Ghana is a unitary republic with a multi-party democratic system. Executive power is invested in a president, currently John Evans Atta Mills, who is elected by universal suffrage every 4 years. There is a single house of parliament of 230 members, elected in a first past the post system. John Mills is a member of the NDC party. This is a left of centre party, and the new (December 2008) NDC government has indicated that it is committed to pursuing social democratic policies. For example, it has been responsible for introducing the “feeding” scheme into the most disadvantaged schools. The country is divided into 10 regions, each of which has a regional capital, like Wa, and a regional minister.
This system operates alongside, and separate from, a traditional chieftaincy system. Chiefs are elected by the elders or “kingmakers”. The chief is expected to exhibit exemplary conduct in public. He is responsible for providing leadership to his people, maintaining cultural traditions, and enforcing law and order in his area. In past times, the chief was the military leader in times of war. Yes, chiefs are all men! However, there are also important women leaders, called “queen mothers”, as well as “mantazias.” who are the leaders of a wide range of women’s groups.
Within Wa, there are a number of chiefs for the different areas of the town and surrounding countryside. We have only just discovered that Khalid, the proprietor of the local school, is actually the chief for our area. He has become a real friend to us. He visits us regularly for a chat and has helped us sort out a number of problems that we have had, such as fixing our gas stove. He is an incredibly kind and generous man, who is clearly committed to doing the best for his own people and all the people of Wa.
Wa is supposed to have a “Big Chief”, called the Wa Na. The Wa Na is chosen from all the current chiefs in Wa. However, this position has been in dispute for a number of years, and the decision now rests with the courts. As a result of this ongoing dispute, the Wa Na’s palace has become rather dilapidated. We visited the palace recently, but unfortunately we can’t include a picture. Unbeknown to us, no one is allowed to take pictures of the palace. We had taken a couple of pictures, when members of the army took our camera from us. Linda engaged in a “persuasive discussion” with the soldiers, when one of the soldiers made the mistake of telling Haydn to “control your wife”. Needless to say, our camera was returned to us. However, we did have to delete the pictures first.
This weekend we were joined by 3 other VSO volunteers (Mel, Alison and Cameron) on an overnight visit to a local hippo reserve. Khalid lent us his school bus and driver, so travel to and from the reserve was made so much easier. This reserve of Wichiau is South West of Wa on the Black Volta River, right on the border with Burkina Faso. It is very underdeveloped as a tourist attraction, which partly contributes to its appeal. We arrived in the late afternoon on Saturday, together with our food for the evening and Sunday breakfast. We stayed in the mud-built lodge, while the others slept under a mosquito net on the roof.
We got up at 5.00 a.m. for the “river safari” in search of hippos. We walked for about half an hour to the river to find that our canoe had sunk. There was then an hilarious half hour where our guide and the oarsman tried to lift the canoe from the river bed. In the picture, the opposite side of the river is Burkino Fasso.
The canoe was clearly full of holes, so our enterprising guide took off his socks, borrowed a Swiss army knife from Cameron and proceeded to cut up his socks and plug the holes in the canoe. We were wearing life jackets, but the river looked rather wide and deep, so we asked if the canoe was safe. Our guide replied that he “trusted his socks” – so that was alright then.
Anyway, we set off, with Cameron sitting in the middle of the canoe, bailing out water with a calabash for the whole trip.
Anyway, we set off, with Cameron sitting in the middle of the canoe, bailing out water with a calabash for the whole trip.
It wasn’t long before we found about 7 hippos wallowing around in the water. We landed the canoe on the Burkina Faso side of the river and spent a magical half hour just watching them.
Cameron had to bail out water all the way back as well, as the canoe got deeper and deeper in the water. However, we had a wonderful time and here are some of the hippos we saw:
Wichiau Hippo Reserve is a wonderful development in the area. It is totally run by the local people, who gain all the profits from the reserve. This has enabled a very poor community to build a primary school and to develop improved medical facilities.
Well, it is now officially the dry season. The temperature has dropped and the Hamattan (cool wind blowing sand from the Sahara), means that there is a general haze in the air. The local people say it is cold and they are wearing extra clothing. We are finding the temperature really comfortable, although we have to use a blanket at night.
Linda has spent much of the last week working with our housemate, Mel, running workshops on science teaching for curriculum leaders in primary schools. They used all kinds of household rubbish as teaching resources, to demonstrate that it is possible to engage students in active learning without having to spend money on books and resources. They had the teachers acting as the sun, moon and planets, using a charcoal cooking pot to demonstrate the water cycle and so on. The teachers loved it, and we will now be going into the schools to watch them implement some of the strategies. Next week Mel and Haydn will be running similar workshops in maths.
The picture below shows some of the children who live in our neighbouring houses. Many children have never seen themselves in a mirror and have definitely never had their picture taken. These children had seen our camera and they asked if we would take their picture. They insisted on going home to put their best clothes on first, and we promised to send it to the people in England – so here it is.
