shooting in ghana west africa

[Murthy SNB]

request to all, please let me know about the risk if any

 

and work environment in ghana, I am being offered an

 

assignment of shooting in ghana,

 

with regards,

 

murthy S.N.B.

[Guest John Adderley]

request to all, please let me know about the risk if any

 

and work environment in ghana, I am being offered an

 

assignment of shooting in ghana,

 

with regards,

 

murthy S.N.B.

 

Apart from the normal tropical diseases precautions you should be careful in outlying areas where you see children with eye infections. It's very visible and highly contagious by physical contact. I suffered from this and it took a year of visits to St Thomas's eye specialists before it stopped. They never found out what was causung the problem. Symptoms were same as conjunctivitis. It's alwas a temptation for people to want to look through your viewfinder so guard it with a cover all the time. The people are so friendly, especially the kids so it's hard to resist.

 

On return form West Africa you should get a full checkup at a centre for tropical diseases, normal GPs often miss symptoms of the less common tropical diseases. It's a good idea to check up with them before going as well.

 

Good idea to get what we used to call an Aids Kit. This is a set of needles and catheters in case you have an accident and need hostpital treatment. I don't want to relate a horror story of a bus and truck crash that we witnessed at a hospital in Tamale, just suffice it for me to say, medical resources are not good away from the city.

 

It was a very rare case, but on returning from Ghana quite a few years ago now, the crew were putting away the equipment for the trip after retuning to base. The cameraman said he had a bad headache and was very tired. He obviously thought it was just normal dehydration and tiredness from the trip but several days laetr he died from Cerebral Malaria. There are several sites on the internet where you can check up on current health problems to local areas.

 

Most of the time when myself or members of the crew got stomach problems it was usually from a large hotel. We ate usually from smaller places where we knew the food had just been cooked and not left for hours on a hotel kitchen shelf. The habit of drinking freshly brewed tea is a good idea because the water is boiled and tea has a slightly antiseptic agent. Only fruit that you peel just before you eat it and salad vegetables that you know have been prepared properly should be eaten. Salads can look apetising but if they have been washed in polluted water thay can be dangerous and lose you many days of shooting. Watch that the bottled water is sealed properly.

 

I spent four months on a filming trip all over Ghana once and found that the tummy bugs hit at first then my system seemed to get used ot the change and it settled down.

 

 

John Adderley MBKS *

Lighting Cameraman UK .

www.adderley.net *

+44 20 8542 4847 *

Mob +44 7973 730 042 * * *

Fax +44 7970088760

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