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August 31 2005
Wechiau Hippo Sanctuary
Ghana, Africa
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Dear Supporters;
Temperatures are wonderfully cool for us in Wechiau this month (22ºC/70ºF), and it has been mild enough for me to be indulging in a few warm bucket baths by adding a kettle of hot water to the icy container. Knowing what to expect from the weather for the remainder of the year, this is definitely my favorite season!
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The rainy season brings a flurry of activity among the local residents who are busy with their daily subsistence farming activities. Using just a rough hand-sculpted, short-handled hoe, they plow, till, plant, and weed the land. People grow corn, millet, rice, groundnuts (peanuts), beans and yams. There are days when you can go to a village and find not one single adult at home; all are applying themselves to their survival for another year.
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In Wechiau, we are impatiently waiting for the blessing of the new yam harvest. Nobody is allowed to eat new yams until they have first been blessed by a particular family and sampled by the Paramount chief, our Wechiau-Naa. With only two or three items on our local menu, the removal of one food option is felt greatly indeed!
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Hippo viewing declines at this time of year as the Black Volta swells and many temporary hippo wallows form. Try as they might, the guides and boatmen are hard pressed to locate our pod on any given day, and many tourists leave without catching a glimpse of the soggy creatures. Still, the rainy season birds are wonderful, and the river safari is a pleasant experience in the reduced heat.
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| Schools close for about 5-weeks at this time of year. We organized Hippo Sanctuary prize-giving ceremonies at each of our primary schools to coincide with the end of this term. These school assemblies are familiar and foreign at the same time. Desks are dragged outside and organized into a circle under a shade tree. Children press in from all sides, some standing, some sitting, in an effort to participate in the proceedings. Those who get in the way are kept in line with the sting of a switch. Though in standard school attire, the children are anything but uniform. Some wear clothes that are many sizes too large and some too small; others have broken zips or bits of string holding their outfits together. Some wear shoes or ‘slippers’ (flip flops), while others go barefoot. At these ceremonies, we provided the students, teachers, and parents with a lively talk on the Hippo Sanctuary and then shared prizes to the students who had the best results for this year. Wildlife booklets and Calgary Zoo t-shirts were given for top honours.
A fresh and exciting school-twinning project, between two schools at the Hippo Sanctuary and two schools in Calgary, has been evolving since January of this year. Class letters, stories and pictures were received from Calgary at the end of June, and we have just posted a return set back to Canada. Children are so genuine and sincere; it is wonderful to sneak a peek at their words and drawings. The contributions are so utterly different from the opposite shores, it makes me wonder what the children are able to make of it all.
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Our newest Hippo Sanctuary primary school is gradually taking shape. The foundation has been dug and the walls are now going up. Construction work here is incredible to witness. Everything is done by hand…the fetching of water and other materials to site, the bending of steel, and the mixing of cement. Communities send virtually anyone that is able to work, which means that old men and young children become the most unlikely of labourers.
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In early July, we welcomed the arrival of 240 lighting systems for the Wechiau Lighting Initiative. This is our ‘Phase I’, which aims to outfit the ten most needy communities within the Sanctuary lands. Unfortunately, with this being the toughest time of year for residents, the minimal tariff fees have been trickling in slowly. Because we understand that the process will take as long as it takes, this has not been of concern thus far; we know that the coming months will be more prosperous for all.
After a reported 10-year absence, a species of fruit eating bat has returned to the Hippo Sanctuary. The massive congregation has taken up residence in several silk cotton trees. If you have ever witnessed a colony of fruit bats, you will know how loud and dramatic the experience can be. The beating of hundreds of wings sounds like an approaching storm and the chorus of cries reminds me of a crowded market. Of course, the Sanctuary Rangers have been busy educating the villagers on the importance of not hunting the flying mammals. So far; so good. We welcome their reforestation assistance!
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| My travel adventures continue to be rugged tests of determination here in Ghana. This month, the crowning glory was my most recent journey from Wechiau to Accra. The saga began on the first leg of the trip when the skies opened on my motorcycle and me. Because I had a bus to catch, I soldiered on, though the dirt road had become greasy and hazardous. I passed a dilapidated taxi with bald tyres and two well-dressed women who were trying to slide the vehicle back onto the road. I didn’t stop. Traveling the speed of a tortoise, it took me a full hour of arm gripping riding and, by the time I reached the bus park, I was soaked to the bone. |
On the road to Accra
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| I had just thirty minutes until departure, an important chief to deal with, and several other logistical obstacles. When I tried to re-locate my bag of dry clothes, it had vanished. I climbed onto the bus in what I was wearing, making sure to ring out my shirt thoroughly as I boarded. I am able to testify that wet jeans take seven hours to dry - if you exclude the waistline - and that the body heats faster if you have fuel in the engine. I shivered and shook until we reached our rest stop, five hours later, where I was able to enjoy my first meal of the day…hot, spicy soup with yam fufu. With the boy behind me coughing tuberculosis and the woman beside me stretching out as if she had paid for both of our seats, I had a sleepless night. We arrived in Accra as the sun was rising, and I was happy to know that I had survived another of Ghana’s road trials.
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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 |
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