The last few days I have been settling into my lovely new house and I thought it deserved a blog entry. It is now starting to feel like home away from home :), mainly thanks to Bev's cooking (amaaaazing mashed potatoes!!!) and Johns pottering and D.I.Y. around the place (I now have a tap that works woo hoo!), as well as the stream of visitors that pop by to greet us, and our many interesting neighbours, who I am slowly but surely getting to know.

First there is the lovely 'crazy lady' that lives next door, who we hear regularly arguing with her imaginary friend (or enemy, I can't quite work out which!). She basically has schizophrenia, and we see her talking, shouting and gesticulating into thin air, pretty much on a daily basis. She is a wonderful woman, who I chat to every day on my way to work (in Kusaal, I am learning!), and she has a gorgeous little boy who follows her around everywhere she goes. It's a real contrast to see the older lady with the tiny little boy, although I don't really know them at all it's clear they have a real bond. I see her walking past collecting firewood, organising water for the house, and sometimes just sitting looking serious as though she is contemplating life, and the little boy is always there, bobbing along beside her, singing to himself and happily playing games in his own little world, half naked with his little round black belly and literally just a pair of underpants.

Then, we are also very priviledged to have the Queen Mother (!) as one of our neighbours. When Bev first mentioned her in conversation I was like, 'what?!' - it just sounds so funny to be talking about the Queen Mother in general conversation. It's a very traditional role here in Ghana, and is given to a woman who will basically support the local Chief in his role. It is a very powerful position, although I am yet to really understand how it all works! I have to say I was quite surprised when I met her, she is a very cuddly, round, smiley, bubbly lady, who loves to giggle and laugh, so nothing like our idea of a Queen Mother at all!

Her daughter Giftie is a young girl with big rosy apple cheeks that shine when she smiles, which is a lot! She is really shy but has beome good friends with John and Bev, as they supported her sister, who dropped out of school, to attend the girls programme in Binaba in order to encourage her back into education. She (Giftie) sells fish at the market after school, and I can smell it cooking first thing in the morning when I am doing yoga in my bedroom (took me a while to get used to that!).

Adam is another regular visitor, who was supported by a volunteer when he was younger, and has since been supporting volunteers living in this house for literally years. He has seen so many of us come and go that to him this is all old hat. He is basically our main support line in terms of settling in, making sure everything around the house is in order (he has already seen me struggling to get my lug of a moto in and out of the house and offered to fix thing to make it easier thank god!), and getting to know Zebilla and the ways of life here. He often has key info, that you only really get if you listen to the radio (which we don't yet but living on my own I'm certainly going to need one!), such as if the power will be out for a day or two, or the water, or both! Sometimes when we see him it's like having a small dose of North West Tonight (well, the Ghanaian version) - we get a general round up of the days news, local and national too - very handy indeed!

I have also met George, an interesting character who used to be a successful business man in Accra, but who had a breakdown of some sort and now lives back in his local village up towards the border of Burkina. He walks for literally miles each day, from his house into Zebilla town, which reminds me of the steep gap between those who have here and thoe who really don't - it's huge. What is interesting is that this man has seen and experienced both sides, from the wealthy and successful to the very poor living below the bread (or Banku) -line, and it's humbling to see him continuing to live is life in the way he does, simply taking it day by day trying to make ends meet.

And finally, another visitor is Giddeon, a deaf man who runs a design business in town. He has also known volunteers here for some time, some of which were able to sign for him, and so with the help of Bev, and a crib sheet of simple signs, I am slowly learning how to do so myself too!

Oh, and I mustn't forget Father Cannon, the Priest at the local Anglican Church, another building that neighbours ours. At first I wasn't sure that it could be the church I had heard John and Bev talking about, I mean it doesn't look at all ike a church, more like a derelict house, brown mud walls, wonky tin roof, and rusty red wooden doors and shutter windows hanging precariously at the hinges. But oh boy, when that place comes alive, it really comes alive! I had been warned about the sheer noise that this place can generate, but didn't really understand until I moved in. At approximately 8pm, every evening, the band begins. It starts with a few testing drum notes, a little pitter patter on what sounds like an organ, and a few small squeels of the speakers as they try to tune everything up. What follows is a HUGE cacophony of noise, as they practice their singing at the top of their lungs, backed by the booming band which plays the same tune over and over and over as they practise the verses again and again and again... The first time I heard it, I thought it was quite nice, the second and third it became a bit annoying, and well, the fourth I was reaching for my Ipod which was pretty futile really, there is simply no escaping it. Instead of fighting it, perhaps I will have to just go and join in! I mean, they are obviously having a good time!

Add all of these characters to the plethora of little children that swing by our house, peek through the widows, and climb up the window frames whispering, shouting or singing 'Nasara!' or 'Sister Aema!' and I feel like I am in the middle of a melting pot... god only knows what they think of me!

With love from my new home,

Em

xx