Medaase/ Meda wa ase- Thank you

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This will be my first blog entry in Ghana. My first week and a half here has been interesting, challenging and eye-opening.

Its difficult to know where to start, but I will write a few of the observations I have made.

Roads aren't as bumpy as people say (although of course there are bad areas) and we the passengers will rarely wear a seat belt- only the driver. They do however have a number of road bumps to slow down vehicles. Tro tros are mini buses which carry a fairly large number of people, but they are often jam packed to the rim. They are the cheapest form of travel and have a family atmosphere where children will sit on laps and people will chat to each other they barely know with ease.

There are a large proportion of babies and children wherever you go, and the babies are carried on mothers backs via a large cloth. Such a simple yet effective way to carry a baby, and they are such beautiful babies.

Taxis are often stopped at police barriers, except some of the police are corrupt and upon seeing 'white people', they demand money, they usually receive about 1 cedi.

The economy is hard yet people are still happy. Smiles, greetings are given and received by all and the approachfulness of people is refreshing. In the UK we rarely smile or say hello to a person who walks by you on the street.

Being part of the volunteer group and spending time with the other volunteers makes up a large part of my time here. I share a room with 4 female volunteers and in another room are 2 male volunteers. We come and go at different times, we visit Takoradi the main city which is about 30 mins from 'home' and also visit Inchaban which is about 10 minutes away in a taxi or a 30 minute walk. Fruit, cooked rice and many other foods and conviniences can be bought here.

My last thing I want to talk about are the children in the orphanage, they are either orphans or abandoned children. The owner Samuel is referred to as 'father' of them and his wife 'mummy'. There about 16 altogether, however 3 of them are Samuel's own children. They get on like siblings and share food and toys with each other very nicely and they love to have attention from white people. The oldest is 16- referred to as DJ who will be going to Senior High School in September, and the youngest few are about 3 and 4 years old who are in Kindergarten.

I hope to become more confident in this country and in my next blog I will talk about the teaching I have been doing and how it is progressing.

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