Well, I have a new place to call home. We made it down to Mampong after my last post just long enough to see our family and unpack then immediately repack. We jumped back on the road and headed to Accra to greet John, who arrived very early Monday morning.
Tuesday evening, we arrived in Tafi Atome, the small village and monkey sanctuary. The three of us (John, Mo, and myself) will live here until Christmas, helping with tourism, NGO proposals, and hands-on work with the children. There are three schools and an orphanage in this town of less than 1,000. The children are wonderful, we already have a strong following that hang out in front of our hut almost all day wanting to talk, play, and learn. The orphanage has 43 children in it, about half of whom have poor family in town, the other half are true orphans.
We are much more secluded than we were in Mampong- surrounded on all sides by monkey territory. It involves either an hour walk, 30 minute bike ride, or 10 minute taxi ride (which you have to call) just to get to the junction to find transportation anywhere else.
Being so secluded, it is a bit more involved to find internet, so my posts may come less frequently, I'm sorry about that ahead of time. I will try to post well when I get to post!
In typical Ghanian fashion, we arrived on Tuesday but have not started work yet. We will meet with the tourism committee tomorrow morning (a group of elected community members) to talk about what they want from us, and hopefully to pitch some of our ideas. I am optimistic that we will be able to make an impact on this village. They seem open to new ideas and truly rely on money from tourism to survive. In the meantime, we have had a great time with the local children, who seem to be more respectful and speak more English than those we encounter in Mampong.
We felt immediately welcomed and at-home in Tafi Atome, they are taking very good care of us. Because it is such a small town, everybody knows who we are and why we are there. Just walking around, we will get smiles accompanied by "welcome" or "thank you!". Plus I think it is just the greatest thing that I finally live where seeing monkeys is just as common as seeing goats or chickens! I just don't get tired of that.
I promise next post will have pictures!!!
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8 comments:
Maybe this is your chance at last to have your very own monkey. Just find one that will like Daddy and me!
Happy Thanksgiving. Any chance you will be eating turkey?
Love you loads.
Mom
Have a wonderful - and very different - Thanksgiving, Becca! I love this quote from Laura's blog which she just started: "A ship in its harbor is safe, but that is not the purpose for which ships are made."
Becca,
Hope Ghana's going well! Take care, and I'm sure Thanksgiving will be pretty interesting.
Charlie
Also, props for coming up with another, more appropriate Ghana pun. :)
Becca,
So glad you made it safely to monkeytown. We miss you here at home. Happy Thanksgiving. Can't wait to read your next post. Make sure you keep John in line. and be careful if he wants to get the same hair as you!
Miss you!
-Krista
i love you. happy thanksgiving! also, i applied to be a passport counselor. maybe see if you can find a yom bowl equivalent in your new town. xxx bailey
Becca, I am so glad you have made it to monkey land. I know they make you happy as I remember your love for them on your trip to Costa Rica on one of your Spring breaks. Tell John hello. A sad note in that Ellen & Ran's Mom Louise passed yesterday peacefully in her sleep.Much love, MaMa Jack
dear becca, i just lost the game. with love, bailey
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