The week has gone well. Students are still taking exams from last semester and starting their Masters projects. John has been reading drafts of their proposals and setting up equipment all week. I have been trying to get photos of people being tested at the clinic. Most of our teaching aids feature Caucasian people. We are trying to develop some photos for materials using the Ghanaian staff working with patients. We love work! This is the van we travel in, and our sweet driver, Sam who preserves our lives!
On a really GOOD day, (which only happened once), it takes us 45 min. to travel a little less than 10 miles from our apartment to the KorleBu teaching Hospital.. Usually, it is anywhere from 1-1 1/2 hours. I (Ann) can guarantee you that I will NEVER drive here, unless it is a dire emergency. We have been in some pretty rough driving countries...speedy Germany, aggressive Japan, somewhat crazy Korea, clueless Logan, UT, but we have NEVER in our lives been on such insane roads! The sweet, gracious, kind, patient Ghanaian people undergo a Jekyll/Hyde transformation when they get into a vehicle! My life has flashed before my eyes more than once in the short 2 weeks I have been here.
Most roads, with the exception of a few highways, are first...nameless, and second...in poor condition. It would do no good to try to help out the congestion with a high density carpool lane because every vehicle has as many people stuffed into it as possible. If a car has a mechanical problem, the driver puts out his orange triangle, pops the hood, and IN THE TRAFFIC works on his flat tire or other problem...sometimes for a long time. 80% of the vehicles look like they are on their last legs with rust, dents, scratches and mismatched parts. The other 20% are very nice cars of the wealthier class of people. The taxis are another story. They are very small, have yellow fenders and zip in and out like little bugs in the traffic. However, even though the cars are in poor condition, you will see the drivers washing them most mornings.
(The ditch you see in the photo above is an open sewer, found on most roads)
If there is more than 2 feet between you and the bumper of the car ahead of you, someone will push their nose into it, honking their horn twice to let you know their intention. Also honking if someone is in their way, or about to merge, walking in the road, or just upset. Motorcycles have no rules! With a "beep beep" (like the cartoon Roadrunner) they hurl along between the lanes of traffic at a breakneck speed. When they come up on an intersection, regardless whether the light is red or green, if there is the slightest space...they go! The cars and trucks themselves are either going at a snails pace in heavy traffic, or really, really FAST! (except over the speed bumps) Then to top it all off, at every corner there are street hawkers playing chicken with the traffic and leaning in open windows to see if you would like to buy goods from kleenex to bobblehead puppies. We have seen candy, fruit, water & any drink you can imagine, hangers, newspapers, electrical items, clothes, maps, games, lottery tickets, all kinds of food, (bread, rolls, etc.), dish soap, towels, windshield wipers, steering wheel covers, paper products, jewelry, and items that are unrecognizable. They are great salesmen. They can find a buyer, negotiate a sale, accept payment and deliver the goods several times in the space of one red light.
(Street hawkers and women above carrying goods to market)
There are random police stops all over everyday and a substantial bribe will let you escape without a ticket. It is illegal to turn right on a red, or drive through a yellow light. Or at least for an Abruni ( fair skinned )to do so.
There has been an attempt for the city government to try to alleviate some of the congestion and traffic problem. Lovely orange metro transit buses are used every morning and evening for about 2 hours. Then the rest of the day THEY ARE PARKED IN THE MIDDLE OF THE CITY IN A PARKING LOT!! The streets are then taken over by "tro tros" which are small vans stuffed with people who want to go somewhere for a price. There is one bright spot, however, with the tro tros, taxis and some private cars. Being largely a Christian country, the drivers always put messages on their windows. Most are thought provoking and some quite humorous.
Pray for us!
I really want to know more about the last window sticker! Cracking me up!!
ReplyDeleteReminds me so much of what we saw on our trip! Glad you are well and documenting all of this!!
ReplyDeleteWe spent a few days in Lima Peru and were glad for our driver. I think I can get a small idea of the experience there.
ReplyDeleteWow, glad you are still alive!
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