Darren Wills

Thurs 23/08/07 I get up & still feel quite ill but know I must do my jobs as this would be the last time I would do them. I was told the children had missed me getting them ready for school, only because I muck around as much as they do & they like seeing the white man behaving like an idiot! But I don’t feel like mucking around as I know I will had to leave them here when I go home. I feel like I have broken a promise to them by leaving early but I know I must leave. The children have not been told I am leaving but they can pick up on my sadness & the atmosphere is quite subdued. In the evening we do some drawing & plenty of singing. ... read more

Sat 18/08/07 Today I went to Kakoum National Park. It protects the most extensive rainforest habitats in Ghana & feels very hot & sticky as the humidity level is around 90%. The main reason most people go to Kakoum, apart from the wildlife, is the 40m high wood-and-rope walkway suspended between seven trees & has a number of viewing platforms. People who know me know how bad I am with heights & this was made worse when the walkway sways & tips to one side. After coming back from Kakoum, I then spent the rest of the weekend at my friend Rebecca’s house, where she cooked me dinner & we walked around the harbour. Rebecca understood that I needed some time away from the orphanage & has been a good friend to me. ... read more

14/08/07 Its been a very hard few days. There are a couple of children who want to fight all of the time & I find it difficult to control my temper when I see them hitting the smaller children. The hygiene of the orphanage is also a big worry. Since I have been ill I have taken more notice of what they do & their lack of knowledge on the subject is scary & this is just the adults I’m talking about. On the 12th it was my birthday & I felt quite down because of the lack of organization for the orphanage. We ran out of water as they had not paid the bill, but they could still spend money on other less important things. Without water you cannot wash yourself, cook food, clean plates ... read more

07/08/07 I am back at the orphanage after 4 days in the hospital. At 3am on Friday I woke with a really bad stomach pain. I was curled up in a ball, sweating, not knowing what was wrong. At 4am I started being violently sick, just about making it to my door. This happened every 10 minutes until 7am when I heard the children outside. I told them get someone but pretending I was ok as not to scare them. Samuel & I took a taxi to hospital as he saw I was in a really bad way. They rushed me to the nearest bed & hood me up to a saline IV drip. Many thoughts were running through my mind of dying in a Third World hospital or worse, I might get HIV or something. ... read more

30/07/07 I have been named Kwesi, as I was born on a Sunday. I again got up at 6am this morning but woke at 4am as the cockerels started up. They are part of the small farm 100 yards away, they have about 5 pigs and a few hens & a cockerel. My first job is to bath the younger children (all 12 of them). I bath them as I wash myself each day, pour a bucket of cold water over them soap them up and then wash them down. I then get them dressed for school & walk them to class about half a mile away Later Samuel, Ben & myself take a bus into Takoradi to do some food shopping. We walk through lots of hidden back-street markets that sell all sorts of produce. ... read more