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Mamalecca (The Mountain Man)
PAGE 2
 Mamalecca
doesn't know his exact age, but he believes he is about 55 years old. We
asked him how he ended up being here all alone. He doesn't speak any
English, only Twi, but the rangers were able to translate for him.
Mamalecca was born in Northern Togo, about 200 miles
from where he now lives. When he was a young man, there was a great drought
and living became impossible. He and his young family, together with the
family of his brother, decided to trek across the border into Ghana and head
as far south as possible in search of a better life.
After several days of trekking, they had crossed the
border into Ghana. While walking through the tall saw-grass, he felt an
immense pain in his right foot. After careful examination, it appeared he
had stepped on the sharp point of a cut-off tree shoot and it had gone into
his foot. After several hours his whole leg had swollen and he was not able
to continue. |
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The wound never healed, and it was decided that the
others would go on without him. So he was left alone to survive by himself.
He re-located a short distance to where he is now, and has lived here for
the last thirty or so years.
He has become self-sufficient in almost everything.
He has a small field where he grows Casava and maize and some banana trees.
Running around his small-holding are some bantam chickens which he mainly
keeps for the eggs.
He also has some tomato plants and grows onions. We
visited a nearby orange tree that gave a good supply of fruit, and we bought
him back oranges by the rucksack load! About two hundred metres from his
hut, down a long path is a small spring that gives him his supply of water.
He had created a pool so the water would collect and settle. During the dry
season, the water barely runs, and he has to go lower down the valley to get
a good supply of water. This is increasingly difficult with his bad leg.
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