Blogs from Central, Ghana, Africa - page 9

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Africa » Ghana » Central » Cape Coast April 13th 2008

“Small, small” is the Ghanaian way of saying “don’t rush” or “it will happen slowly”, and although it is intended to be reassuring, as well as accurate, most of you will understand that, in the workplace, this is quite frustrating for me. Some days I count myself lucky, if someone I had previously made an appointment to see, actually turns up! This is not any discourtesy on their part, but generally due to the practice of only organising meetings a day or two before the event (at the most!!!...”so people don’t forget to come”), so they are never able to commit to anything in advance. Just as frustrating is that nobody maintains a diary or tells others what they are doing, so again a lot of time can be spent waiting to see if anyone will ... read more
kebab- sharing
are you new here?
at the bottom of our hill

Africa » Ghana » Central » Cape Coast March 18th 2008

Dave has found a good male companion in Eddie, fellow volunteer, as he too enjoys his beer and football… so a few times per week we have been meeting up, trying out different “spots”, and hunting for live football on a TV. As we have also been provided with a TV in our house, football and other sport has become far too accessible again, and Dave is watching Golf!! whilst I am writing this. Either that or he’s fallen asleep…which is also reminiscent of his behaviour at home. Eddie is a really nice guy, originating from Ireland, he has lived in Africa and Sweden and has a curious multi-national sing-song accent, and has been a real help and support to both of us. This is his second period of voluntary work in Africa, but the ... read more

Africa » Ghana » Central » Cape Coast March 13th 2008

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
end result

Africa » Ghana » Central » Winneba March 13th 2008

Adventure Adventure awaits us And misadventure too Daily life debates us Challenging us to do That which we cannot bear That is unless we dare To cross over borders Transcending disorders Defying our own past To find the now at last Adventure awaits us And misadventure too But destiny fates us To do what we must do To get from here to there And where is there? To be Within the now and free ~Steven Curtis Lance This last weekend we dared, I and four of my friends went on our first Ghanaian adventure. In true adventuring style we went fourth with little to no planning, just a general direction backpacks, water bottles and plenty of water. Also in true adventuring style we planned to leave at 8:00am and didn't actually hit the road until about ... read more

Africa » Ghana » Central » Cape Coast March 13th 2008

Toad clearly did not see the Land Rover that took us to Cape Coast from Accra. Believe me I am not anti British in any way when it comes to buying goods. My dad spent over forty years in factories making cars, tractors and other vehicles and I was brought up on his wages. It would be churlish of me not to respect the British engineering tradition but really why would anybody buy a Land Rover unless you had to go up ridiculous inclines? I challenge anybody to answer that. We were travelling on a perfectly respectable main road. A few pot holes granted but nothing of any note. Everything shook, it was cramped and uncomfortable with five of us onboard but Frank obviously loved driving it. In truth, I much preferred the Nissan air conditioned ... read more
My Sunday Pint

Africa » Ghana » Central » Cape Coast March 12th 2008

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

Africa » Ghana » Central » Cape Coast March 12th 2008

Sunday morning we got to sleep in a little and savor our last few moments of air conditioning and huuuge beds. In the early afternoon we went to a beach resort to spend some time in the ocean before heading back to school. I couldn’t help but think of all those loved ones back in the States, on this sunny, 95 degree day of March 5th… o wait, it’s March. It’s cold where you are, and probably snowing. bummer. lol :-P Anyhow, there were boogie boards at this beach, and the waves were quite strong so instead of jumping them, we took turns using them to ride the waves into the beach. A very very good day. But let me assure you, not all days are good here. We arrived home on Sunday night around 5 ... read more

Africa » Ghana » Central » Cape Coast March 12th 2008

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

Africa » Ghana » Central » Cape Coast March 3rd 2008

We (SUNY Brockport program ppl) left Friday morning for Cape Coast, Kakum, and Elimina this weekend. Although it was a relatively short trip, I feel like I got to see a lot- including a blue sky and stars!! (although today in Legon is really blue as well). Cape Coast is about 160 km away from Accra, but on Friday moorning during rush hour it took us almost 4.5 hours to get there. From the van, it was really cool to see the surroundings change from city and dusty to a bit greener with small villages to rainforest to ocean. We arrived at our hotel and realized- umm a/c and a tv as well as a king sized bed for 2ppl... wait, really? Although Eleanore and my a/c did not work, nor did I use the hot ... read more

Africa » Ghana » Central » Cape Coast March 1st 2008

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
self-portrait!
wildlife




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