Dear supporters,

It's been awhile since I sent my last report from Ghana, Africa. I hope that you will enjoy this update on the goings on at the Wechiau Hippo Sanctuary. By the way, if you would like to see any of my earlier reports, you can look at them in the Archive section.

Enjoy, and thanks again for your support!

Donna Sheppard
Calgary Zoo
Ghana, West Africa

February 28th, 2006
Wechiau Hippo Sanctuary
Ghana, Africa

Dear Supportors;
 

Things continue to improve for me as the year rolls along.  I am now the proud owner of a kitchen and a car!  Yes, my life has been transformed in Accra.  By the end of the month, I was able to move my fridge from out of the living room and to stop my endless bargaining with taxi drivers.  The freedom provided me through the possession of my own wheels has completely altered my Accra experience.  I can go where I want, when I want (perhaps a bit of an exaggeration, of course I still have to join the traffic cue like everybody else).  I can do more and enjoy world news from the BBC at the same time.  It all feels so wonderfully civilized.


Operating a vehicle here can hardly be compared with what we call driving in Canada.  The rules of the road are organic.  They do exist, but to learn them you have to watch others and copy their tricks rather than take any sort of driving proficiency test.  Of course, it is possible to obtain a Ghanaian driver’s license, however, it is really no more than a bribe (known locally as a ‘dash’) and then the prospective driver has to wait months for the paperwork to be ready.


It is a rare day indeed that I find myself with the need to shift out of 2nd gear.  Undeniably, there are some paved roads, and even several motorways, but they are surrounded by lumpy, bumpy dirt roads that force you to creep along or drive at rather jaunty angles that at first seem totally unnatural.  It can be unnerving to avoid all of the hawkers, pedestrians, bikes and mopeds, but the best method is to trust that they will move for you.  Number one rule of the road: the biggest object has the right of way!  And if that fails, number two rule: just keep sounding your horn!!

This month has included some preliminary work into the creation of a community-managed sanctuary for the Western sitatunga in the wetlands of southern Ghana.  A small team of social and biological scientists ventured to the Volta Region to explore the Avu Lagoon wetlands complex.  Established as a Ramsar Convention site in 1988, little real enforcement has been possible.  If the area is to be protected at all, it will have to come from the residents themselves.

Comprised of subsistence farmers and fishers, the local people are consuming their natural resources at a rate that cannot possibly be sustained in the long term.  Fish harvested from the lagoon are no bigger that your hand and immature fig stands are burnt and harvested for firewood every day.  If livelihoods are lost here, the future generations will migrate to the big city and join us in the traffic cues in Accra.

For a week, we established parameters surrounding the human and natural environments of the proposed reserve area.  We met with chiefs and communities and we traveled by dugout on the various channels and marshy waterways.  We interviewed hunters and observed evidence of sitatunga presence.  I returned to Accra with my own little souvenir, in the form of dozens of grass mite bites all over my body.  These little creatures don’t hurt at all when biting - in fact you don’t notice a thing.  In the middle of the night however, I found myself raking at my skin with reckless abandon.  It terms of itch-factor, these bug bites rate among the worst I have ever experienced.  We will return for a longer stint in March to continue this collaborative research and I will be bringing my tall Wellington boots!

Traditional believers in the area are profoundly spiritual.  River spirits are worshipped and codes of human conduct are determined to appease these gods.  Physical evidence, in the form of shrines, was found in every settlement.  We participated in libation-pouring ceremonies and learned about the hunting and fishing taboos.  We were treated to local village hospitality, enjoying fresh coconut water and sugarcane bush gin (the former being the preferred option for the softer palate).  It is always remarkable to be given gifts by people who are just struggling just to feed themselves from day to day.

I tend to put blinders on and focus head-forward on the work at hand.  At times though, I pause to honestly examine the lives of the surrounding people.  Basic rural life in Ghana is appallingly difficult.  In this wetlands area, the terrain is such that few roads can be constructed due to seasonal flooding.  As a result, inhabitants must walk or paddle to their destinations.  People lead extremely physical lives as they work the land and the waters.  Feet are tough as leather and nobody seems to have an ounce of fat on their bodies.  Middle-aged men have the chiseled bodies of 20-year-old athletes.  It is hard to believe that these individuals will never experience even the most basic of comforts that much of the world’s population takes for granted - never to sleep on a bed in their entire lifetime, for example.  It is wonderful to have the opportunity to interact with these people, but it is a real stretch for me to imagine myself in their shoes.

Meanwhile, back at Wechiau, the ‘Heather Graham’ primary school is nearing completion and the Wechiau Lighting Initiative is on a steady forward course.  By the end of February, the school construction crew had completed the roof and are now facing minor finishing work including the cementing of the floor, construction of the outhouse and latrine, and basic landscaping.  Simultaneously, the lighting crew has continued to install lights in Hippo Sanctuary villages.  More than 30 new systems were erected this month, and the lighting payments just keep rolling in.  People have reported that the lights are so good that their homes ‘look like a city now’.  With a visit pending from Canadian Hydro’s Manager of Business Developing and Marketing, Steve O’Gorman, we will have much to share with him on the success of the solar lighting initiative.  Though the temperature in March is the hottest of the year, we hope to put Steve to work in at least one or two field installations to complete his lighting experience - from design to implementation to installation.

Of course, there is more to life than just work, and I have been slowly expanding my wardrobe to include African styles appropriate for ‘office ladies’ in Accra.  African wax prints are a typical fashion statement worn by Ghanaian women.  Not to be confused with batik or tie & dye, African wax prints are, to the untrained fashion-conscious observer, a seemingly strange combination of colour and image.  The fabrics come in established patterns and each one has its own name.  Some designs are old and the fabrics have been in circulation for many, many years.  Others have more recent origins.  A print that includes large birds among circles and lines is called ‘money can fly’, another called ‘ABC’ has all of the letters of the alphabet arranged in obscure patterns all over the print.  A recent design, known as ‘kiss the bride’, is named after a popular song playing on the airwaves here.

After looking at these patterns for more than two years, there is only one that I really like.  It is a mixture of red, blue and green.  When you get up close, you will see that there are birds and trees all over the cloth.  Obviously I have good taste, as I discovered while hunting for it all over our massive Makola Market in downtown Accra.  I learned that it is known as an old print traditionally worn by the wealthy women of Accra.  It is called ‘sweeping Makola’, and refers to the fact that Makola market is so grand that it would never need to be swept…it is perfect already!  Once I get a dress sewn from my bolt of fabric, I will be sure to forward a picture of my colourful African self.
 
Donna Sheppard
Conservation Outreach, Calgary Zoo
In Association with NCRC and the Wechiau Community Hippo Sanctuary
Box 569, Wa, Upper West Region, Ghana, West Africa