Welcome to Savelugu

Hello from Cohort 5!

Savelugu was a word we'd said many a time before coming here. For UKV's (UK volunteers) when fundraising and for us all when telling our friends and family where we are going. Now finally, we've reached the town. It's a beautiful place, with nice scenery, and full of heartwarming and lovely people.                                                      

The Savelugu Munincipality consists of 149 communities with a total population of 110,000. The primary language here is Dagbani of which our team has had some basic training in. Some of us are definitely better than others! Luckily we have three Dagbani speakers in the team, which will certainly make life a little easier.

"Silaminga buy toffee" is a recitation that the children of the community chant anytime they see the uk volunteers. It means "White man, buy me toffee". (History of why they say this is a long one (trust me!).

Our first full day here was a Sunday, so we decided to visit the nearby lake, it was a good cycle and a worthwhile one, the lake is beautiful, and children were playing in the water.

The office is a nice cozy place (it's a tight squeeze). The first day was really packed, we started by cleaning the office. After work, Chloe, one of the team leaders showed us to the bar, somewhere we can relax after work. Most of us tried a soft drink called Alvaro, it's really good. We spoke mostly of our cultures, and as usual with our group we joked and laughed (mostly at each other).

We decided to designate one night a week as a games night, to ward off the boredom that may be associated with lots of work. Wednesday is the day which we collectively agreed to meet at a volunteers residence and have games. There was Twister, Ludo, Snake and ladders and Playing Cards. There was lots of music and fun. Twister was the funniest of all the games, a new game for all the ICV's (In country volunteers), it involved about four people having their hands and legs on colour patterns on a plastic sheet.

With the help of one of the host parents, we were able to meet the chief of Savelugu. Before we went in we had to remove our footwear in obedience to tradition. The chief welcomed us and expressed his support for us to make our positive impact in the community. We too had a moment to express our mission and thanks to the chief. We also got to meet the NFED team and the supervisors who welcomed us.

It's only week 2 but already we're really fitting into the culture and norms of this wonderful and lovely community.

NFED Savelugu Cohort 5