Two years, really?

 I had forgotten that I started this blog.

Soon we will have been in Ghana for two years. (It wasn't long after arriving that I last posted.) The time has passed fairly quickly, with the cares of day to day living keeping us occupied. Coming from the west many would say this is a difficult place to live, I don't call it difficult, but agree with the locals who will often say, "it's not easy". Usually context is important when they say it, but I say it because many of the things we take for granted in the west aren't available, easily accessible, or convenient. For example, electricity, internet, water, phone service are here, but each can be unreliable and all require in person payment by differing methods. Food prep is time consuming, no grabbing take out or a packaged meal from the grocery store (there are no 'grocery' stores), most items come from 'the market' or small shops which might have basics like tomato paste and salt.

I underestimated Tumu's size, it's actually a big town (population 10k-12k?) and is noticeably growing. There are many partially finished homes, people build as money comes, and small businesses come and go. It doesn't seem that infrastructure is keeping up with the growth, though. The roads to Tumu from any direction within 50 miles are unpaved and sometimes barely passable. At some time the two main roads in town were paved, but it has been many years and now they're crumbling. (Yet several speed humps have been added in our time here, though to me unnecessary with all the potholes serving the purpose.) The primary economic driver is 'farming', most people directly, or indirectly derive their income from it. Many businesses and even government offices will close as people 'go to farm' to plant, weed, and harvest. It is totally dependent on a good rainy season, and the ability to pay for fertilizer. (A perceived, but ever more expensive necessity.) Those that don't actually own or lease the land that is 'the farm' will still work as day laborers hopefully earning enough to get by.

Tumu is the center of the Sissala tribal region, therefore many Sissali dialects are spoken, or at least understood here. We have found though, that because it's a growing town with many people from other parts of Ghana, English is widely spoken, and we can get by with that. It's one of the reasons we haven't continued with Sissala language learning.

The main reason though, is, we find that many of our neighbors are Fulani and that much of Tumu's recent growth is due to an increasing number Fulani coming from outside. Primarily nearby Burkina Faso, where it is not safe for much of the population. Fulani are widespread across West Africa, but are treated as outsiders at best in most countries, or more often ostracized and persecuted. We definitely see prejudicial treatment here as well, and as part of our 'ministry' serve as a bridge between our neighbors, (hopefully) demonstrating love to all. Most don't go to school and very few local Fulani speak English, and only those who have lived in Tumu for some time are speaking Sissali. It has 'not been easy' finding a language helper, especially for Beth, as beside the language there are cultural barriers as well.

More to come...?

                                                                         Traffic