Damary and I arrived at Wunlanyili Wednesday afternoon to help us hear and speak Dagbani better by being immersed in the language and culture. It was hottt! The only person I know in this village is Pastor Isaac. I met his wife and church people too but I don’t really remember them. The room we are/were renting is a hut with several family huts around it.
Wil is 19 and it was his place we are using. He and his friends helped us unpack our things. We brought a fan with us that we just bought. It was still in the box so they started putting it together. 
They gave us a bench to sit on. Even with the fan blowing it was still hot. People were coming in a greeting us. At one point I counted 8 people just sort of staring at us. We could make small conversation. These boys just stayed there. It is very culturally inappropriate for boys/men to be in a woman’s room. Damary and I could not figure out what was going on. We knew they wanted to be hospitable and friendly but we were like, “dudes…get out”. We don’t know how to say that in Dagbani. So we just sat there, sweating, and trying to smile and mentally tell them to leave. We did say we wanted to rest. So, Wil pulls out a mat and lays down. Maybe I didn’t use the right pronoun. We asked to take a walk and see the village but they said it was too hot and we should wait. So we waited. I should really be a professional at waiting with all my years in Ghana. Should is the key word.Well, I guess it became cool enough to walk around and the boys took us. Weird. You would never find this happening in Ghanaian culture- single men walking around with single women. But they introduced us to lots of people and we greeted them. It seemed we would walk to a different tree or shelter and greet more people. 
We got back to our place and Damary told them we would like to unpack. They started moving our bags and she stops them—NO, I WILL DO IT. And then she adds such a sweet “thank you”. But still they stayed in. Like, they just moved around her. Ugh. Finally, she tells them she wants to change her clothes and points to her dress and they get it. They leave and sit outside the hut. We just sat there thinking what in the world do we do so they don’t come in? We sat and chatted for a bit. Damary is a great organizer so she fixed everything up. She is one of those people who can make a hut seem homey…ha ha.Ghanaians are very community orientated. Everything they do is together. They think we are small children and need to be watched over. It wasn’t because the boys wanted to be near us. No, it was more like we are taking care of you and will help you and being together is how we do it.Then we sat outside with the boys and Wil had an English primary school book. It had pictures like a tomato, dog, house, woman carrying a bowl etc, etc. He would point to it and say what it is and then tell us to repeat. Many of the words we know and we are not looking into learning words. We are interested in making words into sentences and having conversations. We are a bit past what he was trying to help us with. I think the problem was because we were using his room he must have thought he was supposed to teach us. His English was not very good so we could not explain this and got frustrated.It got to be night and they let us go into our room—alone! Pastor Isaac and his wife brought food for us.
Delicious and way too much. We were trying to go easy on the food because they don’t have a toilet. They have a square wall up to your chest that serves as a place to take your bucket shower and pee but no place to do #2. To do that is called the bush :) and of course the moon was full. That means white people glow in the dark. THANKFULLY, Pastor told us the school down the road has latrines and we could use them to “free ourselves”.After eating and no more people came to greet us we took our bucket baths and went to bed. Since I had my bath first I started putting up the brand new insecticide covered mosquito net. When Damary finished her bath she helped me. Then we went to sleep.Sleep did not come. It was hot, even with the fan full blast. I found though, my arms were itchy. My face also felt hot. Damary commented too that her face felt like she touched chili peppers and touched her face. It was weird. Unfortunately, I didn’t sleep at all. I mean, not a minute. If I tried to sleep either I would be too hot or my arms would keep itching. I tried to not think about it but then it would turn into a stinging sensation. I don’t even know what else to say about it other than it was probably my worst night in Tamale (worst day?)Every hour I waited for it to be light and once it was I said to Damary we are leaving. She did not sleep well either. I walked to Pastor’s place and told him my body was hurting and my head was hurting and that I need to go home. Even though I had no marks or swelling on my arms or face I knew I was not making this up! I did feel like a wimp though as we drove home. But, before we left, I noticed some small red dots on my wrist. A man helping us pack up saw it and asked if we slept with a mosquito net. I said yes and he said that is what that is from. In the car I asked Damary to look at the package of the net. It said to air out the net 24 hours before use because of the chemicals in the insecticide. Ooooooooo!! That explains it. When I got home I googled it and people have had bad reactions to un-aired out mozzy nets. NOW I READ THIS! And there is no cure except to wait (again, I should have nailed this waiting thing a long time ago!! Grrr…) for it to go away. I googled cures or home remedies to help… this is where it gets funny.I came home and took a long shower hoping that would help. Then I tried Mary Kay night cream. Then I tried cooling gel for burns. Nothing. Then I tried milk but unfortunately the milk in our fridge was old and lumpy and I did not even smell it or look at it first and just started wiping it all over me…chunks and all! That was not helping and of course I needed another shower. I tried Aloe and baby powder too. No relief. I guess waiting is the only cure.I was able to sleep for about 45 minutes but woke up. I am at hour 30 of no sleep. I thought it was getting less itchy but it seems to have kicked in again. WHYYYYY!? I will take some antihistamines later and hope for the best.Ridiculous isn’t it?Love you for praying.P.S. We did tell Pastor that we will come back on Tuesday. That will be Village take 2 :)
They gave us a bench to sit on. Even with the fan blowing it was still hot. People were coming in a greeting us. At one point I counted 8 people just sort of staring at us. We could make small conversation. These boys just stayed there. It is very culturally inappropriate for boys/men to be in a woman’s room. Damary and I could not figure out what was going on. We knew they wanted to be hospitable and friendly but we were like, “dudes…get out”. We don’t know how to say that in Dagbani. So we just sat there, sweating, and trying to smile and mentally tell them to leave. We did say we wanted to rest. So, Wil pulls out a mat and lays down. Maybe I didn’t use the right pronoun. We asked to take a walk and see the village but they said it was too hot and we should wait. So we waited. I should really be a professional at waiting with all my years in Ghana. Should is the key word.Well, I guess it became cool enough to walk around and the boys took us. Weird. You would never find this happening in Ghanaian culture- single men walking around with single women. But they introduced us to lots of people and we greeted them. It seemed we would walk to a different tree or shelter and greet more people. We got back to our place and Damary told them we would like to unpack. They started moving our bags and she stops them—NO, I WILL DO IT. And then she adds such a sweet “thank you”. But still they stayed in. Like, they just moved around her. Ugh. Finally, she tells them she wants to change her clothes and points to her dress and they get it. They leave and sit outside the hut. We just sat there thinking what in the world do we do so they don’t come in? We sat and chatted for a bit. Damary is a great organizer so she fixed everything up. She is one of those people who can make a hut seem homey…ha ha.Ghanaians are very community orientated. Everything they do is together. They think we are small children and need to be watched over. It wasn’t because the boys wanted to be near us. No, it was more like we are taking care of you and will help you and being together is how we do it.Then we sat outside with the boys and Wil had an English primary school book. It had pictures like a tomato, dog, house, woman carrying a bowl etc, etc. He would point to it and say what it is and then tell us to repeat. Many of the words we know and we are not looking into learning words. We are interested in making words into sentences and having conversations. We are a bit past what he was trying to help us with. I think the problem was because we were using his room he must have thought he was supposed to teach us. His English was not very good so we could not explain this and got frustrated.It got to be night and they let us go into our room—alone! Pastor Isaac and his wife brought food for us.Delicious and way too much. We were trying to go easy on the food because they don’t have a toilet. They have a square wall up to your chest that serves as a place to take your bucket shower and pee but no place to do #2. To do that is called the bush :) and of course the moon was full. That means white people glow in the dark. THANKFULLY, Pastor told us the school down the road has latrines and we could use them to “free ourselves”.After eating and no more people came to greet us we took our bucket baths and went to bed. Since I had my bath first I started putting up the brand new insecticide covered mosquito net. When Damary finished her bath she helped me. Then we went to sleep.Sleep did not come. It was hot, even with the fan full blast. I found though, my arms were itchy. My face also felt hot. Damary commented too that her face felt like she touched chili peppers and touched her face. It was weird. Unfortunately, I didn’t sleep at all. I mean, not a minute. If I tried to sleep either I would be too hot or my arms would keep itching. I tried to not think about it but then it would turn into a stinging sensation. I don’t even know what else to say about it other than it was probably my worst night in Tamale (worst day?)Every hour I waited for it to be light and once it was I said to Damary we are leaving. She did not sleep well either. I walked to Pastor’s place and told him my body was hurting and my head was hurting and that I need to go home. Even though I had no marks or swelling on my arms or face I knew I was not making this up! I did feel like a wimp though as we drove home. But, before we left, I noticed some small red dots on my wrist. A man helping us pack up saw it and asked if we slept with a mosquito net. I said yes and he said that is what that is from. In the car I asked Damary to look at the package of the net. It said to air out the net 24 hours before use because of the chemicals in the insecticide. Ooooooooo!! That explains it. When I got home I googled it and people have had bad reactions to un-aired out mozzy nets. NOW I READ THIS! And there is no cure except to wait (again, I should have nailed this waiting thing a long time ago!! Grrr…) for it to go away. I googled cures or home remedies to help… this is where it gets funny.I came home and took a long shower hoping that would help. Then I tried Mary Kay night cream. Then I tried cooling gel for burns. Nothing. Then I tried milk but unfortunately the milk in our fridge was old and lumpy and I did not even smell it or look at it first and just started wiping it all over me…chunks and all! That was not helping and of course I needed another shower. I tried Aloe and baby powder too. No relief. I guess waiting is the only cure.I was able to sleep for about 45 minutes but woke up. I am at hour 30 of no sleep. I thought it was getting less itchy but it seems to have kicked in again. WHYYYYY!? I will take some antihistamines later and hope for the best.Ridiculous isn’t it?Love you for praying.P.S. We did tell Pastor that we will come back on Tuesday. That will be Village take 2 :)
There, of course, is always something to see on these roads.
When we arrived they had already buried the man. So, we went to the site and then to the family house. When you come you go and "greet" the family members. You shake hands in a line. Many people had gathered to grieve with the family. One of the local pastors, who worked with the man who died, gave a message of Life in Christ and told the people that this man is not dead. He is alive and with his Savior! They also prayed for the widow.
Sunday brought on the real celebrating!
Then I get into bed with the fan on high.
I also need to have a towel which I put under my neck so I don't ruin my pillow and pillowcase with all my sweat. Necks really sweat! Who knew!?
And last but not least I get a water bottle which I have put in the freezer in the morning and I hold on to it.
Now, maybe you are thinking that I may spoil my mattress with all the water. I thought so too. And just to be safe I try to only soak the front of my pj's and I hold the ice bottle on my belly. But usually any water dries so fast that I no longer worry about mold or whatever growing in my mattress. And if it does, well, so be it.So, these are little life lessons on how to sleep in hot weather.Please be praying for me. It is so hot here to go out and sit with people and I make excuses. I. can. do. it. Don't feel sorry for me. Even right now, I am thinking to myself, "plan out where you will go, who will you visit" so that I can be ready and get thru it. It should be a somewhat distraction-less week. A great week to learn Dagbani. Let me say that again, A Great Week To Learn Dagbani!!!Love You. 
Reverend Abukari gave a message (in Dagbani so I did not understand it) and shared the name of the baby. His name is Bismark. Other church leaders and pastors came and prayed and blessed the new baby.
Praise the Lord for Baby Bismark!
Now let me show you what they carry...
This is what my feel look like after walking around in my neighborhood.
Such beauties! Ei!!! It makes me understand more clearly why in Jesus' time washing feet was such a big deal and why only the lowly servants did it.Love you all. Thanks for praying!!
Happy New Year! I hope you have some goals for 2017!!
My week started off really great because I got a package from home. A big, big package!!! It had some of my fave things and some new things. My family knows how to do parcels!!!These photos were taken in a village called Savelegu. It is about 20 miles from Tamale. A small village where Pastor Andrew comes to buy a pig to feed people who visit him and the church around Christmas time. The chickens I bought for my own Christmas dinner. It really doesn't get more fresher than this! We plan to come back to this village on the 1st to spend time with some of the people. They are so friendly.
So, that was my week. How was yours?