A Day in the Village

Now, I don’t have any major projects starting up, or anything that takes a large chunk of my day consistently. With that, I do have somewhat of a schedule. It’s not so much, but it is something.

I wake up generally around 8, which to the Ghanaians is very late. If my friends would leave my house earlier than 11 or 12 then maybe I would wake up earlier. But for me, 8 is not so late. I start off by sweeping my house, and picking up anything that may be lying around from the day before. When I feel that my house looks presentable, I make myself look the same.

When I leave my house I will take a book with me, if no one is around and the village is quiet I will read. First though I greet people. Adam is normally around so I will sit outside his shop and talk to him for some time. From there I will venture deeper into the village to find my small man best friend, Zulka. I generally spend a few hours at his house, either carrying him around greeting everyone we pass. When we do these village walks Zulka is generally on my back and following, all holding onto one of my fingers I will have 3 to 10 children. It is hard for me to go a day without doing the old camp song “Baby Shark”. When it’s not the kids requesting the song, it is the adults. I really wish I remembered more songs from my week at camp all those years ago! We will end up playing, running around, which is good for all of us.

After a few hours of that I will end up going back to Adams place and sitting around with the guys for a while. If Assembly, Mohammed, Abdul and or Abdula are around then we will play one of our card games, depending on how many people are around.

Before I know it, it will be somewhere around 6 or 6:30, which equals time for me to enter the house and start preparing my dinner. (I know I haven’t included what I do for lunch. This is because I moved into the village after Ramadan started, so I haven’t been eating in the middle of the day). At some point in my meal Adam is bound to come over, bringing with him dinner for my three kittens. Depending on the night and the status of my computer battery we may watch a movie, or listen to my iPod and talk. After he goes I will wash the dishes and clean up the kitchen to the best of my candle lit ability.

It’s not much, but that is how my days tend to work. I will wander the village, play with children, and hang out with my guy friends. I enjoy it when there are meetings to attend, and look forward to when I hold educational sessions of my own. But for now this is what I have. And I am happy with it. I am content and fully enjoy my small village.

A Week Left to Ramadan

The guys find it shocking that I don’t count the amount of days that I have fasted. At this point I know it is somewhere around 25 days, but I don’t count the days as they pass by. It is not beneficial to me. I know that when my alarm goes off at 3:30 in the morning I need to get up, prepare my breakfast and go back to bed. I know it helps to not think of food or water throughout the day, if I can avoid it.

I know when I break fast at the end of the day my stomach appreciates it if I eat fruit first, then prepare my meal and then eat something more substantial.

Now, being an American I can’t get the whole day without food or water without thinking of foods I would love to eat. There are many downsides to this, as you can imagine. I think the biggest downfall to it for me so far is I think of American food I would love to eat, but won’t have access to for the foreseeable future. What I really want is to walk through the grocery store dropping everything bad for you into my cart, Poptarts, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Captain Crunch Crunch Berries, ingredients for Puppy Chow, bags of candy. To stop on the way home, pick up Chinese, then pizza. Afterwards run to Dairy Queen and get maybe a Hot Fudge Sundae, or maybe get a Turtle Sundae at Culvers. If I go to Culvers, or Red Robin, or anywhere they’re sold I need cheese curds or mozzarella sticks. Don’t forget about the cheeseburger, that is also important and needed. It’s a sick fantasy that gets me nowhere. The only “fast food” you can find near me without going to Tamale is rice. As I’ve already said, it’s best if I don’t think of food.

With having one week of fasting left it makes counting days seem sillier. I know that when the moon is not there at night, the next day the fasting is over and we will have the Sallah Celebration. I know that Jochem and I fully intent to going all out on a Western meal when we are able to. Along with this, I look forward to the day I go to Tamale or market and can eat again. Until that happens though, I immerse my thoughts into my day and how lucky I am to be in Northern Ghana and in my village. Despite my fantasies of grocery stores with every kind of fruit I could want, there honestly isn’t any other place I would want to be. I wanted to join the Peace Corps for so long, and my application process was so long I can’t help but be thankful for this place I have ended up in. So, unlike the others around me, I don’t count my days but I count my friends and the number of ways that I am lucky for the life I live. This helps me get through 14 hours of not eating or drinking, but still being as active as possible. This helps me remember that although I may have a bad moment, it’s worth it. Something amazing happens when you take a step back from your life to evaluate what you have, don’t think about what you don’t. It doesn’t do any good to think of what you don’t have, it only makes you lose perspective on what you do have. I look forward to the end of fasting, the same as everyone around me, but I hope I maintain my perspective. That is one benefit that I could not have anticipated when I swore to participate in this religious event.