Blogs from Accra, Greater Accra, Ghana, Africa

-Maandag 17 Juli- *ik heb 30 min hieraan gewerkt en toen drukte ik op een verkeerde knop en was alles weg. Toen moest alles weer opnieuw terwijl ik heel moe was dus excuses voor de eventuele spelfouten* Afgelopen maandag was het tijd voor de introductie dag. Het begon om 6 uur, maar die nacht had ik echt slecht geslapen vanwege de warmte en viel ik pas in slaap rond 3 uur om vervolgens om 6:30 wakker te worden van de haan en de wekkers van de andere vrijwilligers. Ja ja we staan allemaal rond 6:30/7:00 op om te douchen en te ontbijten en dan rond 08:00 naar de scholen te gaan. Tot nu toe heb ik nog niet her geluk gehad dat er stromes water uit de douche kop kwam, dus doen we het maar gewoon ... read more

28th January 2008 I've just returned home from Ghana’s final group match in the Accra stadium. Many people, including myself, predicted a close struggle against Morocco. Ghana completely dominated the match and won 2-0. A great occasion. Now they are in the quarter-finals against either Ivory Coast (unlikely) or Mali. The African Nations Cup! What an event! The scorelines hardly matter. This tournament is notable for its attacking play, goals galore, absence of hooliganism and stupendous atmosphere. The opening game, Ghana v Guinea, and the ceremony that preceded it, were unforgettable. I had the worst seat in the stadium for watching football – behind a goal, only a little above ground level, with a glass barrier, people, advertising boards and the goal net blocking my view. It didn’t matter – I had the best seat in ... read more

Arsenal v Manchester United, Saturday November 3rd 2007 Football fever in football-mad Ghana will reach a crescendo in January, when the African Nations Cup kicks off in the capital, Accra. Ghanaians are passionate about their national football team – the Black Stars - but they also get mighty worked up about English football. Every Saturday afternoon in Accra (Ghana time being exactly the same as GMT), thousands of men, too poor to own satellite TV, pack into bars and halls to watch the English Premiership. Last Saturday my friend, Abdulai, invited me and two other Englishmen to join him in a nameless location in downtown Accra to watch Arsenal v Manchester United. For 7000 cedis (about 40p) we entered a large undecorated hall, where five hundred men, seated on plastic chairs, were grouped around four TV's. ... read more

"Akwaaba" means "Welcome"! Welcome to Ghana, which was among my top-3 countries I wanted to visit and finally I made it! My visit didn't end very well since I got my notebook stolen (Acer Aspire One) and that's the reason it took me much longer to write the blog. I prefer not to go into the exact details of how it happened as it would make the blog too long. It happened during my last few hours before leaving the country. Thank God I had all my photos somewhere else though, so I didn't lose any picture. The visit to Ghana started in the Netherlands, where I had to arrange my visa in The Hague at the Ghanian Embassy. I flew with TAP Portugal via Lisbon to Accra. During slavery many enslaved Africans in Curaçao came ... read more

As yesterday was a long day, we took some time to rest. In the afternoon, Frank went to run some errands, meet with an architect and a mason and who knows what. I stayed around and spent some time with the kids. We played all sorts of games. Alex and Rita taught me all sorts of new words in Twi. We had a lot of fun. They are both shy, but they seem to be comfortable with me now. As comfortable as they will be for a while at least. I packed most of my things and started to put Frank’s together. He insisted that he’ll do it tomorrow, but I bet I’m gonna end up doing it a few hours before we leave. Frank got finished with his errands a lot later than expected. This ... read more