Without trying to make everyone back home jealous, I have had yet another phenomenal weekend in Ghana and also managed to regain my feeling of peace and calm, which I am so thankful for! My stress over 'life changing decisions' is far behind me, after some amazing chats over the weekend in which clarity, faith and anticipation were found!
My 'hard' work last week was rewarded with a half day on Friday when I raced my moto to Diplomatt for lunch with the EWB. We chopped shredded chicken with rice and salad while sweating in the humid afternoon sun and catching up on life since we last saw each other. After the EWB's 3:10am start that morning to travel to Bolga from Wa we decided to head back to Kumbosgo to chill under the fan, cook pizza and chips for dinner and catch a blissful early night!
Saturday morning was spent contently perched on the edge of a patio chair, drinking tea in my hoodie, reading my book and soaking up the rare greyness of an overcast Ghanaian sky. As I sat looking up at the fast moving clouds I wondered whether those clouds had also drifted over all the people out there in the World who I love very dearly and miss even more! The EWB, after a well earned lie-in, came to join me in my intermittent book reading and day-dreaming on the front porch before we decided at 11am to start the day with an egg 'n' bread breakfast...
We then had to greet the funeral of Janet's brother, Janet being the woman who runs the local shop that I frequent at least once a day! The funeral service was most interesting and extremely different to traditional Western funerals. There was singing and dancing, speeches, prayers, money giving and the body in a windowed coffin in the middle of it all! Rachel, Hannah, the EWB and I then got invited/asked/ordered to go to Janet's house to chop meat. We chomped chicken meat and sank alvaros while sweating buckets in the small, very green room we found ourselves sat in.
My 'hard' work last week was rewarded with a half day on Friday when I raced my moto to Diplomatt for lunch with the EWB. We chopped shredded chicken with rice and salad while sweating in the humid afternoon sun and catching up on life since we last saw each other. After the EWB's 3:10am start that morning to travel to Bolga from Wa we decided to head back to Kumbosgo to chill under the fan, cook pizza and chips for dinner and catch a blissful early night!
Saturday morning was spent contently perched on the edge of a patio chair, drinking tea in my hoodie, reading my book and soaking up the rare greyness of an overcast Ghanaian sky. As I sat looking up at the fast moving clouds I wondered whether those clouds had also drifted over all the people out there in the World who I love very dearly and miss even more! The EWB, after a well earned lie-in, came to join me in my intermittent book reading and day-dreaming on the front porch before we decided at 11am to start the day with an egg 'n' bread breakfast...
We then had to greet the funeral of Janet's brother, Janet being the woman who runs the local shop that I frequent at least once a day! The funeral service was most interesting and extremely different to traditional Western funerals. There was singing and dancing, speeches, prayers, money giving and the body in a windowed coffin in the middle of it all! Rachel, Hannah, the EWB and I then got invited/asked/ordered to go to Janet's house to chop meat. We chomped chicken meat and sank alvaros while sweating buckets in the small, very green room we found ourselves sat in.
The EWB and I then hopped on my moto for a road trip to Bongo, which is found 15km out of Bolga. As we rode into the 'village/town' my heart started racing slightly at the sight of rocks, greenery and views spanning into the distance! We rode through part of Bongo, which is around the same size as Zebilla and Lawra with the usual Ghanaian offerings of bike repair shops, spots, chop bars, shops, seamstresses etc. As we rode out of Bongo we saw on the right hand side a small dam and lake, which were just too tempting in the beaming afternoon sun to pass by! I rode the moto up to the water through small paths created in the surrounding farmland and we found some rocks to perch on under some small shade!
We watched local women clean clothes as children splashed around in the cooling water screaming with delight as their body temperatures plummeted! To say we were chilled (but still sweating) is an understatement, but unfortunately this moment was crushed when a shouting man came rushing to the waterfront brandishing a stick and throwing stones at the children! It became apparent that he was father to two of the boys, aged around eight and ten, and he was most angry that the boys were having fun with their friends in the water, when he clearly wanted them to be elsewhere! On some occassions when I have witnessed a child being beaten with a stick, as I did that day, the person inflicting the pain has calmed down their behaviour or even stopped when spotting me watching them! I do not know the reason for this - shame, embarrassment, respect - but this man did not care at all that his actions were being witnessed by the two of us and he continued to chase the crying boys away from the water and in the direction of home! As you can imagine, witnessing something like that provoked a conversation on physical punishment and interrupting Ghanaians who are caning which sparked some interesting thoughts, especially how 'normal' it is becoming to witness children in Ghana being caned, smacked and physically punished and how frequently I am witnessing children themselves doing the same to their peers!
So as the sun came down we headed for home, with a quick stop for a beer and meat at 'Feel at Home.' We walked through the front door just as Rachel and Hannah were serving up a magnificent vegetable curry with rice and naan bread - yummy! Our spontaneous Saturday night dinner party was much fun with Ellie having travelled in from Zebilla for the weekend and lots of talk of home! The EWB and I prepared a mango and Fan Ice (vanilla ice cream) dessert, which we served in a big silver bowl with seven spoons sticking out from the melting ice cream (no my 'cooking' skills have not improved)!
So as the sun came down we headed for home, with a quick stop for a beer and meat at 'Feel at Home.' We walked through the front door just as Rachel and Hannah were serving up a magnificent vegetable curry with rice and naan bread - yummy! Our spontaneous Saturday night dinner party was much fun with Ellie having travelled in from Zebilla for the weekend and lots of talk of home! The EWB and I prepared a mango and Fan Ice (vanilla ice cream) dessert, which we served in a big silver bowl with seven spoons sticking out from the melting ice cream (no my 'cooking' skills have not improved)!
Sunday started brilliantly with a porridge, cinammon and honey french toast breakfast (courtesy once again of Rachel and Hannah), which was such a treat, but meant it was then the EWB and I's turn to cook dinner that night! So in the afternoon we strolled the short distance to 'Feel at Home' for a refreshing couple of drinks and some super hot, eye-watering meat kebabs! We purchased the things we needed to make bean burgers, then I found myself in charge in the kitchen with beans and rice on the boil, onions and garlic chopped and oil in the pan frying! The burgers went down well with some small suggestions for next time!
The end of the weekend was spent with a very fun Skype call to Canada and the usual 5am Monday morning moto ride to the Metro Mass station when it came time to say goodbye to the EWB for another week! I feel like I woke at 07:30 with my mojo back after a stressed out dip last weekend, which just goes to show the power of communication, time well spent and just calming down and ordering those racing thoughts in your mind! With lots to look forward to over the next month, including another two week holiday with Abbie, there really is only one thing I am dying to happen/hear about/find out about in the near future...
The end of the weekend was spent with a very fun Skype call to Canada and the usual 5am Monday morning moto ride to the Metro Mass station when it came time to say goodbye to the EWB for another week! I feel like I woke at 07:30 with my mojo back after a stressed out dip last weekend, which just goes to show the power of communication, time well spent and just calming down and ordering those racing thoughts in your mind! With lots to look forward to over the next month, including another two week holiday with Abbie, there really is only one thing I am dying to happen/hear about/find out about in the near future...
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