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Right, going to do Tumu this time. Was thinking about telling you about hippos and Easter (check the photos out for brief explanations) but after the clambering for details about my home life (well maybe not clambering, my family have expressed a vague interest and one or two others have asked about my accommodation) I thought I would put you out of your misery!
This next few blogs will be a crash course in everything that has happened over the last few weeks/months regarding Tumu. It will jump around a bit and I will try and keep it as chronological as possible.
As you may remember a few blogs back, I was the last volunteer to reach my placement. I was picked up from Wa and driven to my house. Having experienced the lovely accommodation those other volunteers had in Wa and Lawra I had high hopes for my house in Tumu. When we arrived we met Buba (a Ghanaian who sort of runs things in the northern part of Ghana, was mentioned a few times in the moto blogs) and off we headed to see where I was going to live. First impressions were good! It was a perfectly sized one man bungalow with some very pretty flowers growing out the front and good security on the front door. The first room was basically furnished but the walls were freshly painted and were quite clean.
The rest of the house was a slightly different story....if I was being generous I would say it was a bit of a fixer-upper! It had apparently been cleaned the day before. Despite that there were layers of dust on every surface. The slates (window type contractions) were filthy, broken, and most, very difficult to open. The cooker was covered in rust and there were some plumbing problems. On the plus side there was running water (polytanked, a big contraction that refills when the water is turned on and is placed higher than the house so gravity helps the water flow into the pipes.) meaning I had a shower of sorts! And I had electricity that very rarely cuts out. (Although in the process of writing this blog we have had very iffy power over the last 3 days and no power at all for the last 12 hours!)
With this in mind, I figured I could have this place whipped into shape in no time (Still working on this!) and with a couple of licks of paint (I think Buba felt a little bad about the state of the place and so franticly hired a few locals to paint the first room the day before I arrived!) the place would be brilliant.
Another unexpected bonus was that there was a second house in Tumu, further out and about 3 times the size. As the previous occupants had left in a bit of a hurry (They caught typhoid and malaria in the same week, lost 10kgs and apparently nearly died, not a great confidence boost to my health prognosis!). Buba said I could pillage anything I needed for my house from it and the GES even said I could borrow the truck at some later date to help move any of the more bulky items!
When we went and visited the other house I realised how lucky I was as this one was derelict! Animals were living in it and it was overrun with small lizards and things with pincers. It is amazing how quickly a house deteriates here if no one is occupying it. Especially as we had just had the 'windy' session where dust gets everywhere. In the house we found a brand-new 4 hob cooker, lots of bits and bobs, more cooking utensils and cutlery, material, a good sofa, a proper table and some good cupboards. Jackpot! We took what we could and left the rest for the truck (still need to organise that!) and then went for a beer and some food. Rather a successful day!
The next day was self-orientation. This involved sorting and cleaning everything in my house that I could as nothing had been used in months and then going exploring around the town.
Tumu consists of one major road that hits a roundabout. At the roundabout it splinters into two roads that head off at a 45° angle. One heads off to the Chiefs Palace and the other heads off to the reservoir, Teacher Trainer College and customs. I am about 15 km away from the Bakino Faso boarder and can't wait to make a trip to Leo (a 35 minute bike ride away) as apparently you can get French things there and even go for a swim in a swimming pool!
My wonder around town mainly consisted of wondering into shops, seeing they had exactly the same 10 or so items as every other shop, saying thank you and leaving a bemused shop owner wondering what this odd looking Fowli was doing.
If I want; tomato paste, pasta, condensed milk, key soap (for washing clothes), dry noodles, matches, a very limited range of drinks and a token set of sweets, then I am in the money! If I want to buy anything else (that's not fresh) I have to be slightly more resourceful.
After a bit of wondering I did find that there are one or two shops that have a few luxuries in them (This has now risen to about 5) meaning I could get Tetley's tea!, coke and other luxuries for a price that is relatively, a little dearer then the local equivalent.
I have been in Tumu for nearly three months (although never longer than 9 days in one go!) and I am still unable to find the local market. Locals swear blind it exists but no Fowli has ever been able to locate it! The directions are a little vague (near the community centre, take a right/left at the cold store, wonder around and you should find it sort of thing) but it still alludes me. It is turning into a little bit of a Holy Grail and a small part of me wonders if the 'local market' is an 'in' joke that everyone's in on and love to play with Fowlis (I can just see the town meeting in my head when this was come up with, the hysterical laughter at the idea would go on indefinitely!). I will keep you updated with my progress of locating this mythical place.
At the start I was not too keen on buying meat off the random in the street with his massive machete and a colony of flies keeping him company. The alternate to this is the cold store. Where someone has very kindly killed a chicken/fish for you, cleaned it and frozen it into halves. My first visit was amusing due to the fact when I asked for the price, I was quoted 4 Cedis 20 peswas for a Kg of chicken. Right, 2 quid of chicken would be fine, thank you. Turns out a Kg of chicken is quite a large amount. As in it struggles to fit into one bag. Not going to let my mistake be known I thanked the smirking local and struggled off with about 40 pieces of frozen, hacked up chicken. As time has gone on I have given in to my urge to have cow (and the rather random opening times of the cold store) and brought meat of the guy on the side of the street. Ask for 'No bone, no gristle' and you get some absolutely delicious cuts of meat. Am now in the process of experimenting with different cooking methods.
If you want anything fresh (and while the local market stays elusive!) you cannot just go to one person and buy it all. I now have a bit of a routine going. I go to my main woman for eggs and a spot of veg. Moto up the road and by the roundabout grab a loaf of butter bread (sugar bread is like a cake, so best avoided and then on my way home grab some fresh mangos from the three ladies at the side of the road (I rotate between the three although can be swayed by the one with the random avocado or orange) and then stop at my local for a pack of pure water.
Going to take a break now! No homework this week, you deserve a bit of time off to write those letters!
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