Ede Festivities

This weekend was a long weekend to celebrate Ede, the celebration for the end of Ramadan and the end of a one month fast for all Muslim people. Even though we had not taken part in the fast, we were encouraged to join in on the festivities taking place throughout the city. On Saturday we ventured to the city centre to walk around the cultural centre and check things out. It was evident that something special was going on- everyone was dressed in their Sunday best and many kids were wearing colourful plastic sunglasses that they received as gifts. The atmosphere in the city centre was more vibrant than we’d seen before and music boomed from the cultural centre. When we returned home late that afternoon we had a surprise visit from a local banjo artist. He knocked at our door and then came in to give us a fifteen minute concert of singing and strumming his African banjo. He had a really powerful voice and a big smile as he shook his bootie while he played.

Saturday evening we all gathered at Swad Restaurant for Lise’s birthday. There were about 17 of us out…a combination of Ghanaians and expats from all over the world. I made a banana cake for the occasion and even though there are bananas everywhere here the Ghanaians had never tried it before. Most Ghanaians don’t really like sweet things but Idris and Paul decided they could definitely make an exception for this cake. After supper we went to our first African Club at the Picorna Hotel. When we first got there it was pretty dead, but slowly the place filled up and we had a great time dancing to R&B and hip hop with all the locals.

Our group has slowly expanded this past week. Shawn and Nichole, a couple from Saskatchewan have arrived in Tamale and joined us for our evening out on Saturday. On Sunday, a new roommate from The Netherlands moved into the last empty room in the house. His name is Victor and he is an international economics student doing an internship with the World Food Program. We immediately warmed up to him last night when he and our buddy Morgan made a wonderful pasta dinner with beef sausages (the first time we’ve ever cooked meat in the house), steamed beans, SALAD!!, and a dessert liquor that Victor had brought from South Africa.