Blogs from Greater Accra, Ghana, Africa - page 7

I spent this afternoon/evening at the orphanage. As soon as I got there, Junior came running up to be picked up. He is so cute. He has something wrong with his eyes and looks blind as his eyes are cloudy, but he's not. He has surgery coming up in October - not sure how the orphanage will afford it though, particularly with Blessing's surgery coming up too. I spent most of today with Destiny. Her and Junior were fighting to sit on my lap so I put them both down and told them that if they fight, none of them gets to sit on my lap. They called an uneasy truce, and I had both of them with me for a while. All of the little ones are so adorable. They have nothing, and that makes ... read more

I was woken up at 3am this morning as three of the volunteers who had gone up North returned in the middle of the night. I generally didn't sleep that well all night anyway, had woken up even before that, as I have so many mosquito bites that it's difficult to sleep, particularly with the heat. I got to school just after 9am, and this morning the children were learning poems. Then they did some copying of numbers, so I had to set up each students book with "Write 74" or whatever number they'd got up to. I'd draw about 30 dots over the page, and on each dot they had to write the number. They love it when I write a comment on the bottom of their books, although they can't read them. The other ... read more

So tonight I had to brave the bucket shower. There is a massive vat of water in the yard with a tap on the bottom. You fill up a bucket with water (cold) and take it to the shower, where you simply fill it up with a mug and use that. Very refreshing and not as bad as I thought! I was talking to Jamal earlier and he said he would find it really strange if hot water came out of a tap. Mind you, these cold showers are nice in Ghana. The weather sees to that. I think I'd actually CHOOSE a cold shower, even if there was hot water... A lot of things about Ghana are very different from the UK. No pudding after dinner (insert sad face here), Very few street lights. The ... read more

The Beach After lunch, all of us went down to the beach for Sarah's birthday. Other than the Spaniards, and the Austrian girls, who stayed at home to chill out and go on the internet. We got a taxi to the beach (Labadi Beach) and it was 3 cedis to get in. We took in some drinks, and got a table. They have tables and chairs set up, cafe style. It was crazy for the first 15 minutes, with Ghanaians coming up to us left, right and centre trying to sell us stuff. One was selling cigarettes, 3 cedis a pack! (which is like £1). So I bought 2 packs and was a happy bunny. They were doing horse rides on the beach for 5 cedis, so I had a go! Yes, even though horses slightly ... read more

Today was orientation day. Steph, Sonja, Georgia, Meg, Sarah and I were taken into Accra byJamal. We started at Independence Square, where every year since 1957, all the Ghanaian tribes meet and parade there, due to them gaining independence from The British. We took a few photos, and Jamal pointed out the parliament house in the distance.gs Next stop was the market, and I've never seen anything like it. It was miles long and miles wide. We walked and walked and walked. So many Ghanaians, selling their wares. Fresh fruits, linens, handmade jewellery. It was chock-a-block. It's very bizarre walking through, as they grab your arm and try and get you to buy things from them. One old man walked up, tapped me on the arm and grinned at me saying "My wife!" erm....nope. Some sections ... read more