Glimpses of Kumasi

Some glimpses of Kumasi.
There is not a huge middle class here. There are people who are comfortable off but no one we have seen is exceptionally well off. We have managed to find a few nicer areas, but they are exceptionally modest by our standards. It would be more encouraging to see people who are able to get out of the poverty around us. It is also unclear how much of an infrastructure exists if people do become more prosperous.

After one week, all of our clothes smell like smoke. Trash is burned here. Now with more cheap products from China, there black plastic bags everywhere and mound s of plastic trash that does not burn completely. Even on the college campus, there are bins next to the professor’s homes that are used for burning trash.

Many of the areas power share. That means one night they would have power and the following night the next street over would have power. Water is usually piped into a central area of a compound or group of home. There are no toilets in most communities. Instead there are shared latrines. Some apartments have bathrooms but since a majority of people live in groups of wooden, cement, or stone small homes, most do not have indoor plumbing.

For this and other reasons, all children stay in the hospital until their catheters come out, unless they are well off and have a way to keep everything clean.

There are a lot of unfinished buildings- building with no sign of construction. We are not sure of the story behind this as UI have been told- “Oh they are under construction”. Very Ghanaian. It is true they are under construction, but that is not really what you were asking. All along our routes we see these unfinished buildings.

It a very safe here. Until late you see many people out on the streets, even children with their parents are out after dark.

IN the mornings on our way to the hospital we see many children off to school. All schools, private and public have uniforms. They get to school by walking, taxi or some of the private mini buses fill with school children and drive them. And there are parents who walk their children. Fathers as well as mothers get them to the primary school. They prefer to eat their lunches form one of the thousands of food stands along the road rather than take a lunch pail. Salmonella infections are very common here.

Also common as you can imagine is malaria. So common that the blood bank does not screen for malaria and it is common for people who receive a blood transfusion to react to the malaria and get what is called a “blood fever”.

~Stephanya Shear