Blogs from Eastern, Ghana, Africa - page 4

Sorry Ive not uploaded anything yet, Ive only just found a computer!! Last week I had my orientation in Accra. It was very very busy but everyone in Ghana is extremely friendly and wants to talk to you, so a day out is very tiresome as you have to talk to everyone. You aso get 'Oberoni' shouted at you all the time which means 'white person' so you stand out, as then everyone turns to look at you. They also think that you have lots of money so everyone was always trying to sell you something and walking 10 metres would take up to an hour!! In orientation I learnt an African dance from the Greater Accra region and also had a drumming lesson. These were both really fun but very difficult so I will have ... read more

7/12/08 There have been a few eventful days since the last time I wrote in the blog. Last week there was a ceremony in Old Tafo to signify the beginning of the two weeks of preparation for the Ohum Festival. The festival is an annual celebration that involves a few surrounding communities, but is centered in Old Tafo. There is a lot about the festival that I still don’t know so I will be writing about it more in the upcoming weeks as I get the info. For right now, the most important thing to know is that there is no drumming or dancing in the participating communities for the two weeks prior to the festival, hence the ceremony I attended. Sadly, we will not have drumming and dancing practice for our swearing-in ceremony for the ... read more

Hello Sorry about the delay in my homecoming blog. It has been a bit strange to be back home. It is difficult to explain why, but I am finding it hard to settle,I feel a bit like an alien on a new planet !! Don't get me wrong,I am really glad to be back and I been blown away by the welcome I have received by almost everyone. ( Explore employees - you will pleased to hear that I have a temp job lined up for 4 days next week so you won't see me for a while !! ) The blog was certainly a big success and reached a huge audience of all ages.It is nice to find out what a positive impact it has had and I am glad that I have been able ... read more

............... be warned I fly home next Weds !! I have had a good week so lots to tell you all about. Last Weds the 3 day district sport competition started so Katie and I went to the stadium to cheer on 'our' children who were competing.We arrived at 9 and a track had been marked out in soot from fires.However,in true Ghana style nothing had really started by 10.30 so we headed to the internet for an hour.When we returned,we could hear whistles and cheers which was a positive sign.We watched some 400m heats and some of our kids ran,the highlight was 2nd place for one of the girls.Normally,400m would be one lap of a track but these kids ran twice round as we were told the track was only 200m.It definitely looked longer and ... read more

A great example of the joy I was talking about in my last blog entry (if you read that ramble) was my last Sunday. Danny (my baseball coach) invited some people to go to the village some of his family is from for the year celebration of his Auntie’s funeral. Although it only takes about 30 minutes without traffic to get to Aburi (a-bree), it feels like a completely different world. Aburi is pretty much on top of a mountain, at least 10 degrees cooler than Accra, with very few mosquitoes, and a beautiful botanical garden. We ate, drank, and danced with Danny and his family in celebration of this woman’s life and the fact she was in Heaven. Asante people wear beautiful white fabric to these celebrations, and everyone was really welcoming. Again, it was ... read more