February 5

No doubt about it, life in an African village is different than in Portland, Oregon!  Today we were to meet some representatives from the NGO Technoserve around 12:00 at the Senior Secondary school.  As we drove up tt the school on the moto, several teachers were huddled under a tree as water was being poured onto the ground.  Others were building a small fire nearby.  It looked a little curious, but I thought maybe they were pouring water for each other to wash hands before lunch.  As we parked near the group, they held a large rodent in the air and asked, “do you know what this is?”  No exotic animal here, but a substantial rat with a very long tail.   Just prior to our arrival the teachers had noticed movement on the ground near the tree.  One of them quickly picked up a rock and killed the rat with a direct hit to the head.  As we arrived, the teachers were cleaning the animal and getting ready to roast it on the nearby fire.  David exclaimed that this would never happen in America, to the astonishment of all assembled.  We have heard that American sports entrepreneurs are planning to introduce baseball in Ghana.  Based on the rock throwing that we have seen, Ghanaians will make great pitchers.  As we continued to wait, there was some agitation on the part of the students as they walked on the school grounds while enjoying lunch break.  After watching them for a minute, it became apparent that the students were dodging some donkeys that were charging around the school buildings, “trying to cross” as they say in the local vernacular.  In this situation, donkeys seem to gallop wildly with complete disregard for any obstacle smaller than a house, human or otherwise.