Ruminations from Tamale (Part 2)

Actually as I write this, I’m no longer in Tamale.  My trip was cut short by, most simply put, an employer stabbing me in the back.  The workforce in Ghana is dominated by small-scale scale entrepreneurs, which makes it more readily possible for workers to be treated unfairly as opposed to being employed in a corporate-like system.  But that’s a discussion for another day.

For the most part, I enjoyed my time in Tamale though fell really sick upon departing, and it took me a good week to get over that illness.  The best thing about the city, as opposed to those in in the south of country (including Accra), is the low cost of living.  The caveat though is that Tamale is generally dirty, which logically would contribute to sickness if your body isn’t used to the environment.  And what it feels like is that I caught a case of malaria, very weakening though thankfully not completely debilitating.

SOME VILLAGES CLEANER THAN THE CITY

Some of the villages on the outskirts of the metropolis are cleaner than the city itself.  The highlight of my trip was visiting one such locality.  As you can see the next pic, the village also has some sanitation issues:

But for the most part it was a clean, and I would say even picturesque environment.

As it currently stands, the village isn't densely populated.  Meanwhile, when you talk of sanitation issues, those kinds of problems are inevitably the result of human pollution and also often overcrowding.

That said, here are a couple of pics of pristine farm and grazing land found within the village…

…as well as what I was told was a manmade lake:

It appears that the people up there also practice in irrigation, if I'm not mistaken.  Irrigation isn’t really a widespread practice in Ghana based on what I've observed.  However, President Mahama recently announced that the government is going to invest big time in propagating it.  That said, I did see a couple of farmlands around Tamale that looked like they were irrigated, including around the above lake:

MUD HOUSING

Quite a few of the villagers around Tamale live in mud compound houses.  As far as manmade phenomena and besides the ubiquity of rubbish, this is what stands out most about the villages and towns surrounding city, these traditional structures.  You don’t see these kinds of things in the southern parts of Ghana anymore:

It may look like these mud houses are really old.  I personally thought they dated back to at least the mid-20^th century, when these kinds of structures were more common.  But I asked the homey, and he told me that the compound pictured above for instance has only been around for about a decade.

To note, there's also an ample amount of modern houses situated within that particular village.  So the presumption is that these mud compounds are now akin to placeholders, until the respective owners are able to knock them down and erect contemporary homes in their place.

Here’s a clip of one resident fixing the thatch roof on top of a mud room:

You would think that a house made of mud and straw wouldn’t be able to withstand the elements.  But it regularly rains in Ghana, quite hard actually, and these buildings are very much able to remain intact.  And by the way, there are also more modern houses made of mud bricks, though you wouldn’t likely notice once they’re plastered.

OUTSKIRTS OF THE TAMALE METROPOLIS

That village looked like a nice place to live.  I wouldn't have minded spending more time there myself.  But in all likelihood it will be noticeably different within 10-20 years, as more residents move in.  And to reiterate, most of the populated parts of Tamale do not resemble the cleanliness and spaciousness of that village, at all.  But there are other towns similar to it, some though being outside of the actual city limits.

The natural environment of the Ghana's Northern Region (of which Tamale is the capital) is known as savanna, which kinda resembles a forest, though the trees aren’t bunched together.  You will notice the savanna on the outskirts of the Tamale metropolis, where there aren't so many people but not within the city itself:

MUSLIMS, MOTORCYCLES & FARMERS

In my first post about Tamale, I highlighted how it's a Muslim city and furthermore one dominated by motorcycle traffic.  In this next clip, I was able to more vividly capture both of those phenomena.

It was taken outside of a relatively-spacious mosque during Friday afternoon prayers, which I believe are in recognition of the onset of the Sabbath.  Hundreds of worshippers popped up, seemingly out of nowhere, mostly on foot and motorcycle:

It’s an incredible site, watching people pray in unison like that.  And if there’s one thing Tamale doesn’t lack, it’s mosques… and watermelons.  Indeed, it appears to be much easier to grab fresh produce up there than it is in Accra.

A decent amount of Tamale’s residents, especially those living on the outskirts, are in fact farmers, and you regularly see them traversing through the city.  Meanwhile, it’s rare that you come across someone who’s noticeably a farmer in Accra these days.  Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to get a pic of the plethora of watermelons but hope to do so in the near future.

CONCLUSION

To reiterate, I wouldn’t have minded spending more time in Tamale.  I’ve been back in Accra less than a month and am already feeling the sticker shock.

Tamale’s biggest attribute is the lower cost of living.  But the caveat, in my opinion, is the filth.

The residents appear apathetic when it comes to prevalence of garbage.  Outside of that apathy, I would say lack of government involvement and poverty also contribute to this phenomenon.  So the next time I go to Tamale, I hope to stay more on the outskirts, in one of the cleaner, less-populated towns or villages, as opposed to near the center of the city, where I was situated the first time around.

AFTERWORD

All of the above pics are for sale, at a moderate price, watermark-free in their original (4096 x 2034) resolution.  Interested patrons can hit me up on Facebook (@ghfind.mal) or via email (krobofind@gmail.com).