These colourful close pins hang on the clothes line that is set up at our house. When you walk around Tamale there is always clothes hanging somewhere or draped over a fence or slightly hanging off a roof, anything that will spread the clothes out so it can dry. While in Ghana I have the incredible luxury of having a cleaning lady. Her name is Augustina. She is a young women that Elizabeth met through the church that she attends here in Ghana. She comes in once a week to do our laundry and clean the house. I absolutely love and feel so grateful when I come home Saturday afternoons after a market run or outing with friends to a clean house and clothes drying on the line. How wonderful!!!
This is my favourite restaurant in Tamale. Its called Swad. Owned by an Indian couple. Mohamed and Unice and the nicest of all the wait staff I have met and they work very hard since they are two of the three waiters that I have seen there no matter what time of day and which day of the week. The food is delicious and as you can see it is quite pretty. P.S. They do not have a branch in Bolga
Sometimes a taxi ride will offer pretty spectacular sites as well. Like this - a man on a horse riding down busy busy Chogu road. Horses here are pretty rare and in fact are usually only owned by the chiefs. This man is not the chief but maybe his brother or someone who works for him or even his son maybe. I'm not quite sure but generally if a chief is out and about he looks fancier then that. There are traditional smocks and horse tail whip type things and hats and and and...
A little about these ladies. Bhavna is in her 20's. She is Indian but grew up here. Her parent's own a shop here and she works there for now. She went to University in India. She has traveled to quite a few places and is now feeling the itch again to go off on another adventure. Barbara is sort of embarking on an adventure of her own. She is originally from the US and moved here five years ago. She married a Ghanian some years back and after spending years in the States came here when they retired. She is a retired school teacher and on her arrival here was asked to be the headmistress of a school. So, like so many of the retired teachers I know - Mom I'm looking at you!!! - she said yes and just keeps on working. She, in fact, reminds me very much of my mom and I can't express how comforting it is to be around an energy that is so familiar. Claudia is here as the lead for the HUGE new project. She is set to be here 2 years. She has a lot of experience in this type of work and has been all over. Then there is Auntie Jane. She is originally from England but has been in Ghana for over 50 years now. She owns a school and her husband is hmmm a barrister?! I'm not quite sure, but he is an influential person and has been for many years. She tells us stories about how he was in jail when one of her sons was born. He was jailed because the political party at the time thought he was a threat. Best Auntie Jane quote ever "The first thing you do when there is a coup is go get fuel. No wait, first you take the political stickers off your car, then you go get fuel" Nice!!!
This is Waheed. He is one of the older boys who lives around my house. He was the first to use my name instead of saliminga (white person) . I wanted to dance for joy that day. The kids are slowly starting to use my name and since Waheed's english is more advanced he encourages the others. He is also very helpful to get them to not follow me to my gate all the time.
This is Fahima (front) and Rahama (back) Oh the sweet sweet girls!!! Fahima has recently started going to school which makes me so unbelievably happy. I was walking to the main road a few months ago and met her mom walking back home. I asked how she was and she mentioned that she had just dropped Fahima off at school. This time I really did jump up and down and do a little dance and cheer. Zenar, her mom, thought I was pretty funny!
Fadil (left) you may remember from an earlier post. He is still around and is still just as cute as before. Its crazy how much he has grown since we first arrived. In the middle is Binsu. She is a ball of energy. She always wants to hold my hand. Because of her I started playing "head and shoulders, knees and toes" with them. She loves to dance and play and run around. On the right is her little brother Hafees. He is by far the brightest ray of sunshine I have ever met in my life. I can sit with him for 10 minutes and just giggle and laugh cause he will just giggle and laugh back. No words are exchanged because I don't speak Dagbani and he doesn't speak english but man oh man he just makes my days so so bright. And he is a fast one. When he decides to come and see me his little arms are to his side and he jets by and is hugging my legs in a flash.
This is Raouda. She's a little little one. On this day she was strolling around the neighbourhood with nothing but her little waist beads on. I was wearing my sunglasses and wanted her to come and see me but I think they scared her a little so off she went in a very decided step.
And the smallest one of all is Vialong. She is my compound neighbour Shamima's brand new little baby. Only a month and a half old. She is so adorable. And apparently I have magic arms since whenever I hold her she falls fast asleep.
With all of these adorable faces around how will I ever leave them. I often wonder if they will remember me when I have gone. Will they think of that saliminga that lived in their neighbourhood when they were kids? Will they remember that we sang songs together and that I stroked their little cheeks and foreheads and tickled their little bellies. Will they remember that they stroked my arms and hugged me and touched my hair?
Speaking of compound neighbours, this is Francis. Here he is cracking open a coconut for Elizabeth with his machete. He is wearing a headlamp because we didn't have any electricity that evening. I have spent many an evening sitting with him and discussing Ghana and the world, all of its problems and cultural diversity. Its great and it is surely another thing I will greatly miss.
I mentioned incredible women earlier and here is the work of one of those women. Her name is Nafisa and she is the leader behind Beads Of Hope. She organizes a group of women who make the most beautiful bead jewelry and this enables them to have their own income and in some cases pay for school. She does amazing work and I am happy to promote her. She has a facebook page. Please feel free to check her out. And for those of you who live in Canada she has an etsy page and will deliver to you.
follow her here : https://www.facebook.com/beadsofhopeghana
So there it is a little glimpse into everyday life and the people who fill it. Thank you universe its a magnificent ride!!!
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