Blogs from Northern, Ghana, Africa - page 10

All of you who know Marc and huw will find the following entry entirely in keeping with their characters. Neewdless to say they are both having the time of their lives and enjoying a certain freedom and independence. Last week they deicded that they would truly embrace a Ghanaian lifestyle and have themselves a little livestock. Luckily they did stop short of buying a few sheep or goats but that is obviously what they would have liked to purchase. luckily mother and fathers displeasure was noted enough and so the livestock was initially confined to one rather pathetic looking hen. It was bought home on the bike and tied with a piece of string around its leg and attached to a tree in the garden. It appeared happy enough scratching around and enjoying its own freedom. ... read more

Well we have finally managed to prise ourselves away from the relative comfort of southern Ghana and are now residing in the hotter, dustier, less developed north of the country with our route on Sunday taking us east across the border into Togo. We made it here on the Yapei Queen, a ferry which for the last 40 years has been the only boat to undertake the journey from the south to the north of Lake Volta - the largest man-made lake in the world (Fact). Before we left we went on an educational trip to the hydroelectric dam responsible for providing power to Ghana, Togo and Benin but from our point of view more responsible for the very frequent 6 'till 6 power cuts which see us sweating at night as a result of the ... read more

At a meeting with the volunteers it was decided we would take the children from the home for a trip to the swimming pool. We were delighted to hear there was a swimming pool and my children were probably just as excited as the children from the home. We arrived at the Home at 1230 and collected the three children and set off for the pool. Marc had his friend Abdul, Huw had Joe and Sian was in charge of Assana, her little baby Fatimata was too small to come. The pool was a wonderful surprise. Clean and big with a slide in the deep end and a little paddling pool for the smaller children. Joe was not too impressed firstly with the taxi ride and then by the water. He is so gorgeous and needed ... read more

Desiba! As I am getting into the “regular” routine of going to work, I know that I will be leaving the office and staying in a district in the Northern region. It will only be a couple weeks until I move for 3-4 months to the district of choice, commuting back to Tamale as required. I will be working with the Planning Officer and doing capacity building in the District, as well as documenting the current process and using it as a model or pilot district. “Northern Region Poverty Reduction Programme (NORPREP) seeks to improve the livelihoods and living conditions of poor rural communities with emphasis on woman and other vulnerable groups though deepening and broadening rural services, community and individual self-help capacity.” NORPREP is a program of the government at the Regional Level (only currently ... read more

Sue Here!! Hi folks we have just returned from yet another fantastic mini adventure. I have to just say that the best laid plans and all that....... Anyway we set off from tamale bright and early on Friday morning, 22nd September to head into the bus station, I am talking early, we left the house at 0400. We arrived to the usual chaos and delight. the bus we were bound for was already jajmpacked full but they were attempting to load even more people we decided we did not wish to join that particular bus. We worried for just a fraction then a delightful gentleman assessed our need and took us to find the right trotro place and helped us haggle the right price. He wanted nothing more than thanks and we were very pleased to ... read more