Life goes on

I'm still living in Ghana and I'm still teaching science in the middle of no where. I'm doing well, keeping busy mostly and still adjusting to a culture that is very different my own. I posted a bunch of pictures on facebook here.

A story: One night, i was up late reading or preparing my lessons by candlelight when I heard a big commotion, barking, whining, puppy crying. When it didn't stop right away, I rushed outside to find out what was going on. Kraman Baa sleeps out on the porch and it sounded like she was being attacked or something. I struggled with the door longer than I should have, it was locked, duh. When i finally got outside, I found three of the watchmen from the school standing over the body of a dead dog...(dramatic storytelling, huh?).

The dog wasn't my puppy, she was hiding in the corner crying piteously and appeared to be wet. I comforted my dog and was able to make her stop crying. She was very scared, but fortunately she did not appear to be injured. She had peed on herself, she was so scared. Poor thing! The intruder dog must have come in the night and attacked Kraman Baa and scared her, waking up the watchmen. These guys are just local farmers, but they didn't hesitate. They carry wooden clubs and they literally beat the dog to death in front of my house. When I got there the strange dog was already looking very dead, but the men were giving it the occasional whack in the head just in case. They were very excited, but concerned for Kraman Baa, saying that the strange dog was sick and that she needed to get medicine. I explained with relief that Kraman Baa had gotten her rabies vaccine and everything should be fine.

The watchmen were also excited because it meant that they were going to have a party the next night. They dragged the dead dog away from my door aways, gutted it, and hung it in a tree in my front yard. There it stayed all the next day until the evening when they butchered it and cooked it in a really big pot over charcoal outside. Eating dog here is actually pretty common. People even buy dogs at the market to have a party and eat it. It also didn't seem to bother these guys that they didn't know whose dog it was. I don't know if the dog really had rabies or not, but it didn't matter to them. Kraman Baa seems to be fine, now.

Eating dog, or cat for that matter, sounds strange and horrible to us, but it's only our culture that says there is some difference between a dog and a cow, pig, or chicken. People here don't treat their dogs and cats like we do in the States. Dogs are animals, not part of the family. And it's hard to get too worked up about animal rights or excessive cruelty to animals when there are people here who are so poor they can't always eat. It's just the way things go in Ghana I guess. Life goes on.

Animals?

My mom sent me a picture of a cute little tree frog tucked into a big dahlia flower. I don't see any frogs around here, although I'm sure there are a few. It's just that most places, the ground absorbs the rain very quickly and leaves it dry. There are some marshy areas around with water lilies in them. Mostly I see toads hopping around. I was sitting with the night watchman one night and a toad hopped by. It was a normal sized toad, maybe 2 inches long, and he taught me the name in Frafra. I forget the name, but i remember that it meant toad-child, meaning that the one we saw was a little one. He showed me with his hands how big the big ones get, making a shape the size of a grapefruit. I'll keep my eyes open for one of those. I saw a really big spider 4" and some really big cockroaches 3" in my house, and there are ants all over, some pretty big and fast.

I don't see too many animals here, except farm animals. There is the occasional lizard scurrying around, but considerably fewer than in the southern part of the country. They like to climb trees, and we don't have as many trees here. Mostly I see birds. There are vultures, doves, some kind of crow, a big grackle type bird, and a handful of small multicolored bird species. There are also the occasional larger bird with a big curved bill, some kind of toucan or horn bill, I imagine. I have a bird book, and eventually I'll take the time to look them all up and make a list for you guys. I just haven't had the time for as many leisure activities here.

Doing well, getting by.
-Toby