Melrose Place, Accra

Six months in, I'm happy to report, the decision to live in the oh-so-very-un-African Orchid Gardens (aka Melrose Place, Accra) has proven to be a good one. It's true that behind the gated walls of this 36-family enclave we are sheltered from the vast majority of the daily realities of life in Ghana. However, living inside this bubble actually makes venturing outside of it much easier. Knowing that we will return to running water (hot and cold), electricity (even if it goes off and on with a fair amount of frequency), appliances that generally work (we even have a combination washer/dryer that serves double duty as a floor washer every time we launder towels or bed linens), and for Ghana, a reasonable internet connection, makes anything that happens outside of here simply an "adventure". It's kind of like hanging out with other people's kids before you have any of your own...when the going gets too rough, you can always retreat back to your own space, sans enfants!

Anyway, the picture below, left, is taken from the playground...note the sand and the rubber tire border. The cream wall with black iron gates surrounds the swimming pool area. The veranda will be a bar at some point. (One of the residents works for the spirits division of Guiness, so they will be supplying the beverages, and will be in charge of hiring the barman and running the operation!! whoopie...add a little G&T to the Thursday afternoon playgroup with God's Willing and we'll be set!!) The next structure you see is actually our house! Or townhouse, I guess. It's actually a two family dwelling.

There are 18 such buildings scattered around the grounds. We live in the new section--which opened February 2007. The old section, which is behind the person taking the photograph, opened in August 2006. The veranda is where I teach my vinyasa yoga class on Tuesday nights. We've got the French coach (Claude) of the Black Stars (the national soccer team) living here--when his wife, Eva is in town from Paris, she comes to yoga!! Liz, the Danish consul lives here, too. But that's it for "local celebs"!

The usual suspects are:
Fuen and Miguel from Madrid/London with their 2-year-old Carmen and 5-month-old Miguel.
Lorena and Giacomo from Milan with their 8-month-old Frederico.
Amanda and ??? from South Africa with their 3-month-old boy and 5-year-old Electra (who comes knocking at my door looking for me, and questioning my nanny, Stella about my whereabouts if I'm not in!)
Johanna and ??? also from South Africa with their 5-year-old girl Rulene and 7-year-old boy, Ruen.
Lina and Annas from Denmark with their 5-month old boy and 3-year-old Anna Mia
Stefanie and Andreas also from Denmark with 1-year-old Storm and 3-year-old Thorbjoern (Tobian)
Come September, we will be re-joined by Inga and Alejandro from Peru with their 10-month old little boy.

The point of all that was just to show that while it's not exactly African -- there is one Ghanaian who lives across from me... She's a total riot! If she weren't so busy being a lawyer and being very involved in the Rotary Club, I'd definitely be spending more time with her! And a lady from Cameroon who lives on the other side of our townhouse -- but she's very stand-off-ish...must be the French!! Hee hee! Anyway, while it's not the typical Ghana experience, neither is it exactly "American" either. In fact there is only one other American couple in Orchid Gardens and they are much older, and we rarely see them because she's back in the States a lot and he's traveling for work. It's a terrific place for Chloe -- there's always someone to play with. It's a great place for me -- even if I'm feeling stuck at home, I can go outside and find any number of people who I know, and actually enjoy being with, too. I really do feel lucky because this definitely isn't the same kind of situation as the "mommies in the park" in manhattan.

God's Willing

For as many inconveniences as we have here in Ghana, I am certain that there are an equal number of completely unexpected blessings. One of these blessings is God's Willing. And, no I'm not getting all spiritual on you or anything.

God's Willing, pictured here, is a lovely lady who is also a door-to-door pedicurist. Those are Fuen's toes she working on! What does such a luxury cost?, you might ask...a whopping 60,000 cedis -- roughly $6.50, or $13 for a mani/pedi.

Ok, you Manhattan and LA girls...perhaps that's not such a bargain for y'all as there's a Korean nail shop on nearly every corner and you can get a mani/pedi for $20, but here it feels like one of the few affordable things, that also happens to be completely luxurious.

I had heard of this mysterious woman named God's Willing pretty early on in my stay here, but I never was able to find out how to reach her! And, then, one day, a kind soul text messaged me her number. We've been good friends ever since. With God's Willing, I mean. Said kind soul has left Ghana, as most expats do, eventually.

It seemed such a shame that God (which is how the security guards announce her when she arrives at the gates of Orchid Gardens!), was spending so much time traveling from neighborhood to neighborhood making her house calls. Taxis would be too expensive for her, so she would be using tro tros (the local, privatized equivalent of public transportation), which are not only dangeous -- tro tro drivers are just horrendous drivers, but also thoroughly unpleasant (at least from an obruni's perspective--I'd prefer a crowded NYC rush-hour subway car any day!). So, Thursday afternoon playgroup at Orchid Gardens was born!

What's that?, you say! What does a playgroup have to do with polished nails and pushed back cuticles? Well, numbers my dear friends! Where there is a playgroup, there are captive mommies. Let me rephrase that...at the Orchid Gardens playgroup, there are captive mommies (yes, dear reader, even in Accra, it seems as thought the vast majority of playgroups seem to be nanny-driven and the only mommy in sight is the host mommy!). But not to worry your freshly painted toes...there are plenty of nannies around to make sure that your little one doesn't get into too much trouble before your mani/pedi is good and dry!

The beauty (no pun intended) of this arrangement is that 1.) the women who bring their kids to the playgroup and partake in God's Willing's services are actually totally normal women that are fun and interesting! Definitely not the super high-maintenance gals you might be envisioning. No, THOSE ladies are sending their kids off to the nanny-directed playgroup, so they can go sit at the salon and kvetch about the total "ineptitude" of their staff ("My idiot cook didn't buy ice for the FROZEN margaritas! What did he think frozen meant?" -- I'm not kidding, these folks are amongst us!!). And, 2.) God's Willing makes out like a bandit!

Come to think of it...God is coming tomorrow! Can't wait!

Insurance for the Insurance!!

Who knew we'd need so much insurance?

We have United Healthcare -- that covers us in the States, and technically, we can submit our medical bills from Ghana to them for 80% reimbursement. However, seeing the types of receipts we get here, it's unlikely that any US health insurance will accept them!

We have International SOS -- this is for medical evacuation in the event that we can't be treated here in Ghana...and basically, even though we are in the capital city of Accra, the likelihood that we could be adequately treated in the case of any real emergency is pretty slim.

So, as of today, we also have the services of WARA (West African Rescue Association). If you come visit, you too, can have there services (they'll charge you for a month, but at $50/month/family...not such a bad deal). What does WARA do? Well, they essentially take the place of all medical emergency services that would normally be provided by local ambulances and emergency rooms. They are a German company and provide German-trained paramedics and German-built ambulances and imported first aid equipment and supplies. And you can only register for their services if you are already insured by someone else!

The key is to bypass, at all costs, the emergency room of even the best hospitals here in Accra (Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital and 37th Military Hospital, in case you were curious). The state of medical treatement in Ghana is a sorry one. Payment comes first -- ALWAYS. Yes, even if you are bleeding to death, or otherwise on your deathbed. So, the paperwork must be completed, your cash must be handed over -- what??? you mean you weren't carrying 5 million cedis (approx. US $550) on you at the time of your unfortunate accident? What a shame! Perhaps you can call someone to go to the bank and get the money for you? Oh, it's after banking hours? That's OK, they can go to the ATM that will allow withdrawals of up to 600,000 cedis each with a max of 4 a day. Oh, wait, that won't cover your bill? I guess you'll just have to bleed to death! Or, call several people who will all be willing to withdraw their own cash for you...

Anyway, so WARA has accounts at all the main hospitals and clinics, so that if you show up in their ambulance with their paramedics, you won't have to deal with that bullshit--the hospital/clinic just gets their money directly from WARA. But the best part is that the WARA paramedics will stabilize you and basically get you prepped to see whatever specialist you need...and they have relationships with all the "best" health providers in the country...and yes, there are some good ones!

If you're out in the boonies of Ghana, they will come get you by helicopter or a "fixed wing". If you need to be med-evaced out of the country, they will work with your insurance provider (International SOS for us) to deal with all that. And, they will bill your insurance provider directly for their services. I was actually in their offices today, getting information and registering when they were mobilizing the helicopter to go get someone that had been in a mining accident. It was terrific to see how quickly they could get their shit together. It was horrifying to learn that the slowdown was actually the local doctor in the boonies who was taking care of the patient..."paperwork" would have to be done before they would release the patient to WARA!!

If you don't have an emergency, but you're feeling ill...they have a 24-hour nurse's line AND they will recommend the appropriate Dr. for you AND facilitate the appointment or house call!!

So, let's say you're driving down the Cape Coast Road for a beach weekend. Your driver is at the wheel and you get sideswiped by a tro-tro (local means of transport) and fall off the side of the road and you are all injured. Someone calls WARA (there are decals all over your car telling them to do so) and the ambulance or helicopter comes to your rescue...what happens to your driver? Is he just left by the side of the road since he isn't technically covered by WARA? Well, their answer is that their paramedics won't just leave them there without any attention. Their paramedics will do what they can there at the scene, but essentially, the driver will not be put on a WARA ambulance or helicopter or fixed wing. WARA will, however, call the local ambulance company to the scene--which sounds lovely, but I'm sure you can imagine how this plays out. I wonder if the local paramedics demand payment before hoisting you up into their ambulance???

WARA realizes that this is a sensitive issue. So, what they are doing, as far as community outreach goes, is training local paramedics and emergency room staff at the local hospitals. I guess with any luck, a local ambulance will come to your driver's rescue carrying WARA-trained paramedics!

Raindrops keep falling on my head...

Actually, we've been extraordinarily lucky and the raindrops have patiently waited until we, and our belongings, are tucked away safely into our air-conditioned lair!

Since our arrival in January, we've heard STORIES about rainy season. Since our arrival, we've kept hearing "soon, the rains will come"...but never a definitive answer as to when "soon" would be. I'm not 100% certain that rainy season is actually here, but it IS raining RIGHT NOW! And, it did rain last night. And, it rained the first Monday we were back in Accra after a couple of weeks in the States in March. And, it also rained the day I took the picture to the left.
(This picture was taken standing on the balcony of our bedroom. The buildings you see are the other houses in Orchid Gardens.)

The best thing about these rains, is that their timing is perfect.

That Monday in March? Well, that was the day our long-awaited container was delivered. You could feel the moisture in the air. You could see the clouds heavy with water. But it hadn't yet rained, after all those months of warnings. Even on days that it looked and felt like it would rain, it didn't. It may have rained elsewhere. I know it rained as close as a mile away. But here, in the Melrose Place of Accra, Orchid Gardens? Nope, not a drop! When the last of the boxes were put in their respective rooms, the delivery men dashed (tipped), and the back of the truck closed up, the heavens opened and there was a bonafide downpour! Our neighbors weren't so lucky...their container delivery pulled into the driveway at that exact moment! It rained for hours! And, their truck waited for hours!

Today, Brent's piano was being delivered. Seriously. A piano. In Ghana. Needless to say, they don't exactly have piano moving specialists here. I so wish that I had gotten pictures of this, but the poor men were all about to have a heart attack and a thoughtless obruni getting her photo-op might just have sent them over the edge. The piano technician, from whom Brent had purchased the piano, the "piano mover", our driver, one of the "compound's" maintenance workers and one of the gardeners and another unidentified man did the heaving. The minute this group disbanded, the waterfall began! So the backdrop to the piano technician's tuning was the pitter-patter of raindrops!

Maybe the secret to getting more water in these here parts is just to schedule some event that would come to a complete halt if it were to rain. And more rain is really needed. Water is a big issue here. The country is full of rivers. The north gets plenty of rain. But still, a huge percentage of people don't have water. Well, technically, many here in the capital city have the ability to have running water in their homes. There just isn't any. All during dry season, you see big huge water trucks pulling into gated driveways, filling up the water tanks that are there specifically to fill the void. All during dry season, you also see 6, 7, 8 year-old boys and girls carrying the ubiquitous school-bus-yellow water barrels with red tops on their heads, walking and walking and walking in search of water. Often, they return home empty-barrelled. The water bill collector comes, however, even when the water doesn't.

Thursday, we caught our driver filling up these plastic yellow containers using the hose, that the gardener left for him, attached to the spigot in the back of our house. Six of them to be exact. Clearly, Orchid Gardens is one of those gated drives that opens its doors to the large water trucks! We didn't stop him. But once his own car was loaded up, I had to go outside and tell him that he really shouldn't do that, lest someone see him and cause an uproar. And then he made use of the new word I taught him the other day: to sneak! "I'd better sneak out here, then!!" And off he went. Who could blame him, really? When he sees the insane amount of water that the gardeners use every day keeping the grass in the compound green and the flowers blooming at the same time that local Ghanaians can't even find water to buy to keep themselves or their homes clean. And to think that we get upset when the water pressure is low.