The Lumanaians now reside right in the heart of Anloga (a 5 minute walk from where we previously lived)! The afe yeye (new house) separates a family compound of sorts, and in true Ghanaian form, the neighbors have already extended their gracious welcome. From the first load I delivered by hired cart with the help of 2 locals, Joseph and Kobla, I was greeted enthusiastically by William, A.K.A. Tiger (there’s gotta be a story in there somewhere… I’m still digging). The following day, a woman balancing what appeared to be a rather heavy object on her head, as per the norm, stopped to introduce herself as the neighbor to the opposite side of Tiger. She (Mielo, I believe) grabbed Lumana’s lovely new Director of Operations, Justine Levesque, by the hand, asked me to follow as well, then took off with excitement around the corner, dragging Justine along. When I entered the gate to the neighboring home, I found Justine already being introduced to an elderly woman sitting in the courtyard near their mango tree whose name is apparently not important, for I was introduced by Mielo to “Mother” shortly after Justine. It turns out Mielo, Tiger, Mother and Mr. Tettey, our new landlord, are all related. The mango doesn’t fall far from the tree.
The information Justine and I walked away with, almost certainly due to a total communication breakdown, is that there are apparently some 40 siblings birthed by Mother, Mielo’s name means “Fetish Princess” (also symbolized by the markings she pointed out on her shoulders) and we are welcome to mangos anytime. I hope one of the three is correct; I have a thing for mangos.
The next day, Mielo and Tiger gave me an Ewe lesson, something fairly easy to come upon for the willing yavu, right by the cold store literally outside our door (oh the joys of convenience) where they had set up to sell some dish I haven’t yet determined. Mielo made me follow her again to offer my currency wisdom on what she called “your money.” It turns out, she had a 5 Euro-Cent coin. I think I took the wind out of her sails a bit when I explained that it was only worth about 20 pesewas, but at least she got a mini-EU lesson from me. Basically, our new neighbors are uber friendly.
I suppose I should address how we arrived to this new residence, as moving from one place to another in rural Ghana doesn’t exactly happen by heading on down to your local Uhaul for a truck rental. I think our Loan Officer, Eric Fiazorli, said it best: “Ghanaians move in the night because we do not want anyone to see us.” We all thought he was joking. He wasn’t.
Eric’s entourage arrived at 8:30 PM to BEGIN moving, including at least 6 pairs of hands to lend assistance. Among these kind folks, his wife, Rosemary, baby Collins mounted on back (and she wasn’t just carrying the light stuff) as well as his friend with a large van. Ghanaian “safety standards” for the moving van meant our one and only van run carried a very methodically packed, structurally questionable load (think Beverly Hillbillies minus the Beverly Hills… and the Billies are African… too late, I’m sticking with it). Why make two five-minute trips when you can make one? Perfectly logical, if you ask me.
The move went off without a single hitch (Okay, 3 hitches: 1. We won’t have any furniture for another week although we were told by the carpenter it would be ready the day we moved… it’s fine, it’s no surprise, it’s Ghana. It will happen when it happens. 2. Our refrigerator fan, which was somehow nailed into the concrete floor at our previous house, needed to be removed and “re-mounted” in the brand new, tile-floor kitchen. My attempts at this, although quite clever in my own humble opinion, failed miserably, so we were saved yet again by Eric, who had his friend Prosper sort us out a couple days later. 3. One of the four stove burners fell off while in transport and the darkness forced us to leave that soldier on the field of battle (Night Moves)… no sign of him the next day. RIP Stove Burner Number 4- June 7th, 1953- November 1st, 2011. Your light will shine down upon us from the heavens.)
The Anlo Hogbetsoso Festival began Wednesday, with an excellent display of children parading down the main street performing a traditional dance number and men in warrior garb doing their own version of tribal dance, which looked more like a Pilates workout if you ask me. However, the real celebrating begins tonight. People come from far and wide for these long-awaited festivities, especially this time around. The Festival hasn’t happened in this capacity for some 13 years due to a long-term chief dispute… time to make it rain. Excitement is in the air and, rest assured, updates of its bounties will follow.