Located some few meters away from Karimenga a small deprived community in the Mamprusi West District of the Northern Region of Ghana is the Green House guest house that serves as both a tourist centre and also a place for lodging.
Naturally, most guest houses are built of cement blocks but what makes this particular guest house worth mentioning are the materials used in raising the building.
Built in 2010 through the efforts by members of the community, the facility has eight rooms, that is, two rooms for couples, six bedrooms for two persons, and a dormitory that can contain sixteen.
Like its name, “The Green House” is built of mud and roofed with thatch to represent tradition and culture.
Godwin Awuni, a resident who oversaw the building of the house said that “we wanted to come up with something that tells the story of the North. You will notice that traditionally, we are known to be forbearers in building houses with mud so we used mud because we wanted to make everything natural.”
The facility also has a computer lab and a craft village where European guests are educated on how local drums and other locally made crafts are manufactured. To provide lights, the facility has a solar panel that powers it, hence making “The Green House” a home away from home at night.
Another fascinating thing about this guest house is the thinking that has gone into providing lodgers with an improvised sink. The sink which is moulded with mud has a smaller gallon sitting on it. Around the lower parts of these gallons have holes punched with a pipe inserted to serve as opening for water.
Cooking is made simple and fun with the use of biogas which they get out of cow dunk. According Godwin the technology was introduced by European experts who visited the place in 2014.
The toilet facility of the structure is an ingenious KVIP with a water closet seat.
The facility has a summer hut on top of a structure built by Nubian Vault where visitors convene at night to listen to stories and also share their experiences.
The brainchild of the serenely irenic environment is a touching sight to behold. The well ventilated building provides warmth during the dry season when the sun is scorching, providing warmth at night.
This building although located in a remote part of Ghana draws Europeans who come as tourist to see the magnificent building whiles Ghanaians on the other hand do not appreciate the innovation.
According to Godwin, although the facility hardly gets Ghanaian revellers, it makes an appreciable profit from the Europeans who visit the place. He explains that, profits are invested into the education of the brilliant but needy students in the village.
“Proceeds gained from the building is used to further the education of children from here who are brilliant but do not have people to help push them. I know that about twelve students are and have been helped to attend Senior High School.”
By Offei-Akoto Ayeh | A1RADIOONLINE.com | GHANA
