Ahehyiapa - Happy New Year

I hope that everyone has had a good start to the new year 2024.

An hour later, like you, I also took the step into the new year. What probably won't surprise anyone is that this time it was significantly different than at home.

We were more carers than volunteers here in the house, as some came especially for New Year's and others left. The young people wanted to celebrate at the turn of the year and therefore traveled to the capital Accra. The rest of us didn't want to miss the big event in the neighboring village. There is a soap box race here that always takes place on New Year's Eve.

To end the year in Ghanaian style, we had the absolute national dish for dinner - fufu. This is a porridge made from yam and plantains. The consistency is very reminiscent of polenta. It is a very long preparation process and takes about 3 hours. Personally, I have to say it's definitely not worth the effort. Fufu actually tastes like nothing. But as is always the case here, the sauces are unbeatably delicious and you don't care what you eat with them.

After dinner we went to Obo, a neighboring town in the valley. The legendary soap box race takes place here. It involves a competition and the children who build the vehicles can win prizes for speed and design. The variety of vehicles ranged from motorcycles to ambulances to helicopters. There was great attention to detail and some even had working headlights. Since there is no gradient in the place, you have to hope for good, fast pushers and then you rush from one end to the other. The word tiredness doesn't seem to exist that night and so the vehicles rolled on until dawn.

It was a very unusual and unique way to start the new year. We have now successfully completed 2023 and let us be surprised by what 2024 has in store for us.

Best wishes and a wonderful start into the new year!

Veronica