Friday

We’re out of water, which is nothing new. But there is a new problem: our well isn’t dry, but it’s really low, so the water it gives is full of clay and we can’t use it. That meant that I washed with about 2 litres of water on Thursday. Today we went to Bon Appetit (his brother’s guest house) in the morning so I got a proper shower there. Not having water is terrible. Usually our tanker fills it after it has delivered to some of the tanks but fuel is so expensive and it hasn’t been able to come lately. Tomorrow, hopefully. It’s pretty amazing not to have it, as you realize just how important it is and how much we take it for granted. We’ve got plenty of pure water to drink, so there’s no problem there, but we can’t wash or do dishes!

Tomorrow Dr. Addae has to go to a funeral, but I’m meeting some friends in town and won’t go, which I’m not overly disappointed about. The rituals surrounding funerals here are really interesting, but they go on forever and are in Twi for the most part, so they don’t really do it for me. For almost everyone else, they are a blast. They happen at least a month after the death, so it’s just one giant party. Drinking seems to be pretty common. I’d like to compare an Ashanti funeral with an Irish one and see who came out on top (or on the bottom, depending on how you look at it).