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Published: March 13th 2009
Work 16th - 20th February
Very little of interest to report this week... here are some of the highlights:
Monday - This week I was mostly working on a training manual for prison officers and the judiciary. We hope that it will highlight the various (and vast!) laws surrounding the treatment of detainees with HIV/AIDS. Quite a huge task and not something that I'm particularly interested in... Day got better tho... I had been desperate for a 'fan ice' all day... whaddya know... just as I was walking down my road home after work, a little man popped out of no-where with his honky horn and wheely ice cream cart,... ready to give me a fan ice - brilliant!
Tuesday - we had a gentleman come into the office to talk about his time in detention back in the 1950-60's. He was arrested (for what, we're not so clear about?!) at the age of 15 and held under the PDAct for 6 years. He painted a very sad story about the poor conditions and utter bewilderment that most of the prisoners suffered, not knowing why they had been detained and knowing less about when they would be released. But,... and there's always a but... call me a cynic, but this guy found it 'hard' to talk about his traumatic past, yet was happy to continue for a good 55 minutes... he has also gone on to make a film of the whole ordeal and is currently promoting it in Ghana, but the real thing that bugged me... he wore sunglasses inside the whole time he was talking - an immediate give away that he was looking for celebrity status, me thinks?!
Wednesday - I saw the little old man and his granddaughter on the way to work... that made me smile! :o) Went back to Parliament, someone (god knows who,... they need bloody shooting) thought that the Minister for Health was going to get vetted today... so I trekked down there with one of the office guys, to represent the cause... in my black t-shirt... and a JACKET this time, a flippin suit jacket... only to find out that the Honourables were taking a 'break' and wouldn't be back until 4pm - past my home time... back to the office we went...
Thursday - OMG ... today was the best day of the week... we had a cake cos 3 of the girls are leaving at the end of the week... wow... this is the best cake I have EVER seen! It was HUGE! And covered in LOADS of yummy icing... I had a generous lump washed down with some pop... I was bouncing all the way home from all that sugar!!! Went out to Ryan's (the Irish bar in Osu) later that evening, met a couple of the other volunteers down there and got chatting with the owner - he's actually a guy from the UK but has lived in Ghana for a number of years now... and he has the most adorable Labrador puppy!
This week also consisted of a lot of power cuts. They don't call them 'power cuts' they just say that the 'lights have gone out'... which I suppose is technically true, but it also means that, if working during the day, then your laptop stops working if it doesn't have enough power, and the A-C packs up... which is reeeeeeeally uncomfortable and no-one will let you go home because, you never know, it may come back on again in a minute or two... but if you are at home, it will generally be on an evening, and all there is to do is sit in the dark (and it is REALLY DARK!) and listen to music, that's if the music player has battery too...
That's all folks... quite a (surprisingly) short one this time... all comments will be greatly appreciated :o)
Hope you're all well
Clare x
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Helen Gregson
non-member comment
Hello!
Hi Clarebear! Sounds like a very interesting experience you're having out there!! Have been enjoying your updates and pictures! Glad to hear that you are enjoying cake out there in African style too. Did you see anything of the Kilamanjaro climb on BBC for comic relief, I was thinking of you. Hope it all goes well for the rest of your stay. When you get home we HAVE to catch up. love Helen xx