of give younger people the opportunity.
Some of the smaller nations, the same people keep coming year after year but my focus is that the young people would be better at skiing than me, so my job is to support them and put in place the structure that would enable younger athletes to go out there and perform better than me. There is no point in me going back and I don’t improve on my performance then it’s a waste of resources.

AfricaNews: With the project you want to establish in Ghana, how is it going?

Kwame: I’m planning to come to Ghana and establish this project to train new skiing team to represent Ghana. But before I come to Ghana, I have to make sure that everything is set-the equipments are ready and I get some people who will volunteer to start the process.
Once the project starts we will get some volunteers from Europe so that we get it done. In the meantime too, I have some athletes from Europe who are Ghanaians and who want to train. I’m putting the whole plan together; the plan and proposals would be placed at the Ghana Skiing team’s website. So if you go there and register, you can download the full plan on what we want to achieve and help us to get there.

AfricaNews: How did the Vancouver Olympics go?

Kwame: It wasn’t too bad, it was ok. We achieved a lot of the goals we set out  to achieve. Ghana was not the last on the finish line; it was another country which was last. So at least, for our first ever Winter Olympics we showed people that we are capable of doing something. So the next plan is to do things better; make more resources available, get more people involve and we see how far we can go.

Y’all Gettin’ A Diff’ent Perspective

Living 6,000 miles outside the United States, out of easy reach of the American broadcast media and the national conversation, my awareness of the news has charged markedly. Because I receive most of my news from Ghanaian and international media (mainly Al Jazeera-English and CNN International), the US coverage comes without some key components: first, continuous, mindless, partisan bickering; and second, distracting, self-indulgent tabloid journalism. As a result, I have no idea who Justin Bieber is, have little knowledge of all the allegation or confessions in the Tiger Woods saga, and was not been driven to the brink of insanity, nor distracted and misinformed, during the health care debate. But more importantly, the news that I hear comes without the Americentrism that is nearly-ubiquitous within domestic media coverage. Elsewhere in the world, the United States is viewed as just another country; A powerful, wealthy, and often bullying  country, no doubt, but just another country nonetheless. The coverage of the US comes without the aura of American-exceptionalism, so commonplace in the American conversation as to render it unnoticeable by those involved - like one’s own accent, you aren’t even aware it exists until you become surrounded by people who speak differently.

So I don’t know how, in the US, the leaking of the 2007 video showing the killings of a number of unarmed Iraqi civilians is being reported. But I would guess it’s different from the types of reports I am hearing.

Now we’ve both had malaria

Last Tuesday evening I was feeling particularly tired. But it was the last day of school and the students would be leaving in the morning. I figured I could use the coming vacation days for rest.

Wednesday morning I planned to wake early to see off the students, but I couldn’t get myself out of bed before 8. By that time, most of them had gone. As evening came, I started to get a little headache, but I figured it was just lack of sleep and everything would be okay in the morning.

I awoke during the night with a full headache and covered in sweat. By the time morning arrived I was exhausted. And the headache just wouldn’t go. I moved to the couch, brought my pillow, and proceeded to sleep most of the day. Each time I awoke, I was dripping with sweat, often from the oddest places: my knees, my arms, my neck. But never my armpits :-) By now I had developed a fever – about 101, and my body ached like I had the flu.

That evening a colleague dropped by and when he saw my condition he asked why I hadn’t gone to the hospital (here it seems, when anyone feels even the least bit ill, they go to the hospital – they also have a ‘public option’ but I digress). I insisted that I just wanted the day to rest and that if I still felt bad in the morning I would see the doctor.

I sweat through the night and in the morning called my colleague and said, “I need to go to the hospital.”  The fever was still there along with all the other symptoms, and now I had bad diarrhea.

The doctor listened to my symptoms, took my pulse and BP (no temp though), and sent me to the lab for blood work. An hour later: no malaria parasites in your blood screen. but the doctor said he was sure it was malaria and had me take an injection in the rear, and sent me away with three days of oral drugs.

The next two days were painful. The type of headache that makes you sick to your stomach, and comes on like a knife in the eye any time you stand or sit. Between that and the unbelievable amounts of (smelly) perspiration pouring off my body I was quite a mess.

Sunday I went to bed around midnight (after sleeping all day) and woke up at 1:30…in the afternoon. 13 1/2 hours later!

That night I fell asleep around 1am and woke up 11 hours later.

Then finally Tuesday morning I woke up at 8. Stood up, and the headache was gone! All the symptoms were gone. Amazing how fast everything went away.

So, now Cori and I can look back on our time in Ghana and compare malaria stories:

“How about the sweat?”

“Oh yeah! So much sweat. And the headache…”

“Yes! The headache: the worst!”

 

A Real Malaria Tragedy

Of course malaria isn’t a disease to joke about, considering it kills millions of people each year, and can have terrible side-effects. Case in point: This young woman from Chicago, Dawn Dubsky, a four time marathoner, pediatric nurse, and world traveler, who visited Ghana in 2007 to learn about textiles, and a month later had all her limbs amputated after contracting the disease. There’s a two-part feature about her trials in the Chicago Tribune from which comes this description of the disease:

The invasion begins the moment an infected mosquito starts to feed. The insect's saliva carries a few dozen or so malaria parasites, which resemble microscopic earthworms, into the body of their new host. Within an hour, the circulatory system propels them to the liver.
There, they penetrate the cells of the organ and multiply. It is painless. For about a week, the host doesn't feel a thing.
Then the swollen liver cells rupture, dumping swarms of hungry parasites into the bloodstream. They enter red blood cells, growing fat on oxygen-carrying hemoglobin before replicating again.
The cells bulge and explode, sending forth new waves of attackers, and the cycle repeats. By the time the host notices that he is unusually fatigued, the incursion has become a takeover. Hundreds of millions of malaria parasites can be swimming in his veins and arteries.
Sometimes malaria even turns the host's body into the enemy. The immune system counterattacks with such ferocity that it becomes an even greater destructive force than the parasite.
Experts say someone with a severe case in the developing world probably would die before the disease displayed the full range of its power. That's the thing about Americans who contract malaria. Technology can keep them alive long enough to find out just how bad it can get.
Too sick to be afraid
Dubsky felt drained as the retreat neared its end. When her plane took off for home, she dozed for nearly the entire 22-hour journey.
The weariness lingered after her return on a Tuesday, but she wrote it off as jet lag. It wasn't until that Friday, 13 days after she had been bitten, that she knew something was wrong.
She dragged herself to her shift at Children's Memorial but grew steadily weaker throughout the day. Her stomach soured. Her head felt as though it was being squeezed into pulp.
She left early and got a few hours of sleep at home. When she woke, drenched in sweat, she took her temperature. It was 103 degrees.
Early the next morning, she took a cab from her Lakeview apartment to Northwestern Memorial Hospital and told the emergency room doctor what she thought was happening. A blood test confirmed it, and Dubsky left the diagnosis on a friend's voice mail:
"I got da malaria!" she said in an exaggerated Chicago bray.
Though her family and friends raced to the hospital, Dubsky wasn't terribly worried. The infectious disease specialist who examined her on Saturday afternoon judged the case to be "uncomplicated," with no sign of shock or other serious symptoms. Only 2 percent of Dubsky's blood cells were infected (it can go up to 50 percent).
The doctor prescribed a standard treatment: a week's worth of quinine sulfate tablets. But quinine isn't easy on the stomach, and Dubsky repeatedly threw it up. She insisted on getting her medication through an IV, but hospital staffers said taking it by mouth would work faster.
After a wretched night of shivers and chills, Dubsky grew far worse. Her fingers and toes tingled. Her blood pressure plunged. Jaundice turned her skin as yellow as old newsprint.
Worse, a test suggested the onset of DIC, or disseminated intravascular coagulation, in which the body's blood-clotting system spins out of control. It is a major complication: Doctors sometimes joke grimly that DIC stands for "Death Is Coming."
Late that afternoon, Dubsky's hands felt like clubs, her lower legs as though they were encased in ski boots. She hobbled to the bathroom but was unable to urinate, a sign that her kidneys were starting to fail.
On her way back to bed, Dubsky peeked in the bathroom mirror.
"Mom, look at me," she called out.
Her mother glanced up. Dubsky's lips had turned blue.
A few moments later, Dubsky's breathing grew labored as tiny blood vessels, dilated by her body's wild response to the infection, leaked fluid into her lungs. It was a harbinger of septic shock, a potentially fatal condition.
Hospital staffers raced Dubsky to the intensive care unit, where she signed papers directing the physicians to do all they could to save her life.
Her brother, Tom, a pipe fitter and former junior hockey player, wept as he begged Dubsky to fight. Her mother, kneeling at the foot of Dubsky's bed, sobbed that she was terrified.
"Mom," Dubsky replied, "I'm too sick to be afraid."
It was the last thing she would say for weeks.

 

Eventually Dubsky’s arms and legs had to be amputated. She is now learning to walk with prosthetics, and she has even started a running team called America Against Malaria. She’s attempting to provide bed nets and malaria education to Ghanaians.

Window Shopping

Beautiful, affordable, handmade artwork is one of the great benefits of shopping in Ghana.

My return to the US isn’t too far off, and I’d like to arrive ‘bearing gifts.’  So, here I have posted some pictures of one local artisan’s work, which is representative of many of the crafts that can be found here.

To family and friends, I would really like to hear from you if there are any pieces you see that you would like me to try to acquire for you. Prices are negotiable (of course – everything here is), but art like this will run, perhaps, from $5 to $75 a piece.

So, each picture is numbered (just hover the mouse over the image and a label like “Ghana 001” should appear). Click on the image to get a closer look. If you see art that you would like me to look into, please email me (educate4peace@yahoo.com) and be sure to refer to the picture number, and describe the piece. Cheers!

Little Gift Boxes

 

My colleague's 6 year old son just said, "you will born a nice baby because the white man makes nice babies."

I asked, "what about the black man's babies?"

He explained, "okay, sometimes the black man makes nice babies too, but sometimes they are not so nice."

I informed him that "sometimes the white man makes babies that are not so nice too."

He wondered, "is that true?"

I confirmed "yes."

He had a thoughtful look on his face.

Watching him ponder what he had just learned, I added, "you know, you and I are really only different on the outside. Inside we are just the same."

He smiled, "is that so?"

“What color is your tongue,” I asked, showing him mine.

He confidently replied, "the same!"

He smiled, pointed to his teeth, and asked me the color of mine. I smiled broadly. He exclaimed, "the same!"

Then I tugged on my bottom lip revealing my gums. He let out, "the same!"

I asked him if he had ever seen a gift box wrapped up in colored paper. He told me he had. I explained that sometimes that wrapping paper is shiny, sometimes it's dull, sometimes it's dark, sometimes it's light. But that doesn't tell us what is going to be inside the box. I said our skin is like the wrapping paper, but the gift is inside.

He seemed to like that story. I did too especially since I made it up on the spot.

More and More Ghanaian

Little things remind me that I am acclimating to Ghanaian life…

1. When my teaching day has closed, I don’t immediately rush to my house to change into shorts. I can actually continue to function in the weather while wearing trousers

2. Ghanaian TV is becoming palatable. I get 9 channels on my TV. 6 of them are Ghanaian. The other three are South African. At first, and still mostly, I prefer the South African stations because they show syndicated programming from the US sometimes: Friends, CSI, Girlfriends (yes, I even watch WB shows); and they also at times carry Al Jazeera English, and CNN International. The Ghanaian stations show a combination of local Ghanaian news, political talk/rant shows, music videos ranging from hip-life to reggae to gospel, Christian and Muslim preachers, Brazilian soap operas with English voiceovers (sexy Brazilian women speaking with ridiculous English voices – it’s actually quite comical) and Nollyhood movies (Nigerian, that is). Well, the preachers still aren’t my style, but I have found myself getting into the occasional Nollywood film – mostly set in rural villages and usually featuring an angry, boorish man wearing a white undershirt, running around yelling and screaming at all the women who live in his house, from his wife/wives to various daughters, sister-in-laws, and nieces. All the while, the women are usually plotting a way to get back at the man either by slipping something in his food to make him ill, or stealing his secret stash of money and slipping away in the night. They are strange, to say the least, have terrible sound (WAY over modulated!) but of late, are becoming more attractive to me.

3. I’m starting to take Ghanaian food. For two months I survived on pasta. Lots of pasta. And occasionally I would eat rice – plain white, fried, jollof (spicy tomato based). A few weeks ago I tried “red-red” again, after taking it the first week I was here and really disliking it. This time – quite good! I’ve had it a few times since. It’s sort-of like Ghanaian baked beans (made with fish and palm oil, giving it a red color) that you eat with plantains fried in palm oil – which also makes them red. Thus the name.

And last night, at a local restaurant, with all sorts of choices before me including pizza, I opted for: FUFU with Lite Goat Soup. And it was yummy. I have some FUFU and soup left in the fridge (I ate all the goat meat) waiting for lunch today!

4. I’m using little British english terms more and more as you may have noticed in reading this: "classes close”; “trousers”; “take” Ghanaian food; etc.

Children

I’m reading Cameroonian author Kenjo Jumbam’s 1980 work The White Man of God.

“The novel describes the family and village life of a group of Lamuso-speaking people, a community in which Christianity (brought by European missionaries) has been accepted by a substantial number of villagers, while the ancient traditions of their people are maintained by many others, in its own hierarchy. Because the indigenous culture is so vital and socially cohesive here, Christianity can only make inroads by discrediting it. “

It’s a fascinating work that, to my outsider’s mind, seems like it could be set in Ghana just as easily as Cameroon (which it not too far down the coast from here). 

There are many interesting insights in the book: village culture, religious and cultural change and conflict, local politics, and so on. But because the book is written from the perspective of Tansa, a young boy of perhaps 12 years, we get a unique insight into the family. And as a prospective parent, this passage, set shortly after the birth of twin boys, really resonated:

We all suffered from sleeplessness and Mama suffered most because, in addition to the worry, they sucked her and would not take anything other than breast milk. To make matters worse the breast milk dried up and in those days nobody knew anything about other forms of milk. I looked at the trouble and pitied parents. What rewards do parents get from having children? Is it all labour and worry and continuous anxiety. From the time a child is born they labour to make him grow, to keep him happy, to educate him, to see that he is settled in life. And whenever he is ill they suffer every discomfort to make him well again; they suffer with him psychologically and if the child’s illness increases so to their mental pain, uneasiness and anxiety increase. They greater the number of children, so too the greater their worry. And all that for what? What actually is the pride of the parent? Just to see his child grow up healthy and happy and prosper in life. That is all. All! And having children seems to be the cry of every parent, of every man and of every woman. A clamour for worry, for uneasiness, for pain! Do they know this? Do then realize this before they long for children? A childless couple does not have all these worries, they do not spend sleepless nights, they never sit upset near a sick child and long for every word of encouragement from the doctor or the medicine-man. They never experience all these unpaid-for pains. All their earnings are theirs to enjoy in whatever way they please. They do not have to pay school fees, buy books, school uniforms and they do not have to go to the doctors at night because the child has suddenly fallen ill.

It’s funny. seven months ago I could imagine myself being Tansa. Now, I think of little else besides my princess in the offing.

Cross Cultural Education

On Thursday a group of my students will participate in a class-to-class internet video chat with an honors world cultures class at the University of Wisconsin – Whitewater.

A former student of mine from Germantown High School, Sara Hoffman, is in the class and suggested the idea to her professor.

Since then the professor and I have exchanged student information including questions and impressions, and pictures, to prepare for the chat.

Unfortunately, on my end broadband Internet access on campus is limited to my house, so I can’t have my entire class take part. So, I’ve selected a handful of students to take part.

To give you a peek into the cultural differences between the two student groups, I’ve put together a collage of images from both groups.

Shhhhhh!

Quiet, The Puffer's Hiding.

(photo by Cori)

The Country of Africa

From today’s headlines:

In Nigeria: Hundreds, Many Children, Killed By Machete-Wielding Attackers

Here is the story’s lead

“NPR's Gwen Thompkins, reporting from Nairobi, Kenya, says "no one can say for sure what prompted the attack. But in January, a Christian strike on a Muslim village killed hundreds of people"

Why is Ms Thompkins reporting this story from Nairobi, Kenya?

I can not help but wonder if airing a story about violence taking place in Nigeria, by a reporter situated in Kenya, contributes to the impression held by many non-Africans that Africa is simply one large, troubled, nation-state?

During my stay in Ghana, I have heard the frustration of colleagues who claim that outside media characterizes Africa as a continent immersed in widespread violence, civil instability, dictatorial rule, "backward" customs, and poverty.

There’s no denying reality. Compared to other continents Africa has the least economic wealth and the highest rate of poverty. It also has suffered from some horrific civil and international wars during recent decades.

However, should poverty or civil upheaval in one location impact the reputation of another, simply because they share the same landmass?

Do drug wars in Mexico change your views about the safety of the streets of Washington DC? Are you worried about the state of democracy in France because Russian media is under constant attack by the Kremlin? Does a military junta in Myanmar (Burma) cause you to doubt the freedom enjoyed by South Koreans?

But when you hear about people being hacked apart by machetes in central Nigeria, does it affect your view of Africa, in general? I think for most non-Africans the answer is “yes.”

Before I arrived in Ghana family members, friends, and colleagues urged me in so many words to “be careful.” Certainly some of them were referring to the risk of various sicknesses, chief among them malaria. Others may have been warning me of Ghana’s high rate of vehicular deaths. But I also know some were referring to a general uneasiness with civil and social stability in Africa. I did not receive the same sendoff in 2006 when departing for Hungary. I know these were well-meaning and heartfelt words, but what impressions about Africa were lurking in the background?

In Ghana, I was headed for a country that has enjoyed civil peace for nearly two decades; a country that many call the “most hospitable in West Africa;” a country that seized its independence from Britain without bloodshed following centuries of horrific maltreatment. Hungary, meanwhile, had gained its independence from the clutches of Soviet control only 15 years prior, was involved in the two deadliest wars of the past century, was a point of deportation for ten’s of thousands of Jews headed for the slaughter, and remains home to ongoing violence with its ethnic neighbors fueled by hyper-nationalism.

So, Ms Thompkins is reporting about a tragic series of events in Nigeria; events that seem to be rooted in a complex local relationship that runs along religious, political, ethnic, and economic fissures. The violence is a direct result of the pressures created by this mix. Is there any sense in connecting this to Kenya? 

You might be surprised to learn that Nairobi is farther from Jos, Nigeria (2,050 miles) than the distance between South Korea and Myanmar (1,900 miles), DC  and Mexico City (1,850 miles), or Paris and Moscow (1,500 miles).  Each of these pairs share a continent, yet we have no difficulty separating the last three sets of locations in our mind.

Can you imagine a reporter describing a drug cartel shootout in Mexico and then ending her field report with “Gwen Thompkins, NPR News, Washington?”

It wouldn’t make sense. And neither does this.

Lots of Pictures

I have uploaded and labeled 123 pictures from my weekend trip to Gyimah's town of Twenedurase. It's a great look at the real Ghana (that's not to say I haven't been living in the real Ghana. It just sounded good to write....thought it might get more of you to click over there).

Ghana Tunz

Music and dance are dominant parts of Ghanaian culture. Any time people are gathered there is music playing. The music could be traditional drums, Gospel and Christian Choral, Reggae, Highlife, or Afro-Pop.
Just like in the US, it’s the Pop music (aka Hip-Life) that students tend to listen to and that you hear at “spots” (Ghanaian clubs).
If I had to make a soundtrack of my time in Ghana, based on the songs I hear most often, these five songs would make the list:
(after listening to each song, give your feedback in the poll on the left of this page)

“Yori Yori” by Bracket (Nigerian)

“Kiss Your Hand” by R2Bees (Ghanaian – From Tema, in fact)

“Swagger” by Ruff-n-Smooth (Ghanaian)

“Babe (Baby)” by Sarkodie (Ghanaian)

“Simple” by Bradez (Nigerian)

Funeral Day (preview)

Last weekend I attended Funeral Day with a colleague, Gyimah, at his hometown of Twenedurase. I’m still in the process of editing all the video and pictures – I took 7 GB worth – and once I do, I’ll post many of them to my shutterfly site and tell stories of my time right here on the blog.

In the meantime, here are some images of the experience:

 

The street (yes, there’s only one) of Twenedurase lined with funeral-goers.

 

 

Palm fruit and palm oil is grown and sold across this region

 

 

This structure was built in 1931. The tropical climate causes exposed stone and wood to age very quickly.

 

 

The town’s chief (third from the right, in the front row, sitting under the umbrella) presides over the funeral activities and is greeted by each of the visitors.

 

 

A picture of one of the deceased sits before a box accepting donations to the family

 

The man holding the golden-topped staff is the chief’s linguist. In formal interactions, the chief does not speak directly to a tribal member, nor does the tribesman speak directly to the chief. They speak through the linguist. The gold statue atop the staff shows two people sharing a bowl of food, symbolic of friendship.

 

 

   Members of Gyimah’s family.

 

  We stopped in a nearby town to visit a shrine to a cherished missionary. While waiting for the chief to greet us we made friends with this woman (who was washing dishes) and her nieces (the one in the foreground was playing with what looked like a leather or string thong tied to a small rock at the end. Once or twice, she struck her sister who was working hard washing clothes. Her sister cried out in pain, but never yelled or struck back).

Washing in the customary fashion after my meal of yams and fish stew.