Kumasi, Ghana
Posted by pertorkelson | Filed under Ghana
Eid Ul Adha, the Islamic holiday which took place between 30 Dec-1 Jan, was something special for me to experience. I watched Muslims here and there walking around with cows and sheep. During those three days I saw meet everywhere. Within the premises where Mr Abu lives, I watched Malam and his relatives slaughter the animals while I was discussing with them about the difference of slaughter here and back in Sweden. It’s like they said: “here we just do it by our own force” while the animal is fighting back.
New Years Eve in Adum was surprisingly quiet, and the fireworks were few and less spectacular. It’s just like I told Mr Abu; “where ever you go in the world, the importance of the twelve o’clock stroke is different”.
I received three Christmas cards last week, which arrived a bit late. Two of them were from my mother and one of her Christmas cards had a tune when you opened the card (I know my brother will laugh when he reads it, because it’s a typical thing for my mother to send). The third Christmas card was from my grandfather’s brother with wife, and it was really nice to receive a card from them.
I have moved to a new apartment! A couple of days ago I moved to a new apartment, which is located in Akwatia Line. It’s in the city, so it’s between 2-3 km to Adum (downtown Kumasi), which I like. The apartment is quite big; 3 bedrooms, 1 bathroom/toilet, 1 lounge room, 1 kitchen and a great balcony with a view of the city. The apartment is on the top floor, so the view is very nice. Another thing I like about the apartment building is that we have a security guard watching all the time, so you can’t enter the building without being recognized. This apartment is for SYDD staff and volunteers, currently it’s only I and Mr Abu who use it, but we except another volunteer coming soon. There are lots of things which we still need in the apartment, but so far we have got a TV, a fridge, beds, fans, office desk, a dining table and kitchen utensils. It always takes time before you get settled when you move to a completely empty place. We also have our own cook, Munira (21), who cooks dinner for us in the evenings. I like her cooking a lot, and it’s much more hygienic where I live now as we have our own kitchen. I’m very happy about my move!
The Harmattan winds are around, and it has clogged my nose completely for about a week now. The Harmattan winds blow from the northeast, bringing dust from the Sahara and reducing the visibility to less than 1 km (as you can see on some of the photos). Everything gets dusty quickly.
Work since last post: we have held our monthly meeting with the orphans telling them about various important things in life and we also told them that we have budgeted to buy them e.g. mosquito nets. We have been working in the office several days, discussing the future of SYDD. There have been different visits to organizations. The big thing has been the move to the new SYDD apartment.