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Entry 15: Mahamie and Mandahia |
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This is my neighbor, Mahamie, and her baby, Mandahia. I’m not sure how to spell those names! She is parapalegic and has three children. She also carries water on her head and hand washes clothes. She does everything, and crawls. There are very few resources for people with disabilities, and views about disabilities are extremely different then those in the U.S. or Europe. She didn’t speak much English, and though I tried to learn Dagbani, I didn’t get very far. Usually the children translated for us. Many of the men in the north speak fluent, or at least some English. But a large majority of the women I met spoke no English at all, and had little (if any) education.
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