We look at each other, horror on faces.
What time is it??
7 AM. Dear lord we have slept in. How could we have? How did the chickens, donkeys, children, goats, dogs, and guniea fowl NOT wake us up at 5:30am? Okay, maybe starting Inception at 10pm (about an hour past our normal bedtime) might have contributed to our slightly stronger slumber...
Quick, get dressed in a presentable fashion! Cover your shoulders, hide your knees!
Walk outside into the compound and announce to all, "Desiba, tim maa sim, aghbira" (Morning, hows the weather, how did you sleep). After the pleasantries it's down to business. "You are welcome. You all have come to see the fertilizer. Toh come come is just here in this blue bucket. You see? Uh huh. So we make this by..."
[24hrs prior]
"Hey Mary, what's up? I just got to Nyong-Gumah. I brought our burlap sack."
"Okay cool, I have our gardening gloves..."
Mary and I walk around town carrying a trough and a dust pan.We joke about stalking some goats following closely in step with them, ready to collect any... "fresh samples." We greet the villagers and explain to them we're getting "bindi" to make "culum." (poop, fertilizer)
However it becomes very apparent that the only way to go is to go find some cows. With two helpful Ghanian friends Mary and I trudge off to a Fulani household (cattle herders).
---
"We go to Fulani house, just here. We collect the cow sh*t. Uh HUH, it is true. Yes yes. You just go and get the cow sh*t." ("poop" isn't in their normal vocabulary however, "sh*t" is)
---
"OH that is a FRESH sample! Get that one. Here here. There.
"Mary, for real?"
"That's the good stuff man."
"Ok then let's get this one."
"Wow that one probably just came out of the cow"
*10 minutes of laughter*
"Come. Les hurry"
"Baba! Wait no, here use these gloves!"
"Is okay."
"....Dude. He's getting after it. Thank god he's helping us."
----
"You fill the bag with cow sh*t. When your bag weigh like small child is okay. Tie the bag on a big stick and put in bucket with water. You don't let the bag touch the bottom of the bucket."
----
"Holy sh*t dude!! This bag is so heavy!"
"Wow."
"Ohmygod! Try not to let it touch you!"
" Baba can your friend take this on your bike?"
"Eeee." (Yes)
-----
"Then you put rubber around the top so the water does not leave. The sun is hot and will take your water. Every 3 days you take the stick and you move it up and down, like tea. After 10 days you are finished. You take the water and put on your farm and your vegetables will be beautiful!" ("rubber" is the term used for plastic. We enjoy it as much as you)
----
"Dude man we're lucky Baba and his friend came. Getting that bag of sh*t back would have been terrible."
"Oh for real."
"And Baba really didn't mind much about getting all the poop."
"Haha nope."
"Cool let's go rest and chill. We can make some dinner and watch a movie later!"
"That sounds like a wonderful idea."
*some dialog written in "Ghanian English"
(Great bed hair!)
(Mary, partner in crime)
To be continued, the other half of the story at a place I call... home.
