Dagaaba church service

The Catholic church in Jema, the district capital of South Kintampo, hosted a service for the local Dagaaba population who migrated from the north and now form a sizable minority in the nearby villages. Catholicism is strong in the north of Ghana since the first missions. The people sang songs in their language to the rhythm of drums and this xylophone of wood and calabashes. A joyous experience to hear the women ululating and everyone enthusiastically dancing and waving their handkerchiefs.

Watermelon harvest

Farming is the main occupation in the districts. Major products are yams, maize, groundnuts and mangoes. Produce in the market is seasonal - the glut of yellow mangoes and huge buttery avocado pears is followed by pineapples, water melons and oranges which are peeled and squeezed to suck the juice. Other popular snacks are boiled or roasted maize cobs and fresh groundnuts boiled in their pods.

Fetching water

Water supply in Kintampo and the surrounding villages is erratic. In Kintampo not all the houses have piped water supply and the piped water often fails. So many houses have wellls and there are bore holes around the town. In the villages the nearest supply of water may be the river, and it is a common sight to see lines of women and children carrying water up from the river to the village.

Having a bath

Much of life in Kintampo is conducted outdoors at the front of people's mud-brick houses or in the courtyard of compound houses. Women cook over charcoal or wood fires stirring food in large metal pots or stand splitting firewood with heavy axes, children stand in bowls to be thoroughly soaped, others bend double sweeping the ground with grass brooms. Compound houses consist of rooms around a central communal courtyard and are often shared among the extended family. Some of the old compound houses in Kintampo were built with money from the cocoa boom of the 1940s with wooden shuttered windows and railed verandahs. However the preference now is to build self-contained houses and many of the compound houses are crumbling due to lack of maintenance.

Weaving kente cloth

Selling kenkey

Kenkey is made from maize steamed in the leaves. It is eaten with hot pepper sauce, raw onions and fried fish. This is a local kenkey seller whose kenkey is particularly soft and delicious.

Fuller Falls

Fuller Falls is a beautiful series of waterfalls just outside Kintampo - an idyllic place to swim and have one of nature's jacuzzis. This is me with Pamela, an American who is completing her Masters in Public Health at the University of Legon in Ghana. She completed her research project in Kintampo looking at post-natal depression among women in the district.

Healing Jesus Crusade - medicine and miracles

The following morning, thousands flocked back to the marquee to consult with a doctor or medical student from Korle Bu, the main teaching hospital in Accra. Afterwards they were given free medication such as painkillers or vitamins. Among those who came seeking advice were people bringing their relatives with mental illness, one young girl running around outside the tent, talking and shouting. The team unfortunately had no medication for this, and recommended that those with mental illness should be taken to the psychiatric hospital, a long journey to the south. There are no ambulances to convey the mentally ill to hospital, and no police assistance. So the family must meet the costs of transport and call on their young men to restrain a person if they are disturbed and escort them to the hospital. Thus it is not uncommon for those who are severely disturbed, aggressive or abusive to be brought to hospital tied with ropes.