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

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

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

"are you from japan, sir?!"

dear all!

i hope you are all doing fine?

i am fine too, sorry for not posting for such a long time.

i went home to europe for some days, to celebrate the birthday of my mother! it was very nice to be with my family again, to look like everyone looks (not that everyone looks that amazing, but...!), to eat the food i know since i was a child... it was really good, and made clear to me how many things i do give up by living here in the north of ghana.

but its woth it for me!!

i flew from accra to munich, stayed around bavaria for a few days, and left again from munich. so all people living close to me know that in this case i have NOT been at home - germany is different! but the area is almost like my home area if you look at the food or the traditional way people dress themselfes...

before i left...i met them in the hospital!

this is how a church looks at home from outside...

...and from inside!

an old castle

a clock tower

a "may tree"

 it is tradition at home on the first of may to put up a tree like this. people meet early in the morning, all wear the traditional dresses, drink traditional drinks and watch people puting up the tree - and later climbing on the tree. by this time the tree is "naked", not with all the horizontal things you see now. and by the way, "traditional drink" is beer. for example in the city where i grew up we have stiegl beer - belive it or not they started browing it in the same year when christopher columbus "found america", in 1492. so it is a big tradition at home...! and they know what they are doing!

with family...

...and friends!

 has been a pleasure to see you again girls!!! thanks for that nice evening...

on the way to the airport in munich you pass "alianz arena", munichs new stadium. its quite impressive!

...back in africa...

...with some african flowers!

 i spent some days in accra, ghanas capital. i had to do some official things - but also found time to explore "my" capital city!

accra is in the south, at the ocean

fisher boats - in similar boats many african refugees try to arrive in the "european paradise"

 (where most of the survivers end up dealing drugs or being prostitutes - due to our strict, stupid and i would also say rasist laws)

a witness from a different time where africans were struggeling - a castle from the slave trade

"environmental protection agency" ;) i was quite astonished when i saw that! the environment seems not too protected though...!

on a cementry in accra

can you see it? africa leading...

one evening we bought dinner from this lady

 she is just putting fresh yams chips on the plate. yams is a root, a little bit similar to potato. we ordered some of the yams with fish! and...

...we recieved this. the thing on the bottom seemed to be a snake (or snake fish?). it was funny, but tasted nice!

and we recieved our yams chips in a german newspaper, the "hamburger abendblatt". the headline says that the swiss people are fed up with the germans!

the flag of ghana!!!

and the reality in accra - dangerous barbed wire

on the wall of my office - most of my employees, as well as my bosses!

i spent the previous weekend in tamale, the district capital. in tamale its easy to move with the "shared taxi". they have fixed routs, they cost 50 peswas (peobably 22 euro cents) and they drop you on the route. one day in the morning i entered one of these cabs, and after wishing me a good morning the driver asked me "are you from japan, sir?" at least people who know me know that i have probably no japanese features on me at all...
so you can imagine how the conversation continued... "are you serious?", "yes sir, from japan, or not?" "no from austria!" "ah...australia..." "no, not from australia, i am from ostra (like this people understand here), its a country in europe, in the south of germany..."
by the way, right now austria is playing against germany. i hope we will do well and will win! its a pitty, but here i have got NO chance to watch it...

anyway, have a nice evening, and hope to hear from you soon!

take care, severin