The Water village

We took a trip to a water village. We drove about 3 hours out to this little town and walked out to a beach where small canoes were waiting for us. We got in and canoed out of town into this jungle. It was a 45-minute ride where we paddled through swampland, crocodile waters (although we didn’t see any) and passed by men and women making their daily commute by boat to their city. We are out in the middle of nowhere and it starts pouring rain and suddenly we see a little village of about 20 houses on stilts. We arrive and are welcomed by the men and women that live there. They take us through the village, which had a small schoolhouse, a church and one room houses with pots on hot coals cooking food and babies sleeping on small mats and children playing with a small deck of cards. The kids were so cute and we gave them our silly band bracelets. It is still so amazing to think that these people live in a water village—it is not even like a houseboat…it is like living on a dock. The story says that a snail led these people to this village and they have lived here ever since. They have chickens and fish and have a teacher and a doctor. They hang their laundry out to dry and make all their tools by hand. If they need anything, they take their canoe into town and get it. Otherwise, the village is entirely independent and self-sufficient. It was amazing. As I walked around I tried to envision myself living there and growing up on the water. After spending time with the villagers we made our way back into town and were met by Ghanaian people with fresh coconut that they cut open and handed to us. I don’t know about any of you, but I have never drunk straight from a coconut that was just cut from the tree, but it was tasty. We got lunch back in town at a restaurant and were sitting outside on the beach and all these little kids came over and sat near us. They were hungry and we ended up giving them our soda’s and plates of food.  It is heartbreaking to see so many poor and homeless children and families. They make do with so little, and we have so much to give.