Larabunga

May 10-11:

While in Mole we visited a nearby community called Larabunga. This community consists of 4,000-5,000 people who are all muslim. This community has the oldest Mosque in West Africa. We were able to go on a little tour of the community. All of the houses are mud huts and maybe 30% of the popluation have electricity.

This is the mosque. The only people allowed inside are the men and then women who were above a certain age, so we could only see it from the outside.

A couple views of the community.

 

In Larabunga they make authentic shea butter (which is amazing). I couldn't believe all the work that goes into making it. The best part of our visit to Larabunga was the cultural presentation they put on for us. They had us come back at night and they had made a fire and presented us with four dances. After they performed the dances the girls choose a partner to then come do the dances again with them. It was so much fun! This has by far been one of my most favorite activities. The people of Larabunga were so happy to have us there and to have us participate, I absolutely loved it!

 

At the cultural presentation.

My friend Sara from Larabunga.

We also did a clinic in Larabunga where we assessed and taught about 260 people in a span of about 3-4 hours. This clinic was crazy! This one has by far been one of the most memorable just by the amount of people that came and stayed to hang out with us. We performed our clinic and their clinic. This clinic was one tiny building that consisted of maybe three-four rooms where they did everything. While we were doing our clinic they had a mother in one of the rooms who was laboring. Health care is just very different from America, it is still hard to get used to.

The yellow building is the actual clinic.

Another viewpoint of all the people at the clinic.

After this clinic, the last hoorah for Mole was getting to spend the night in a tree house. This was such a memorable experience. When you decide to do it they assign a guard to you, they give you a yoga mat, and a mosquito net. It wasn't the best sleep I have ever gotten, but it was such an amazing experience being able to sleep outside under the stars and hearing the animals all around. I absolutely loved this! It was a great way to end our Mole adventure.

The treehouse.