There’s a north-south divide in Ghana too…

Note: on 4 July I couldn't post many pictures because the internet connection was very poor. I have now updated this bit - it is under the title 'how can a country so poor be so happy?'

We’ve been in Tamale in the Northern Region of Ghana for five days now and there are some clear differences with the south. It is poorer and more rural. From a mental health standpoint, care needs to be provided locally as there are no psychiatric hospitals in the region, and the road network is so poor that access from Tamale to the edges of the region can take a very long time. This means most mentally ill people’s first point of contact is with a traditional healer rather than a more ‘normal’ doctor or nurse.

Here’s a picture from a rooftop bar to give a flavour of what this city looks like:

In order to appreciate more fully the unique issues facing this region, we are continuing our tour of meeting people and organisations that work as partners with Basic Needs, and spending lots of time listening to their issues. To give you an idea as to who are these people, last Thursday and Friday we met...

* the head of the regional health service to understand some of the issues he faces. It is clear that getting access to some of the north-westerly areas of the country is very difficult – because of a river with no bridge crossing, 4WD cars need to head north out of the country into neighbouring Burkina Faso, before going west and south again back into Ghana!

* one of the very few nurses that specialise in psychiatric care

* an organisation that provides micro finance. This type of finance is a small interest free loan, typically around $40-80, that is lent to an individual to help them start a trade or grow crops. By getting the mentally ill back into employment, it reduces the burden they may place on their families, and this helps considerably in mitigating the stigma that surrounds the disease. Creating sustainable livelihoods for the mentally ill is one of BasicNeeds’ central themes.

* on Friday afternoon we met a very remarkable doctor:

Throughout his life he has been interested in the plight of the poor, and has dedicated himself to helping the poor who cannot help themselves (we is not interested in people who won’t help themselves).

In 1992 he started a clinic to provide free medical care to those in poverty, and since then has added a second. He does all of the operations himself (cataracts, amputations…), yet this is only a small part of his life. He organises free food for the homeless, and has a team of volunteers deliver it daily onto the streets. He provides all the prisoners and prison guards a Christmas lunch. And on Christmas day he organises a lunch for all the homeless, mentally ill, and poor people in the area – last year he had 3,000 people turn up at his house!

He was a very religious man, and when I asked him what drove him to do so much good, he explained that he made his hands available to God to do whatever God wished. Jose-Luis gave him the nickname of ‘Jesus’! I have never come across someone who got so much joy out of helping others. Here is a picture of all three of us together with some of the poor people who live at his house:

We spent the weekend at Mole (pronounced ‘Mole-ay’) National Park, which is Ghana’s largest national park. I have been on safaris in Kenya and South Africa, but they were in a Land Rover. On Saturday and Sunday morning we woke up early to go on a walking safari, which was great fun.

Here’s ‘DK’ our ranger and guide (the gun is not for show – they do fire it to scare the elephants if they start to charge!)…

We spotted an elephant that wandered onto a local community – here’s Jose-Luis either being super cool or not noticing what is behind him...

We also walked over to a watering hole where the elephants were cooling down. The black mounds in the background (in the middle of the water) are elephants. At one point I counted 15 of them.

Wherever you go, particularly in the rural areas, the kids come up to you and want to talk. They love seeing their picture on the digital camera – here are a few kids that stopped by at my balcony overlooking the game reserve.

When I went to pack up yesterday afternoon, I noticed that some of my underwear was missing. The park wardens did warn us about the baboons stealing stuff from balconies, so if anyone comes across a baboon in Ghana wearing some M&S boxer shorts, you can tell him he can keep them!