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 [View Full Entry]

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Tues 21/08/07 I’m back working at the orphanage & the break seems to have helped a bit, but I am getting less & less sleep each night. I have woken up this morning with a really sore throat & as I’m bathing the children I feel very run-down. I tell them I can’t take them to school & I went back to bed shivering. Over the next few hours I get all the symptoms of flu but 10 times worse than any flu I have had in England. I spend the next two days in bed with a fever & having [View Full Entry]

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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 [View Full Entry]

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Fri 17/08/07 Today I woke as usual at 5am with the kids screaming & shouting but today I wake with a really bad headache. I bath the children then go back to bed. The deaf & dumb girl starts a fight every 5 minutes and I don’t have the patients or the qualifications to deal with someone with those problems. I cant even leave the orphanage for a peaceful walk on my own as everyone I meet wants to come over & say hello & chat. If I go into town I’m followed by every child I meet, this was nice [View Full Entry]

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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 [View Full Entry]

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08/08/07 Today I woke up & had to kill a giant cockroach that was in my room. It was huge & I felt sick as I repeatedly bashed its brains in with my shoe!!! I told the others & they joked that I was now a real African hunter & my next kill would be a snake. I said if I saw a snake I would scream all the way to the airport! I went back to the hospital for a check-up & all was good. As I walked through the town so many people stopped me to ask if I [View Full Entry]

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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 [View Full Entry]

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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 [View Full Entry]

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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 [View Full Entry]

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29/07/07 I woke up at 6am. I never knew there was two 6am’s in one day. I was asked if I wanted a special menu but I want to eat what they eat - or at least try their food. After breakfast we all went to church. It is a small wooden hut with very old school desks. The service was sort of like Pentecostal, Full of music, singing, chanting & shouting in the local dialect, Fante, Even though I didn’t understand the words, I still found it very moving & full of energy. I found out they were celebrating women [View Full Entry]

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