Blogs from Kumasi, Ashanti, Ghana, Africa - page 3

Africa » Ghana » Ashanti » Kumasi July 13th 2011

So, I've now changed project and host family. I've moved south by about 10 miles to a small village called Dominase. The house is a 4 roomed house with no running water (the water has to be collected from a well) and the toilet is a hole in the ground outside. Very different from my old house! As for the family, 3 live in the house: Host mother Josephine, Host brother called Richard (3 years old) and Josephine's sister (I think) called Eva. The father is in Accra at the moment trying to get a qualification to allow him to go into the oil industry (he is currently a miner). The new project is also really different. It is far more admin based, as at the moment we are trying to raise funds to enable future ... read more

My week in brief

Africa » Ghana » Ashanti » Kumasi July 6th 2011

Samuel Stein

Hello all, Since my last entry, I don't think you could really say that I have done much to read about, so I will keep this short! On Friday I wandered down to Tom's school to help teach (and indeed to see how the kids there are taught). Personally, I would say that the education is a reason not to bring up a child in Ghana. The teacher didn't really seem to know much about what he was teaching, and didn't really explain anything properly to the students. For example, he was doing a multiplication exercise where he drew a load of boxes on the board (say he would draw 45 boxes, 9 rows and 5 columns) and then would get the child to write 9 x 5 = 45. However, he didn't explain what multiplication ... read more

My week in brief

Africa » Ghana » Ashanti » Kumasi June 1st 2011

Samuel Stein

Sorry it has been a while again, but this weekend didn't involve much traveling so there isn't a huge amount to say. On Thursday, Zufa was sick so we couldn't go to the MHC, however, on Friday we went to both a school and a prison. The school talk was to about 200 kids and apparently they found my accent a tad tricky to understand. It's always really tricky to articulate properly when shouting really slowly to a group of kids who don't have a brilliant grasp of the language, but Zufa translated when necessary. The prison, however, was completely different. We went along to try and organise a time to come in and the warden just said 'Come back at 12pm and they will all be ready,' to our complete surprise. Before I talk about ... read more

Slow news week

Africa » Ghana » Ashanti » Kumasi May 9th 2011

Samuel Stein

Hello all, Not much to say on this occasion as I haven't really done much since I last posted, but best to post something short before I forget what little has happened/to prevent the next entry being super long again! I'll start with work ... We are actually doing something! Tomorrow we are going to the maternal health centre for the morning/day (I don't think much goes on there in the afternoon) to talk about general health and HIV and then on Wednesday we are going to try out our stall in Achiase! Exciting, no? I'll let you know how they go next time. In other news, I have now moved house. It isn't quite finished yet but has everything I need (bathroom, kitchen, living room and bedroom) and far too many chickens! The chicken point ... read more

A machete is the solution to all of your problems

Africa » Ghana » Ashanti » Kumasi April 28th 2011

Samuel Stein

Hello to those who are reading this, I guess the last few days haven't been particularly eventful in terms of exciting things to tell you. Regarding the project, we have written letters to the local markets to see if we can set up an HIV stall and we are getting t-shirts made saying 'Ask me about HIV', but that is about it. I think this is probably going to take a while to set up properly as nothing really happens in a hurry here, and we need to send letters, wait for replies etc. Yesterday at the house, Bret's lock broke whilst the bolt was still engaged. Now, Francis (host dad) decided that the way to fix this would be to use his machete. The machete was used as a screw-driver to take the door handle ... read more

Welcome to Kumasi

Africa » Ghana » Ashanti » Kumasi April 16th 2011

Samuel Stein

Ok, so my circumstances have completely changed since I last posted and I have moved from hostel accommodation to my host family - located in a small village called Achiase near Kumasi. The journey up here was, it must be said, rather pleasant (apart from the fact that I had to be up and ready for 5am even though the driver didn't turn up until 5:45 in the end). Once the driver finally arrived he loaded all of our things into the SYTO minibus and drove us to the coach station. SYTO had paid for us to take the VIP bus up to Kumasi; an air conditioned coach with masses of leg room, reclining seats and a television! The 4.5 hour journey ended up taking more like 6.5 due to traffic and the fact that half ... read more

Teaching Gideon to be British

Africa » Ghana » Ashanti » Kumasi April 9th 2011

Go Gideon - Pool Star

lisahelenakelly

Last night Glenn (British ex pat) offered to take Gideon and I out to dinner, Gideon refused but after some encouragement he agreed and we went for an indian curry, something new for Gideon. He tells me that he is not at all adventurous however his wife is always telling him off because he should try new things, I agreed so I said come on lets play pool, "oh no" he said "I dont know the rules" "Neither do I" I replied "but its fun" he still insisted on no until I made him step out of his comfort zone and play, after almost taking the cloth off of the table he actually became quite good and bless him he was dead pleased with himself. I am now sitting in the hotel reception waiting for him ... read more

Accra and Kumasi Pics

Africa » Ghana » Ashanti » Kumasi April 8th 2011

Ahhh Tarmac

lisahelenakelly

Accra and Kumasi Pics... read more

Road trip to Kumasi

Africa » Ghana » Ashanti » Kumasi April 7th 2011

lisahelenakelly

This morning Gideon and I set off on a 4 hour turned 6 hour road trip to Kumasi, it is so called Kumasi because the Ashanti king planted two trees called Kuma trees, one died and the other lived, the one that lived was called Kumasi. Another bit of history, a bit of girl power, 50 years ago a young brave ghanain woman led the battle of independence against the British and won! go girlie! So we set off, on good roads and really bumpy dirt tracks because the government cant make up their minds if they want to spend their money on the roads or their nice new offices (picture coming up soon) we passed many villages and a radio station discussed the desperate need for medical staff, I asked Gideon, what happens if you ... read more

Nog maar 2 weken...

Africa » Ghana » Ashanti » Kumasi November 2nd 2010

suzanneghana

Nu begint het toch wel echt spannend te worden! Nog maar 2 weken en ik zit, hoogstwaarschijnlijk met een heleboel Ghanezen, in het vliegtuig, op naar de zon, een onbekend land, andere cultuur, ander eten en natuurlijk vrijwilligerswerk. Ik zal 5 weken bij Tamarinde Daycare in Kokobeng (in de buurt van Kumasi) verblijven. Alle belangrijkste voorbereidingen zijn bijna rond. Alleen m'n paspoort zwerft nog ergens in Nederland rond, hopelijk met visum voor Ghana en onderweg naar mijn brievenbus!! Ik ben zo benieuwd wat me allemaal te wachten staat. Want ik kan nog zoveel dingen lezen uit boeken en van internet, foto's en filmpjes bekijken, het zal uiteindelijk toch heel anders zijn als ik er ben! Maar ik heb er in ieder geval al ontzettend veel zin in! Jullie kunnen me volgen via deze blog, reacties zijn ... read more

Brief history of Ghana

Formed from the merger of the British colony of the Gold Coast and the Togoland trust territory, Ghana in 1957 became the first sub-Saharan country in colonial Africa to gain its independence. A long series of coups resulted in the suspension of the ...more history

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