Goats, life on Mars & ABBA.

---

01/08/07



Now a routine is starting to appear with my work. I get up, bath the kids, walk them to school, do a few jobs, meet the children at 3pm, entertain them, bath them again & then do something fun & educational before they go to bed.


There is one boy called Nathaniel who, from the moment he wakes up to the moment he goes to bed, does not stop crying. I think he has real mental health issues because he is often very violent & rarely speaks. I asked Ben what his story was & he told me that he is 1 of 10 children & his father was insane. He was too ill to work & if he was really sick he would beat the children & has been stopped many times chasing his wife around with a knife. So Nathaniel was sent to us.


As the novelty of being here is starting to ware off the reality is sinking in. Even though they are the friendliest people I have ever met, they are many years behind the rich western world (in this part of Ghana anyway). Many piss & shit where they stand, I’ve seen a little girl sitting on the floor eating & she started peeing into the bowl she was eating from. They all throw rubbish out the door & where it lands it stays. They share living space with loads of goats, which is not very hygienic. Down the road there is a mound of rubbish about 7 foot tall & I saw 3 little children run to the top just to go to the toilet. I sometimes feel like crying.


Tonight is the 2nd night with no electricity. Every four days the electricity gets cut of at night to do work at the power plant. I am writing in my diary by torchlight. All this week the church is holding a festival of prayer every night. So again all I can hear is chanting, blood-chilling screams and beating of drums that last for about 5 or 6 hours. They have got a generator to power their amps & it is very loud and scary. I think it is bad that the children have to play, eat & go to bed in the dark when they have got power to prey to God, but I don’t say anything.


The children are aged 3-10 years old but there is one boy called Justice who is 17. He helps a lot with translating the children for me. He is very smart & really into science but has no concept of life outside Africa. Tonight we sat looking at the stars in the sky, he asked me many questions about space. I explained to him about planets, stars & the infinite universe, how man has been to the moon & the possibility of life on other planets, but making sure I told him It was all created by God as not to confuse him & his faith. As I was telling him these things I knew by the look on his face I had blown his mind! Imagine seeing the moon every night of your life & then finding out that men from earth have walked on the surface. Or that stars that you see in the sky burnt out & died millions of years ago.


One thing I can’t get my head around is many people do not know what rock music is but they like ABBA. I was walking through the village with wooden huts & open sewers and a radio station was playing “Dancing Queen”! But nobody I have met has heard of rock & roll. I might have to preach the Gospel according to John, Paul, George & Ringo.

---

Photos

Nathaniel
1 of 10 children & his mother just couldn't cope.

Justice
An amazing thirst for knowledge. He deserves to go to university more than anyone I have ever met but will never be given the chance to go.

Dirty, pooping goats!
The more you shout at them the more they poo!