As a man 60 years, I am inclined to get up in the middle of the night one or more times as a matter of routine. But I am not used to being awakened in the early morning hours by commotion. This has happened only 4 times since we moved into our house in Kumasi. [...]
Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category
Things That Go “Bump” In the Night
Posted in Uncategorized on March 28, 2009 | 3 Comments »
Northern Re-exposure
Posted in Uncategorized on March 28, 2009 | 1 Comment »
During the past two weeks, my scholarly interests here received a significant boost, whereas my medical and social activities reached new levels of complexity. Regarding the scholarly interests, three of my colleagues from the University of Michigan visited Ghana for the purpose of informing local faculty about open educational resources (OER) for health. Separate workshops [...]
Democracy in Action (Ghana Jan ‘08; Florida Nov ‘00)
Posted in Uncategorized on March 7, 2009 | 1 Comment »
(I apologize to those who have followed this blog and have noted my prolonged absence from the blogosphere recently. The hiatus in my reports from Ghana is a function of how busy I have become with work, and not a lack of interest in recording experiences or impressions. I will try to catch up. In [...]
Northern Exposure
Posted in Uncategorized on January 15, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
I rent a Toyota Camry from a ganef in Accra. I use the Yiddish pejorative here, because I have calculated that by the end of my stay in Ghana, I will have almost paid the book price of the car, but Danny the Ganef will still own it. And he insists that he [...]
Mea Culpa
Posted in Uncategorized on January 3, 2009 | 1 Comment »
In my last entry, I sized up the cultural life of Kumasi, and in my inimitable obruni fashion, found it wanting. I also discovered that I am not the only person who is not being sufficiently entertained in this country. A Ghanaian blogger that I read has posted a very satirical “Top Ten Things to [...]
Time Flies
Posted in Uncategorized on December 8, 2008 | 4 Comments »
What you understand about time, or fruit, or fruit flies all depends on whether you understand the various meaning of the word, “like.” It is the ambiguity in the statement and the uncertainty about which meaning is intended that evokes the double-take among native English speakers when they read Groucho Marx’s argument. Imagine the confusion [...]
Make a dress; make a diagnosis
Posted in Uncategorized on December 7, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Suzy and I came to Ghana with fairly limited and lightweight wardrobes. Our past experience in Africa taught us that clothes were not difficult to find or to make here, so paying excess baggage fees to bring along another cocktail dress or sports jacket seemed absurd.
Like many other African countries, Ghana has a lively [...]
Kwame’s Quandry
Posted in Uncategorized on November 23, 2008 | 2 Comments »
Thanks to two charming acquaintances from the University of Utah–thank you Ruth and Rosey—and our sons in Ann Arbor, the police reports from the Washtenaw County Sheriff’s Office finally arrived in Kumasi. For those readers of this blog who are thinking of mailing me a Care Package, note that the FedEx Envelope containing the police [...]
The Seasoning of Ghana
Posted in Uncategorized on November 22, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Ghanaians have African names, like Kwame or Kofi, that are vaguely familiar to most Americans, or they may have European — usually biblical — names. Often, they have both and use one or the other depending on the situation. There are seven common male names and seven common female names, one for each day of [...]
He Will Give
Posted in Uncategorized on November 6, 2008 | 3 Comments »
Yesterday was Election Day in the United States. My vote was cast two weeks ago on a write-in ballot at the Embassy in Accra. I have no idea if it was counted, but I was pleased with the outcome in any case. This morning, I lectured the medical students again for two hours. There was [...]
