Out for a stroll in a village

Last week I spent a day in a village outside of Accra. Village life is very different than city life. It is harder is some ways- daily life is more difficult to manage without an abundance of stores. There is only one place to buy laundry soap. When they run out you have to wait until the next trip to the city. Inconvenient. Yet, it is refreshing in its slowness, and friendliness. People learn to do more with less.

With my hosts, I went for a walk through the village. I wish I had been able to take a picture of the elementary school children leaving school for the afternoon. Each of them was neatly dressed in their brown and orange school uniforms. They walked with arms linked emphatically exchanging stories from the day (both boys and girls link arms or hold hands- there is no cultural prohibition against friendly male affection). Some kicked soccer balls as they walked and others sort of skipped along. A few carried book bags. Most carried a notebook of some kind and a writing utensil. The striking thing is that all carried a small, kid-sized machete.

I have no explanation for why all the school kids were carrying large knives. I do not know if they were learning machete techniques in gym class or if it was bring your machete for show-and-tell day. In Africa, a machete is common as a toothbrush. Here a machete is much more than a weapon; it is an essential multi-purpose tool.

When I lived here, I had my own machete. I don’t remember where it came from, I acquired it somehow. Once you get over the strangeness of identifying yourself as a machete owner, it turns out to be quite useful. Some uses I found for my machete included:

1. Flipping pancakes or frying eggs (like a spatula)
2. Cutting fruit
3. Cutting grass (this is probably the most common use in an urban area and is sure to result in a back ache)
4. Scraping grime off a number of surfaces
5. Clearing brush from the path of a wild fire
6. Chopping down a small tree in order to build a shelter for the night
7. Creating a tasty beverage from a fresh coconut
8. As a can opener
9. As a back scratcher for the mid back or other hard to reach itchy spots
10. As torque to loosen stuck things