Surprisingly, at this very Christian country, where stores name are "by the grace of god beauty shop" etc, nothing much was happening at X-mas time. No gift buying, decorations or family get together. Just another day to go to church. Many businesses were opened.
At the construction site, this week was marked by power struggle, as the "Elders" tried to control the work. Ewe people are known to be hard-headed.
Benny requested that they sign another letter, written in Ewe, requiring a community member who does not come to work to obtain a permission from the group leader.
Benny delivered a letter to the Regional Director of Education, reporting the current situation in the school, requesting good teachers for the Airfield Community.
At Aku Sika Shop all is well. Sister Aku likes to talk and I like to listen. Unfortunately I miss some because of her heavy African accent. Her father had children with eight different women and her mother was married four times, so every other person who walks into the store is her brother, sister, uncle, step-mother etc. And there are lots of stories. (Sammy, Prosper and Eric are all brothers, but non from the same pair of parents.)
After big lunch, (huge portion, eaten by the right hand, “mommy, you are invited”) Aku Sika puts a mat on the floor and takes a nap. Huge body, reminded me of the sculpture of the reclined woman by Fernando Botero that we saw in Columbia.
The shop closed for four days, so Benny carried the sewing machine to our room and I am having fun sewing tops, pants and patch bags.
[...] Update from Shifra Raz 12/27/2009 « Volunteer reports [...]