Katherine Parker in Nepal

I have been getting some questions as to how my research is going. The short answer is very well for me, but not so well for the communities I am testing. I am finding a much higher rate of contamination than I was expecting to find. Quite how to analyze all of the data is still confusing to me, but it is coming along well. I have a whole group of pictures of the hand-dug wells and bore-holes that I have been testing as well as the result data from each of them posted, but I’m sure that besides my professors and the communities involved this is of minimal interests. I sometimes take pictures of the people in the community who hang out, help me administer the tests. This is a collection of those pictures. People from the Suhum Field Tests I have met lots of interesting people out in the field, but I was most excited to come across a blacksmith making farming tools. He was kind enough to show me his trade and let me take a few pictures. He makes all basic farm tools – hoes and mac...

Aburi Festival After the parade at Cape Coast I was too tired to stay for the Durbar (sortof a party, but also involves speeches). When I went up to Aburi for their festival on October 14 I was too tired from being out in the field to get up early and so I missed the parade, but I was there for the Durbar. Well, I was there for the part of the Durbar where there was dancing and lots of interesting greeting of and by the Paramount Chief. Then the vice prime minister or some such important political figure showed up (late) and there was more greeting. Then the political speeches and the discussion of what development project would be carried out in the following year began. My host didn't feel like translating and so this was not as interesting, so we went off in search of lunch. Some things I learned: (1) The ritual of greeting is very specific in Ghana. After the chief arrives, then people begin to come forward to greet him. There is usually a dance that is performed by eac...

I turned 29 this year while I was in Ghana. As is typically the case, I let my birthday slide by without much hurrah. The day before I ventured down to the salon to get my hair braided. It was great fun because I learned that it was not necessary to have hair added, that they could just do corn-rows in my hair. The beautician was very talented and could quickly braid my hair without even adding gel to it. It took less than an hour to braid the front half into about 12 corn-rows. I asked my program office to pick up some cake for me, and then I made a frosting of melted chocolate and condensed milk. I also melted some orange marmalade and poured it over the cake before putting the frosting on. It was very tasty (but a little too sweet for my tongue). I took cake with me to share with all of my classmates, and the various people I interact with on a daily basis (the porters, the ladies who make my breakfast, the TAs in my department, etc.). All of the Ghanaians were very upset t...

As interesting as it is to travel and see the natural beauty of Ghana, my purpose in being here is actually to complete a research project on microbial water quality. As this has taken form, I have focused my efforts towards bore-holes, and looking for indicators of recent fecal contamination in these. On Saturday, September 30 I went with a student, Peter, from my hydrology class to his hometown to sample the water there and test my protocol. On Monday, I went to the 37 Military Hospital with the same purpose. I am satisfied that I can detect coliform & e.coli in well water, and I have refined my protocol for the visual survey of the wells. You can see the documentation of my initial data: Chanten-La paz Water Quality Sep 30, 2006 - 15 Photos On Friday, October 6 I went to the Community Water and Sanitation Agency office in the capital of the Eastern Region, Koforidia. I collected some historic information about the digging of bore-holes in the region and made arrangements t...

It is easy to complain about how different things are and how frustrating it is to adjust my mode of thinking to be patient with delays, power-outs, etc. In reality, I live in one of the most beautiful places in the world, in this amazing garden. So, one morning I went out with my camera to document some of the beautiful flowers and trees in the courtyard of Volta Hall, where I live. Enjoy! Where I live - Volta Hall Sep 28, 2006 - 135 Photos Of perhaps equal interest, but not so aesthetically pleasing, here is a gallery of various pictures taken from the bus window during our orientation and other outings to the market, etc. Roadside attraction s Sep 24, 2006 - 52 Photos

My bed is protected by a mosquito net, but I am somewhat skeptical as to its effectiveness because I have found spiders inside my bed. My room, additionally, is a know haven for wildlife. My roommate and were having a challenge from a rat the first week. It was chewing holes in our window-screen and coming into our room during the first week we were here. Our first attempt was to spray the screen with DEET and Permithrin, but this did not deter the rat. We put all the food into plastic bins with lids, which meant the rat had nothing to eat. But, he was still visiting. After a week or so, we discovered that if we filled the window well with plastic bags that he didn't like the sound of those as he was chewing a new holes in the screen and he stopped visiting. However, this may have coincided with more people moving into the dorm. In any case, we haven't had any problems in our room since. Lizards are a constant delight to me. There are some very large ones that have red...

Yay for outings, and getting better at uploading pictures with captions. Like all parks in Ghana, in order to take a three hour walk along the road we had to hire a guide, but Simon was very good at spotting animals, so we even got to see a Green Monkey. We left shortly after 6am, got put onto a trotro where the mate didn't actually know where we wanted to get off and had to take a trotro south before connecting by Taxi to the park, but still made it on the trail by 8am. On the trotro ride home, we made it easily, quickly and cheeply to Ashaiman, but then we asked for a trotro to Legon (which is west of Ashaiman) and ended up on a trotro going east to Negon. I was a bit queesy and not paying attention until we were driving along a coast-line I had never seen before. So another hour later we were back in Ashaiman asking for a trotro to Accra, to which they told us essentially "no dummies, you should catch a direct trotro to Legon", to which we replied essentially "...