Entering Ghana at Hamale, we’re greeted by a friendly immigrations officer who buys us pop-corn, no gendarme, and a language we all understand: English. Comforting to know that frightful looking poster on the wall of the immigration office is a warning about avian flu, and not a warning about a monster chicken on the loose. Will miss the good French bread though; the sugar breads are stodgy and tasteless in comparison.
The scenery in the Upper West region of Ghana is not dissimilar to Burkina Faso: flat dusty plains of arid red earth, that even now in during the rainy season kicks up a cloud of fine red dust as we drive by. Whilst the towns are becoming more Christian, the region is still predominantly Islamic, and traditional earthen mosques dotted with wooden struts to allow builders to climb the structures to reapply fresh layers of mud and earth to the walls, are a common site in even the smallest settlements we pass on the way to Wa.
Wa, the regional capital and principal town of the Upper West, is a sprawling community town. Because of poor roads and the long distances from any other major town, Wa is a town that seems a place in itself, cut off from the rest of the country. Only early morning buses link Wa with Tamale and Kumasi, and from Kumasi to Accra. Like Bobo Dioulasso, a substantial town with a village feel about it, Wa retains a surprisingly strong sense of locality.
In Wa we are hosted by Eric Coomans, a retired Dutch school teacher who 3 years ago founded Child Support, a grassroots NGO providing support to children in need. Working with orphaned, malnourished and abused children, Child Support works with the local hospital, schools and health centres in providing the attention and support these children need, with the aim of nursing children back to health and reintegrating them back in to their families and communities.
