Blogs from Cape Coast, Central, Ghana, Africa - page 5

Denzil Washington is not a good policeman, indeed he is really quite a nasty piece of work in the film ‘Training Days’. It may therefore seem strange that I have chosen it for the title of this bit of my chronicle. There was certainly nobody unpleasant in any way amongst our seeking of volunteers or the VSO staff brought together for our week long in-country training. No, the reason is in the time frame and the amount that happened in it. One week can seem a terrible long time and to me often does but the week spent at Sunlodge Hotel went very quickly. My notes up to now have been fairly contemporaneous. In fact, I would have been a credit to any police force with the accuracy of my offerings and would have made the ... read more

I know I know it’s been such a long time since I’ve updated. Things have been crazy busy here for various reasons… as you will see, if you keep reading. (Bear with me as this entry will probably be long because it’s been over two weeks since my last update. I apologize if it is not always interesting but I am also using this blog for my own use to remember all the things I do here.) This entry is quite long and I've had it written for a few days now, but the internet won't stay stable long enough to upload it, so I'm splitting it into 3 entries hoping it will work. Mon. February 25th: My 20th bday!!! Started off with Shane waking me up with a big Happy Birthday banner that he put ... read more

Fri. February 29th-Sun. March 2nd: Group trip to Cape Coast Our first group trip paid for by our dues to SUNY was to Cape Coast, which is about an hour or two outside of Legon. Mercy picked us up at 8:30am and we piled all our stuff on to the top of the van. The drive there was really different scenery. For about a third of the drive, the road was bordered by villages of huts made of mud. The walls were completely mud, like they were one with the ground, coming right up out of the dirt. It was exactly like the places you see on tv asking for money to sponsor an elderly person or child. It was very surreal, being that we just drove past them, and couldn’t go up to touch and ... read more

Having links with the Regional Minister has been very useful and his Protocol Officer put the word out to Community Leaders and Chiefs about our need for accommodation, and the next day a possibility arose….it seemed “perfect” to us, but we had to wait for negotiations between VSO and the landlord. These have now been successfully concluded and we have just moved into our “own home”. Set just outside the town on top of a hill, we have 3 bedrooms, lounge, kitchen, and verandeh …with sea views (as before) and, mostly, a cooling sea breeze. I am attaching some pictures of the coast around the town, and I’m sure you will agree that it looks like a tropical paradise…but just out of shot is some of the worst poverty and living conditions in the region. You ... read more

There was nothing blockbusting about our first night in Ghana. This chapter may well have been called “Midnight at the Oasis” had we actually stayed at the first hotel we were taken to. It was midnight when we got there and indeed there was water by way of a very inviting swimming pool. Alas they were overbooked and without any opportunity to negotiate six of us were whisked off to some non-descript, seen better days, second best establishment. I would like to say that I was tired and that I went straight to sleep. I was not and I did not. Fortunately we were moved back to the Sunlodge Hotel the next day but only after a somewhat bizarre tour around the programme office (the place where the in-country VSO staff work). The tour was well ... read more