Chanshegu Village Pioneers Adventures (Robyn, Marisa, Rose)

March 27- Chanshegu Village

We 3 girls were the first to embark on the overnight village adventure. Due to Muriel's king status in the village, we were warmly welcomed to spend a day living as they do. This included spending the night in a traditional thatched grass roof hut, eating homemade FuFu and groundnut (peanut) soup with only our hands, and spending lots of time getting to know the people, especially the children!

Upon arrival, we were delighted to discover that the chief's wives had cleared a hut especially for us, as they are normally not accustomed to having foreigners stay the night. Having limited Dagbani vocabulary, we were very grateful to have the chief''s son and one of the other villagers there with us to help settle us in and facilitate communication with the other villagers. These 2 young men were able to describe the process of making FuFu and the significance behind such an offering. The fufu is a traditional Ghanaian dish made from pounding cooked yams until it forms a glutenous dough, which is then used to scoop up the groundnut soup. As we overcame the challenge of eating our delicious meal with our right hand (especially for Rose, who is left handed!), we got to embrace the sense of community as we all sat together under the stars. For the astronomy enthusiast (Robyn, or Robyn's dad), we found it interesting to pick out all the upside down constellations . With a bright full moon to light the way, our new friends took us on a tour of the village. It was a very peaceful experience, although comical to come across a generator on the outskirts of the village attached to a power bar with several cell phones plugged in charging!

We were astonished by the endless energy of the 50+ children laughing and playing until well past 11:00 pm!

We woke several times through the night with the sound of pounding rain and thunder on the grass roof. Those Ghanaians sure know how to build a solid hut, as we did not feel a drop! We were particularly amused when we heard that the guesthouse roof had leaked on the girls staying back in Tamale! :)

As the next day was Holy Thursday, a day off of school for the children, we awoke to cheerful sounds of the lively village around us. By being personally greeted by each of the village elders, we spent a memorable day playing with the many village children!

Being the first group to spend the night, we were able to share with our fellow students how comfortable we felt, how warmly we were welcomed, and how peaceful the simplicities of community living is. Despite our cultural differences and linguistic barriers, we still felt able to learn from and connect with such friendly and generous hosts!

Christmas in March

March 23, Chanshegu Village

Saturday we travelled back to Chanshegu to deliver small gift bags to each of the orphans (37in all) each bag was hand made with bright fabric by (Jess's mom) and consisted of a book, toothbrush, tooth paste, underwear, candy (which they have never heard of) and skipping rope for girls and a dinosaur for the boys. Sinbad organized the boys and girls so we could easily pass out the bags. In the beginning they were just so excited to receive the bag that we had to demonstrate exploring the bag and that there were more fun things inside. Once the kids caught on the excitement elevated ; looking at animal picture books and reading out the animal names, bouncy ball dribbling, and skipping rope tricks. It was so much fun spending the afternoon with the children and watching them enjoy their goodies.

The chief of the village has asked for these orphans to specifically receive these gifts, helping them to feel special and valued as they are taken in by other families and often don't receive these things of their own. It is inspiring to see this sense of unity in the community and we were happy to play a small part!

Water falls and Kirsten falls!

March 24- Kintempo

On Sunday we headed off to Kintempo Falls which is about three hours away. It's always a balancing act when we go on trips as its so hot and we need to drink water, but also having to pee on bumpy roads is no fun :).

We arrived at the falls which looked like chocolate milk from all the rain the day before. It was a blast for the first five minutes but then we lost Kirsten to the slippery rocks. Initially we thought she meant to go sliding down and were all cheering, but then she took out Marisa and came up holding her chin. She got a nasty gash on it but what better company to be in. We put our nursing skills to practice and patched her up in no time. We had a picnic there and got to meet some of the other Ghanaians that were there. It was fun to meet some people who had heard about the falls all their lives but were just now getting a chance to visit.

Shortly before we left we had yet another chance to fix somebody up. A man cut his thumb on a can so we nursed him up and made him keep his arm elevated. It was cute to see him with his hand in the air while playing around in the water.

We had an overall relaxing day but were happy to see our "home" and hit the hay after our long day traveling and in the sun.

Night out in Tamale!!

March 22, Tamale

On Friday night we headed downtown to a rooftop patio for some dancing. We were joined again by the traditional dancers and a few other friends. The cool breeze and city views were so refreshing. We didn't know any of the songs and definitely didn't know the moves, but had a blast all the same. We got our own dance lessons and a few of us really picked it up, haha but not all of us... We also got to see how the locals dance. In a word - close. We were laughing as we were often pulled in multiple directions or moved around like puppets as they were trying to teach us some dances.