Mittwoch, 24. Oktober 2012

movies

so here we go, check out some movies!

the first one is from the funeral where i put pictures in teh last post...




hope you like it, and you can understand again a bit better how my life is here...


here you see some bugs...quite amazing to me!

hope you are all fine!

here everything is ok, just the rainy season is ending, and its getting really hot... but we will be able to cope with it!

kind regards, severin

Sonntag, 14. Oktober 2012

funeral

as i said in my last post, i want to show you some pictures from a funeral in a house of a neighbour of mine.
if a person dies, people are shooting, so that everybody can know what has happened. and its a way of showing respect. at special times during the funeral, which takes some days, many people from the community gather to dance, to sing, to show empathy with the family of the dead person. it is also tradition that you give money if you attend a funeral. since the families are big, and often people die, a funeral is an important part of life in my area.

women and men arive, acompanied by drums and singing

women in traditional clothes...

...and men
dancing is a vital part of a funeral - but actually vital in any circumstance!




me, giving a donation

where we were seated - in front of us some of the elders. the man with the spear is the warrior of my village.

who is a good dancer gets some coins on the forehead

the head of the family in the center, surrounded by some of the elders. the 2 white girls are our new volunteers

one of my neighbours!

the new volunteergirls magdalena and lisi, as well as some chiefs
but of course there is more going on than just a funeral.so see some more pictures about my life up in the north (as i would say, or down in the south, as you might think!)
all our children recieved new school bags. the room on the left is our social workers office, the door on the right hand side is my office

kids in the village i live

some more houses from the village
as i said we have some new volunteers, and due to that i see some things for the second time.
on a crocodile - again!

it lies around and you think its carlm...
...but if you go there you also bring some chicken. and if you throw the chicken in the direction of the head, it just moves it a bit (VERY fast), and the chicken is gone. so even though it seems safe, you have to be a bit careful

almost everything on the road is overloaded!
last week i had a big honour - i was allowed to meet the king of mamprugu. he is the most influencial king in the whole of ghana, and if all ghanian kings meet, he is the head of them. his kingdom has nothing to do with the borders drafted by european conquerors, and lies in the north of ghana as well as in big parts of burkina faso. it was really interesting to greet him, to see the people who enter the kings palace, to see how they are dressed and especially how they behave. and since i have never met a king before it has been a really good experience!
king, next to me, surrounded by some of his elders
ok, now you know about funeral, king and so on. and as you might see i am posting this on a sunday morning, before eight! so my rhythm of life is a bit different compared to home . which is good!

have a great sunday, and i really hope you are all doing well!

take care, severin

Sonntag, 7. Oktober 2012

it has been long...

...since my last post.

i am doing well, i am busy, and i am now already really used to being here. if i see women carrying really a lot on their head, if in the morning many schoolkids pass by on their donkey, if the cars are so overloaded that they cant drive straight, if i meet "witches" or "bewitched" people, if everybody is dressed in the most colourful clothes... then i dont realize it anymore, because its so normal already. if it is normal its good, because you dont get so distracted, but also its bad, because you dont take pictures anymore, and you dont write in your blog... so its mainly bad for you, while for me its a good sign to have fully arrived in ghana!

still i want to show you some more fotos, and hope you like them!

one of the elders of the community, planting a tree

girls, after working on their farms

fencing a tree

some of "our" children in our garden

zilata and falila with tomatoes from our garden
 one of the many projects we have is a garden, where the kids can learn how to work with plants - things they were supposed to learn from their families.but since they are unfortunately orphans and stay with us, they would otherwise not learn it, and one day they would have a problem due to that!

a different project is the mais farm, where we try to show different methods of farming.
peter, our farmer, in our field

its almost the end of the rainy season - pictures like this will not be possible in a few weeks anymore
 now i have two volunteers here with me again - and like this there are some places i visited again. one example is gambaga, where there is a witch camp. i had some pictures of this place in may, but now see some more!
drying maize and groundnuts

...same in a different compound!

one of the "witches"

some other people in gambaga - outside the witch camp

these fruits are used for the "calabass" - to store water, and it stays cool inside!

girl with a pretty amazing hair style!
since it is rainy season, also the grass in our compound grows fast - our donkeys helped us to "cut" it. haha, dear mother, what about this solution for your garden?!
today is el classico" - and i cant watch it... what a pitty.

anyway, soon i will have another post, becuse last weekend we attended a funeral. it was amazing, and there are some nice fotos you need to see!

all the best, hope you are all fine! best from ghanas north, sevi