Village Stay - The Beginning

On Sunday 14th of March, I travelled north from Tamale to Paga.  The ride was quite enjoyable and I had a great conversation about religion and diversity with a Bahai teacher.  I met Wayne in Bolgatanga or Bolga for short.  Then, we took a taxi to Paga where I would store my things and then meet my host family.  After some confusion about my living situation, we finally walked to the market to meet my host mother Tina.  She was very open, friendly and welcoming.  After declining the offer to drive to the village by motorbike, I started walking to the village with Tina.  We had a great conversation while we walked down the dusty road.  It was dark by the time we reached the village Sakaa and I was introduced to the village chief in the near complete darkness.  After a brief exchange, we continued walking.  As the remaining rays of the sun disappeared more and more, the walking became more and more difficult and often, I would trip or stumble along the way because of some unevenness in the path.  We arrived at her home at around 7:30 but it was already totally dark.  I saw some children in the torchlight but due to the insufficient light and my inability to speak much Kasem, I could not communicate much with them. 

Using flashlights, she asked me whether I would like to sleep on the roof, on the floor outside or in my room.  I climbed up onto the roof using a tree branch ladder that had several notches in it and decided to sleep on the ground because I would be able to hand a mosquito net there more effectively.

I then went to use the latrine at her house for the first time.  Having just used a latrine that was only surrounded by a low wall for privacy and no roof, the small latrine building seemed quite ok.  Then, I took my first bath in torchlight and under the open sky.   After being refreshed, I enjoyed a delicious meal.  Throughout this time, I was a little unsure about the quality of the water because I had not seen where it had come from.  Later, I learned that it was clean borehole water and so I relaxed but that evening, I drank only a small sip.  Also, since Tina was in the business of selling items like medicine, batteries, rice, sorghum, spirits and cigarettes, many people came by the home that night.  Since everything had been new that day, Paga, Sakaa, the family and the compound, I was quite tired when bedtime came around at 9:30.  Tina set up my bed with a straw mat, a piece of cloth on top as a mattress sheet, a bundle of clothes as a pillow and a sheet overtop.  I crawled in under the mosquito net and enjoyed looking at the stars for a bit before falling into a well-deserved sleep.