OUR LITTLE NEIGHBORHOOD
We live in a small neighborhood called Adiebeba (pronounced Ah dee ah bey bah), just south of the Ahodwo Roundabout. A rearing horse welcomes people to the area but there are no horses as far as we can tell. The streets are vibrantly alive with neighbors, commuters, vendors, goats, sheep and dogs. It’s a friendly place full of surprises. Please check out our new community at Around the Neighborhood
COSMETOLOGY BEGINS AT HOME
Bob asked Camille if she would consider cutting another man’s hair and she said she would being how the man in question was our good friend Jeremy. The experience took bravery from both parties and Jeremy got the worst end of the deal after Camille took a little too much off the right side of his head. Better luck next time!
THOSE BUSTLING STREETS
Every outing is a lesson in cultural anthropology. We drink in the sights, sounds and filter the smells. We are able to snap a meaningful photo now and again. Here’s a collection of impressions from July: The Busy Streets of Kumasi
ON PROJECT
From bushwhacking to procurement in the legendary Suame Magazine district, the waste-to-energy project requires noble efforts. Progress is being made one batch of dried sludge at a time. More images on this page: The Project
SPOT PHOTOS
Project collaborators Tim Wade of Waste Enterprisers in Accra and Kartik from Columbia University in New York City were in town to pow wow this month. We hosted a meal and they got to meet Spot and Stripe, our Casa Kumasi mascots.
TAMING THE CAPRICOUS BEASTS
A first step towards managing livestock is to get them eating out of your hand. Go-at and Aponche (Twi for goat) are essentially wild animals albeit from domestic stock. Jeremy purchased them with the intention of breeding them to produce kids for consumption. Go-at, the buff colored buck is a lot more trusting than the black and white doe. Despite the heart on her forehead, Aponche is reserved and suspicious so getting her to eat from their hands was a big step forward for Bob and Jeremy.
LAKE BOSUMTWI
The first of two holidays this month, our trip to Bosumtwi with Jeremy, Lauren and Justin was relaxing and refreshing. Bosumtwi was created by the impact of a crater and is the largest natural fresh water lake in Ghana. It is only a forty-five minute trip south east from Kumasi and is especially alluring because of the lack of crocodiles and the Schistosoma parasite which causes bilharzia, a nasty infection capable of causing permanent damage. Check out more Lake Bosumtwi
GREEN RANCH
Bob arranged to take Camille horseback riding at The Green Ranch located on the west shore of the lake. The horses were great, our host was lots of fun and the vegan lunch was fantastic! More on this story here The Green Ranch
LEGITIMACY BEGINS WITH A MAILING ADDRESS
It was indeed, a banner day when we purchased our very own mailing address in a memorable trip downtown. Bob tries the key to make sure it works. We hope to find a piece of mail in our box at some point in the future. It remains to be seen how many weeks it takes for mail to come and go.
SOMETIMES MONEY CAN BUY HAPPINESS
Ghanaian currency. We exchange U.S. dollars two to one for it and it often buys us a smile. The mighty pesewa can buy you fruit, avocados, onions and sweet fried dough balls. The coin on the top is one cedi or 100 pesewas. The set above was issued in 2007.
1 cedi – Scale of Justice; 50 pesewas – Market woman; 20 pesewas – Cocoa pod; 10 pesewas – Book; 5 pesewas – Man blowing horn
Camille bought this great dress for only 27 cedis or about $18.50. She is happy to have also found a source for paper towels and after searching for a month finally found a can opener for sale and snatched it up.
WILD KINGDOM IN OUR BEDROOM
Our house is surprisingly bug free although Bob was unpleasantly surprised when turning on the light one evening to find this long fellow. We took the centipede upstairs to share with Lauren and Justin before returning him to the great outdoors.
THAT NATURE THING
So many birds, so much time. During our second get-away of the month we identified twenty-three species of birds including this cute pair of Yellow-headed weaver birds. We also saw loads of lizards, roaming livestock and more. We’ve put together a photo essay at That Nature Thing
STUMBLE IN
The whole group convened at the beach in Elmina for some down time. IN addition to our housemates, we were joined by Laura and Louis from Accra. It was a fine time indeed and oh, so relaxing! More photos at Stumble Inn
ELMINA CASTLE AND HARBOR
Elmina, the location of the oldest European structure south of the Sahara and home to 70,000 people was a must-see so we went and saw. We talked with vendors, dived into the shady market streets and climbed up a steep walkway to catch the views from Sao Jago da mina. Check out the other beautiful impressions from this sunny day at Elmina Harbor
CAPE COAST
After leaving Elmina, we spent two days in Cape Coast where they also have a castle that was used to support the slave trade way back when. We got the whole gang together for a group photo on the lawn of the Mighty Victory Hotel. Louis is doing the Azonto, the latest dancing craze. More fun photos here Cape Coast
THE AZONTO – FROM GHANA WITH LOVE
BATIKING IN CAPE COAST
We had to learn sometime and that time was this month. Lauren signed us up for a batiking class and we learned how to stamp and dye fabrics. What a great time we had. Thank you, Lauren! For the whole store please click on Batiking
JAMES MEETS SPOT
And vice versa! James with Waste Enterprisers helped set up our wonderful home in Kumasi a few months ago and has since been living and working in Accra. We were very happy that he came by for a visit before leaving the country. While he was here, he blogged beautifully about his experience at jamesghanatravel.blogspot.com
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THIS MONTH’S QUOTES:
“I certainly believe in facing the future with hope, but I have learned that this feeling of confidence does not come from outside you. It’s not something that Santa Claus or a candidate for president is going to furnish you with. The way to become hopeful is to demonstrate to yourself that you are a competent person who can understand the signals that reality is sending you and act intelligently in response.” – James Howard Kunstler from his book “Too Much Magic: Wishful Thinking, Technology, and the Fate of the Nation.”
“The Soviet Union had a single, entrenched, systemically corrupt political party which held a monopoly on power. The U S has two intrenched, systemically corrupt political parties, whose positions are often indistinguishable, and which together hold a monompoly on power. In either case, there is, or was, a single governing elite, but in the United States it organized itself into opposing teams to make its stranglehold in power seem more sportsmanlike.” – Dimitry Orlov from his book “Hold Your Applause!”
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