Internet woes...

Week 5

Things on the internet never run smoothly here!

The blog is in need of updating, but each web page can take 20 minutes to load or the whole thing can log you out when you have just written an entire essay. It's very frustrating, so please bear with me and ignore any dates on the blog - they are almost always inaccurate. (I miss broadband!)
Like everything else it's a learning curve or something!!!

Apart from the internet though -

This week has been great for muscle building! We have been moulding more blocks and sweating tremendously while digging the foundations for the toilet block.
It is quite gross the colour of the dust and sweat all mixed together!! Haha! I have big boots that fill with hunks of mud as well, so all my socks are brown coloured! Truly gross!

The children are getting used to us now. We have a class of 20 at the moment, (although more keep coming!)and just like any good nursery we've been encouraging the sing songs as often as possible.

The biggest characters so far have to be a 4 year old called Francis (who obviously watches his father's action films as he comes pegging across the dust doing karate kicks, and quite often gets the girls in headlocks) Joseph, who is 5 or 6 and makes the funniest faces when he doesn't know the answer to our question (said question being something like "where is 'B'?") and a very beautiful but very vaccant girl called Fatti.

The teaching is not physically hard, but it is so mentally demanding, and you spend so much of the lessons willing with all your might that they can just get from 1-10, that it is clear that I have wronged all my past teachers when I was a student myself!! (I was the one always talking at the back - now I know how annoying that can be - sorry!!)

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This weekend we went to went to a place called Busua on the west coast of Ghana, about 45 minutes from Takoradi by Tro-tro.
We met Matt and Debbi there for the first time since the induction course. It was a good time for catching up on the current projects and people we have been meeting.

Busua is breathtaking! I don't want to go on like the Ghana Tourist board or something, but this place had (unlike many) a completely pristine beach, water safe to swim in, and plenty of nice places to eat and drink. (We chose a French owned Restaurant in the evening, which to Caroline and Debbi's delight sold the much missed bottles of wine!) We spent a lovely relaxing saturday sunbathing, strolling and filling up on fresh Mango, Banana and Pineapple juice! Lovely!

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From the sounds of it, Matt and Debbi are not having the easiest of times in Bawdia though. I am hoping they will be able to explain more at a later date, but with the Power cutting out twice a day, and water running out (despite heavy rains) its making things a little unpleasant to say the least.

The children are between the ages of 11 and 17 in Matt and Debbi's classes, and the number of them who are unresponsive is making teaching a bit of a headache. Also things with the local welder have not gone exactly to plan, as he took it on himself to change the design they wanted and use up all their metal, creating the wrong shapes for the windows.

However all is not lost yet, and the good news about the computers for the Library are waiting in Accra to be brought by the lovely Charles to Bawdia, so the first stage will soon be complete. The Football is in full swing at the school too, and Debbi's girls are going to give Matt's boys a run for their money! Ha! Go on Debbi - show them how it's done!

(written by Lucie)

Cape Coast... 18.2.06

Week 4

Caroline and I are now working with the wonderful NGO called Centre for Job Creation and Environmental Protection CEJOCEP in Kakumudo, Cape Coast. Run by the most enigmatic and humbling people - Lawrence, Sylvester and Theresa, for the benefit of the community in Kakumudo and eventually other villages in the area.

We are not the first volunteers who have worked with them, as they have hosted Operation Crossroads Africa OCA from America for the past two years, but I am hoping that we bring a bit of British flavour to the project as we are staying for six months and the previous helpers were here for only a few.

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CEJOCEP's vision is very large and we will only be here for a minute part of it. Namely the first school building. It will cater for the children from age 4 to about 8 and after we have gone the next part of the plan will be a four story building to cater for the older children. (After that there are clinics, farms and all sorts of other wonderful ideas on the CEJOCEP list!)

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To give you an idea of what we are experiencing, here's a rough guide to our daily timetable:

5.30am - Wake up to hear cockerels squawking just outside the window (sounds as though they are right beside my head though!!) doze back off for a bit

6.30am - Jeffrey, now our only housemate for two months, hums past and turns on the radio in the hall to a station that seems to play as much fuzz as is does songs.

6.45/7am - Get up to wash in the shower room but in the mornings there is never running water so it is always cold water from a bucket! Sure helps with waking-up though!

7.30am - Breakfast is cooked by the lovely Esther - our favourite person in Ghana so far! Variations on Pancakes / Porridge / sweetbread / omlette sanrnies(?) / something called Pap (tastes like it sounds!) and a good old cup of Tea!

8am - Start work at the centre teaching a group of 4 and 5 year olds. We are teaching them under a group of trees until their classrooms are finished.

We are teaching them the alphabet and basic number skills. (In the two weeks Caroline and I have been teaching so far, we have found out that we are by no means natural teachers and we are now actually getting lessons in how to keep their attention for longer than 5 seconds!)
We are lucky to get to the letter 'd' before they all start running off for a wee or a herd of goats take over the classroom!! Great fun even though it is thoroughly knackering!!

12pm - Lunch!!! YUM! Red red and plantain / egg stew and rice / mashed yam and palava sauce to name but a few of the meals!!

2pm - Manual Labour!!

Yes, we have been allowed to use pickaxes and everything! Its a get your hands dirty kinda job, and we are building muscles where we never knew they existed.

We are brick moulding(breeze block size) to finish the 6th classroom.
We will also be involved in the roofing / plastering / painting of the building during the time we are here.

Any of you who have helped with fundraising - this is where your money is going! It's so exciting to watch the building grow!!

5pm - Work over time for some culture!
We have a range of afternoon activites from drumming (the bongo and congo kind) to cultural dance, or my favourite - freestyle dance (imagine lots of 80's style robot movements, and a few moon walks etc, but far far better).

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Last weekend Caroline suffered a bout of Malaria, which put us out of action for both days, and by Thursday I had developed a foot infection from a mosquito bite that turned nasty. So we are hoping we have had our illnesses for the whole trip now. And we are both excellent nurses now too!

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To date we have had our fair share of marraige proposals too! In the market this morning as I was looking at some tops I was asked to marry a guy called Ben before he had even asked my name!! It is light hearted enough though, as if I had taken them all seriously I could have a male hareem by now!! (Ooh the thought of it does appeal!)

We spent this afternoon with Sylvester and Esther on Oasis beach and the waves there are so strong it would be crazy to try and even swim there, but paddling to the waist is fine and sandcastles are always good. Esther's son and Sylvester's two oldest children came with us and this was their first time in the sea!! They were so cute! Completely bewildered by every wave that came along, and in awe of all the local children playing around so unafraid.

(written by Lucie)

Bawdia... 18.2.06

Week 3

The trip to Bawdia takes about 6 hours in total. All of us packed our things to go as we still had to decide who was staying there and who was coming back to Cape Coast to work with CEJOCEP.

We used every form of public transport in one day!
The first mode of transport was our faithful friend Henry the Taxi driver. (He just never stops smiling!!)

Then we took a tro-tro (Ghana's rickety minibus service) to Takoradi.
Once there we all piled out and piled in to an STC bus (like the Simpsons School bus, only about 50 more people rammed in.)

The first part of the journey we realised we had got onto the singing bus!!
(It soon made sense why prayers and songs were taking place when we got onto the road to Tarkwa!)

The road is very under construction and the dust creeps through every shaking part of the bus! You end up thickly coated in orange dust and joining in the songs asking for safety on the road! When we got to Bawdia were had a nasty run in with the taxi driver there who wanted to charge us extortionatley more just because we look like rich tourists, (where is Henry when you need him!)

All was soon forgotten when we trapsed up the hill to view the guesthouse where the Adjei's live. (This has now become Matt and Debbi's home for the next six months!) It is a beautiful place tucked away at the top of a small hill, surrounded by trees and plants.

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We found out that Mr Adjei is a keen story teller, just like our Fante teacher and we spent much of the night listening to Anansie stories. Debbi and Matt in turn told some English classics which amused him very much!

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We had a tour around his Arboretum, that the previous volunteer Lanner had help to set up. It is incredible! 30 acres of forest land with medicinal plants, herbs all kinds of fruit and spice trees, insects, butterflies, pond life and everything else. Beautiful to stroll through in the day, (probably very scary at night as Matt has found out there's a beastie lurking in the mists!)

Wearing our African clobber we were introuduced to the Elders of the village in a wonderful ceremony where we were made to feel very special. We also made a new friend for life in local villager - Tarzan the Gong Gong beater!

The school tour proved to be quite interesting, as the old building was in such a state it had collapsed on some of the primary school children during a lesson. It is now the mission of the village to build a replacement building. There are also talks about creating a computer room where the teachers can be trained to then train the students after them.

(written by Lucie)

Induction nearly over... 18.2.06

Week 2 (more...)

So we have one more day after today before we all set off to Bawdia in the Western Region of Ghana. Our induction has proved to be so much of a holiday for us all it will be difficult to leave familiarity behind. But we musn't lose sight of why we are here.And although we are all completely in love with the village of Kakumudo, and Cape Coast's facilities, the idea of a little tranquility in Bawdia is not so bad.

See the hardest thing is now we have got to know each other so well, so quickly, it will be hard to split into pairs. There is much to be said for two heads being better than one, and as for four heads - that is how we feel truly comfortable and complete.

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Coconut Grove has to be the finest place I have ever been to in my life! While sitting there taking in the sunset I realised just how incredibly lucky we are to have this experience, and how as a relaxation period before starting work, it would always provide me with a 'happy place' to go to, should I ever need it. Out comes the sickening Hippy in me (sorry!)

This afternoon we are going to pick up our traditional African clobber that has been tailored for us, and then we are off to a cultural dancing session - provided by the guys from CEJOCEP. We have seen a practice already and it was fantastic, the young boys have so much talent!

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Tomorrow is our last Fante Lesson, and we are all going to miss Mr Arthur, who has been kind enough to end every lesson with an Anansie story (Anansie is a cunning spider in African Folklore.)
We have been told that when we reach Bawdia they speak Twi (pronounced 'chwee') and although the two langauges are similar we will have to adjust our teachings all over again!!!

We are visiting the local Ostrich Farm in the afternoon and taking a picnic for lunch, so I will be able to fill you in on that one next time. (Kinda hoping someone else other than me will write an entry by then.)

(written by Lucie)

Induction time 18.2.06

Week 2

So the induction course that has been designed by Africatrust includes a whole bunch of wonderful things to introduce us to our new home, and the spirit of the Ghanaians.

The first of our Tourist adventures was spent at Cape Coast Castle, which has the most eerie and dark past of a building that on the outside looks fairly bland and unidentifable, yet it's so steeped in history.

We were given a tour of both Male and Female dungeons and told about the horrific conditions that slaves were kept in during their time their, before being deported to 'the new world.' Probably the most harrowing of the sights was the scratch marks on the walls of the dungeon, and the long walkway to the 'Door of no return.'

We also visited Elmina Castle which is just a bit further up the coast, and has a similar sad story to tell as it was also frequently used during the slave trade as the last place people would be kept before being sold to an uncertain future.

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Other places we went to were the Kakum rainforest, which may have been better to visit in the small hours of the morning when all the animals are awake, but still had a fantastic walkway to offer high up in the jungle canopy which held the most fantastic views of nature untouched!
We also visited Hans Cottage Botel, a cafe, hotel and so much more! They have about 10 crocodiles which inhabit the muddy waters below the raised cafe, and a whole bunch of weaver birds intricately making their nests all round the outside.

We have also been lucky enough to have spent time on palm tree lined beaches at Brenu and Coconut Grove. Both as postcard perfect as I could ever imagine. At Cocount Grove is the most sparkling swimming pool, and they even have horses wandering around the grounds with their foals nearby.

Some of these experiences should not be missed if you get the chance to come to Ghana, and yet you feel humbled when approached by people who ask for sponsorship for their football team, (which you can tell doesn't really exist,) or the group of sellers spot you and rush over to sell their plantain chips or water. Although we may be used to going sight-seeing, or a trip to the beach, the average Ghanaian is not, so I feel privalleged to be able to have all these experiences, espescially in the first two weeks.



(written by Lucie)

At the beginning...

(Caroline Lucie and Matt at the Airport)

Week 1
This was officially the longest day of traveling I have ever had!

We all met up at Heathrow airport early in the morning, and said goodbye to those who had come to see us off. The 12 hour flight was a good opportunity to get to know each other better, as we had only met once before, at a meeting with David from Africatrust in December.

The food was interesting on the flight (isn't it always) but by the time we had arrived at Lagos in Nigeria for a stop off, we were all wishing we had kept the random nasty cakes and crackers, as we were feeling quite peckish! By this time we had already been in Africa's heat for a while, but stepping out of the airport into pitch black humid Ghana, it was apparent how hot it could get here!

We were met at the airport by our two fantastic co-ordinators - Charles and Joseph, (who we have all grown to love over the last few weeks for each comedy moment, as well as the general sense of wellbeing they give us.)
We were driven to our beautiful hotel 'The Golden Spoon' in Tesanao. Completely bewildered, and all very tired from the day of travelling, we fell staraight asleep in our air-conditioned rooms.

For me, waking up was the real shock!

Once I had remembered where I was and what I was doing there, I realised everyone else was already outside. Mr and Mrs Adjei(pronounced Add-jay) were there to greet us with their huge friendly smiles. They spoke to us about their village - Bawdia, where two of us would be spending our 6 months work, and we all introuduced ourselves to them and gave our personal reasons for being in Africa.

We then left them and went on a mini-tour of Accra. We were taken to the Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Park, (he was the first President of Ghana, and led them to Independance in 1957.) It was a beautiful place, very well looked after, and although the tour around the museum and gardens was brief, we all learnt a lot about such an important man in the eyes of Ghana.
More travelling was ahead of us as we made our way to Cape Coast, our next place of residence.

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On the way out of Accra, you get a feel for how the majority of shopping is done! Every time you stop, or are held up in traffic, all number of things would be offered to you through the windows, from maps to watches, to bags of water. They have small square plastic bags of water that you bite a corner off and suck out! Very surreal, but handy in the hot car! Anything you could think of selling can be sold, and all balanced on the head of the seller, transported from car window to car window. (Gonna try the balancing act myself at some point, not sure if i'll master it though!)

On the journey we went past a myriad of small villages, complete with mud huts and chickens running around. (Most animals here are free to roam, even on the roads, and it made us squeal whenever a baby goat wandered right in front of the car!)
Once at Cape Coast we went to stay at a gorgeous Guesthouse where Joseph (one of our Project co-ordinators) has a friend working and we all got to enjoy the luxury of the air-conditioned rooms, with spectacular views over Fosu Lagoon.

To settle us in to Ghana we went on from staying here to the family home of the Renner's, where two of us will live while working in Kakumdo.
Living at the Renner's are: Ama (mum) Jeffrey and Yvonne (her son and daughter) and 5 month old cutie Esi (Yvonne's daughter.) The house is huge - and the only downfall being occasional power cuts and water shortages.

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During the induction course we visited some of the best tourist spots on the coast of Ghana, and every morning we had lessons in the local dialect (Fante) and the history and culture of Ghana. At luchtime, our new friend and wonderful cook Mary (see photo) introduced us to typical Ghanaian dishes (I will write more about these later - just think spicy, red and almot always served with rice!)



(Written by Lucie)