My Village Stay: the first day

The purpose of the village stay is for us to experience the reality of subsistence farming in Northern Ghana. To achieve this we live in a host family for at least a week. During that time we live, eat and go through life as they do. 

For my village stay I travelled to Thaha, just half an hour outside of Tamale. Although we are just a few miles from town, the electric wires follow the main road yet they don't stop. Mustapha accompanied me to the village and did the proper introductions to my host family. The family is comprised of the father Abdulai, his wife Memunatou, and four children Jaman. Suraya, Damba and Ruhaina. Abdulai is part of a farmers group Mustapha is their extension agent from the Ministry.

The four kids

The compound, the small cluster of buildings surrounded by a wall, is very humble. The main court gives access to 4 buildings, two that are the traditional round ones with thatched roofs and 2 others that are square with metal roofs. I'll be staying in the smaller of the square building. It's a good sized room normally used for storage or as a meeting place. There is a couch that is quite comfortable but nevertheless Abdulai rushed to town to buy a new foam mattress. I feel bad that he felt obligated to purchase it, but it's hard to communicate at this point since he only speaks broken English and only one of his nephews is fluent. For the price of the mattress the family could probably buy a goat or a sheep. I keep thinking that I am being treated quite well compared to the average dweller. Everyone else is in much more cramped quarters.

The main court of the compound

I came to my host family with a few gifts. I purchased two chickens for the father and mother and they seemed very pleased. I also bough Canada flag pins for the children but the regular ball pens and paper seem to be a bigger hit. For the chief I bought in the market in Tamale 6 Kola nuts; apparently this is what you bring a chief.

I barely had time to have a few bites of my bread and eggs before hitting the road behind Mustapha. My Nescafe is still in my backpack pocket. It is Ramadan and I certainly don't want to be eating (or drinking) during the daylight. The drinking part may be challenging, it is Africa after all and the temperature does get up there.

Shortly after my arrival I went for a walk to the nest village, Ghalihi, and it took me a little more than one hour. When I returned I snuck into my room and had a few ounces of water. I intended to go to work with Abdulai in the field tomorrow and I couldn't imagine spending 12 hours in the this heat without water. I'll have to play it by ear.

Abdulai took me around the village and we visited a few of the village's dignitaries including the chef. The whole encounter was very ceremonious, I just followed Abdulai's lead and bowed when he bowed and nodded when he nodded. After giving him the nuts the chief gave me a small piece to eat.  It tasted awful and leaves you with a dry mouth (just what I needed). Apparently it's a sign of trust if you offer and if you eat. Some say that the Kola nut has some “recreational” properties. Beside making me very thirtsy, I haven't noticed anything.

Mamunatou doing the wash

The place:
In the central area there is a corner reserved for cooking; it is done over a coal fire and the cooking pots are held by rocks place in the concrete floor. There is no electricity, in my room there is a small battery LED lamp that couldn't be useful for anything more than finding the walls. You get used to it. In the yard people use a few flashlights at dinner time and we listen to a battery operated radio. Surprisingly the internet connected to the 3G network and it's very fast. But with limited battery power I have to choose between the movies for the kids or surfing... The kids always win...

One of Abdulai rice field

There is no running water but there is a few taps in the village where people go to fill their containers. In the compound we have a few large ceramic pots that we use the water from. The women carry buckets of water on their heads to fill it up. As far as toilets there are none but there are two latrines in the village. What can be said about latrines? Not much except that when you come to a certain age and that your flexibility is not what it used to be, using one is more challenging. But I have developed my own gymnastic and manage quite well. It does requires both arms and hands and has made it impossible for me to read.

We bucket shower twice a day or as required. There is a small enclosure within the compound about 5 feet high (the top comes to my armpits) and you wash using a cup and pouring it over yourself and washing. Very refreshing. The kids were having a good time watching me.

Tonight after dark we ate. First it was porridge made from maize (a kind of corn) followed by rice with stew. The stew is a very thick tomato sauce and you only get a little. This one had a good spicy flavor from the pepe, their hot peppers, and had pieces of dry fish that were chewy but still very tasty.

I am writing this by hand using my camping head lamp. I have to get up at 3am to have breakfast with the men. It's only 8pm but I'll do a last check on the mosquito net and turn off the light. Tomorrow I am going farming.

Cheers

Dom