Amy’s adventures in Ghana

I am very excited as I have moved into my new house in Tamale.  It’s great, I love it.  No more moaning from me you’ll be pleased to hear!  It makes such an enormous difference having somewhere that feels like home.  I’m so proud of it too, and am planning a wee house warming party at the weekend. 

I share the compound with a lovely family with 4 kids who are great and seem to think I’m hilarious. It’s just so nice to have people around all the time and feel safe and secure.  This is Razak, the dad who owns the house. He’s even given me a TV and DVD player that he doesn’t use, so it feels like total luxury.  Plus, the house is close to the Army barracks and so is on the same water and electricty lines, which means we never get our power or water cut off.   Especially good at the moment when there is power off every 4 days in the rest of Tamale. So all in all, it’s grand and I feel so much happier.   

I arrived back in Ghana on Tuesday 12th.  It is so much cooler than when I left, so that was a lovely surprise.  My friends met me at the airport and immediately told me that I was looking fat, which is true I suppose! I had a few days in Accra before flying to Tamale. I finally got the chance to go to the beach near Accra, having been too ill the other times.  It was really beautiful but hardly anyone was there. The problem is there isn’t the infrastructure to make it a very appealing Tourist destination. 

At the insistance of my mum, I flew up to Tamale.  The roads are pretty terrible and it takes around 15 hours by bus from Accra to Tamale, so the 1 1/2 hour flight was much more pleasant!  It’s the rainy season just now and it was cloudy when I flew, but I did get a few glimpses between the clouds and I took this as we were coming in to land at Tamale. 

This is a village near Tamale, so there is a mix of traditional housing and new houses with corrugated iron rooves.  You can also see how green it is since it’s the rainy season.  I couldn’t believe the red dirt could be so transformed!

Arriving back in Tamale, I had the sensation of returning somewhere I’d visted as a child.  It was the same, but different.  It felt like years since I’d been there but I knew where everything was.  I guess the physical differences like all the new vegetation have made my absence appear longer.  Also, somehow I feel much more grown up this time - I guess I know what I am letting myself in for and am more aware of the risks etc, compared to when i first arrived it was just so exciting.  hmmmm. 

It was lovely to see Sahadatu and all the family.  Here she is making banku at her shop. Banku is one of the main foods, made of fermented corn (I think).  It has a slightly tangy taste.  Here’s the final product, with beef soup.  

I took a few shots around Tamale which I thought would be interesting to give a better picture of what the town is like. 

This was taken from the top of the building the other day when there was a nice sunset. It’s so flat you cant really see anything unless you are up high.