Bush is gone!

You may have heard in the news that President Bush had an official three-day visit to Ghana. Let me tell you about this three-day visit.

His entourage of three planes arrived on Tuesday night at 7 PM. All roads leading to the airport were closed as of 3PM. I am not sure how to describe the havoc that this wrecked on traffic. Traffic is a problem here anyway, closing the airport bypass road? well, that's just insanity.

Tuesday afternoon, Chloe came home with a note from school saying that "in the interest of the children", the school would be closed on Wednesday due to the President's visit. The stated concern was that the change in environment (i.e. lots of military presence with huge guns...that never did materialize) would greatly impact these fragile children. What we, the mommies, believe is that the school didn't want to have to battle the crazy traffic to get in to school. We don't blame them. We wouldn't want to have to do that either. But just come out and say so. Traffic we can understand, fictitious military, we can't.

Wednesday, almost all schools in the Cantonments area are closed...who knows about the others. Even, GIS (Ghana International School)--the very school Bush was supposed to go visit because of some NGO that is located there...hmmm. Traffic all over the city is blocked to make way for the President. But the President's motorcade didn't pass by most of these blocked roads? Were they blocked due to logistical incompetence? Or were they blocked as a decoy? I guess it doesn't really matter, because it will never happen again. On Wednesday night, at the Banquet Hall, it was announced that the new motorway in Ghana would be called the George Bush Motorway!! And to show his gratitude for such a gesture, good ol' George promised that the next time he came the roads would not be blocked! What a guy!

Thursday morning, Bush and his entourage depart for Liberia. It's already chaos there, they'll never know the difference!

Fresh Milk!!! and Rabbits

In the States, we don’t drink shelf-stable milk. It’s just un-American! I remember studying in France one summer while I was still at college and being horrified by the boxes of Parmalat milk (and a dozen eggs!!!) left on the kitchen counter of my host family’s home. The bacteria!! Why aren't these things in the fridge for goodness sake, I recall thinking (ok, my thoughts weren't quite so polite, but you get it) The concept of UHT milk just wasn’t one that had yet been embraced by the American public--as far as I know, still hasn't been. Fast-forward 20 years and here I am, once again surrounded by boxes of shelf-stable milk!

I see cows everywhere, or so it seems. So, where's all the milk? Well, it's taken me a year, but I have finally found a source (thank you, ANNIE!!!). Right here, in the heart of Accra, you can visit Nicholas Anang Chaeway, named National Best Urban Farmer in 2006 and get your freshly expressed milk for just 70 pesewas per litre (that's roughly 70 cents per pint). It sure beats 2 bucks a box, I'll tell you that! And, you can actually make yogurt with this milk -- and according to Annie, a whole host of other things, like BUTTER, but I have yet to venture that deeply into dairy processing. But yogurt...this is a big deal to me.

Containers labeled "yogurt" here, are not necessarily real yogurt with live culture...so, we bought a yogurt machine and some yogurt starter from Williams-Sonoma and thought we were set. But, we soon realized that the really good deal we were getting on that UHT milk from the Dip shop wasn't such a good deal at all as it simply would not turn into yogurt no matter how much we tried! But this milk we are getting, fresh from the cow, well, that makes divine yogurt!

Annie also mentioned that this farmer had loads of rabbits, a grasscutter (not sure how to put this into perspective for those of you unfamiliar with this animal...to me, it looked like the cross between a racoon and cheetah -- most often seen totally skinned, flattened like a pizza pie and skewered, and sold roasted on the side of the road!! anyway, I digress!), guinea pigs and dogs, and that her two kids LOVED going there. She gave me typical Ghanaian directions that do not rely on street names and said to call her if I couldn't find it. One day, I had 45 minutes to kill before picking up Chloe from school, so Ben and I set off on the adventure of finding this place, and we succeeded. So, right there in the equivalent of what would be that un-named neighborhood out by the Javitz Center in NYC, is Ghana's National Best Urban Farmer!!

When Ben, our driver, takes us on these little adventures, I'm not quite sure what he thinks. Is it horror? Entertainment? Disbelief? Who knows, but in this particular case, he actually got down from the car and spent quite a lot of time laughing. I'm guessing he was amused. We got a tour and the info we needed about milk collection, decided Chloe should have some rabbits of her own, and promised to be back in a couple of days to buy milk. As promised, Ben showed up with a container and got the 3 litres of milk I ssent him to buy. He was a bit horrified that the milk he got was HOT!! He had assumed we'd be getting milk out of the freezer that we had seen the day of our tour. He didn't understand that it was the unsold milk that went into the freezer waiting for some Dr. to pick it up to make yogurt with!

We've been buying milk for about 4 weeks now, and with Chloe's mid-term break this past week, we decided to take her and her friend, Carmen, for a visit. They had such a great time that the only way to get them to agree to leave was to promise them that they could return the next day! They are both pros at feeding the rabbits, and simultaneously mesmerized and terrified of the cows!

I couldn't get a good shot of it, but Nicholas has a real, live, Heiffer Int'l cow! So, if you ever wonder how your donations to Heiffer Int'l work, I can tell you that in this case, the farmer received his Heiffer Int'l cow and he has to give away any of this cows calves to other farmers. I'm not sure for how long he must do this, but at least for a couple of years. I asked him if he'd rather keep the calf and give away the cow and he said NO WAY!! It would be three years before he could breed and then milk a calf!

We've called a carpenter, taken him to the farm so he could look at the rabbit cages and we are awaiting his estimate on what it would cost to make a cage. As soon as we've got the cage, Chloe will have her very first pet! This is sure to be an adventure for us all.

White Sands

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This is how Chloe and some of her chums spent
their mid-term break. Imagine, a 2 1/2 year old with a mid-term break! Anyway...




It seems that not so long ago, White Sands was a place I'd heard about once or twice-- primarily from the Black Stars' coaches wife, so I knew it was a great place (she has impeccable taste) -- but I just didn't give the place much thought. And then, all of a sudden, in the last several weeks there has been a huge buzz about the place.

As luck would hav it, the exclusive White Sands had become not quite so exclusive. No longer must you ante up a $2000 annual fee, you could simply gather up 4 additional families and split the cost of that membership -- aka the "corporate" membership. What does $400 a year get you? Well, I just had to find out for myself. And lucky me, membership isn't required during the week!

So, on Monday, Fuen, Lorena, Jackie and I, along with our kids and 2 drivers piled into three cars and took the hour and fifteen minute journey out of Accra. It's past Kokobrite, just over by Till's. I knew this place was different just because the road was fully paved THE WHOLE WAY! (For those of us who risk our lives every weekend just trying to access our beach plots at Kokobrite, this is a big deal.) There are sign posts along the way directing you to your destination, but once there, there's not a single sign on the walls or the gates indicating that you have arrived! Oversight? Strategy? Sign not yet finished? Who knows!

Upon entering the gates, we were approached by a good-looking young Ghanaian man dressed in semi-traditional clothing. "Good morning, Madam," he says. "Akwaaba." (That's "welcome" for those of you not schooled in Twi.) "I know YOU are a member, but I see some in your party who are not. You ARE aware of our guest fee of 25 Ghana Cedis per adult, aren't you?" Damn it! We thought that given it was a slow weekday, we'd be able to evade this ridiculous fee. It's essentially only US $25, but when you think that it would be a week's salary for the average Ghanaian, you've got to wonder...And, no, I am NOT a member, but who am I to argue with authority?

To make a long story short, it's the first place in Ghana that I have been to that I can honestly say is up to international standards. Even so, the cost of the rooms is exhorbitant. The standard rooms are suites, about the square footage of a reasonably-sized, relatively affordable one-bedroom Manhattan apartment, but the bathrooms are much nicer than you'd find in such an apartment. Rumored cost/night? $1.000+. Member cost? $200. $200 is probably more reflective of the right price, even still, when you think you are in Africa and you know how cheap the labor is, you still have to wonder...Nevertheless, the grounds were really well-kept -- unusual for this part of the world. The pool was lovely. An eternity style pool that was landscaped in such a way that made you feel like you were sitting on the grass just above the sandy beach (those pics are of the pool). A very spacious, equally well-designed baby pool. Incredibly comfortable lounge chairs with extra-large Santa Barbara umbrellas. Courteous staff to help you with towels, umbrellas and the like.

About an hour into our visit, they came by with "complementary" drinks -- freshly pressed pineapple and ginger. It was divine. Cocktails, coffee, tea, soft drinks and gourmet sandwiches can be brought to you poolside. We were in heaven. We had the whole place to ourselves...until the owner of Captain Hooks and his friend arrived with two local ladies--I'm sure there's a story there somewher!!...and where should they decide to sit in this huge expanse of a place? As close to us as possible...and then they proceeded to grimace when the 5 children that were with us were making noise--as toddlers do.

We spent the whole day in the shade of the umbrellas, with the breeze of the ocean and soothing pool. The kids LOVED it and so did we. The only real drawback is the very odd co-ed changing facilities! Separate showers joined together with a communal "locker room". I suppose we should be thankful that there are showers at all, but strange.

The kids were exhausted and took their naps on the ride back to the city. We are all looking forward to our next visit.