July 19. Kumasi to Tamale

On Monday, Genee and I took a quite comfortable, air-conditioned bus from Kumasi to Tamale, a journey of about 7 hours (although the bus left about an hour late). Unfortunately, we didn’t get to do much in Tamale besides have dinner, as we were told that we would need to be at the bus station by 4am in order to buy a ticket to Mole National Park, our next destination.

July 16 - 18. The Journey North Begins

Today at work I finished composing FAQs on legal issues of importance to women in Ghana. The areas covered were domestic violence, marriage, children’s rights, wills, and intestate succession. Hopefully the FAQs will find their way onto the website soon so that visitors to WiLDAF’s website can put the information to use.

With Duncan as companion and chauffeur, Genee and I set off towards Mole National Park in the northwest of the country. We plan to be about 9 days until returning to Accra, meaning that I’ve had to take almost all my vacation time in one block.

Our first night was spent at an Arboretum a little over half way along the road from Accra to Lake Bosumtwi, a swimmable lake just south of Kumasi created by a meteor impact. In the morning we took a short hike through the forest/jungle and then headed off to the lake, where we stayed in a very nice guesthouse with a private beach. All three of us swam without concern for the dreaded bilharzia parasite, which is something I don’t think we could do anywhere else in the country. It was a beautiful spot, surrounded by lush hillside, with fisherman seemingly paddling their one-person boats with dinner plates. (Apparently there’s a taboo on the normal long-tailed, motorized fishing boats because the lake is considered sacred.)

The next day Duncan dropped us off in Kumasi, Ghana’s second largest city, and historical centre of the Ashanti empire. There Genee and I walked through Western Africa’s largest market, purchasing one belt but passing on the live chickens and one cedi (about 75 Canadian cents) used jeans.

July 15. A Stellar Perfomance at Quiz Night

Today was Genee’s last official day at the Lotus Children’s Centre, although she plans to be back for a visit before leaving Ghana at the end of the month. After work we met up with Duncan and a couple American friends of ours and headed to Champs Bar for Quiz Night. We finished in second place, good enough for a prize of 30 Cedis. On the health front, my leg seems to be getting better slowly.

July 12. A New Diagnosis

Having finally gotten the x-ray of my leg back, the doctor determined that the bone is fine. Instead, it seems like a bunch of blood has seeped out and caused an infection. I’ve been given antibiotics and hopefully that will clear it up soon.

July 11. The Finale

This evening Duncan and I watched the World Cup Final at the British High Commission Club. It was far from a classic, but I found it quite exciting during extra time and the last 15 minutes of regulation. And while I was rooting slightly for the Netherlands I was pretty glad that penalties were avoided.

On the topic, I have another brilliant rule change for FIFA: make extra time sudden-death, and force each team to remove one player every 10 minutes after the original 90 until a goal is scored.

July 10. A Dam Road Trip

Today Genee and I headed off with Duncan for a day-trip eastward toward the Akosombo dam on the Volta river, which is responsible for creating the largest man-made lake in the world. We had lunch at a nice hotel right on the river, and stopped to buy some crafts at a town called Aburi. It was a fun outing, although I had to limp around in order to keep weight off my leg.

On the way home we managed to get lost and stuck in horrendous traffic, so we found a place to pull over and watch the Uruguay-Germany game for third place. After the match we found our way back home in much lighter traffic.

July 7. A Tough Break?

Since the pain in my leg hasn’t gotten any better, and has been responsible for another couple of restless nights, I decided to have it checked out by a doctor. She suspects I may have a small fracture in the fibula (the small bone in the lower leg), and I’ll have an x-ray tomorrow.

July 4. A Bad Night's Sleep

This evening I could hardly sleep because of pain in my right leg. I took a bit of a knock playing football on Wednesday, but didn’t think anything of it. However, it’s become really sore and woke me up about a dozen times as I moved the leg in my sleep.

July 2. The Dream Ends

This evening the country is in mourning as the Black Stars crash out of the World Cup.
The only thing that came between them and the semi-finals was a deliberate handball by Uruguayan striker Luis Suarez – well that and a huge penalty miss from Asamoah Gyan. I feel really badly for the whole team, and I don’t think there’s much doubt that FIFA needs to change the rule so an automatic goal can be awarded if a ball is prevented from crossing the line by a deliberate handball.

In general, Ghanaians seem to have taken the loss pretty well (aside from a few conspiracy theorists who insist without any proof that FIFA is biased against African teams and deliberately tries to cheat them) but it was really quite devastating for the whole country.

On a lighter note I was interviewed on local t.v. yet again before the match. It seems a white guy in a Ghana jersey is ratings gold.

July 1. Two Holidays in One

Canada Day arrived on the first of July this year, so Genee and I were planning to drop by the Canadian High Commission for a celebratory barbeque. Unfortunately, it turned out they had had the celebration the night before, on the 30th of June, perhaps because July 1 is also Ghana’s Republic Day.

Undaunted, we decided to celebrate by eating Kraft Dinner, going for a skate, and making a snow man. Just kidding, of course – although I did find Kraft Dinner on a supermarket shelf.

June 29 - 30. Spousal Property Rights

On Tuesday and Wednesday of this week I attended two seminars put on by WiLDAF on the Property Rights of Spouses Bill, which is currently before Parliament. The aim of both seminars was to educate people about the Bill, and to seek their feedback, which would be collected and passed on to Parliament. On Tuesday the seminar was attended by queenmothers, who are traditional female leaders – although not chiefs – in their local communities. On Wednesday the seminar was repeated for the benefit of artists and members of the actors guild.

The Bill itself is a very progressive piece of legislation which would grant a presumption that joint marital property should be divided 50/50 upon dissolution of marriage. It’s also controversial in that it applies to cohabiting couples, so long as they have lived together in a marriage-like relationship for at least five years. Another interesting aspect of the Bill is that it includes a formula for divvying up property in polygamous marriages, which are still very much legal – although increasingly less common – if the marriage is performed according to customary or Islamic law.

June 28. Bad Hair Day

Today at WiLDAF I began working on creating FAQs for a series of legal topics that impact on Ghanaian women, such as domestic violence, marriage and divorce, and succession. Hopefully these FAQs will make it onto WiLDAF’s website in the near future.

After work today I had my hair cut at a ‘salon’ near work. I imagine they get very few “obruni” customers, so I’ll cut them some slack. In fact, I’m pretty sure it’s not the worst hair cut I’ve ever got in my life. But it definitely is the worst one I’ve ever paid for.

June 27. My Quadrennial Misery Returns

Today England broke my heart yet again. The referee was borderline incompetent, England’s centre backs were appalling, FIFA were revealed to be luddites, and Germany was Germany – disciplined and ruthless and able to rise to the occasion despite few truly world-class players.

June 26. Ghana Suvives, then Celebrates

Today was a great day as Genee returned from another week at her school, and Ghana defeated the U.S. in a thriller, 2-1 in extra time. We watched the game projected onto screens outdoors, with a crowd of about 500. Ghana’s problem has been finding goals, so once the U.S. tied up the game at 1-1 and forced extra time I though penalties were all that could save the Black Stars. But then came a great goal from Asamoah Gyan to send Ghana through to the quarter-finals and set off a crazy party all over Accra. As fans flooded onto the main streets, cars and people swerved wildly around each other on the streets and the sounds of horns and those damn vuvuzelas could be heard until the wee hours.

June 25. A New Assignment

Today I began a project researching domestic violence cases in a selected group of African countries. My task is to find a few that starkly illustrate some aspect of how other countries are faring when it comes to implementing their domestic violence Acts.

Also today saw Spain win to set up the round of 16 matches. Ghana’s side of the draw is actually a very favourable one for a World Cup, while I’m preparing for the worst as England will have to face Germany.

June 24. A Sports Update

Today I finished my speech for the Speaker on health care in Ghana. Also today the All Whites of New Zealand managed, against all odds, to finish their three first round matches without a loss. However, because the hated World Champion Italians couldn’t even manage a tie with Slovakia, New Zealand is eliminated.

In other sporting news – and I report this simply because it’s absolutely laughable and sets a record that is likely never to be broken – American John Isner beat Frenchman Nicolas Mahut 70-68 in the fifth set of their first round match at Wimbledon. It lasted an incredible 11-plus hours and took three days to finish, with the only break of serve since the second set being the margin of victory.

June 23. Deja Vu

At work today I worked on a speech for the Speaker of Parliament to give at an upcoming conference of women Speakers of Parliament. If this sounds familiar to any of my loyal readers, it’s because the Speaker’s topic at the conference has apparently just changed. So now I’m to write a new speech on ensuring universal access to health care and improving service delivery for women and children. Apparently, the earlier speech I wrote on empowering women has come to naught. C’est la vie, I suppose.

This evening Ghana lost 1-0 to Germany. However, thanks to a slight upset win by Australia over Serbia, Ghana goes through as the second place finisher in their group on goal difference. In other World Cup news, the U.S. does it again and pulls out a last-minute win. Combined with England’s 1-0 win over Slovenia, this means the U.S. takes on Ghana in the second round with England looking destined to break my heart once again when they face off with the dangerous Germans.

June 22. Another World Cup Update

Today was proof that the first African World Cup has not been kind to the African teams. South African and Nigeria are officially out, with the highly thought of Cameroon and Cote d’Ivoire sides all but out too. Africa’s hopes seem to be riding on Ghana’s shoulders.

At work this week I was creating a brochure for WiLDAF that may find its way on to the website, and working on creating templates of protection order forms (as, sadly, no prescribed forms currently exist).

June 19. World Cup Update

Today Ghana tied the Australians, missing their chance to book passage to the second round. With the Germans looming as the next opponent, they’ll most likely need at least a draw to progress.