Pics from the TACCO creche 25.5.06

Happy days...

(Fixing the Roof and the children of KG1 and KG2 enjoying lunch)

Week 18

The first day back, with a roof on three of the classrooms, I was more excited than the children! I jumped around pointing and running around from classroom to classroom. The kids too, seemed different now that they are separated by walls, and have windows and a door and everything! It makes a change from teaching under the trees, where the goats and chickens used to join in lessons every five minutes, and every falling leaf, or passing lizard was a distraction.


It makes me feel so happy to be a part of the life of these kids. I know they won't remember me, but I will always remember them and especially the day they got their roof!

We have been fetching water in the evenings this week, as we not only lost power several nights, but water too... The nearest bore hole that was working (pump) is over the hill and round into the next village, and even better, when we went to fetch water it was muddy everywhere, we just knew it would be a messy event! A lot of people were shocked that we were joining in with carrying water on our heads as they expected us to send someone else to get it.

At the centre, Charlotte has been recieving some lessons from Lawrence and Sly on the Culture and Social background of Ghana, with a bit of help from Irene. It fills in the pieces of the puzzle about the country that we don't know about, and also helps the culturalm practices make more sence.

The work on the centre has involved building steps into the ground by the school this week as the rains have been eroding the paths and changing the shapes of the whole area. The steps may not be permanent, but will last for at least a decade, and keep the children safe when they are playing around. It also looks so neat now it has been done.

There has been more block moulding now, and we all feel confident that we are getting stronger. It was so tough in the beginning to lift a block or move the wheelbarrow, and now we are competing with the guys from the Culture group!

The whole area around the centre is having a bit of a face lift and we have been weeding the grounds too. There are tonnes of mosquitos breeding in the hole we dug for the safety tank, that bite your ankles while doing the weeding, but its good hard work. I feel like I am gaining all sorts of hands on skills here!

I used my pac a mac for the first time this week, the rains have invaded so much. It was fun for me, but so many street traders lose business during this time due to people staying in and avoiding the rain if they can. I am sure whatever novelty factor is at work right now it will wear off for me in a few weeks too!

(written by Lucie)

Something else (part two)

The Muslim wedding we went to last week reminded me I wanted to elaborate some more on things that have no real time frame. Here is the second installment of things that have no place anywhere else.

Occasions.

It may have been Charlottes first experience of a wedding here, but Caroline and I have been to many occasions now that are worth a mention…
The first weekend after our induction we were a little bit confused to be invited to a wedding of someone we had never met. Similarly, the confusion arose the very next weekend when we were invited to attend a funeral. We have also been to a Graduation like no other.

Unlike our weddings, there are no table plans here, invitations by post or Bridesmaids, but some things remain the same as our ceremonies. The all-important sound system features highly, and usually comes in the form of a rig you might find at a small rave! The huge speakers blast out High-life songs at a constantly distorted volume loud enough to hear in the next village. The DJ's like interrupting these songs with their own invaluable comments on the dancing taking place, or general observations about those who have chosen not to dance.

Drinks and snacks are provided usually in the form of a bottle of coke or sachet of water and a rock cake. At the end of most ceremonies, guests are presented with a polystyrene box containing their 'take-away' meal, usually rice, fish heads and hot sauce!

At the Funeral we went to, the Culture Group were performing some of the traditional dances, so we had front row seats with the Directors of CEJOCEP. All these occasions cost the families involved a lot of money, so it is customary to provide a small donation to them to help cover the costs. When our Culture Group were dancing, they also received donations for their performance and in the same style as sexy dancers, had the money tucked in their skirts or shorts by the crowd.

The Graduation was very entertaining and we felt even more special as this time, we knew the person who it was all for. Faustina was Graduating from Hairdressing school, as her master – our mate Esther had believed she had reached the right level of skills and she could go on to open her own Salon.

We arrived an hour late at 11am, but after two more hours of waiting for more people to arrive we realised it had not been a faux pas! We were made honourary chairpersons for the proceedings by Lawrence, who was MC-ing the event. Caroline and I were not expecting this at all and had hoped we could sneak out of our very prestigious positions and go and sit among the crowd, but no such luck. With speeches to give, we were brought up on stage and seated in important places in front of everyone!

The guests all need to bring lots of money (in low denominations) as the party lays on food to takeaway and drinks, all which cost a fortune here, and the way in which the host gets their money's worth is usually quite fun!

The ceremony included hiding Fausty at the start and making her family pay money for someone to go and find her and bring her. She was brought in covered in maybe 15 cloths and the guests had to dig in their purses and pay to reveal them all. (When each cloth was removed we were one step closer to seeing her and the new hairstyle she was sporting.)

The games hadn't finished as more money had to be paid to protect her beautiful hair style being spoilt by talcum powder! It was loads of fun, and when they had decided she was ready and could graduate it came to our turn for speeches. Luckily, the microphone was playing up by then and we kept cutting out, so Lawrence had to repeat everything we had said in Fante and made us sound really great as we got a lot of applause!


Animal magic

I am personally a big fan of animals, although, mostly just to look at and only if they are not too dangerous.

Before coming to Africa I was a bit nervous that there would be tarantulas in my room, and snakes in my boots, that sort of thing, but so far I have just been amazed at all the different wildlife I have seen, and none too close up. It has become a little joke between us volunteers in the case of insects, as every time we are walking somewhere and I spot another various pretty winged creature I stop dead in my tracks to get a closer look and get left behind, saying 'Wow!' Everyone says 'Another 'wildlife thing' is it Lucie?!'

The most impressive animal and insect groups that I have got used to seeing now are:

Dragonflies and Butterflies – absolutely beautiful, they appear in their dozens and brighten up any dull morning. [Ghana is home to more butterfly species than anywhere else.]

Fireflies - They can be found glittering in the bush like fairylights. Garenteed to guide us safely on the path home at night.

Birds – in particular, the tiniest little birds I have ever seen are especially cute when you walk past some tall grass, not even noticing them and all of a sudden 14 of them flutter past with a chirp and land on the nearest telegraph wire.

Frogs – Since the rain has increased, so has the frog population. They have been spawning in millions and I've even had dreams of them taking over!! Every dry night you can hear the chorus of hundreds of frogs just outside our window!

Goat / sheep hybrids - Is it a goat? is it a sheep? Most of them are distinguishable, but some of them look worryingly like a cross between the two!

Migrating ants - These have fascinated me at all hours of the day, on all sorts of paths, weaving their own walkway and carrying their luggage across a gap of maybe 2 metres in their hundreds.

Giant Spiders - I was reluctant to mention them as it may put people off coming, but the ones we have been sharing a house with are very harmless and we have overcome any problem with them by calling them Ananse to make them go away. (He is the African folklore hero who is both a spider and a man in many good stories.) We had a mother spider carrying her huge egg sack in our shower room and the idea of all her babies hatching was the only scary spider moment we've had really.

The most annoying ones (or ones I won't say 'wow' to) are:

Mosquito's – as you would expect, these pesky things can irritate even the people most cautious of them. And every bite has the possibility of the malaria parasite being transmitted, which both Caroline and Charlotte have had already. I have squashed plenty of them so far, and there is a sense of satisfaction if you get them just as they land, before their proboscis gets you!

Teeny flies - At altitude these things appear from nowhere in their dozens and lazily fly around your head and even into your eyes at times.

Teeny ants – I have nicknamed them the Critters. They are much smaller than normal ants and not entirely black, but slightly dark reddish. They hold residence at Jeffrey's house and appear in swarms on any surface they like at any time. It is very annoying to find them crawling through the bread we have for breakfast, or being woken up with a group of them playing around my ankle! Pesky critters!
(They are even crawling across this keyboard as I type!)

(written by Lucie)

Back again...

Week 17

Right! Hello again! The Tour - yeah, that was well exciting and a bit scary and all of that. Don't worry though people, we're away from the sea and back to the village for the time being. I'm sure there will be more dramas ahead, but for now its back to the quiet life! (I've finally found the time to add Week 14 as well, so better late than never, if you scroll down you will find it there…)

Debbi and Matt packed up and headed to Jachie this week near Kumasi to sink their teeth into the project with Africachild and TACCO. (For more information go to www.Africachild.net) So we said goodbye for a while and let them go off for a more promising second half! They will be a lot closer to the Internet café's while there too, so we are hoping to hear more from them soon!!



This week was particularly special because on Friday we got our first aluminium roofing sheets on three of the classrooms! It has made such a difference already, and it is by far the most expensive part of the project but its also definitely the most important, as the dreaded rains are coming our way every minute!

The roof sheets have caused a drama of a different sort though, as the price of them has been increased twice in the last few months due to the fuel increases. The Petrol prices increased by only 500 Cedis (less then 4p) while we were on tour and yet the hardware stores have taken it upon themselves to put up the price of every roof sheet by 10,000 Cedis (about 70p). To roof the 6 classrooms was originally totaled at 13 million Cedis which was the largest part of our raised funds gone in a flash, but with the extra price on every sheet we now need to find 1 and a half million more.

For the most part of our first day back at work, we trawled around Cape Coast Hardware stores checking prices and unsuccessfully bartering with the owners to try and get the original price. It's so disheartening to know that the people of Ghana are affected so much by every fuel increase. The taxi drivers went on strike a while ago because of the same thing. They also needed to increase their fares (much more necessary being fuel users too) and as Taxis are everybody's main form of local transport it caused mayhem.

Now the price of petrol will never go down, as everyone knows, but the owners of big businesses like these are making unreasonable leaps that the average person cannot keep up with.

We also know a couple with a baby who we are friends with from the Culture group who are being evicted from their rented property in a month. We have helped out with some roofing sheets for the house they are building, (which is basically one room) as they have real financial struggles, but if the price keeps on jumping like this, they will never be able to finish their house and will end up homeless.



While we were on Tour, Caroline and I missed the children and spent time filling Charlotte in on all the personalities in the groups. The lively ones, the jokers, the brilliant and the bossy, this was Charlottes first week of meeting our horrible, wonderful kids. I am happy to say it was a good meeting and they have done us proud. They are all extra excited to have another Obruni teacher now as well.

Our first morning was a mini riot with both KG1 and KG2 together, and lots of singing and mucking around involved, Charlotte was instantly a favourite with so many of them as she definitely has a natural way with children!



Caroline has met a lovely lady from Theresa's family who makes Tie and Dye and Batik clothes on order. She is called Gloria and Caroline is going to be helping her out from time to time with the various methods and prints. Gloria works just outside her house, under the baking sun, as her building has not been finished yet. She has to mix the dye by hand and has no mask or anything to protect her from the fumes. Her work is beautiful though, and when the finished products are drying in a row at the top of the hill it creates such a beautiful sight of vibrant colours and patterns that you can see drying in the breeze.

Eventually it is in the plans of CEJOCEP to create a workshop where women in the village can go and print on their fabrics and cloth. They would then be able to sell the designs and create some money for themselves, maybe under one name. The workshop would also become a training centre for the benefit of the younger women who would be trained up in that skill.



The work at the centre this week was mainly weeding the grounds just near where we used to teach. The area is full of trees and some small plants and the job is done with rakes and larger versions of the gardening hoe. The area is so nicely shaded that even at midday it is cool to work in and with enough people working, you can get quite a large area done in a short space of time.

The only downfall of this job is the mosquito population in the area. They are black and white striped and come out in the daytime. Effective repellant and a pair of trousers is always the best way to avoid being bitten, but these critters were interested in any bare flesh found, so got us anyway. I have found the bites to be annoying, but as long as you don't scratch it when it is itchiest it goes down pretty quickly! Although dangerous, they are no way as annoying as the tiny ants that take a bite and won't let go. Ouch!



Our friend Amponsah invited us to his Sister's wedding this week in Abura. They are Muslim, so we covered up completely, donned the customary headscarves and got approval from the rest of the family before going. The weddings in Ghana last three whole days, and we were invited to the final part – the Sunday afternoon ceremony.

After preening, we walked to the place where it was all happening to find that we were arriving late. Not to worry in Ghana though, as there is no official time for anything, and even if there was, it would never be held to! There were tonnes of people there, all on the obligatory plastic chairs, and we took our places at the back of the courtyard. I was surprised to see Amponsah's mum sitting just one row ahead, rather than at the front of her Daughters wedding, but then as the whole thing seemed quite free, I realised no-one minds where you are or when you come as long as you make it.

The Bride, Groom, Best man and Maid of honour all sat on stage to one side of the 5 Imams. Amponsah's sister looked absolutely stunning, and not at all nervous considering the marriage had been arranged. The two families had known each other for a while though, and we were told they were happy to be getting hitched. The service was in Fante and Arabic, although Charlotte, Caroline and I could never have told you which was which! There were prayers, a short sermon, love songs and some rites performed that I don't know much about. Then Amponsah whisked us off at the end to appear in his family photos!!

(written by Lucie)

Word up from Jachie

The latest news from Debbi and Matt.

Well, it's been a few days since we arrived in Jachie near Kumasi and we're settling in nicely. We're still finding our feet but there seems lots for us to do. Our job is made much easier by the support of David Boateng, the director, who although based in Reading, UK, is very much on hands with helping TACCO - The African Child Charity Organisation - run as smoothly as possible.

COMPUTER ROOM

The computer room is an excellent facility but is currently not being used to its full potential.
Our main aim is to get as many children using it as possible both during school hours and after school.

The schools were initially reluctant to timetable formal computer lessons because of the token charge and the lack of consent from the District Education Authorities.

In order to rectify this, David Boateng has waived fees during school hours.

We have also met with the District Director of Education. She seemed very impressed with the facility and requested that we write a formal letter stating our intentions. We have sent a draft of this to David Boateng and hope to submit it to the office as soon as possible. Once we have permission from the District, we will start to approach individual head teachers and begin to schedule classes. We are confident the computer room will be full of children every day by the end of the month.

Currently 24 out of 31 computers are fully functional. The remaining seven will need to be connected to the server before they will run Edubuntu (the educational software). We hope to help resolve the networking problems as soon as possible through our connections with network experts in the UK and by working with Bernard and Solomon.

CRECHE

The creche appears to be well used, with an average of 40 or so children attending every day. Despite the cramped conditions and minimal resources, the children seem to enjoy their time here and the women in charge are excellent.

We have consulted with the Creche organisers to find out what they most urgently need. Following our discussion we have arranged for age appropriate toys to be sent from England (they are already in transit). We have also commissioned a local carpenter to build a toy box for the children, which we will paint and present in the next few weeks. This will occupy some of children's time and also teach them responsibilities such as tidying up, looking after things and sharing. Playing will stimulate their imagination and some of the toys will be educational.

On the reccomendation of the Creche helpers, we also intend to use some of our donation money to buy more mats for the children to sit on, as well as a supply of spare underwear for when the children soil themselves.

LIBRARY

The library is small but well stocked. However, there is always room for more books. We have arranged for two boxes of books from WH Smith to be donated to the library. These are currently in David Boateng's safe hands.

The library is already patronised by a small number of school children, who visit it weekly. Once the computer room is full on a daily basis, we will approach the schools again and encourage more formal use of the library.

We hope to finish cataloguing the books that are already there and, if time allows, install a computerised system for registering and borrowing books.

We have spoken to the librarian, Mr Arthur, who has said that the shelves need painting to avoid the books being eaten by bugs.

JACHIE DISABLED CENTRE

We heard about this centre from a Peace Corps volunteer and were keen to see it for ourselves. We visited the centre and were very impressed by their motivation and hardwork.

Currently the centre trains disabled people to make local cloth and crafts, including kente, shoes, school uniforms, wooden crafts and leatherwork. They have many workshops, which are fully equipped with machinery and their training programme offers an alternative to disabled people begging on the streets.

However, the centre is having trouble marketing and selling their goods. This means trained disabled workers are now unemployed because they are unable to continue their craft due to the lack the money to buy more raw materials.

We have already arranged for a web designer in England (a former Africatrust volunteer) to build a website for the centre, which we will put on line.

We have suggested that they design some posters, which we will place in guesthouses in central Kumasi and Lake Bosomtwe (a major tourist destination). Jachie Disabled Centre is located on the only road between Kumasi and the Lake, which means it is in the ideal position to pick up some tourist trade.

In addition, we have already comissioned the woodwork department to make some sturdy, educational toys for the TACCO creche.

Accomodation

We are extremely happy in the house in Atonsu Agogo. The food is plentiful and excellent and we have plenty of water. They are always quick to provide us with anything that we ask for.

The children are delightful and full of energy and the adults are also friendly and good fun. We feel part of the family already and Daniel has promised to take us out clubbing in Kumasi on Friday!

Thank you David B for arranging our taxi to work and back - Adu is the most punctual Ghanaian we have met so far!!

The Tour!

...according to Debbi

It was a drama of elephants, baboon fights, waterfalls and near death experiences. If you want to know more read on - if you require something slightly less surreal I do believe Lost has started again on C4.

It should have been 14 days of hedonistic fun but our tour consisted of outrageously early starts (we're talking around 3.30/4am here!) and the most uncomfortable, long, dangerous bus rides ever.
We left Kumasi for Tamale (that's in the Northern region -check a map!) It was a seven hour bus ride but luckily we'd splashed out and left the battered tro-tro's behind in exchange for a relatively luxurious bus, which played very bad Nigerian films all the way.
Watching the landscape change from lush greenery to flat dry lands was very interesting. The abundant church buildings were replaced with mosques as we entered the Islamic north (basically the missionaries couldn't be bothered to go that far.) Houses were merely round clay huts with thatched roofs - making the cement brick and tin roof houses of the south seem like relative luxury.

TAMALE
Ironically, considering it's Ghana's third largest city, there's not much to do in Tamale except get ripped off by the helpful guides - one 15 year old showed us round, gave us advice, then hit on us for money for school books - we found out later that he'd quit school last year because fleecing tourists for money was much more profitable. I don't feel too bad because as I handed over the money (only a few pounds) I gave him the full force lecture on how he shouldn't waste his life and even if he was tricking us. I informed him he wasn't going to be a cute school boy for too many more years...

Fresh from our seven hour trip we got up at 3.30 to head to bus station for our next bus. It was quite interesting to walk through the streets while it was still dark, stepping over the sleeping bodies and seeing people preparing for their day.
At the bus station there was a disorganised scrum for tickets. We got numbers 60-65. Considering there were only 48 seats on the dilapidated bus, this was going to be interesting. And it was. Firstly they filled the seats - 2 on each side of the aisle. Then they put down a flip down seat and rammed 2 onto that seat. Moving/breathing was impossible. I decided I was going to get DVT but then after reading in the guide book that we were about to go on some of the worst roads in Ghana, I settled on straight death.
After lots of loud complaining from the Ghanaians that they had packed us on like animals, we set off. After 30 minutes of tarmac road we hit the rough stuff. Red, bumpy roads that almost threw us off our seats (if we hadn't been wedged in so tightly) as it hurtled along.
Three hours and a taxi drive later we arrived at our destination: Mole National Park.

MOLE/LARABANGA
Although, in the middle of nowhere, this place is a dream.
On getting there (alive) Matt and I decided to celebrate by getting the most expensive room in the place which overlooked the watering hole where elephants came to drink and bathe.
It was worth every penny as baboons and warthogs wandered past our balcony to a backdrop of gorgeous forest and elephants spraying themselves with water and mud.
Also, the swimming pool just metres away added to the luxury of it all.
We went on a walking safari where we stood just metres away from the elephants - they're even bigger than you expect them to be. There were antelopes galloping around and bird and butterflies of all descriptions. We even saw some antelope bones that had been ravaged by a lion but unfortunately/fortunately there was no sign of it.
But the baboons proved to be a bigger problem.

LUCIE Vs BABOON
Relaxing by the pool, Charlotte ordered some toast but then disappeared the room. The toast sat on the table untouched but was soon sniffed out by a huge and hungry baboon.
He galloped over on all fours. I promptly legged it to a safe distance but Lucie stood her ground and tried to shoo him away with a pair of trousers. He backed down for a moment but then stared at her with his beady eyes and unmoving, mask-like face. She hesitated, so he took the chance, grabbed the toast and ran. It was very scary as they are so strong and, well, hairy really.
One tried to get in our room later that day - it actually opened the doors. Matt very bravely hid inside the room while we all cowered behind Lucie - now known as Dave Baboon for her ability to fight the hairy apes.

BIKES BUT NO BRAKES
We hired some bikes to cycle to Larabanga - a local village which is home to one of the oldest mosques in sub-saharan Africa. Although, that was exciting in itself, the most exciting thing for me was finding out exactly what was wrong with everyone's bikes. Matt had no brakes - yup - he fell off but only once. My bike had dodgy steering - it was kind of like those BMX's they stunt up at seasides so when you turn the handlebars right the wheel moves left. But we made it. The mosque itself is pretty amazing - legend has it that a holy man threw a sword and it landed on the site of the mosque. When they started digging they discovered the foundations were already there - Hmmmm.

ON THE ROAD
Up and on a bus by 4am - we got back to Tamale at 8am and decided to push on to the Volta region. It was a 14 hour trip so we needed to break it at Bimbilla - a small village en route.
We sat on the Bimbilla bus and waited for it to fill up. And waited. And waited. Two hours passed, then three, then four. It was nearly five hours of waiting when we finally moved. By which point we'd gone through the various stages of madness, seen a woman get run over - I could see the tyre of the bus that was on her leg as she screamed in pain - it was horrible.
It's amazing how much happens around you when you are sat in one place for hours. We got talking to a man on our bus - whose dad only happened to be the Chief of Bimbilla - the village where we were headed. Fantastic! His name was Jacob and he was very funny. Eventually, our bus set off. We bounced and rattled along terrible rocky, untarmaced roads, just grateful to be moving after hours of stasis.
And then...the bloody bus broke down in the middle of nowhere.

We piled off, covered in our usual armour of red dust and sat despondently at the road side while the driver and his mate tinkered under the rust bucket that was our bus. Somehow, they managed to get it going again. We arrived at our destination around 7pm - making a neat 15 hours since we'd left that morning.

BIMBILLA
It is a great little village - everyone was very friendly, just shouting hello and not asking us for money, which does make quite a nice change. It helped that Jacob came to show us around - escorted by the Chief's son is always the best way to see a place. We also went to the palace (a small collection of clay huts - although they did have a horse!) to see the Chief - Jacob's dad. He was very interesting - he'd been a mechanical engineer before being made chief 4 years earlier.

WATERFALLS AND MOUNTAINS
The next day we arrived in Ho Hoe - a mountainous village surrounded by lush green forest in the Volta region.
Wasting no time, we went for a hike to the waterfalls, it was only an hour walk through some quite nice forest. It was beautiful and we went for a swim
in the plunge pool and watched the bats flying at the side of the mountain.
There was the option of climbing to the higher falls but frankly, why risk your life when most water looks the same?
However, I did decide to tackle the country's highest mountain - at 885 metres it's probably a hill - but the highest I've ever been is to the top of Primrose Hill, North London to celeb spot...

Hill or not - it was bloody hard work. We had to stop a few times to rest and often were scrambling up on all fours. But it was worth it - the view from the top was amazing.
The trek down was slightly harder work - my lack of balance soon became apparent as every few minutes I would slip and slide a short way, while a stream of expletives came out of my mouth. One of us - not me I assure you - had to have a 'toilet emergency' up the mountain! That's got to be one of the most inventive places to go to the loo!

KOKROBITE BEACH
To recover from our hectic schedule we spent the last two days on the beach in a hedonistic hippy paradise owned by a British woman.
It was lovely and we met lots of fellow white people. One American girl had even gone to UEA and knew my friend - small world and all that!
I even met a Jewish Canadian, although after a few drinks I started to talk at him in that 'I'm the most interesting person ever' way that you do when you're drunk. After about an hour he excused himself to the bathroom and then never returned, leaving me sitting there like a muppet waiting for my friends to return. Nice to know I still have the ability to talk a guy into bed - kind of!

There wasn't much else to do at the beach except drink fresh banana daquiris, get massages, eat lovely fresh fish from the sea and sunbathe. All very relaxing you would think. But no - enter Lucie...

THE LUCIE DRAMA
Caroline and I were lying on the beach sunbathing when a Ghanaian man jumped over us and started stripping off his clothes. Immediately this caught my attention, along with lots of people standing on the beach and pointing out to sea. We jumped up and immediately my innate journalistic abilities kicked in.
'Something's going on,' I informed Caroline.
Then Charlotte, our fellow volunteer, ran up.
'I can't see Lucie,' she said.
All of a sudden it stopped being interesting and started to be pretty scary. We desperately began scanning the sea in the place we had last seen Lucie - who, although proud of her individual style of doggy paddle, is not the strongest swimmer.
There was no sign of her.
Then all of a sudden we saw her head bobbing above the water far out to sea. About 10 Ghanaians were swimming over to her.
All we could do was stand on the beach, saying 'no, no, no' over and over again.
Thankfully, the tide pulled her back in to shore and she was able to stand up.
After what can only have been a few minutes, she was back on the shore and was fine. She said she realised she was in a bit of trouble but was focussing more on keeping her head above water rather than panicking. She was more embarrassed about all the fuss that had been caused.
The sea is so strong that one minute you're standing up near the beach, the next it's pulled you out so far you can't stand up.

After that scary moment I decided I'd skip sea swimming for the rest of the weekend and take my chances at the bar.