Little Drummer Boyz

We've added a new village to the Burro service area. This one is so far off the beaten path, it is down a dirt road off of a dirt road. One part of the road has the Grand Canyon running right down the middle of it. I kid you not, the crevice is about 30" deep and when driving down the road, you have to straddle the canyon - one set of tires on each side. It's the dry season now, but the road must be impassible in the rainy season. That canyon was cut by something after all.

Nevertheless, the village is worth the trip. Very friendly and happy people. Sometimes it seems that as the poverty increases so does the happiness - as long as those without money have access to growing things. Frankly, I'm not sure many of them spend much time outside their villages, so with little to compare to, material wants maybe don't get in the way of the joy and comfort of family and friends.

As an aside and a counterpoint, however, we met a very successful Ghanaian entrepreneur the other evening (CEO of Unique Trust Financial Services - see http://www.utlog.com/ for info on his company and this article for some of his thoughts about doing business in Ghana) who said something to the effect of:

God made a mistake. He put his favorite people at the equator where it's always warm and absolutely anything will grow. You eat a papaya and toss the leftovers into the bushes and six papaya plants start growing. These people have it too easy. If you're hungry, pick a pineapple. If it rains, put a banana leaf over your head.

His point, during our chat with him, was that people in Ghana don't have sufficient incentive to be ambitious. Which is consistent but perhaps another view of my observation that even poor people here seem pretty content. In this particular village, the children are often in just a pair of underwear, but they seem to be energetic, engaged, creative, and yep - pretty happy. There were a couple of boys playing drums on an empty gallon size palm oil jug. They were actually quite good. However, when I went over to get them on my camera, two things happened.

1. They ran away - don't know why. Once they realized I was just after a picture, they came back and were somewhat willing to start playing again.
2. All the other children ran over to join in singing and clapping to some church song (I recognized hallelujah)- pretty much ruining the drummers' creativity and changing their rhythm considerably. Everyone wants to be in pictures!

Anyway, enjoy the show, such as it is. My camera doesn't take very good video, but it was fun.

XO