Week 2 over and this volunteer work isn't half bad.....

I apologise in advance that this again will be a long entry. No internet access whilst visitng Accra and Cape Coast over the weekend meant I couldn't make updates, but hopefully you'll enjoy the entry over a cup of coffee or tea made with nice pasteurised milk, and a nice biscuit or two.................... sorry just salivating at what I'm missing :o)

A few things I forgot to tell you all when I typed last week. On our last weekend trip organised by CCS to the south of the Volta Region our van had a blowout at about 80mph!!! Pretty scary as most of us were dozing at the time and woke to find the van swerving across the road. Thank the lord nothing was coming the other way. We looked at the condition of the van and thought for sure that there would be no spare tyre - but there was thankfully. Unfortunately also the van came to a halt in the full sun with no shade for miles, so we were getting burnt to a crisp while they changed the wheel over and got us back on our way. It's no wonder that tyres do blow though with the condition of some of the roads out here and the speed they all drive. Even the speed humps don't slow them down - they merely fly over them as if they were in Dukes of Hazard. There is also alot of tooting of the horn that goes on - sometimes for no apparent reason.

One night Fiona (from Scotland aged 19) and myself left the bar earlier than everyone else as we were tired. As I said before in my last blog the standard taxi fair anywhere in Ho is 12.5p per person. We got to our destination which was the end of a dirt track which is about a mile from our Homebase. The taxi driver and - later as we discovered - his friend - not a fellow passenger tried to demand quite a bit of money out of us. I was having none of it as the law is strict here about being ripped off and you can report them, so I gave them the going rate and got out of the car. Fiona was really scared especially when they looked as if they were about to drive down the lane after us. Instead they were just turning the taxi round and drove off. It was a bit scary though. Then to cap it off we realised that between us we had no torch - so we walked the route home in the pitch black with maize bushes towering over either sideand all sorts of noises from the crickets and other creatures.

Thursday we went on a trip to a monkey sancutary and Wli waterfall in the Volta Region. We were collected at 5am and driven to the monkey sanctuary first. We were searching and feeding Mona Monkeys at 6.40am - madness. It was great to see them in their own enviroment though. The sanctuary is actually along side a native village community a bit like Bamefedo where we visited last week - totally self contained with their own council, school, land which is farmed and stalls to sell their produce. We had 'breakfast' there and then drove to the waterfall. We parked up and had about an hour trek through the rainforest across several rivers to get to the waterfall. It is the highest in West Africa and the 2nd highest in the whole of Africa next to Victoria falls. It was pretty spectacular. You could hear the roar of the water from a way away and when we got the lower basin it was amazing. Part of the basin is shallow enough to swim in which we did and also were allowed to get right under the falls themselves to feel the force of the water above. It was so strong and powerful - we all had very red backs afterwards. The water was cold which was nice as it was hot again. Also to the side of the falls were thousands upon thousands of fruit bats hanging on the cliff wall. If a loud noise startled them they would fly around which combined with the noise they made was quite spectacular. We spent about 3-4 hours here relaxing, swimming, had lunch and then the guide who we travelled with played some native drums and sang. It was a brilliant day. The only slight downside was when one of the porters who carried the food for lunch seemed to befriend me and wanted to talk about my home and family which was nice, until he asked me to pay for his final year at school just out of the blue. I explained that at CCS we're not allowed to help individuals and are giving our aid as a group venture through CCS and got out of it that way. It's difficult to say no, but you can't do it all.

Friday 25th May - a day that I knew was going to come round whilst being here in Ghana - a day when I would remember what would have been my dear Dad's birthday but unfortunately now he is no longer with us - 5 months to the day in fact. He's not been far from my thoughts at all while being here but particuarly today I will toast my Dad when we get to the hotel at Cape Coast and wish he were here - he'd love all of the kids and the Ghanaian people in general - not sure he'd like the food much :o) - Happy Birthday Dad x x

This weekend's trip is to Accra and Cape Coast. We had a very bumpy journey to Accra stopping on route at a bead making factory where they recycle glass bottles into glass beads for necklaces and bracelets. Once in Accra the van broke down. It had been stopping at junctions all the way and on one occasion we had to get out and push!! But this time it was having none of it. Luckily there was a 'mechanic station' nearby. Two hours, and a lot of sweaty people later, we were back on the road. It was a long journey today on not very good roads either. We went in a van and a car. The group in the car got out at Accra to be covered from the ankle up to their knees in hundreds of ant bites. There was a nest in the back footwell which was very active. The driver was having none of it and insisted it was mosquitoes!! The journey was very scenic. When we got to the coastal areas it was so picturesque. It's a bizarre scene, as you are looking at communities in such poverty against a backdrop of such beauty. Towns have sprung up all along the coast line as they use the sea for their food and generating income with their fish sales. These beaches obviously do not make for good tourist destinations as all their ablusions are carried out right on the sand or in the sea.

We stayed 2 nights at the Hans Cottage Hotel on the edge of the Kakum National Park. It was ok - we had backpackers lodgings which was better than the BellView on our first night in Ghana. The novelty with this place was that they had crocodiles just wandering about the place - totally bizarre. They varied in size but some were blooming big. Apprarently they are well fed and so are not interested in humans!!! We sat on Friday night out on tables and chairs on the bank of the lake where they were resting or moving about. I was not totally relaxed as you can imagine - but I can say I've done it. We could feed them if we wanted - but I declined.

Saturday 26th May - we drove to the Kakum National Park for an amazing canopy walk 40m above the rainforest treetops. If you've ever seen I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here - it's a bit like that. It was typically Ghanaian rickety rope bridges with what looked like alluminium ladders joined together in a fashion, with planks of wood laid over. The sides had rope mesh for you to hold onto. They would only allow one at a time which gave everyone of us our unique experience. There were seven long bridges spanning a route that linked trees to a start and finish point. The view if you could stomach looking over the edge was fantastic. Me --- I couldn't really look and realised that jumping out of a plane is a better option.

We finished with a tour through the rainforest and saw huge trees both in height and girth of over 400 years old and told the medicinal value of some of the species. We were then taken to Cape Coast Castle, which was a Slave Fort. Again, like Prinzenstein, it was very depressing and sad to hear of the conditions which these people were kept in. We were lead into the male and female dungeons in complete darkness to whitness the feeling of what it was like - except for us our group was about 20-30. In those days 3-400 people were kept in each dungeon. When the fort was excavated, they dug out human waste which was a metre deep from each dungeon. The line was marked on the walls. The heat and claustrophobia was bad enough for us - god knows what it was like for them. Apparently the female slaves who were imprisoned with their babies awaiting deportation smashed their babies heads against the walls so that they would not have to endure a life in slavery. We also were shown in the prisoners punishment cell and the door closed behind us - not a nice place at all. When the guide shone his lantern near the ground you could the marks scratched into the solid rock floor by the slaves fingers as they fought against suffocation before dying of starvation and lack of ventilation. Very thought provoking. Yet again here you have something that held such awful attrocities beneath it's floors with a back drop so absolutely beautiful, with the blue ocean, and beaches, and fisherman sewing their nets and bringing in their fish.

Late afternoon we were driven to Brenu Beach, which is protected from locals and their ablutions. This was even more outstanding than the beach last weekend. After what we had all seen at the slave fort this was again a complete contrast. The sea was like a warm bath, but still quite rough. Palm trees leant at angles towards the sea as if about to drink from the ocean, we sat and admired the view all with our own thoughts going around in our minds.

Sunday 27th May - we drove to Accra and were taken to the Cultural Market. Well - all I am going to say is that this was my least enjoyable experience of the whole trip. I have never, ever whitnessed such pushiness in my life. Mombasa in Kenya was close, but this was extreme. I didn't like it one bit. I came away with a couple of things and then went to sit in the van. Even then if the windows were open then tried to sell me stuff through the gap so I had to close the windows and just swelter in the heat.

Once everyone returned, pretty much all of them felt the same but endured it longer than me, we were taken to Frankies. A culture shock for us after 2 weeks - an American restaurant serving western food. I ordered pizza, and a coke. I had a small bottle of vodka left from the hotel in my bag which Marissa and I bought, so after the market fiasco, I emptied the last dregs from the bottle into my coke and enjoyed every drop!!

So that was my weekend. Back to my placement this morning. The kids again greeted me at the gate and I'm feeling bad already that next Monday I won't be there. I just hope that they place someone from the next group who arrive at the weekend to keep the continuity.

Tomorrow we're being allowed to climb the only mountain in the region - not sure of it's name while I type - with a guide. It should take about 3 hours and I just hope it's cooler weather. I'll report on how I do tomorrow. Am here at the internet cafe with Marissa and we're going to see if our clothes are ready from the tailors yet so that should be exciting. Our batiks that we made last week have come in useful over the weekend as sarongs. The CCS arranged for those that were interested to design and maked their own batiks over 3 afternoons. We all did really well even if I say so myself. All us girls have been wearing them and getting some compliments from the locals especially when we tell them that we've designed and made them ourselves.

I've not read through this as it's so long and I need to get off the computer, so I apologise for any mistakes.

Ricki - if you're reading this, unfortunately I didn't see Charles at Woe and so do not know of his condition - sorry.

4 days to go until I fly home - can't believe it. Love to you all, Vicky x x

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