Kumbungu/Zangbolon
This weekend, I finally made it out of Dalun and followed the Danes on their travels to neighboring villages. On Saturday, we went to the villages Kumbungu and Zangbolon (I think that’s how you spell them…) In the morning we made our way to the main road in Dalun to find some bus or public transportation to take us to Kumbungu…and we ended up sitting atop a giant mound of dirt in the back of a huge pick-up truck. It was definitely a rough ride, what with the bumpy, unpaved road, but we called it a typical Ghanaian experience, and it was fun nonetheless!
These Danes attended last year’s sports seminar, and have just been here for the week as volunteers, going around to different villages and leading mini sports festivals, which is exactly what they did in Kumbungu. They basically just played games (both Danish and Ghanaian) with kids for about an hour. There were two groups, one for younger children and one for young adults. The younger kids played a variety of games – I noticed a version of “duck, duck, goose” and they also learned the “head, shoulders, knees, and toes” song, among so many more. The older group played groundball (the Danish version of stickball, I guess) and then Ultimate Frisbee.
Afterwards, we went to Fatawu’s house (Fatawu was involved in both last year and this year’s sports seminars, so was well acquainted with the Danes) to eat lunch. After lunch, we made our way to Zangbolon, only a 5-minute drive from Kumbungu. We went to Napa’s house, another Ghanaian who knew the Danes from last year’s seminar. After hanging around for a while, she took us around Zangbolon, showing us mostly the different farms and crops that had been recently planted, like chili peppers, yams, rice, etc. We also made our way to the home of a gentleman who owned an incubator for hatching eggs. Before we left, we stopped by to say hello to the chief. The Danes brought some gifts for him, including a solar-powered hat with an attached fan that blew into his face. The chief then brought out a bag full of gifts the Danes had brought in previous years – most of them were different kinds of fun hats. It was a nice gesture that he kept them all! After that we headed back home – again on the back of a pick-up truck (although this time sans the dirt).
Unfortunately, the last of the Danes left early this morning, so the Simli Center is as empty as it was when I first got here.
In other news, Ramadan started on Saturday, which means most of the locals are fasting – from 4am to 6pm for the next 29 or so days! I find it very impressive that although they aren’t eating, their daily routines don’t change at all. Azeez told me today that you can start practicing the fasting at age 15, but once you turn 18 years old, it is compulsory.
In other, other news, it’s the last week of school! On Friday, the kids at Titagya will be let out for break, and then the new school year will pick up some time in September. This week is a review week for all the classes; they are reviewing all the lessons they’ve covered since school started, one week condensed into a class session. I still have just over two weeks left in Ghana, but I can’t believe so much time has gone by already, and that soon I won’t get to see these smiling faces anymore!