Football Fever

The “Kickin it in Ghana” Summer Serve and Learn session culminated in a sensational two-day football tournament, held this past weekend. Local footballers take this annual tournament so seriously that apparently the various teams camp out in the bush to discuss their strategies in private, away from any eavesdroppers and potential spies!  Some players even go as far as requesting special blessings from their pastors, to ensure they bring their A-game to the tournament. This was GHEI’s second annual football tournament, and it was a popular attraction for Humjibre residents. A great crowd turned up, lining the field's perimeter with a solid wall of spectators. 

AC Milan takes a free kick against Barcelona

The first day of the tournament had the four teams, each named after a professional European club, face off against each other in an intense display of football prowess. Teams AC Milan, Chelsea, Golden Stars and Barcelona all showed amazing athleticism, with passions running high.  Since each team was scheduled to play three games that day, matches were limited to twenty-minute halves, so as not to exhaust the athletes.

Clouds of dust had little time to settle as the players chased the ball frantically. The teams played fiercely, with many players knocked to the ground as they scrambled for possession of the ball.  One unfortunate player lost his footing in a quick melee for the ball, tripping face first out of bounds. Hopping back up, he displayed a nasty-looking cut on his left cheekbone that certainly merited a few stitches.  After our volunteer coordinator cleaned and bandaged the wound this intrepid footballer was right back in the game. No pain, no gain!

The DJ blasted ‘Hip Life’ tunes at every goal scored, and the crowd danced and cheered with excitement.  Although all teams displayed remarkable ability, AC Milan and Chelsea were clearly the dominant forces on the pitch, and both earned their spot in the championship game, held the following day.

Day 2

To kick off the second day of the annual football tournament, GHEI staff played in a friendly match against World Eleven, a local men’s team.  Despite a marked difference in footwork skills between GHEI’s local and Western staff, we played well, but still lost 4‒2.  This match momentarily broke the tension of the competition, and the villagers seemed to enjoy watching GHEI get involved in the fun.

Next was the match between the two girls teams: Anglican Junior High School versus Christ Redeemer Junior High School.  To mark this special occasion and to show their support, the Chief of Humjibre and his council of elders made an opening statement before the match.  Next, both teams sang the tournament’s theme song: original lyrics to the tune of the World Cup Theme Song 'Waka Waka.'

Anglican defends against Christ Redeemer

“Humjibre, hey-hey

Football, Football, hey-hey,

Teamwork, Respect and Lots of Fun

This Time for Humjibre!

Humjibre, hey-hey

Football, Football hey-hey,

Passing, Scoring, Celebrating

This Time for Humjibre!”

The Chief then made a symbolic opening kickoff, and the game was on!  These young women played with the same determination as their male counterparts, and it was clear to anyone watching why a Humjibre local had made it to Ghana’s national women’s football team.  Anglican scored a goal towards the end of the first half and fought hard to keep their lead to the end of the match.

Chelsea

Finals

The crowd stirred as they waited patiently for the main event.  Just as people were becoming restless, out came Chelsea, running in troop and singing their club song while waving their banner with pride.  AC Milan waited a few moments for dramatic effect before slowly parading onto the field hand-in-hand with their young supporters, forming a huddle for a moment of prayer.

AC Milan and their young supporters

  

The game started in a surge of energy and the ball shot back and forth, switching from end to end so often that it wasn’t clear which team would prevail. Tension rose steadily as the fans awaited a goal, the crowd reacting boisterously to missed shots on net.  Eventually the half-time whistle was blown, with the teams still tied nil‒nil. 

Both teams returned from their half-time pep talks with a bounce in their steps, determined to dominate their opponents and finally put one by the goaltender. In yet another tussle for the ball, a foul was called on AC Milan, giving a penalty kick to Chelsea.  This opportunity was not squandered, and the Chelsea striker rocketed a shot into the top corner of AC Milan’s goal.  The fans went wild, many of them running onto the field to celebrate the well-executed shot.  AC Milan players grimaced in disgust, many of them contesting the call and questioning the referee’s impartiality.

Not long after, an AC Milan midfielder reciprocated with a swift shot past Chelsea’s goalie to tie the score.  The scorer flung his shirt off in triumph, running down the field with arms outstretched.  The game then played out much like the first half; a tied game with quick turnovers of possession.  Players made incredible vertical leaps for attempted headers, and the teams somehow maintained the same frenzied energy level as in the first half.

Finally, just as it seemed the match would carry on into overtime, an especially speedy Chelsea player sent the ball sailing through the air, where it hovered in limbo for a fraction of a second before flying through the goal posts.

Escobar in action

Chelsea team members and fans alike launched into jubilant hysterics, racing around the field and hollering in elation.  The scoring player did a quick victory dance before having his cleats polished in veneration by a teammate. The game resumed after excited fans were cleared from the field.  AC Milan had clearly lost morale and couldn’t get another shot in.  As the final whistle was blown half the crowd rushed onto the field to congratulate their champions.

‘Escobar,’ the player who had scored the game-winning shot, was quickly hoisted into the air in adoration.  After some well-earned celebrations, the teams were called over to the administrators’ tent to receive their prizes.  Top players were distinguished with medals and jerseys, and both the Anglican girls team and Chelsea received trophies.  Chelsea’s captain lifted the trophy to the sky, to the delight of his squad, and the group bolted off in a victory lap, singing their club’s song at the top of their lungs.

Many thanks to all those who made the competition possible, including our fantastic volunteers, dedicated staff and of course Humjibre’s formidable footballers.  Until next year!

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UCLA and GHEI Team Up to Treat Childhood Diarrhea

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Most cases of childhood diarrhea are mild, but acute cases can lead to substantial fluid loss and dehydration.  Children are more susceptible to life-threatening diarrhea than adults, making diarrhea the 2nd leading cause of mortality for children under 5 in Ghana (behind malaria).  Diarrhea affects children’s nutrition and overall health status, which in turn affects child health and development.   

This past month UCLA med students Danielle Ogez and Alicia Morehead-Gee volunteered with GHEI, working alongside Community Health Workers in the rural village of Ampenkrom to conduct a survey on the incidence of diarrhea, as well as the use of Oral Rehydration Treatment (ORT).  I was lucky enough to catch them for a quick interview about their work on their last day before departing for Accra.

Can you describe your project for me?

DO: Sure. Our project was to run a survey regarding diarrhea prevalence and ORS (Oral Rehydration Salts) in the village of Ampenkrom, and the second part was to do some sort of intervention to increase ORS usage and increase diarrhea knowledge in Ampenkrom.

How did you hear about GHEI?

Danielle Ogez

DO: The UCLA department of global health has four sites to do summer research projects.

AM: Diana Rickard (GHEI Executive Director) works at UCLA.  She introduced this summer research program to the UCLA department of global health.

What made you want to come to Ghana to carry out this project?

AMG: Well, Ghana had the option of doing the specific ORT and diarrhea project.  We had four sites to choose from: there was Malawi, Cameroon, Peru and Ghana.  The Ghana project had the ORT project, where we could speak with mothers, and personally I wanted to have more of a community involvement and talk to mothers about these issues.

DO:  The Ghana site was more pediatrics related, which fits with my studies.

What were your expectations in coming out to rural Ghana to conduct this project?

DO:  My expectations were to get a better feel for how to do quality research at a small local level.  We usually see it a large, USAID type of level, so I wanted to see how it’s done door-to-door, sitting and interviewing someone in their kitchen, those types of situations.

AMG: I intended on coming and learning more about a different community.  I’ve studied abroad before so I like being immersed in a new culture, so I wanted to come learn about their culture and make a difference in what is going on here.  I liked that this project had an intervention component to it, so that we could try to change some of these problems.

What do you feel has been the greatest challenge in carrying out your work?

AMG: We had hoped to have more participation in the (intervention) classes we ran, so that was pretty frustrating.  We had a lot of things in mind that didn’t end up happening.

What’s the most important lesson you’ve learned from the experience?

Alicia Morehead-Gee and GHEI Community Health Workers

AMG:  I learned that life in the village is good!  Some people paint the picture that it’s so horrible out there, but when you get out there everyone seems stress-free; it’s a peaceful and really nice environment, which is quite different than how the media portrays Africa.

DO: I feel like I got what I wanted out of this experience.  Now I could go to another rural community, conduct some sort of survey, run an intervention and collect some quality data.  That was my goal coming out here, and I feel I’ve reached it!

Thanks Alicia and Danielle.  Great work!

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UCLA Collaborates with GHEI in Malaria Prevention

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Malaria is one of the greatest health risks in Ghana, causing more illness and death among children in Bibiani District than any other disease.  Since 2006 GHEI has been distributing free insecticide-treated bed nets to the community. Trained Community Health Workers (CHWs) have been involved in every aspect of the intervention, from planning to distribution, promotion and community support.  GHEI has recently had the privilege of hosting volunteers Lisa Zhu and Judy Gbadebo, two UCLA medical students, in the village of Soroano, where for the past few weeks they have been carrying out extensive surveys on the use of bednets.  I had a chance to catch up with them and talk a bit about their work.

Can you describe your project for me?

JG: Yes, our project is basically going out and surveying bednet usage in the village of Soroano.

Lisa Zhu

LZ: They did the same survey last summer and the results were not that great, so they made a few changes to the CHWs’ follow-up visit program.  And so this year we wanted to see the progress of the program in general and if the changes made were effective in increasing bednet usage.  We surveyed 113 households in the village.  There was a household questionnaire, a women’s questionnaire for all women between 18 and 49, a children’s questionnaire for children under 5. For those children under 5 we also looked at malaria, diarrhea and respiratory illness, and we had three CHWs help us with this.

How does your project fit in with your studies at UCLA?

LZ: Not directly. UCLA doesn’t have a mandatory global health component, but since both of us are interested in global health, this counts as a summer research project and is a really great opportunity to get experience in global health research.

How did you first hear about Ghana Health and Education Initiative?

JG: The global health program at UCLA had a booth, and we talked about the summer programs that you could continue with over time, so that sparked my interest in applying for it.

What were your expectations for coming out and working in rural Ghana?

JG: In terms of the project, based on our readings on the interventions last year and since 2007, I anticipated that we would see more positive results; that there would be a positive trend.  I wasn’t sure how great that difference would be.

LZ:  Yeah, we had a pretty good idea of what we would be doing here, since a good deal of our project was set up beforehand. In terms of lifestyle, I knew it would be tough, but it’s hard to know what to expect until you actually get here.

What has been the greatest challenge in running your project?

Judy Gbadebo and GHEI Health Program Assistant Mensah Gyapong

JG:  Surprisingly, it’s gone rather smoothly!  One problem is that we’re used to being really punctual back home, and we would occasionally have some problems in scheduling.  One difficulty was trying to catch the families at home, since the majority of the community we’re surveying are farmers, so that made it difficult to always plan when people would be home and make sure we had the correct information on all the people we were surveying.

What do you feel is the most important thing you’ve learned from this experience?

JG: I was really amazed by the CHWs' and Mensah’s (GHEI Health Program Assistant) passion for their community.  It was amazing to see how self-sacrificing they were.  They would help with this project over going to farm, and that’s their livelihood. Seeing that just re-emphasized my passion for helping out my community as a future physician.  Also, this experience really showed me the importance of collaboration in our work and the value of working well as a team.

LZ: Agreed!

Thanks Lisa and Judy, and keep up the great work!

 

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Kick Off

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The game that Americans and Canadians know as soccer is the much-loved game of football to Ghanaians.  At the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa, Ghana's national football team, the Black Stars, became the third African team in history to reach the World Cup quarter-finals.

Kickin' it volunteers Dawn, Kyle and Akshat

With football so hugely popular in Ghana, GHEI is thrilled to welcome our third group of Summer Serve and Learn volunteers for their session, “Kickin’ it in Ghana.” As GHEI’s summer camp for youth, this session focuses on building strong leadership and communication skills through football training.  Our volunteers had to hit the ground running, holding their first planning session the morning after their arrival. 

The camp opened on Saturday, with an exciting array of team-building activities planned for Humjibre’s keen footballers. One exercise had participants blindfolded and racing against each other through a mock "minefield," attempting to avoid obstacles as their team mates shouted helpful directions to them from the start line.  Colliding with obstacles slowed runners down and could cost them the race, so this activity stressed the importance of strong communication between team members.  

Next, participants lined up, holding the shoulders of the teammate in front of them in a game of “caterpillar.”  Team members could move only one step at a time and only after the person in front of them had moved.  Moving systematically and coordinating their individual movements with the whole group proved to be too much for some flustered links in the long chain, and the caterpillar lurched along hilariously, with jam-ups hindering the flow the group was aiming for.

By far the most entertaining activity to watch was the “Dizzy Izzy” race, in which each contestant held a dowel to his head and pinned it to the ground, spinning around ten times and then racing half the length of the soccer pitch.  Some did remarkably well, despite their wobbly footing, but others staggered off in dizzy disarray, veering diagonally across the field until they collapsed in the dirt, much to the amusement of all onlookers.

Kate Belser, a volunteer from last year’s “Kickin’ it” session, has returned this year to serve as volunteer coordinator for this session.  “This was a new session for Summer Serve and Learn last year, and it was hard to see which direction it would head in afterwards," says Kate.  "We got such a terrific response from the community that we knew this should be a regular part of GHEI summer programming.  I saw so much potential in this camp and had so much fun last year, it only made sense to come back to Humjibre and help further develop the program. It really helps to strengthen community relations and builds strong communications skills by tapping into the kids’ interests and their sense of fun.”

Our volunteers are now keeping busy by running nightly training sessions with each of the six different football teams.  Activities include the classic trust-building “trust fall,” potato sack races, and role-playing on the dos and don’ts of proper sportsmanship.  These training sessions are all building up to a two-day football competition this coming weekend, which will see the six teams vying for the championship.  These young footballers take their sport very seriously and are training hard to reach top rank.  May the best team win!

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To the Victors Go the Spoils

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As a conclusion to GHEI’s month long Read-A-thon, some of Humjibre’s brightest primary and junior high school students faced off in a Quiz competition this past Friday.

The students had been preparing for this big day for the whole month and were filled with anxiety at the prospect of sitting in front of their fellow students and families to be tested on their comprehension of selected texts. The presence of the Chief of Humjibre, Nana Kwadwo Twum II, and other town elders only added to the young pupils apprehensions.

The quiz had the different schools competing against each other in answering a series of questions regarding the content of a storybook.  Participants had to think on their feet, as their response time was limited.  The students’ nervousness was visible and understandable.  Every one of their answers could either cost their school the competition, or lead them to victory, propelling them into the upper echelons of schoolyard adulation.

Their voices trembled as they delivered their responses and the silence as they waited for the Quizmaster’s verdict, correct or incorrect, must have seemed endless to our young contenders.  But as with all competitions one group stood out from the rest, and this was Anglican Primary School.  They proved to have studied the hardest and to have worked closely with their teachers to know the material inside and out.

Speaking with the Chief after the ceremony he made it clear that he was very pleased with the competition:  “This is the first Quiz Competition we’ve held in Humjibre, and it went very well.  I’m happy with the students, and now they will know how hard they will have to study to win next year.”

As if this was not enough excitement for the students of Humjibre, the following night GHEI held the highly anticipated Read-A-thon Awards Ceremony.  Our staff had tallied up the participants' reading points and the time had come to award the readers for their dedication.  Students with a moderate score were given colourful storybooks, while high scoring readers had something more in store for them.  Our “Read and Play” volunteers had brought an assortment of soccer jerseys to be awarded to the most studious readers.

 

As soon as the master of ceremonies revealed the first jersey the room broke out in pandemonium. The children screamed at the top of their lungs in jubilation while jumping up and down, bumping into one another in a mosh pit more befitting of a metal concert. The next several minutes were spent controlling the enraptured crowd and continuing the presentation of the various jerseys.  The crowd shouted with glee at the sight of each jersey, but the best was saved for last.

The overall winner of the Read-A-thon was to be given a particularly special Chelsea jersey.  The jersey was held up for the audience and turned around to reveal the name of every Ghanaian football fan's pride and joy, Michael Essien.  At the sight of this the room once again broke out into a small riot.  The winner was quickly announced, and one very proud Ebenezer Apemchom emerged from the crowd.  With a heartwarming smile and misty eyes he accepted his prize as the crowd let out a roaring applause.

GHEI would like to thank all those who made the Read-A-Thon and Quiz Competition possible, including staff, our international volunteers, and in particular Mr. Francis Gardler, who along with his family and friends donated the soccer gear that became wonderful prizes for our top readers.  And of course, we can’t forget the Read-A-thon participants themselves.  We are proud of their dedicated reading for the past month.  Well done!
 

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