Well the time has come where I have no contemporary Ghana adventures to talk about so I have to look back to my stash of stories and see what I can drag out for your viewing entertainment!
I think today i will go back to one of my first experiences in Ghana which certainly not the most attractive! Many of you will probably have heard this story before. (Funnily enough this story actually started a relationship for me once!)
Let me set the scene. It was my first trip to Ghana, and I had moved into a little house in Agorhome, a village in the Volta region. I was there sharing a room with Olee, who I had travelled to Ghana with. We bathed (with a bucket) outside in a little open air shower room. The fluorescent light bulb attracted every type of wildlife, and I can remember bathing with mossys, moths and frogs frequently. Incidentally, the water was so so cold and I really had a trouble bathing. I found myself jumping out of the way of the water I was supposed to be pouring on myself. I can only apologise to those who had to smell me!
We had to walk across the little 'courtyard' to get to our toilet, which consisted of a hole in a little room, with a make shift toilet seat over the top! Now I must say that after using said toilet seat I gave so much respect to toilet seat engineers! The curvature on a toilet seat allows a perfect aim (which as you will see I needed later on in this story!) The make shift toilet seat box certainly was not allowing optimum aim!
Right, after that lengthy scene setting I should get on with the story. I was riding in a car with my good friend Olee, our good friend Evelyn and another Ghanaian who was recently over from London. He decided to buy Adode (oyster kebab) for all of us. After mentioning that Adode looked disgusting, I felt a little guilty as it seemed I had offended people I decided to have a bit. (I was right it was disgusting) Anyway after eating a couple of bits, I handed the rest of mine over to evelyn. Olee had diplomatically spat his out of the window.
Flashforward 6 hours! Olee and I were in the village and organising a big game of frisby! It was going to be a lot of fun until after my first fling of the disc my stomach had an angry word with me! I gave my apologies and headed back to the house. In fact I headed directly to the hole we called a toilet.
No a warning to all, this story is only for strong eyes (and noses)
I consequently spent the next to hours in and out of the toilet. I did not know which end to put over the toilet as I had the most violent sickness I have ever had. (This is when I realised it was impossible to aim through the box! It is also where I finally perfected my crouching technique!
In the end I could not get back to the room so I just sat on the step of the toilet (which i had drenched with sweat) in my boxers, half delirious, and listened to Olee and Romeo deliberate as to whether the should take me to hospital or not.
They decided it was a good idea and they sent for a car to come and get me. At this point they seemed to forget my clothes and I ended up in Sogakope District Hospital foyet with a towel and boxers to hide my modesty! I can not remember an awful lot from this period. I remember stepping on some scales which were clearly broken (the needle coming to an abrupt halt)
I also remember refusing all treatment because my delirious self was very paranoid of the risks of needles. Now I know this was silly, but I really was a bit mental at the point. I also did not want to be attached to a drip when rushing to the toilet!
I then remember Olee and Romeo bringing food to the room! Oh goodness, that made me feel like crap!
Anyway, after a night with no treatment, plenty of water, and with romeo sleeping in the hospital to make sure I was ok. (the guy truely is a great and caring man!) I was better the next morning. (but a little weak)
What lessons did I learn from this event? Well, I didnt eat Adode again (although I was labelled Adode Man for some time) Eating Oyster and Kebab in the same mouthful is really not a wise choice. But i still like trying new foods and risking street food. But in all these years I have never experienced anything like that again!
I hope you all enjoyed your Christmas dinners!!! euugh
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