I'm off to Ghana in 48 hours!

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In 48 hours time I should (providing all goes well) be in Ghana. Eek.

This has been an incredibly tough year for me so far, and I need to do this to find out who I am again, go back to who I used to be. I'm looking forward to it, but it hasn't yet sunk in really...

Tonight I have been googling, and I have decided that google is not my friend.

Other than an aeroplane coming in from Africa bursting into flames at Heathrow today, I have discovered:

Credit cards are very likely to get cloned

You can't drink the water - must be bottled

Small children will probably grab me and want to hold my hand, whilst shouting "Obruni, Obruni!" at me

They have frequent power cuts

You can't get Ghanain cedis (the currency) in this country (UK)

They eat cat

So yeah. Interesting. I don't yet know what I'll be doing - working in a school? In the orphanage? Nor the age of the children I will be assigned to (PLEASE don't let me change nappies - will they give me gloves and a nose peg?)

All I know is that I arrive (in one piece, kenahara) and will be picked up from the airport by a complete stranger, who I shall be entrusting with my life to get me from A to B. From what I have read about the Ghanain road system and cars, this will be a feat in itself.

I have so much to do tomorrow - I wish I had been more organised...

I know I'll struggle to remember to take my Malaria tablets (I forgot to take my thyroxine for 3 months straight) - and I also found out tonight that most mosquitos are resistent to Malaria tablets these days anyway....hmmmm. Mind you, my friend and team-mate Miss G Vous contracted Malaria in Kenya and still delivers mean hits on track, so I guess it's survivable, right?!

I also found out that they DO have Diet Coke in Ghana (thank God, or I may have had second thoughts about going).

I'm really looking forward to this. I've done most things I wanted to do in life, ticked a lot off of my bucket list. I've backpacked Australia, worked as a fruit-picker, done a Skydive, worked as a camp counsellor in the USA. But volunteering abroad has always been something I wanted to do. I know I'm impulsive, but this really wasn't planned. My Mum should really learn that whenever she expresses doubt/worry about me doing something, that is EXACTLY when I will go upstairs and book that flight 😉 So I decided one day to do this - and then it was organised and booked. Sorted.

The weather is showing as 28 or 29 degrees most days, with some thunder storms the first few days, and then just hot hot hot. Even at 9.30pm it's about 25 degrees. Ouch. Ghana is 1 hour behind UK time, by the way.

OK, I am off to re-write my to-do list. I spend more time writing to-do lists than actually getting organised with stuff. Story of my life...

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