Blogs from Ghana, Africa - page 8

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 ... read more

After the mild chaos of my first few days in Ghana, week 2 saw me fall into a fairly steady routine - up at first light, 5.45 (the family are up earlier for their prayers), run or practice Taekwon-do in the small window of time where it is light but not too hot. Breakfast, shower, cycle to work for 8.15. Sit talking to the staff for half an hour or so (it would be very rude here to go straight to your desk and start work - relationships are way more important than this 'efficiency' thing that British workplaces aspire to). I have been working on a manual of financial procedures whilst overseeing their accountant redoing their financial records and producing budget to actual reports for their major project. So it's not all play. Lunch is ... read more

June 26, 2014 During my class at Faith the other day there was a distraction in the back of the class. Apparently the bench had broken and the two boys were trying to use their shoes to hammer it back together. These schools have very basic supplies and furnishings, but those still break and need to be replaced. It’s important for the children to have a working classroom. Dream Africa has quite a few projects and Jamal works so hard to keep them going. I may have only been here for 2 and half weeks, but I’ve fallen in love with these children and want to do everything that I can to help them succeed. I’ve already talked to Jamal about some ideas I’ve had that could help with fundraising. Currently on the DACF website there’s ... read more

June 18, 2014 Yesterday Jamal took me and the other 3 new volunteers on orientation. He took us into Accra and started the day at Black Star Square, which is a central part of Accra and where Kwame Nkrumah led the revolution of 1957. Jamal told us about the political history, and said he would invite us all back when he was inaugurated President of Ghana. After that he took us to Jamestown, which is a poor neighborhood that has remained a traditional fishing community. Jamal told us that he’s tried on several occasions to start a school in Jamestown, but he hasn’t been successful due to the parents not receiving education and not understanding the value of their children being educated. Next we went into the Accra markets, where Jamal got us Burkina (a cold ... read more

June 12, 2014 Watching the world cup with Jamal and the volunteers: Brazil vs. Croatia. Jamal is a huge football fan. One of the projects he started with Dream Africa is football (practice and games) for boys and girls. For those who don’t know Ghana has one of the premier football teams in the world. On Monday Ghana plays the US. Jamal has already teased me about that, but I told him since I’m in Ghana I’m a Black Stars (the national team) fan. I led my first class today at the fishing village and I feel like the worst teacher ever. However, I know that’s not true and after I talked to another volunteer and Jamal they helped me feel better by reminding me that it was my first day alone. It just made me ... read more