Kumasi, Ghana

On Wednesday the 24th of January, Mr Abu and I had discussions with a politician in Aboabo. We wanted to see him to promote SYDD (Solidarity for Youth and Disabled Development) and to discuss the problems within the Zongo community. The Muslim community in Kumasi consists of more than 250 000 people, and the majority of the inhabitants are originally from the Northern Region in Ghana. Today’s parents and grandparents travelled in search of a better living, because the Northern Region is much poorer and the income opportunities are less than in the Ashanti Region. One of the problems for the Zongolese people here is that they are not seen as real settlers; instead they are seen as travellers, which mean they are not a real part of the city. As I have probably written before in my diary, I haven’t seen any other organizations working within the Muslim community here in Kumasi and I early realized that this community is extremely neglected from external support.

Two weeks ago I received two packages and two postcards from my mother, one of the postcards was from Gothenburg and the other one was sent from Varberg. It’s just like my brother have said; “it’s much nicer receiving a postcard than an e-mail”.

I wish that the TV channels we have could broadcast foreign movies in the evenings and especially during the weekends, but instead they show foreign movies at noon on weekdays. One day they showed “King Arthur” with Richard Gere, Sean Connery and another day “Air Force One”ith Harrison Ford, Gary Oldman and Glenn Close was on.

Last week, 29th of January – We received stormy weather in the evening. It started by heavy winds blowing in, then there was thunder and lightning, and finally the rain came. I was home by myself when it started; I later thought that I had to document some of it with my digital camera, so I went up on the roof top of our story building and started taking pictures and recording video clips. It took me quite some time until I finally got what I wanted.

The charger to my laptop stopped working last week, so I couldn’t use my laptop for a couple of days, which was annoying because I need it for both work and private. Luckily enough I live in a big city, where I can get most of the things I need, so I bought a new charger three days ago.

At work: challenges, challenges, challenges. We received an extra (additional) food delivery from OICI last week. I have taught English at the Alhudah School (both a mosque and Islamic school) to women and men. The past Saturday was the SYDD Orphans Monthly Meeting, which included a lot of counselling and advice. Most of the orphans are in big need of better self confidence, and I know that they will gain it by time.

This past Sunday – I visited the Kumasi Zoo together with Mohammed and Issah. It was nice to do something different; the zoo itself needs a lot of work and the way the animals are being treated is a poor sight.

Yesterday we distributed sorghum, Tom Brown and vegetable oil to female orphans. I truly enjoy meeting the orphans and I can tell that they like having me around too.

Pictures of me are wanted worldwide, how much are you willing to pay for it?

Click here for photos