Writer, Teacher, Social Media Director
If the folks at PALM (with whom we worked in Sri Lanka) were some of the hardest-working NGO workers I’ve ever seen, then Planned Parenthood Ghana (PPAG) is one of the most developed organizations to which I’ve been assigned. To wit, PPAG has been addressing family planning and reproductive health issues in Ghana for 39 years!
Acclimating to our new home means meeting new people, from our cheerful office-mates at PPAG to our fellow volunteers in Accra. There aren’t many…
We are here: Or, for a closer look, here:
Once again, to be met at the airport! To know that someone has been waiting for you! To see the happy and relieved look on their faces when you arrive! So it is when George, a driver from Planned Parenthood Ghana (PPAG), and Aseye, our in-country AJWS representative, pick us up at Ghana’s Kotoka International and take us to our home for the next two months.
The AIDS situation in Uganda is one of the better in sub-Saharan Africa, with an infection rate of 7 percent, a far cry from the rates of 20, 30, or even 40 percent found in some areas of southern Africa. The Elisabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation, with whom Tay’s Aunt Linda has been for four years, is on the cutting edge of preventing mother-baby HIV/AIDS transmission in Uganda and 17 other countries. But there are numerous fronts to this battle and Elisabeth Glaser is only one of many games in town. On Friday morning, an opportunity arises to see one of these other organizations in action, and we take it.
Twenty-four continuous hours of travel—by overnight ferry across Lake Victoria followed by a series of minivan “dala-dalasâ€â€”takes us from Mwanza, Tanzania to the Ugandan capital. Our midday border crossing at Mutukula is easier than expected. As our vehicle slows, touts surround us with their roasted corn, goat-liver-on-a-stick, warm bottles of Fanta, and baggies of shiny-fried beetle grubs; they are relatively calm and curious, and they briefly scatter when I take out my camera, but immediately regroup with smiles, relentless with their wares.
Dar to Zanzibar, then Moshi to Mwanza (1200 km across the Serengeti), followed by an overnight ferry on the great lake to Bukoba–and the…
Back on our own, no more luxury lodges or guides or vehicle, we must cross Africa’s largest lake to get to Uganda (via Bukoba), where we will meet up with Tay’s long-lost Great Aunt Linda, granddaughter of the esteemed Dr. Stewart, development worker with the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation, and one of Tay’s inspirations for continued work abroad, even though they have only met once.
The morning drive along Ngorongoro southwest crater rim is nothing less than a trip through Rohan, the wide, rolling grasslands of Middle Earth. Rolling across the zebra and giraffe-studded hills, among Masai huts and herds, trying to take it all in: what we have seen, what we will see, and what is outside the open windows right now.
Day 2 begins with a stunning sunrise game drive, fiery clouds behind silhouetted baobabs and acacias, a short and plump rainbow above Mount Tangire. Back at the lodge, we eat our five-star breakfast alone, refill coffee mugs, then set out on another long drive, twisting and winding our way toward the park’s entrance, with plenty of animals and the weather constantly shifting between sunny, drizzly, and fantastic shows of light in between; box lunch is eaten at an overlook above the river, lightly raining as we watch some of the park’s 3,500 elephants graze below.