Contributed by: Olivia
We walked to the Sirigu market at 9 am the next morning. We had egg sandwiches and tea at a local eatery for breakfast. Danielle and Berai adored a caramel-colored puppy napping under the table by our feet. We watched the townspeople stroll by leisurely to watch the “Solmisi” (white people) eat breakfast. A little boy with a handmade, full-brimmed straw hat walked by before sitting nearby. When we drove out of Sirigu, we saw an old man with a pile of these same straw hats on his bike. We asked the driver to stop so we could all purchase one. There was a flurry of excitement in the car when we pulled off to the side of the dirt road and the David asked the old man to sell his hats to the Solmisi in the car. Each person tried on a hat for the rugged work to be done in the hot sun until everyone was satisfied with the size and style of the hat.
We reached Bolga in its prime of the day. It was very alive with activity. We witnessed the daily orchestration of shopkeepers, consumers and street peddlers haggling for the best price of their wares. There were trenches parallel to the road that were carelessly littered with empty water satchels that sold for 5 pesowas (5 cents).
We kept notes of prices for tools and material in our moleskine notebooks. Photos were taken of the shops that offered the lowest price for the items. Other items were sourced to be borrowed from the District Chief of the Kassena-Nankana region. Some materials were priced higher than what we anticipated but it was offset by other items that were deleted from our Bill of Materials or modifications made to our designs in-country.
David took it upon himself to scout restaurants that practiced Solmisi-caliber food preparation. We had lunch at a restaurant next to a television station. There was a party of UK FSA workers celebrating a birthday beside our table. Our server was a young man about 20 years old. Traditional Ghanaian food was ordered because each plate was 4.50 GHC in contrast to other dishes that sold for 6.50 GHC. We had our first taste of banku, a thick white maize sour porridge served with the main dish.
After lunch, David haggled with more shopkeepers about the items still unpriced from our Bill of Materials. Each shop we visited was nestled between two other shops that sold a different item. Finding the right wire size and light bulb socket was a challenge. After visiting more shops in our taxi in a 1 km radius, we found what we needed and drove back to Afrikids.
The heat from the sun left its imprint on our weary bodies. Upon seeing our tired faces, Joe offered to have dinner prepared and delivered by a relative from Sirigu. The rooftop patio was revisited a second night. Joe had Aaron Denham's bag of inflatable mattresses and sheets. John Campbell took one mattress to sleep on the rooftop patio.
Everyone felt upbeat when David's boyhood friend asked John Yatsko if his daughter could join him on his morning run. She trained for us, running in circles outside and we cheered from the rooftop each time the little girl ran by the porch of Afrikids. The father would stop her to pour a bucket of water to cool her down.
The nightly meetings was beneficial for the volunteers to discuss the next day's events with each other, our shareholders, or other VIP crucial to the success of our projects. The Bill of Materials was consulted on many occasions for our financial standing. We discussed the feasibility of next summer's implementation projects after dinner with David and Joe.
We have to see a picture of the crew in their hats! What wonderful people and scenes.
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