Our house is not in the middle of our street. Well, it sort of is, but it’s hardly a street. Min and I are staying at the guesthouse in the SILDEP compound. SILDEP stands for SIsaali Literacy and DEvelopment Programme. I’m not still not 100% sure what they do, but broadly they translate materials into Sisaali. There are a huge number of motorbikes in the compound that go in and out every day, I think back and forth to the villages. There’s a Sisaali New Testament, and the Old is nearly done. I have a copy which I take to church with me, but not having much success.
There are four buildings inside the compound; the main guest housebuilding on the left in the picture, our building on the right, the translation office behind that, and another house under construction behind that, where Margaret and Justin, the couple who run things, live. The rest of the space is taken up with a lovely garden, where Margaret grows lettuces (rare to buy here, so great we can just get them from the garden), runner beans (also very rare), papaya, guava, aloe vera, moringa (you use it in soap, good for skin infections apparently) and a host of other things.
The place where we stay is just a bungalow, with three rooms and a large entrance area with a kitchen off that. As we walked in and looked around, Min and I were both thinking and saying exactly the same thing; “WOW!” It is far nicer than we had ever dared hope for. We have our own rooms, which are en suite, and even have their own fans and AC (though I don’t use mine). Min got a bigger room, but I got a queen size bed and a huge bathroom. The kitchen has two rings, a fridge freezer, a water filter and was fairly well equipped with kitchenware. Penny might also give us her spare oven. Possibly the most unexpected thing was the TV! Our hopes were raised by a note describing how to put it onto “BBC, CNN, Joy Sports…” and further by Penny mentioning they showed Premier League football games on terrestrial TV here. It turns out we get two channels, if we’re lucky; GhanaTV, and whatever they’re watching in the main block! Thankfully that seems to be football often enough (though African Cup of Nations, not Premier League). Anyway, we are managing to cook for ourselves well enough, though I’ll probably do another post soon enough about shopping and sourcing ingredients, which is interesting in itself.
We’ve got to know some of the people who work here quite well. Joseph is a sort of general handyman, who has shown us how to slaughter chicken (and use every single part inside…), chop down popo, carry off pink shirts on a motorcycle, and much more. There are several watchman, who work on shifts watching the entrance, and doing other jobs too, and we try to greet them often. The night one sleeps (yes, the “watchmen” sleep, I know) literally right outside my window on the benches there. This can be quite disconcerting; my bed is next to the window also, so I am often about to fall asleep when I hear a rustle and a snort or a cough about a foot away! It’s like sharing your bed. One of the watchman has a son called Hadi who we’ve got to know really well. He’s 12, and we take him to the school with us to play football or Frisbee and things. We’ve introduced him to a lot of western things that he loves; Gummy Bears, RISK, chocolate, the occasional computer game, and The Beatles. He reciprocates, and tells us a lot of stuff about life here we don’t know, and helps me with my Sisaali. He brought us a pet tortoise the other day! I am trying to find a container to put it in, so he has it for the moment.
The cutest resident of the compound is Puppy. When we arrived, he was three weeks old, minute, and adorable. He’s grown a bit since, and is a little less sweet now that his hair is wiry and his teeth are sharp, but we still show him a lot of attention. His proper Sisaali name is (here you go Chris!) Zileh Kgeng Chieh (approximately), which translates to Kindness Has Tomorrow. The older watch dog, who tolerates the little one manfully, is called Ngar Worung Ng Siee; Do Well and See What Happens.
We share our house with a politician called Patrick, who is in Tumu campaigning for the elections in November. He’s running in the neighbouring constituency, Sisaala West. He has many, many visitors coming through at odd hours of night, which can be a little irritating, but sometimes they stop and chat. One man who was waiting explained Ghanaian politics to me, which was very interesting. Patrick lived for most of his life in the UK, and is an ardent Arsenal fan.
The place where we stay is just a bungalow, with three rooms and a large entrance area with a kitchen off that. As we walked in and looked around, Min and I were both thinking and saying exactly the same thing; “WOW!” It is far nicer than we had ever dared hope for. We have our own rooms, which are en suite, and even have their own fans and AC (though I don’t use mine). Min got a bigger room, but I got a queen size bed and a huge bathroom. The kitchen has two rings, a fridge freezer, a water filter and was fairly well equipped with kitchenware. Penny might also give us her spare oven. Possibly the most unexpected thing was the TV! Our hopes were raised by a note describing how to put it onto “BBC, CNN, Joy Sports…” and further by Penny mentioning they showed Premier League football games on terrestrial TV here. It turns out we get two channels, if we’re lucky; GhanaTV, and whatever they’re watching in the main block! Thankfully that seems to be football often enough (though African Cup of Nations, not Premier League). Anyway, we are managing to cook for ourselves well enough, though I’ll probably do another post soon enough about shopping and sourcing ingredients, which is interesting in itself.
We’ve got to know some of the people who work here quite well. Joseph is a sort of general handyman, who has shown us how to slaughter chicken (and use every single part inside…), chop down popo, carry off pink shirts on a motorcycle, and much more. There are several watchman, who work on shifts watching the entrance, and doing other jobs too, and we try to greet them often. The night one sleeps (yes, the “watchmen” sleep, I know) literally right outside my window on the benches there. This can be quite disconcerting; my bed is next to the window also, so I am often about to fall asleep when I hear a rustle and a snort or a cough about a foot away! It’s like sharing your bed. One of the watchman has a son called Hadi who we’ve got to know really well. He’s 12, and we take him to the school with us to play football or Frisbee and things. We’ve introduced him to a lot of western things that he loves; Gummy Bears, RISK, chocolate, the occasional computer game, and The Beatles. He reciprocates, and tells us a lot of stuff about life here we don’t know, and helps me with my Sisaali. He brought us a pet tortoise the other day! I am trying to find a container to put it in, so he has it for the moment.
The cutest resident of the compound is Puppy. When we arrived, he was three weeks old, minute, and adorable. He’s grown a bit since, and is a little less sweet now that his hair is wiry and his teeth are sharp, but we still show him a lot of attention. His proper Sisaali name is (here you go Chris!) Zileh Kgeng Chieh (approximately), which translates to Kindness Has Tomorrow. The older watch dog, who tolerates the little one manfully, is called Ngar Worung Ng Siee; Do Well and See What Happens.
Good thing that was your first line, because it was the first thing I thought of. You have a puppy? At least a community puppy??
ReplyDelete