Posts from when Harriet and Nathan spent six months in Ghana in 2011 working on separate development projects in the Ashanti region.
What do you tell someone who has never used a toilet before, or only ever used a shared latrine? We’ve been doing this last week, as new latrines have been completed in some communities and their owners have approached them looking a bit nervous. It essentially goes like this: EDIT: A new rule, based on …
I’m writing this hoping that the internet connection on my phone will hold out long enough for me to upload it. It’s a peaceful night in Gyetiase (pronounced jyeh-tee-yah-seh); the goats have gone to bed but the crickets have woken up. Someone’s nattering in Twi on the front porch of the eye clinic that is …
This morning, Nicholas (Ashanti Development’s Programmes Manager) and I took a trip to a nearby school to see the progress of their tree-planting programme. JSS (Junior Secondary School) students ‘adopt’ a sapling, planting it, protecting it from wandering goats and other harm, and receive rewards if their trees do well. Cue a trip around the …
I recently had the privilege to join a TBA meeting at the MVP office. TBAs are Traditional Birth Attendants, who support the Community Midwives in the Bonsaaso village cluster. They are not midwives themselves but are trained in basic skills and can pretty much deliver a baby if the mother cannot make it to a …
As mentioned before, I’m fairly tolerant of nature and am not overly concerned about having a small, furry and rather cute room mate. However, events last night took the situation to another level….. After last week’s encounter, I’ve got in the habit of putting any leftover food and my bin outside my door, so I …
(Don’t worry N, you have nothing to worry about….) I have a fairly high tolerance for “nature” (with the exception of leeches – aaaah !) but found that I could not ignore the rustling that I heard at c.3am this morning. I had woken up due to the heat (fairly normal) and decided that I …
© Nathan Nelson 2026
