Ghana...

so we're here in sunny Ghana! Currently sitting in a lovely air conditioned internet cafe in Ho Hoe which is so nice as its about 35 degrees and so humid outside. I think I'm going to leave out Ethiopia as it seems so long ago and there is so much to fit in about Ghana. Mike will have lots of details on it though I'm sure.

We're staying at the Volta Home for Children which is about 7 miles from the Togo border in east Ghana. and it's a bit mental. its very different from what I expected. It's much bigger and quite well organised. Most of the buildings are brick and all of the classrooms have desks and things like that. There are also quite a lot of volunteers, 4 others at the moment and 3 more coming in the next few weeks. We all sleep in a big building and mike and I have our own room which is very swish. The donside is there is no clean water. To wash we have to get water from the river and add some detol and then use a sponge - all I want most days is a nice shower to clean my horrible dusty feet so I am really going to appreciate that when we get to Hong Kong! Also we don't have a loo, it is actually a hole in the ground above a big cesspit. and it's outside so not very private and lots of flies.

But we're getting used to that. So our normal day - we've only been here a few so I'm assuming they will mostly be like this - get up at about 6.30 and queue for a shower as it's too dark to clean properly at night as you can't get all of the mud off. Then wander about and try and help. We normally help to wash the little children in a big bucket and then get them into their school uniforms. The cook sends over our breakfast - so far either maize porridge or sweet bread - at about 8.30 and us volunteers eat in our little house as the minute you step outside it you become a climbing frame for the children. school starts about 9 - as everyone keeps telling us, 'this is africa' so times are pretty flexible - and we have taken a few lessons so far. Mike has lived up to the cliche and played the beatles on guitar to a room of African children, we took a music lesson on Wednesday and were pretty much just thrown in front of this class so we tried to teach them 'Let It Be'. It went ok. I've also taken a few English lessons which are ok except we have no text books or notes so it's really just what I can remember learning at school with quite a lot of it guessed. I had a really good lesson yesterday teaching a group of older children about alliteration. The kids quite like us though as we give out Chaucer pens and hats as prizes and we let them play hangman instead of copying up verb lists. Mike has taken a few PE lessons and has looked like he's about to melt after running around throwing frisbees for 15 minutes. I've been camera man but this internet cafe won't let us connect usbs so we can't add any of our pictures at the moment.

After a few lessons it's lunch time and we eat whatever the cook sends us. On good days it's a proper meal - which are always really spicy - but on a bad day it's bananas and peanuts. Mike and I have bought an emergency supply of biscuits for when this happens. Then we either have more lessons or bum about a bit. When it's really hot we just sit inside and read but if its not too bad - about 33 degrees!! - then we sit and play with the children. The kids are so lovely. Obviously, it's such a cliche and I won't go on about it but most of them are so so nice. They have so much energy though and we normally collapse after playing with them! There are some really little ones who I like because the don't expect me to do anything except put them on my lap and swing them around making whoosing noises, or play with my hands. There are also 2 blind boys called Godsway and Michael who I love. The older children ane nice but I find it harder to entertain them as I don't know an endless supply of games. There are also a few 16/ 17 year olds who are so mature and always trying to help us out. They all have to work really hard and sometimes miss their lessons because they are helping to cook or carrying water. It's so wierd as they are just like English children but their lives are so different and so much harder because they live here. I hope we help a bit because we improve their English but as none of us are trained teachers we don't really know the best ways to teach them or deal with the classes.

Anyway it's pretty much just playing or reading all afternoon until dinner. Sometimes we wash our clothes which involves a very complicated procedure with detol and lots of river water. Dinner is always very spicy and makes us sweat even more, but it's also very filling. Then after dinner the children sit under the trees and sing hymns and we go and listen and then listen to them read/ get used as climbing frames. Everything's pretty relaxed and it's pretty hard to make plans as everything changes all the time.

Today a school up the road opened and we went and watched the opening ceremony. There were loads of women dancing and lots of music and it was really lovely. We're also here for the Ghanian Independance Day on 6th March so that should be really good.

Oh also Dream Africa Volunteers wasn't a scam! It was a bit wierd at the beginnining and we weren't too sure but it definately isn't and we went to their office and it is a really good company I'd recommend to anyone. They have looked after us brilliantly.

I think I'll leave it there. We'll probably come back next week so I'll keep you posted xxxx

gosh mike's blog is so wordy and deep I feel a bit shallow only on here moaning about the weather and money. but I can't really think about missing everything as it still doesn't seem very real. There's lots of mundane things to sort out and I'm watching rubbish movies on tv in layers of clothes as it's so cold. It doesn't feel like I'm about to leave all of this for ages and go on a big adventure. I might turn the heating right up and put some sunglasses on to get me in the right mood...

on another note I had a lovely time this weekend in exeter so thank you lots to amy and rakshita for putting me up and stef for driving me around. they are such goodies. oh and yesterday with jo and alice. who make me feel a bit of a failure with all the amazing stuff they're up to ("oh I just have to keep my phone on as I'm waiting for a phone call from the producer of Skins") but are also lovely too. fanks guys xx

snow!

main point of this is so I can work out how to upload photos onto this dratted blog. also to show just how mental the weather is in old england - how am i supposed to pack sensible clothes for africa when the weather's doing this outside?