---
"All right, are we ready for this again?"
"Yup, let's do it."
"Okay I'll bring my bike so we can get it back."
"Yes definitely."
... ...
"Hello? Gaafaraaa...?" (excuse me)
"Okay Mary how do we tell me them we want their cow poop?"
"Umm..."
*Begin expansive hand movements* "Cow... poop.... we want... make-heyhowdoyousayfertilizer?"
"Dang man I totally forgot! Uhh... we want make vegetables pretty. Cow poop and vegetables small time pretty! They will be big! I guess that's as good as I can get it."
"Do you think they understand?"
"Eh. Maybe. Let's just get the poop."
... ...
"Dude this poop is like especially watery."
"Yeah I know. Let's not get too much like we did last time."
...
"Okay that's enough. Let's drag it back to the bike."
*struggling*
"Oh my god it's juicing on us! DUDE. GROSS."
"Diana, it's okay. This happened to me yesterday."
"This bag is so heavy. Grossgrossgross! God just another day in Ghana."
"Hey, why don't I bring the bike over here to us?"
"Ohhh."
...
"Dude literally this bag is dripping all over my bike. What's with this cow poop?"
"I don't... ohh it rained last night!"
"Ohhh. Grand."
---
All the Yapalsi people loved seeing the two of us hauling around a bag of cattle dung. Haha.
My family repaved the inside of their compound with cement, but this isn't the same process as we would see in the States. It begins a week or two in advance. My family slowly dug up the existing floor in my compound and then beat the hardened clay that was dug up with a stick to turn it into small pieces.
Then on a determined date everybody from the community (the women and children, no men/boys) shows up the early morning. They begin to shuffle buckets and buckets of dirt into the compound. One bucket at a time per foot until the whole compound has a fresh layer of dirt. This takes all morning up until noon prayers.
After the small break everybody shows back up, one by one. water is sprayed on the dirt and the real fun begins. Everybody begins to sing and pound the dirt flat with check marked shaped pieces of wood. This video is one of my most favorite and I suggest you watch it! True Ghanian culture right here.
They're all in sync!
The floor leveler
It's a dirty messy process. Everybody really enjoyed that I helped, sang, and danced.
The rain washes away the clay of buildings so boiled cow poop added with some plants creates a mixture that keeps the buildings from melting away. Once I thought I finished playing with poo I come home and see my mother painting a whole side of a building with it haha. Just can't get away from it!
(also notice how nice the new floor is!)
Next blog post, my hiking trip!
