I've been here a week!

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I haven't written an entry in a while, things have been hectic, there is so much to be done and so little time to do it in.
I think the last entry I wrote, was after my orientation for peace cells. The next day, I helped with interviews at the PCO refugee school, we are hiring teachers for the coming semester. That afternoon we had something called War Child, it's not part of PCO, just an organised event through the people living at the camp. They are a Liberian dance troup, kids from the camp who get together once a week to learn about many things concerning youth ie sexual health, teen pregnancy, AIDS, and for the younger ones, they learn about Liberia, as many have never been there as they were born here in Ghana.
After an hour or so, they all get together and put on a great dance show for anyone who wishes to watch. The older ones are amazing, it is real traditional African dancing, and the boys on the drums are outstanding too!
The next morning, I taught for the first time, at the refugee summer school. There were about 10 kids in my class, ranging between 10 and 13 years old, all at different levels of learning so quite a challenge, but I had fun. The classroom is a mess, it's basically a rundown concrete building site almost, no windows just gaps in the walls, broken benches, one measly chalkboard. I think it's definetly a priority when it comes to fundraising as it makes a difference to the children, what their learning enviroment is.
On Friday, I set off to the main city, Accra with 3 other volunteers. We arrived after a treacherous tro tro ride (a van form of transport) and began our hunt for a station which had buses going to Ho, a town in the Volta region. It sounds simple doesnt it. It's not at all. We walked around with a Ghanain man who adopted us, looking for this station, walking through crowded markets with everyone shouting abruni at us. After 3 stations, and no luck, it started getting dark so we jumped in a taxi (still with our guide) and headed for the tro tro station. There weren't any scheduled tro tro's to our destination, but upon seeing we were abrunis, they tried to talk us into going. We were told it wasn't safe, they would probably rob us on the way, so we then tried to find a hotel. Not easy either, we drove for 3 hours looking for somewhere, but the lights were down in many areas of the city and was therefore not safe for us.
After a lot of walking and driving around, we settled for the first lit hotel, with rooms and finally ditched our guide, who was very kind to have ridden around with us, but incredibly incompetent. It was expensive for a Ghanain hotel, but we made the most of it, had a meal and a few drinks then went to sleep, exhausted.
The next morning we woke around 5am to get a bus as early as possible. After being sent to the wrong stations again, we finally for in a mini bus and had to wait 2 hours for it to fill up. It was a long, rather uncomfortable drive, but we did survive which is always something to be thankful for here, road accidents are the leading cause of death in this country, and not suprisingly.
We arrived in Ho and decided to head for an eco village, where we could relax and swim in the Lake Volta, kayak and hike. We arrived there after a journey of tro tros and taxis and it was worth it! A beautiful, serence spot by the lake, the huts were tiny and quaint and the people so friendly. We had some lunch and went for a swim, hoping they weren't lying when they told us there was no need to worry about the parasites you find in water here, that get into your body and cause you great illness. The afternoon was spent just chilling out, what we needed after such a nightmarish journey. That night we met the other two guests; a british girl and a canadian guy, and had a few drinks followed by a midnight swim.
We arose early the next morning to hike, I opted out and spent the morning planning my lesson for the kids at the refugee school, watching the sun come up over the lake and having breakfast with the other guests.
We had decided to go back to Accra that day, via Aburi, a place famous for its botanical gardens and wood carvings. we couldn't actually get a taxi out of the eco village as the guys phone was out of battery, and there's no electricity, so they took us in their truck. It took a number of tro tros, but 3 hours later, we arrived and the wood carvings were amazing! It was annoying how they yelled at you and practically forced you into their hut to buy their carvings, but a firm no sorted them out. After some great bargaining, I got a carving on a 'silent woman' carrying her baby on her back and holding her finger up to her mouth, I was told it was because something tragic had happened to her that she could not speak of. I also got a tiny mask and a slightly bigger one, very good buys I think.
The journey from there was long and exhausting, we had to change about 5 times before getting back to our village Awutu. We arrived around 9pm, exhausted and pretty much went straight to bed, after sharing stories with the other group of volunteers who had gone to a different area in the Volta region.
This morning I am teaching at the school again and I am going to propose the idea of an anger management workshop to Emmanuel, the director of PCO, for those who cannot reconcile of forgive those who wronged them during the War.
That's it for today!

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