Faana. Visiting our former students

SASO is operating in several communities. With the SASO school building, Wiaboman is the primary one, though students also come from neighboring communities. One of them is Faana, which translated from the Ga language means “river bank”. It is a community of fishermen, located on a narrow strip of land alongside the seashore.

Three girls attended SASO school from that community: Regina, Lydia and Elizabeth. We decided to go and see how the former students were doing. Earlier they could reach the SASO school just by a short walk along the beach, but now this would be impossible. Weija dam was flooded and the water broke through to the residential areas, so an artificial river had to be created and the Faana community got separated from Wiaboman. Now you can reach the fishermen village only by boat.

The first time we couldn’t reach Faana, because it was late and the boatman didn’t sea us standing on the shore, waving. We decided to come after a few days, on Sunday, when people from Faana would be getting back from the Wiaboman church. When we arrived, there were a few people waiting for the boat to Faana. Two young men and a woman who sells doughnuts. The boat was also there, waiting. Though the people who owned the boat were not in sight.

While waiting we saw a couple of locals getting across by just swimming through the river. We saw them walking, wading in, swimming, getting out of the water and then walking again towards their goal. It seemed that the stretch of water was natural to them.

After a little while, the owners of the boat arrived. At first, they got across themselves and let some people off on the other side and then came back to take us. The woman, who sat in the boat, had a beautiful dress, probably because it was Sunday and people usually get dressed up for church. Soon after, we arrived at Faana. When we got off the boat, we immediately met the former students of SASO, but they were going off to Wiaboman to sell fish, so we had to look around the village ourselves, while we waited for them to get back.

Cynthia, who visited Faana a few years ago, said that the village grew in size. What had been only a few separate shacks, now seemed like a village of huts and houses. We guessed that Faana had around 150-200 habitants, who all live in huts made from reeds and rushed gathered from the other side of the lagoon. There is no electricity here, people light their houses with kerosene lamps. They bring drinkable water from nearby settlements. We went to wait in a shed, where people usually wait for fish vendors, or they sort fish, embowel it. Beside us, there were people drawing nets, people offering to sell fish. There were many crabs on the sand, small ones. Here, people eat the bigger ones. Also they raise geese. We saw many many children and we asked where do they study. It turns out they go to Bortianor, which is on the other side of the lagoon.

Since the girls didn’t come, we get back across the river and finally meet Regina. Having finished SASO school she now continues her studies in Bortianor Junior High School and lives in Bortianor with her aunt, so that she wouldn’t have to get across the river every day. On weekends she gets back to help her parents. When grown up, she wants to leave this place and be a lawyer. She liked SASO school more than the present one, because it was more innovative, children were taught how to work with computers, etc.

So, Regina was the only girl from Faana, who finished the SASO school. We don’t have any more students from that village. The road from Faana to the SASO school has truly become difficult – also because having got across the river, the children have to go through the part of Wiaboman, which is often flooded. During rain season, even jumping from one stone to the other wouldn’t help. We hope, that the conditions will get better here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJNHrTw1lTY