Amy’s adventures in Ghana

On Sunday I went to visit one of the communities that SIMLI works with called Kpano.  SIMLI’s work revolves around "REFLECT" circles, which are basically community meetings which allow everyone to participate and discuss issues concerning them.  Each community meets 4 times a week in the evening and they decide on their own discussion topics and any action to be taken etc.

So I went to observe one of these meetings taking place.  It was great!  They start at 8pm, as by this time everyone has finished cooking and eating and is free to attend.  Obviously it’s dark and there is no power in most of the rural communities, so we all met around 1 kerosene latern.  They start the meeting with singing and dancing. 

On Sunday the topic was water.  They are particularly concerned because the rains are late in coming this year which affects their farming.  So there was some general discussion about this and some key points were written on a blackboard.  These points were then used to practice reading and writing, as adult literacy is less than 10%.

It was really amazing to watch - women, men and children all equal, trying to read the words.  Then they got me up to read it, in Dagbani, which provided some entertainment!  They also forced me to dance some traditional dances and play some games which was pretty funny too, but everyone seems to appreciate me trying!

I even got to meet the village chief who was lovely and spoke amazing English.  I had to present him with some money and kola nuts.  Also, when you greet an elder, especially a chief, you have to crouch right down as a sign of respect.  The chief was sitting on a raised platform, which accentuates this submission to him, I guess.  This particular chief has a horse which has it’s own house and you even have to crouch down and take your shoes off to greet the horse!! 

Here’s me trying to be a "Dagbonpaga", Dagbani lady, carrying water on my head. 

1st of May was Workers Day, which meant we all got the day off work..

There was a parade through Tamale which ended at the Police park where there were some traditional dancing displays and speeches etc. We stayed for the dancing which was excellent.  I took a wee video clip on my camera and am going to try and put up on the web so you can see the dancing as it’s amazing.

My life at the moment revolves around trying to find a new place to stay as we’re having lots of problems with the house we’re in just now.  Don’t want to go into it all as it’s getting boring.  I have looked at loads of houses and rooms but still not found one that is suitable - mainly cos Tamale is so big they are all too far away from the office for us to cycle.  So it’s hard to really concentrate on doing anything until I get my housing situation sorted, but everything here takes so long, I’m starting to get pretty frustrated with it all.  Anyway..

Here is a photo I managed to take in the central taxi rank with the central mosque behind. You can see some women and children carrying stuff on their heads - mainly fruit/food being sold to passengers.