I thought it might be good to introduce some of the people whom we live and work with here in Konongo, so that as I write about them you know who I’m talking about.
Firstly, Rita – our housekeeper – a very important person in our lives! Rita is 25 years old, and has a six year old son named Kevin who is very cute, but was sick on the day this photos was taken ( I think he had malaria). Rita arrives in the morning and cleans the house, then does the washing (by hand!) and ironing. Initially she was embarrassed because she didn’t think she could speak English well enough, but actually she’s quite good, and we manage to communicate without any major issues. She’s slowly teaching me some Twi, the local language, but I am a slow learner!
Latifa looks after one of the other houses, but she lives in a little worker’s cottage just next to us so we see her regularly. She’s always dropping by to say hello or to use my computer to look on Facebook! She’s 19, so just finished school last year, and like any typical teenager is interested in clothes (especially pink) and boys and music. She is hoping to save up some money to study nursing at University. She’s a smart girl and is very sweet and helpful.
Endurance also lives next door – she works in the mine office and also helps out with cooking at the guesthouse. She’s a very keen cook, and has been giving us cooking lessons – we made fufu and goat soup the other day. It was very funny to hear them banter in the kitchen – my family hassle each other about who is the whitest, and they hassle each other about who is the blackest! They would rather be “fair” which is dark brown as opposed to black.
Sly is the cook at the guesthouse (not sure what his real name is), and he does well at cooking mostly western style food to suit everyone’s tastes. We probably have dinner all together twice a week, although some people eat there for every meal.
Warren’s geology department have a driver named Daniel, and he quite often drives us if we want to go to Konongo town or to Kumasi. He’s great to have around because he comes with us when we go to the shops or to buy vegetables and negotiates on our behalf – so that we pay local prices and not “bruni” prices. He took us to the Central Markets in Kumasi last weekend, which are the biggest markets in western Africa – oh my goodness – it was mad! So many people, selling everything under the sun. It would be very easy to get yourself lost in there, so thankfully he showed us the way –although we only went a short way into the maze.
Of the other expats, there is Roger (one of the other managers) and his wife Helen, who have been here for almost a year and have been very helpful in teaching us the ropes here. They have an awesome vegetable garden, which we can pop over to and pick some vegetables for dinner. Manvel (Finance Manager) is from Armenia – he always makes toasts with vodka shots whenever we have dinner together – he drinks the vodka, not us! That’s it for the expats – only 5 of us at the moment. Which is good and bad – it means you are thrown straight into the culture, and don’t rely on hanging out with other Australians the whole time. But it would be nice to have some other younger people to chat to!
There are plenty of other people around the minesite here – some of the security guards are very friendly – they take their jobs very seriously (although I’m not sure what they’re guarding against), so they stand to attention and salute as you go past, but then relax and have a chat. The ladies in the office – Gina, Agnes, Grace and Janet are well educated and always meticulously groomed – I feel like a yobbo in my t-shirts and thongs!
Firstly, Rita – our housekeeper – a very important person in our lives! Rita is 25 years old, and has a six year old son named Kevin who is very cute, but was sick on the day this photos was taken ( I think he had malaria). Rita arrives in the morning and cleans the house, then does the washing (by hand!) and ironing. Initially she was embarrassed because she didn’t think she could speak English well enough, but actually she’s quite good, and we manage to communicate without any major issues. She’s slowly teaching me some Twi, the local language, but I am a slow learner!
Latifa looks after one of the other houses, but she lives in a little worker’s cottage just next to us so we see her regularly. She’s always dropping by to say hello or to use my computer to look on Facebook! She’s 19, so just finished school last year, and like any typical teenager is interested in clothes (especially pink) and boys and music. She is hoping to save up some money to study nursing at University. She’s a smart girl and is very sweet and helpful.
Endurance also lives next door – she works in the mine office and also helps out with cooking at the guesthouse. She’s a very keen cook, and has been giving us cooking lessons – we made fufu and goat soup the other day. It was very funny to hear them banter in the kitchen – my family hassle each other about who is the whitest, and they hassle each other about who is the blackest! They would rather be “fair” which is dark brown as opposed to black.
Sly is the cook at the guesthouse (not sure what his real name is), and he does well at cooking mostly western style food to suit everyone’s tastes. We probably have dinner all together twice a week, although some people eat there for every meal.
Warren’s geology department have a driver named Daniel, and he quite often drives us if we want to go to Konongo town or to Kumasi. He’s great to have around because he comes with us when we go to the shops or to buy vegetables and negotiates on our behalf – so that we pay local prices and not “bruni” prices. He took us to the Central Markets in Kumasi last weekend, which are the biggest markets in western Africa – oh my goodness – it was mad! So many people, selling everything under the sun. It would be very easy to get yourself lost in there, so thankfully he showed us the way –although we only went a short way into the maze.
Of the other expats, there is Roger (one of the other managers) and his wife Helen, who have been here for almost a year and have been very helpful in teaching us the ropes here. They have an awesome vegetable garden, which we can pop over to and pick some vegetables for dinner. Manvel (Finance Manager) is from Armenia – he always makes toasts with vodka shots whenever we have dinner together – he drinks the vodka, not us! That’s it for the expats – only 5 of us at the moment. Which is good and bad – it means you are thrown straight into the culture, and don’t rely on hanging out with other Australians the whole time. But it would be nice to have some other younger people to chat to!
There are plenty of other people around the minesite here – some of the security guards are very friendly – they take their jobs very seriously (although I’m not sure what they’re guarding against), so they stand to attention and salute as you go past, but then relax and have a chat. The ladies in the office – Gina, Agnes, Grace and Janet are well educated and always meticulously groomed – I feel like a yobbo in my t-shirts and thongs!
No comments:
Post a Comment