Getting Sick

If you get ill in Ghana, it can be serious. Simple diseases treated lightly in the west will fester under the hot conditions and on sweaty bodies, and before you know it you’re in trouble. It’s best to rest and get the recovery right.

This is graphic account of how I got it wrong.

Last Tuesday I got the runs, not uncommon out here. I ‘lost’ everything, breakfast lunch and dinner, and went to bed with only water and a couple of Sprites in me.  On Wednesday I felt fine, carried on doing manual labour around the house and in the grounds, drinking and eating light meals, but the diarrhoea continued.

Thursday was a nightmare with me curled up in bed shivering, sweating then shivering again. My stomach was able to take stuff in, but wouldn’t let anything drop into my intestines, and my water intake dropped to almost zero.

Friday I felt better and, assuming I was over the worst of it, worked part of the day outside, getting sunburn on my shoulders, I still couldn’t hold food, and was unable to drink a lot of water, but it seemed it would be over soon. On Saturday I was back in bed, less sick than before but uncomfortable. My stomach was again playing up and I still couldn’t replenish those missing fluids.

By Sunday I had deteriorated significantly, and at lunch time was lying in bed with a numb face and hands, severe dizziness, sweating and in a lot of pain. Eventually we called a neighbour, who helped carry me to his car and drive me to the hospital in Tema. I was admitted as an emergency, suffering from very severe dehydration. A drip was loaded into both arms and three 500ml infusions drained into me, along with intravenous antibiotics to kill the still present bacteria. After three hours I was much improved and sent home with antibiotics and immodium.

By Monday afternoon the fever was back, the dizziness was back, and without waiting for further bad news we called the friend again and raced back to hospital. With a temperature of 40 degrees the doctors didn’t mess around, the drips went back in, as did two rounds of intravenous antibiotics and, having spent 2 hours lying on a hard bench in reception, I was found a place on the ward and admitted.

Entering the second week, and Tuesday was probably the lowest day of my 28 year life so far. The fever, intermittent previously, hit strongly from 2pm. Having been tested for Malaria and Typhoid and with both showing negative, the doctors could not explain what was wrong.  Lydia worked all afternoon and evening sponging cold water onto me whilst I lay in the hot Ghanaian hospital trying to stay alive. No doctors were available, and the nurses refused to give me any further drips without a doctor’s signature so I attempted to force down water to recoup the liquid lost to sweating.

It occurred to me, and I think to Lydia, that I may have left this too late, that had I come in on the third day, or the fourth this might be curable, but the symptoms were escalating and my body appeared to be in self destruct mode. The thought of your own end is unpleasant at the best of times, but -for a man with a logical mind- knowing you may have brought it on yourself through your own stupidity is almost unbearable.

Late in the evening the fever broke, and we both settled into a hot and fitful sleep.  The following day my condition improved, and the fever stayed away, although the doctors never did find out what was causing the illness.

It’s now Friday afternoon of the second week since the illness started, we’re back at home, and all my symptoms have gone. I’m still weak, but have a healthy appetite again – for Western food – and will be spending your ‘survival’ money getting the fattest bacon, burgers and chips money can buy to put some weight back onto my scrawny frame. With hind sight I hadn’t left it too late to get help, although I fear it was a close run thing. Next time we’ll be calling in the professionals sooner.

Me in 'prime' condition before I left for Ghana

Me at the lowest point of the illness

Lesson learnt. The hard way. Tim x

Plumbing

A guide to plumbing your Polytank

With intermittent mains water supply in Ghana, it’s important to install a large water storage tank on or near your house to allow for a steady supply of water when the mains run dry.

Begin by constructing the tank's foundation. Should your brickwork skills still be in development, for a small fee local help is always at hand.

Next locate the main water line coming into the house. You will need to intercept it before any spurs to ensure the new tank will feed all taps in the house.

Install a correctly sized non-return valve just upstream of the first spur. Don’t forget the valve sockets on either side will need thread tape to reduce friction on installation, and the PVC on PVC joints must be cemented together to prevent leaks.

Upstream of the non-return valve, dig trenches, T off the main line, and begin laying the plumbing that will feed the new tank. Add a stopcock into this line to give yourself the option to cease filling your tank in the event that you need to remove it. You may need to change the size of the pipe as the mains line and the tank sockets are unlikely to match. In this case a simple ¾” to 1” converter will do the job.

Once connected to the upper faucet socket of the storage tank your feed line is complete. Now run lines from the lower socket of the tank to your pump. Again, be prepared for the need to shut off the line, a quarter turn valve is most appropriate here. For stability, mount the pump on a small foundation. In the eventuality that the pump breaks down a union joint will allow easy release of the old pump, and although expensive this will save having to cut into the plumbing at a later date.

In order to control the pressure in your taps a pump pressure control switch (or ‘booster’ in Ghana) should be installed on the exit leg of the pump. Radial pumps normally exit vertically making installation easy. Wire the electrical supply to the pump through the booster to ensure it cuts on and off correctly.

The next section of piping will be under significant pressure, most domestic boosters are set to cut out when the head reaches 15m. Faucet bend off the booster and install a matching union joint to the entry pipe before converting the pipe width back to the main line width. Finally T back into the main supply (or a spur if one is close by), and you’re complete. PVC cement this final section with care, a lose bend here and you'll have a water fountain landing on your attic windows.


Fill the trenches back in and smile – you can shower for the first time in 2 weeks.

Lydia x

The move to Prampram

After 2 months of training, and a relatively hand-held introduction to Ghana we’ve struck out on our own. Lydia and I now live in Prampram.

‘Living’ however is a relative term. We moved in on Wednesday last week, with no power, and no water. Thankfully we’d come earlier and sprayed insecticide everywhere so bugs were not a problem.

The chalets have been empty for the past 6 months and to say the sea breeze has damaged them is an understatement. Sockets are rusted, door locks are frozen and (most irritatingly for anyone who does DIY) every screw snaps off as you try to remove it, making repair work a nightmare.

Did I mention the hole in the roof and the three missing shutters? Thankfully it didn’t rain; for the first two days. Then a night-time storm hit us, and it poured. Upstairs and downstairs flooded, and having saved what we could we got back into bed and tried to ignore the intermittent drops landing on our faces.

The storm also knocked out our recently reconnected electricity (literally, someone had nicked the copper wires before we moved in.) The local area was affected, no one had power. We then worked out it was actually us who had taken out the power, some very shoddy underground cabling and a 6" deep water covering of the drive had resulted in a short circuit. Of course because of the ever present rust our main trip switch had failed to turn. We're keeping our heads down and hoping the electricity company doesn't come our way.

Indeed, ‘living’ in the West, and ‘living’ in rural Ghana are very different things. But that’s why we’re here, and to be honest, we love it.