Blog January 24, 2014
Oh how I do not want to get out of bed this morning. That’s probably because there was no call to
prayer at dawn, I’m getting used to it to ease me awake at 4. One more hot shower, although I am sure we
will have water at Mole (pronounce MOLAY) tonight. Nancy and I got Francis (the palace waiter)
to give us a couple of pieces of bread after dinner so we start our day with
water and peanut butter on bread.
Yum. Tastes like home with the
exception of no coffee.
The drive to Damongo is not far. 2 hours after departing we pull up to the
Damongo Dioscesan Community Credit Union.
Damongo is a small village with an active market place and a little bit
of a sad history for the credit union.
Many people in this village trusted the first credit union that was
established here, but it turned out to be mismanaged and potentially have some
issues with staff which resulted in many of the members losing their
savings. The old credit union closed
down, and this credit union came into being in 2002. Many of the former members
of the now defunct credit union brought their savings, and their passion
here. I am impressed by their dedication
to the community and to the co-operative movement.
Today Hardi, the manager, wanted to take us to the market
place to meet some of his members.
Although I was feeling slightly light-headed and a little nauseous (not
sure why, it wasn’t malaria pill day) I thought that the fresh (39 degree) air
would do me some good. Perhaps I was a
little mistaken. The smell of the market
greeted us, a combination of…..let’s face it, I haven’t got a clue. I like to pretend that I know what something
would smell like in 39 degree heat, but I’m from Edmonton. The first few stalls were men chopping
meat. Maybe that was it. Or the fish.
Or any number of other things that were being cooked/sold. Many of the market stall owners were members,
and all of them (in true Ghanain fashion) were wonderful. “You are welcome,” I heard at every stall we
stopped at. I feel welcome. A little sick, but welcome nonetheless.
Although we have been inundated with the vision of all of
these villages over the last week we have not really been “inside” one. I have conflicting feelings about it. From our air conditioned truck hurtling down the
road I catch glimpses of children and adults in their day-to-day routines and
think that it should be left that way, just a glimpse. Then I think that I should want to see inside
one of the mud structures, inside the community, what am I afraid I am going to
see? Jude solved that for me today.
We have a free weekend.
It is Friday. Nancy and I are
booked for three nights at the Mole Motel in Mole National Park. It’s a respite from our week and we are
looking forward to it. On our way from
Damongo to Mole there is a village, yes, a red mud hut village, in the town of Larabunga. In Larabunga we will find the oldest mosque
in Ghana (and perhaps Western Africa).
We will also find a village and a community looking for any and all
money, for school, for children, for business, for post secondary education, it
ran the gamut tonight. The community
was welcoming, and there were young man, Hasma, who provided the history and
stories behind many of the structures and scenes that we came upon. The mosque was impressive for being built
sometime in the 1400s. The village was
sad, and coupled with Hasma’s detailed description of what they were lacking it
turned out to be a trying hour or more.
At one point, when Hasma was explaining the engineering of a particular
building, I looked aside and saw a young girl about 2 smiling at me. I smiled back and she held up a treasure she
had found. A razor blade. I stopped Hasma, and said “the girl has a
blade!” He walked over to her, took the
razor blade from her, and continued on with his story. I got the feeling that this wasn’t the first
time nor was it an anomaly, which was quite disturbing. Many people over the age of 16 that we see have scars on their faces, my understanding is that these cuts are tribal marks and actually are a thing of beauty.
We finally left behind this village and continued on to Mole
Motel where we will spend the next three nights. Four other coaches who have been travelling
northern Ghana will join us tomorrow.
For tonight, Nancy and I are firmly ensconced in rooms 3 & 4 of the “R”
block. Our view is spectacular,
apparently the water comes on between 6 and 8 AM tomorrow, and we can walk “not
far” (no, really, it’s not a Jude “not far” it’s a Canadian not far) to the
viewing area overlooking one of the watering holes. And the bar has cold Star.
 |
| Mole elephant viewing area |
Life is good.
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