Blogs from Ghana, Africa - page 5

(26 Mar -- We are back in Teshie-Nungua after a GREAT trip to the north. There is internet available to us here, but the power is only on intermittently. As possible, we will post news of our travels throughout Ghana over the past 10 days.) (by guest bloggers Kit Rawson and Kathy Thornburgh) Our journey to the north started at Cape Coast. We are headed for Larabanga to stay at the Savannah Lodge where Laurel spent a month last October. But, we have a number of things to see on the way. Our first excursion north was a half day trip to Kaukum National Park, where we traversed Ghana's first canopy walk and had an informative forest tour from a knowledgeable and friendly ranger. We returned to ou hut at the Oasis Lodge for one more ... read more

(Note, 19 Mar 2015, Kumasi, Ashanti Region) We are travelling to the north now. We have some time and, finally, some internet access today, so I am posting some blogs from the past week. This one is about the beach pcnic for the orphanage kids last Saturday. (by guest blogger Kit Rawson) On Saturday (14-Mar) , the day before we left for our travels around Ghana, Kathy and I had the privilege of attending a beach picnic that the volunteers put on for the orphanage kids a few times a year. The logistics of getting 50+ kids, plus Grandma and the Aunties who run the orphanage, plus 5 volunteers, and two parents of volunteers to the beach, plus beach toys, birthday presents for the kids with February birthdays, water, snacks, and a meal for all are ... read more

February 7, 2015 Yes, I know it’s been too long since I’ve last written, but things have been super busy here. First of all there are only 5 volunteers in the house, so those of us here are all working extra hard. Please I implore anybody that wants to come to Africa please come to help Dream Africa is in dire need of people. It’s not just Dream Africa, but most organizations in Western Africa. Look Ebola is very much contained in Sierra Leone and Liberia. It’s at least two countries away from Ghana. Western ignorance of Africa and the media overhyping Ebola has scared people away. I’m not trying to insult people with the former statement. What I mean is Europeans and Americans tend to think of Africa as one big country and if something ... read more

December 26, 2014 I just experienced the craziest Christmas ever. Dream Africa went to Tinkong in the Eastern Region, which is one of the rural areas volunteers can go to. We made and served food for over 2,000 children. We left Accra on Christmas Eve afternoon and came back Christmas night around 8 P.M. Yesterday most of us woke up around 6 A.M. to start cutting vegetables and cooking rice. We cooked 200 kilograms of rice! I mostly helped with chopping the vegetables and fruits. I got covered in pineapple, watermelon, and pawpaw (papaya) juice. We all worked together fairly well. However, when the time came to serve the food that was when the mayhem began. Isaac, the coordinator of the Eastern Region’s projects, made the announcement to all of the surrounding villages and the number ... read more

December 8, 2014 Six months in Ghana and I haven’t experienced a week as crazy as last week till last week. First of all, we’ve been trying to fix glitches in our “Save our orphanage” campaign. Then we had an event at the orphanage that resulted in Dream Africa firing a teacher. Then we had some scary, yet what ended up being false, news. Some of the volunteers were taking children to the hospital, and the doctors told them that one of the girls tested HIV positive. She also has a younger brother, so we had to get him tested too. Finally on Friday we found out that neither of them is HIV positive. On top of all of that there are only 10 volunteers in the house, so we’re all stretched thin and taking on ... read more