(Apologies for not writing here in a while!) Following on from my last blog, Bobbi and I made our way to the YWCA hostel, after leaving our main big bags at the SYTO office. The rooms were really cheap there, about 4 GHc (£2) per night. There were only Ghanaian women staying there, most of them studying at a University nearby. Although the quality of the place (especially the bathrooms) was not great, I enjoyed being surrounded by friendly Ghanaians. Bobbi and I had a room mate, a young lady only a couple years older than us. After our mini holiday [View Full Entry]

---

---

Finally made it to Takoradi, at 9pm- seriously dark! Maybe it wasn't such a good idea that Bobbi and I hadn't booked a room, as we were dragging our big bags around the city, looking for a hotel with decent prices. Armenla Hotel was a bargain for good sized bedrooms, but the toilets didn't lock.. hmm. The following day we literally went in circles around Takoradi, looking for a bank to change my traveller's cheques. Was very annoying to find out they were outside the city! So we decided to make our way to our next destination: Green Turtle Lodge (again). [View Full Entry]

---

---

So I made my way to Kumasi, where my dutch friend Bobbi was waiting. We stayed there overnight and the following day we travelled by STC to Tamale. A dutch guy Niels joined us, not from SYTO though. He had been travelling around West Africa by himself! Anyway, the journey to Tamele was long (takes about 7hours) and breaking down in a small village after driving for 2 hours didn't help. we waited around the heat for the driver to fix the coach and then finally carried on our journey up north. It was dark by the time we got to [View Full Entry]

---

---

I always enjoyed coming back to Royal Seed after sending the weekend away. The children are delighted when I return, but this time their happy faces turned to frowns when they asked what day I was leaving. They all told me to remember them. How could I forget an adorable 90 children who had been looking after for almost 2 months?! There is so much more I would like to do for them, that I even have the idea of fundraising for the orphanage when I'm home. They need so much; to finish the dormitaries and dining room, a new kitchen, [View Full Entry]

---

---

Anna, Mieke, Meg (volunteers at Royal Seed) and myself travelled to Takoradi (south west of Ghana) by tro tro for 4 hours. We booked a room at Green Turtle Lodge for the weekend, which came to a bargain of 10Ghana cedis a night at student rate!! The idealic place is pretty much isolated on the beach with no mobile reception. There were a number of red thatched huts with small solar panels for accomodation, as well as tents at a cheaper price. Not only did the huts make the place feel likle an exotic holiday, but the coconut trees, bright flowers [View Full Entry]

---

---

Travelling to Kumasi with the tro tro took ages! Everything takes a while here in Ghana (African time), so leaving Accra was later than I would have liked (10am). I was squashed next to a 'big mama' for about 5 hours! At least the view on the way was pretty, with many palm, banana, coconut trees among the lush rainforest vegetation. The upturned trucks and cars on the side of the road was a bit worrying, but I heard most accidents happen during the night because there are no street lights. The city of Kumasi is crazy! One can get easily [View Full Entry]

---

---

Some of you have been asking me to tell more about the Orphanage I'm working at. There is soo much to say!! Where to begin... well it is in better condition than what you can see on youtube. The place has developed a lot since the last year when the videos were taken. Anna Smith, an English girl, had raised a lot of money for the place. It was her and another volunteer who made the videos. Her boyfriend is trying to setup a website for Royal Seed. In fact, she is currently here and the 2 of us get on [View Full Entry]

---

---

Emelie, Linda (another English volunteer) and myself spent the 17th and 18th weekend at Cape Coast. It took us about 2 hours from Kasoa to Cape Coast by tro tro and only cost us GHcedi3! That's about 1.50 pounds lol. There were lots of white people in the city. I think it's the old Western style castles and the palm-fringed beaches that attracts them. However many of the beaches here in Ghana are covered by rubbish. Cape Coast Castle sits in front of the sea. We visited it after eating in the popular continental restaurant next door. The Castle had a [View Full Entry]

---

---

The new week didn't start off that positive, with Holly (my fellow English vegetarian volunteer) feeling very sick. On Monday us 3 volunteers, Naomi and 2 more Royal Seed workers went to Winneba Hospital to pick up one of our little orphaned boys, who had been ill. Holly was checked in and lay in a hospital bed most of the day. All the hospital fees and medication came to about GHcedi 70! That's a lot for Ghanian standards. Although she felt a bit better in the evening, she went to Accra Hospital the following day and then flew back to England. [View Full Entry]

---

---

So all of us volunteers from SYTO have moved on to our different placements around Ghana. We all enjoyed each other's company and felt we would miss each other. There was a kind of secure feeling us Europeans being together, learning about Ghana, but now we are placed in the middle of culture! In our Orientation week we learned a bit of Ghanian cooking; fried plantains (bit like bananas), beans, and palava (spinach like sauce). We also did some drumming, the rhythm which I found really hard to grasp, and we did some dancing (that mades us all really sweaty in [View Full Entry]

---

---