Post date: Aug 11, 2014 4:47:02 PM
11 April 1965
Today I visited my steward’s village, in Annang country, 25 miles away. The Annang people are very superstitious and have many jujus. All available land is under cultivation. Every compound raises bananas, palm nuts, cassava, yams, coconuts, kola, cocoa, raffia, and oranges. The children go naked until puberty and the women wear only a skirt unless they are going out of the compound. Of perhaps 100 people in this family group only 4 spoke much English. All of one man’s male relatives live in an area perhaps 1/4 mile square. One man and his wives, children, and grandkids have houses grouped together. His brother heads another group. An important nephew may have another. Scores of kids.
I must have drunk two quarts of palm wine and a quart of beer. I’m probably the “biggest” man ever to visit that compound. They gave me eggs, a chicken, a huge yam, oranges, two pineapples, and kola nuts, all of which I had to carry home. They wouldn’t let me refuse it.
The new school I have been wiring is struck by lightning every couple of weeks. We must find a solution. Lightning rods are $45 each!! I’m sure we can make a substitute out of something less expensive than pure copper. Their church has a roof now, but no walls. They are ordaining an African priest on Low Sunday. Big affair. I can’t go because of my termination conference, which starts that noon 150 miles away.