L&A Memorial School

Yesterday we did a tour of the school that Japhet's organization has been building. The school is a tribute to the memory of his parents and this will eventually be pilot site for integrating a health clinic into the school. Currently there is a shortage of funding so the building is half complete.

There are about 400 students from nusery school to 8th grade. The school is ranking very well in Accra. I was talking to some of the teachers about the school system in Ghana. The public school system is in tact but does not offer a decent quality of education. For a student to have hope for a bright future and a college education, the private schools really prepare them better which seems to be the same globally.

I met up with Jean who is the french teacher there and he is giving me lessons to brush up on my French before I head north to Burkina. I also had a chance to practice with some of his eager students (2 boys pictured). My Ghanaian sister Lilian is also pictured looking out from the school room door.

We also had another chance to visit with the Mayor of Accra (He, Japhet and Lilian pictured). He delivered an inspiring message to the students from the Bronx to use this experience to carry forth good things in their lifes and let the world know about Ghana. I have to say--I was hesitant at first to travel with these 18 to 20 year old students. They were each honors students who were able to come on this trip based on Merit and desire. It was interesting to witness them processing some of the realities of Africa and comparing it to their world. I think a wonderful experience for them.

Cape Coast GHANA

Hello All,
Two days ago, we did a quick little day trip to Cape Coast which is 2-3 hours west of Accra on the southern Coast of Ghana. Its a nice town with more of a coastal feel to it. The first stop was Kakum National Park. It is one of the few remaining rain forests in Western Africa. The mist of the rainforest reminded me of home and was a welcome shift from the dry heat. A group of foreign enigeers teamed up with some Ghanian engineers to make a group of rope bridges that traverse the canopies of the forest. They are seven plank and rope bridges that are only large enough for one person to go single file. Walking above the forest was a wonderful experience and seeing the tops of lush trees, wandering butterflies and soaring birds instantly calmed me and left me serene and peaceful for most of the day. The educational center was a great way to emphasize how the destruction of the rainforests are damaging the ecosystem.

After a brief stop at a crocodile farm where I fell in love with the frenzy of the nesting rituals of the Ghanian Yellow Bird, we headed off to Elmina Castle where the slaves were held before being sent off to the New World. It was a large castle and fort built in the 1600's that many Europeans had tried to gain control of(the Danes, Swedes, Dutch,Brits, Portuguese) . It finally was acquired by the British and used for the slave trade.

The origins of the slave trade are interesting. Apparently when the Ghanaian Kings were warring the winning king of the battle acquired the remaining soldiers of the losing side. These were the first slaves sent to the coast and traded for weapons and supplies. Once the demand increased and it was apparent that this was a lucrative opportunity, African middle man began capturing people and marching them to the coast (yes literally capturing them like animals) and they would arrive at this castle. There were two major slave trade movements--one was transatlantic and one trans-saharian. The trans atlantic movement of people had an immense impact on the population and some say the development of Africa.



Once here, they were shaven, bathed and oiled and prepared for sale. There were two types of slaves-domestic and manual labor force. They were separated by gender and kept in 2 dungeons that were dark with a recessed perimeter for the feces and urine to collect. There was a small window (more like a hole) at the top of the chamber where food and water were thrown in. The water was so little and would fall on their heads that some people would suck it off the hair of the others. They were moved from chamber to chamber as they were being prepared for sale and shipment. The sick ones would remain in the dungeon while the stronger ones were moved forth.

The last door they would pass through is called "The door of no return". I walked through that door and felt an immense amount of sadness. To think that once passed through this passage, they were sent to a land that they did not know and left behind all their people, customs and beliefs.

On the journey, if a woman was discovered to be pregnant or if food was scarce on the ship, they would throw a few slaves overboard to the sharks. It was common that sharks would follow the ship most of its journey since they knew food could easily be found.

As I continue to discover more about the slave trade, I am overcome with grief and unable to imagine how people could treat our fellow brothers and sisters like animals on a mass scale. There are two thoughts on the impact of slavery on the development of Africa. In total it is estimated that in the 4 and a half centuries of trans-Atlantic slave trade some 6 million Africans were transported away from Africa. How could a continent be able to prosper with that much of the strong, healthy and able population removed. From a genetic point of view, what does that do to the remaining population of non-healthy people and how does this correlate to some of the diseases we see? Another point of view--asks if the continent is having difficult developing now, how would it have done with the added population (implying that it would have been worse off than it is today which I don't personally agree with).

I am interested in comparing the slave trade impact in Ghana with the other large coastal port of Dakar when I get there. I hope sharing these facts and stories with you will help us all be aware of the consequences and inhumanity of slavery on a more personal level. I have included a few pics of the ominous clouds over the castle (I thought very appropriate).

Obuasi Ghana

A few days ago, I took a long bumpy bus ride from Accra north to Obuasi where the Ashanti Gold Mine is located. Ghana is famous for its gold and the Ashanti Gold Mine was an interesting example of a private sector initiative to control malaria.

Essentially, for the terms of a merger with Ashanti Gold and Angloashanti Gold (South African component) they promised to commit to reducing malaria in the local community. In 2005 they had a baseline of 6000 plus cases per month and daily a worker was falling sick. It is more of an investment in human resources and as they claim a legacy to the locals.

Its an integrated program with a large amount of monitoring and evaluation including 20, 000 houses sprayed twice a year. With 3 million dollars of initial infrastructure development in 40 districts, it has proven to be pretty successful. They began with a concerted effort of educating the people and taking to various community leaders. Its a sensitive issues since the workers really need to enter every corner of a person's home.

They were looking to reduce the incidence and life expectancy of the mosquito and also collected mosquitoes to understand exactly which ones are being targeted and which ones are becoming resistant to some the spraying. Based on this, they decide what kind of Mosaic group of pesticides to use next.



Overall, it seems like a good effort taken from the Private sector to fill some gaps where the public sector can not. The major con of this program is that only those living within the camps of the minors are benefiting from this. The rest of the communities and the outskirts of the mining community are still facing immense issues with Malaria.

After meeting with the Epidemiologists and Malaria team members, I took a tour of the gold mine which was pretty interesting--I suited up with a headlamp, smock, rubber boots and oxygen tank and headed down 420 meters into a cold,damp, drafty shaft. It reminded me of the Scooby Doo episodes I watched as a kid where ghosts were being chased through the railways and carts of a gold mine. They have lots of safety measures in place that ensure the safest working environment for the miners but it still seemed like a horrible job.

I asked around a little about the profits generated for the mine and how much compensation was given to those tribes who originally owned the land. This is one of the only mines that was originally mined by the locals...of course no one had any comments on the distribution of the wealth generated by this and the mining tour guides were really evading my questions--seeing that I was going underground with them, I decided to not probe too much.

Overall a very fun and interesting experience! After the mine tour I met with the mayor of Obuasi.

We then headed off to a village to hang mosquito nets and also to meet some children at a local school. The children were asking so many questions and all of them wanted to touch my hair.

Accra Ghana--Here we go!

I'm officially on a continent I know very little about. From what I have seen so far the people are as warm as the sun. On the plane, I met a retired man who has a Health and Eduacation Foundation based in New York that works to improve the lives of children in Ghana.We had a great dinner together (he is pictured in the photo)



This man worked for JP Morgan Chase for many many years and retired when Septemeber 11th took away his office. He decided to use his contacts to build a school in Accra and quickly realized that lack of an institution for school was the least of these children's problems. They were not attending school regularly because of being ill frequently or having to stay behind at home to care for a sick family member. He decided to open a clinic inside the school for the families and the children to see how that improved attendance. Sure enough, it did. You can read more about the organization at the website (Click here) and feel free to donate to the cause...it's legitimate and a great organization!

Although there is a government health scheme here where any family can purchase a card for about 10 USD a year, many people still do not enroll in the health care because of the money and time to go to large health care centers in the city. When Ghana gained its independence 50 years ago, the first president wanted to show off his power and desire to help the people. So, he built large palacial health centers in the city that are inaccessible for some. Moreover, the population has changed in the past 50 years--both the demographics and the urban/rural spread.

He recognized Malaria as being the greatest preventable reason for students to miss school. Although many families had mosquito nets, many did not use them. Mainly, the mosquito nets provided by the local NGO's are box shaped and do not cover those who sleep on mats on the floor. Also, the directions are in English, French and Chinese but nothing to assist the illiterate woman who uses one of the 14 tribal dialects. Also, the color white represents death (as in many cultures) so many people feel a ghost is hanging over them.

He has organized a group of CUNY Global Health Students to go into some villages and help educate the people to tie up the nets properly etc. He has asked that I join on this trip. There are some 14 students that live in Harlem and most of them are children of immigrants from all over the world. Sounds like fun and also we would get to go visit the gold mines and see the mining company's set up for Malaria prevention.

So far, Accra is similar to India (I can't believe how many Indian clothes are for sale in the markets)....there is a thirst here that I can't pinpoint. The soil is so orange, you feel so close to the sun and there is a constant feel of dust.

Ok more to come! Here is a pic of my little bag I am doing this two month trip with and some of my initial photos.

This is what "its" all about....

“Its” all about sharing lives with other lives like fingers interlocking. Letting souls of people comingle and explore one another through the words you share. Divulging your secrets to those you barely know, with an innate trust. This allows your words to melt together without judgment and evaluation.“Its” about making someone understand the things that you have experienced; the fires that warmed you when you were erupting goose bumps in countries where you had nothing in common with the soil; nothing that could be conveyed in a spoken language or a classroom. Introductions without physical meetings-the people who share your life with you to the people who became your family, and in turn, you became theirs. How many brothers, mothers, grandfathers, uncles and sisters I have had? I would say far too many to count, but not far too many.

Having lived on the same earth and having heard the same sound echo-the convergence of one pinpoint moment in time where two, three or thousands of lives have all had this experience with different backgrounds and soundtracks…In many parts of the world amidst bombings, tears, ice, and storms.

Some share “it” through art--each brushstroke bringing the viewer into an emotion, a time, a memory- where colors converged to express that moment. Words have their limitations-confined and construed by grammar and semantics; but color seizes no rules-No beats and no rhythms. Only a person who has experienced the same quandary or emotion in some form or another can understand the meaning of the mixing colors, shading of the values, contrasting and comparing.

Then, there are those who measure....for the entirety of their lives. The timekeepers that count down the seconds. The scientists are inquisitive- in search of theories and explanations to that which will remain unknown. They seek to understand the amount in which "it" varies from the next.

The “measurers” are not to be confused with the "do"ers; Who keep themselves busy, like the bees in a hive. They are keeping pace with the pony at the local county fair; going around and around in circles till they are fed and given a furlough. Are they able to comprehend the esteemed thirst for magic they satisfy for the irreproachable hearts that enjoy them? Can they see they are a component in life like a wheel that keeps life moving, some more lubricated than others

The “sharers”, “artists”, “measurers” and “do”ers all combine efforts to deepen our understanding of life because each of us embody a part of them. When the sun sets and the stars shine, the people in your life that take the time to listen and understand the unspoken ideas and the complex portrait of emotions that come with these ideas….those are the people that make the sunshine in ways you could have only dreamed of, no matter how dark your world may seem. Those are the friends you keep, the people you miss, the only stories that are worth telling; if not to share them with these people-the experience was barely worth having. That’s what “its” all about.

World Insect Museum and my New Best Friend Manop

On the recommendation of dear Ramesh, I ended up spending a few hours today in an eccentric little museum of a man who dedicated his life to mosquitoes,nature, and the power of art and beauty that keeps the world in balance.

I pulled up to the house-turned museum in a tuk-tuk and was swiftly greeted by a little old man with a smiling soul. He asked where I came from and happily escorted me into his quirky little museum. Housed inside is a collection of insects (with a specific interest on mosquitoes), artwork, natural wonders, Manop's random thoughts, scientific and historical data and artifacts, and relics of 80 some odd years of a man and his wife dedicating themselves to classifying mosquitoes in Thailand.

I can't begin to describe the wonderous things inside--so I'll just name a few.. There is a collection of termite art where wood modified by termite holes would be titled "dog and bird"--(one really had to reach to the cobwebbed realms of your imagination to see what Manop saw). The walls inside housed his artwork influenced heavily by Thailand's Buddhism, awesome use of color and shape, mosquitoes, balance with the world and of course the power of nature. There was a room dedicated to Malaria, Dengue, and Filariasis which was a random smattering of diagrams from text books, Manop's typed thoughts on the subject, and labelled field notes and scientific specimens along with the story of when he almost died of malaria as a young boy after forced relocation due to political instability caused by the Japanese Army.

After the tour, I spent a few hours picking Manoj's brain about what he thought were the major barriers of taming the malaria epidemic. He spoke of the appropriate uses of DDT and how we needed to be using it inside the home and not diluting it and spreading it outside the home. He thinks that ecosystems harmonize themselves and if we truly understood the disease from a larger standpoint of not just host, we would be able to figure out exactly where to do an effective intervention that was not based on chemicals. He cited the lack of confidence in the mind body connection as a barrier to cure and the medical establishment and drug companies pushing medicines. He also talking about the political barriers to malaria and how governments sensationalize the problem into being bigger than it is.

We talked about the force of nature and how modern medicine is trying to change things like creation (cloning) and aging. I helped him edit a story he was working on for the museum. He told me to come back anytime and please stay at the museum next time. It was one of my favorite experiences in Thailand so far to meet a man so gently fusing nature, science and his passion of mosquitoes and sharing it with the world.

Northern Thailand-Chaing Mai and Chaing Rai

coming soon