What?, the houses are made of wood?

The first thing I noticed when I got to my new home was that the walls were very hollow. They has that hollowing sound when you hit on them. I thought there might have been some problems with our house, so I asked my husband and he told me that was the way they built over here. A week later, we were driving around and I got to see some new housing constructions going on. I realized that everything about the building was wood. No cement. No sand. Just wood.

After almost two weeks we were driving by the same spot and I noticed that the house was completed. I asked my self how they could possibly have built a full house in such a short time. I have come to understand that in America, unless you were living in the city, you would probably be living in a wooden house. Sometimes I wonder if these houses can stand the test of time, and I sometimes feel that the houses over here are not as strong even though it feels completely normal like any other house in Ghana, well apart from the hollow walls.
Well I asked a couple of people and I was told that they used wood because of the weather. Apparently, wood is does not absorb cold, and as such it helps keep house warm during winter. Also in America, most standard homes do not have walls. It is just the house and the driveway. I keep wondering if people don't get scared at night because the only thing an intruder has to break is the door to the home.

You know in Ghana, most houses have high walls around them, complete with locked gates. I really cant imagine anyone building a detached house in Ghana without a wall. In fact the fear of armed robbers alone will make you add broken glasses or electric wiring to the wall. And even with that you still do not feel safe. In my house in Ghana for an instance, after locking the main gate with a padlock, we tie a thick metal chain on the gate, and we had metal bars we used to put across every outside door. Before we slept, my mum would go round the whole house making sure everything was under lock and key.
And yes, most houses in Ghana are built with cement, rocks and/or bricks. It was most definitely a shock to learn that houses over here in America are built with wood.