We are safely back in Yendi. Our travels are over for the moment. It was good to see Red’s smiling face when we came out of Tamale’s little airport. He had been waiting for over an hour. He said that he wanted to come early so we would not have to wait on him. He was full of the news from Yendi and the enskinment of the new king. He said that things were a little tense for a few days but now everything was calm and everyone seemed to like the choice the “king makers” made in choosing a new king.
As soon as we got in the van we realized that there was no air conditioning. Red said that it would not cool so he turned it off and rolled down the windows. It was so hot in that van; the high temperature today was 108 degrees! We went straight to the air conditioner repair shop. The owner was not around but a couple of his men recharged the Freon; they could not detect a leak and we did not have time for them to take the system apart. It is still not cooling properly but it was cool enough that we could roll up the windows. We will have to take it back at a later date.
When we passed through the village of Sambu the road was blocked with people celebrating the funeral of their late chief/king. The funeral at Sambu is somehow tided to the funerals in Yendi because the highest king of the Dagombas has to have been the king/chief in the lesser villages along the way. They need to finish performing all the funerals so the seats will be vacant for the next kings/chiefs on their way up the chain. There are 4 villages that a man has to be the chief of before he can become the YaNaa; Sambu is one of these villages.
The house is covered with a layer of dirt; the Harmattan is here in full force. The Harmattan is a very fine dust that blows in off the Sahara desert; everything including the trees and bushes are covered with dust. Steve started mopping the floors while I disinfected and washed the vegetables we bought when we passed through Tamale. Of course there is lots more that needs to be done but we will save that for tomorrow. Besides, the dust will filter in over night; the floors need to be mopped everyday just to keep ahead of the dust.
We stopped by and saw Timothy Niligrini on our way into Yendi. He was excited to see us and happy with the gift of bread we gave him. Traditionally when you travel you are supposed to bring a loaf of bread home to your family. We stopped in Tamale and bought “the best” bread to give to the workers.
Thank you for the prayers.
In His Service,
Steve and Kandie
