Tuesday, January 27, 2009

The Last few Days of Christmas

The last few days of our 12 days of Christmas celebration – more parties, more cultural dancing and music groups. The spirit was still there – and the energy was . . . uh, still there, but at a lower key after days of celebration.

The Kete group came to perform their dances with slower, seemingly more controlled, dignified movements. Bright quickly became the star performer of the Kete’s –

Bright's in the white trousers


and the caregivers realized he needed a wardrobe change to make it perfect.













The next day the Seventh Day Adventist brass band came to entertain us.



They’re always a hit when they come – everyone gets out dancing – Bright, of course,



and Stephen,



who was released from the hospital in time to be home for the Christmas celebrations. (To digress a bit – I don’t think one of my blog entries would be proper if I didn’t digress at some point - he stayed with us for about two weeks and then went to the rehab center to have his casts removed and an assessment of what to do next. After less than a week there, he and Leticia returned to us early one morning, after taking the night bus, with the information that he’ll be here with orthopedic shoes and a brace connecting the shoes to position the legs and then he’ll be needing another surgery in a few months.)

And then . . . the Dagare’s.

Dede, one of our newest kids, and Ntiamoah - waiting for the party


Mabel and Bright (more on Mabel in the future)


They’re a group from the north of Ghana and there’s a large population of them here in Nkoranza. They use a GREAT xylophone,



the women do the drumming, the singing is nasal-sounding – and I like them (although, I guess I could easily see someone thinking it’s awful – without understanding the words, a lot of the music can initially sound the same, I guess – and either you’ll like that sound, or you won’t – I’m happy I do). They’re the choir at the Catholic church on the hospital compound, where I usually go on Sunday. The mass is always in Twi, sometimes a bit of Dagare here and there, and occasionally some English gets chunked in – but it’s the Dagare choir that keeps me going to that mass.

Emma and his "son" Quentin, enjoying the Dagares and sharing a moment


The next night, a big New Year’s Eve bonfire – with dancing and sweating around the bonfire as Kofi Asare did his drumming. Later that night, Ineke, the volunteers, Samuel and I got together to toast in the New Year with some champagne – and bright stars all around us.

And finally, it was New Year’s Day – and a simple party, just with the community – and with new golden clothes.

Mr. Robert, in the wheelchair, giving the opening prayer



Kofi Asare, also known as Coco the Clown - dressed in gold rather than the Coco costume for the New Year's party


Zacharia, who went to the Monkey Sanctuary, pushing Innocencia for the opening dance


Our Golden Kids doing the kids' dance


The next day was a day of cleaning up and taking down decorations – and the final day of Christmas here was a day of rest.



Happy New Year

1 Comments:

At 10:24 PM, Blogger MJ said...

I love the sound of that xylophone--it's really a nice mellow sound.

 

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