Yesterday afternoon we arrived at
Sirigu Women's Association for Pottery and Art (SWOPA) in Sirigu,
which is a center for women to create and sell their art as well as a
hotel. This is where we will be staying for the majority of the next
month. The place is beautiful; all of the buildings are painted with
red, black and white, and stand out against the backdrop of the
countryside. The weather here is perfect, and although it will still
get hot during the day, the morning right now could not be better.
Last night we met with the chief of
Yua. The formality of the ceremony was surprising, and every move
seemed to be choreographed. We were seated in a circle, and after
shaking all of the elders' hands, we began the back and forth process
of speaking through the translators, Moses for us and his brother,
Stephen, for the elders. Because we were speaking to them through
Moses, he was able to translate what we were saying into Fra Fra,
then add what we were supposed to be saying. The ceremony ended
rather informally, maybe due to the fact that we will be meeting
with the community again today.
Matt
Day 4 became the frame for this entire
trip. It is when we first encountered Yua, the past projects done
here (water plaza, nurses quarters), and the community members. We
were hit hard with the reality of what we were doing here.
We left Tamale in the early morning and
arrived in Navrongo soon after. Navrongo was a small community with a
charming school that we went to in another attempt at internet. Matt
and I formally introduced ourselves to the headmaster and then
ventured through the courtyard, up some stairs, and into a room
filled with computers. Moses mentioned that he, at a time, taught at
this school as part of his educational training.
From Navrongo we went to Bolgatonga and
visited the market for lunch. We ate rice and chicken and Moses had
more Banku. Banku is the better tasting version of Fufu. Fufu is
fermented millet while Banku is made from maize and calebesh, a
squash. We ate these in Accra along with goat meat. From there we met
with Frank from a solar company, to involve him in the project and
get a consultant to look over our project and determine what
materials we may need for the solar array. He was a well dressed man,
in a fancy car, and sat with us on a bench outside of the Afrikids
clinic. There we met Pok as well. Pok is the contractor for our
project, and will be helping us, he is a very friendly man that has
worked with EWB-NAU previously.
The big event: coming to Yua for the
first time. It was a strange feeling to see all the previous projects
that we have seen many pictures of in the past few months. We saw a
group of elderly men assembled under a tree with six empty chairs
arranged in the middle, we knew this would be where the official
ceremony for our arrival into Yua would be. We didn't realize the
profoundness of this event until we stepped foot out of the van and
made our way over to them. We lined up and shook hands with everyone
repeating the phrase “nabar” as they said “ozare” (my
american translation of Fra Fra aka completely wrong). We remembered
to only shake with the right hand, as this was customary.
The formality of what followed was a
surprise. Moses spoke an introduction on our behalf, a prayer was
said, and then we introduced ourselves. Matt then introduced what the
project was, and asked if we could work together to accomplish these
goals. He also mentioned that he would like to form as close of a
relationship with these people as John Yatzko and Jessica Lum were
able to previously. Matt did an excellent job, and we were very
fortunate to have Moses translate for us. I'm pretty sure he changed
everything that we had said into exactly what was suitable. Stephen,
Moses's brother, spoke for the community. He gave thanks for all that
we have done to come here, and welcomed us into the community. The
ceremony then ended with Matt giving the chief a bottle of American
whiskey. That's when everyone clapped the hardest. With Moses asking
for consent we left the tree. We all said thank you, and in
remembrance of Danielle's visit I yelled “Yua!” Amidst laughter,
a strong “Yua!” rung out from the group, and we left.
Anna
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