Chapter 46...The bane of my life!

This award goes to none other than Godwin, the night watchman who over the past few months has done nothing but irritate and anger me! Some of my frustrations are simply because he is a drunk, annoying man who doesn't even do the job that he is paid to do and continuously abuses our kindness! The flip side of this is that he is clearly an intelligent person who for reasons I will never know, has slipped into a way of life where he eats scraps of food from our bin and cannot survive a day without drinking!

Godwin (who's age varies on different documents he shows us from 30 something to 50 something must be in his 40's by our guess) has recently married a young woman/girl who he refers to as either his 'wife' or 'small girl.' She speaks no English and has spent the past few nights sleeping outside our house with her new husband! Prior to her arrival into our bizarre 'family' we had to endure a month of various animals living in the compound, all of which were intended for use as a dowry. The birds had their own body clock that was never in sync with sunrise or sunset so at any time of the day we could get the fright of our lives as one of them would erupt! 

Godwin also has no hesitation in asking us for money on a very regular basis. When I joined the house he was nearing the end of paying Vic and Rach back 70 Cedis that he used to buy a bike. I was cautious at first to join or start such a process, especially after witnessing how drunk Godwin can get, because it meant he would be tied to the house for as long as it would take him to pay the money back! But against my better judgement Rach and I leant him 65 Cedis, which he will be paying back until September. 

Now anyone who knows 'the rage' or fiesty side in me can imagine pretty well how this scenario went last night... As Rach and I were sat in the living room chatting away Godwin's wife strolls into the compound along with another woman who we've never seen before! Having made it very clear to Godwin last week that no-one other than him should be entering the compound without letting us know beforehand, I could feel my blood starting to boil! His wife started to cook his dinner, which in itself infuriated me, because he is perfectly capable of cooking it himself instead of heading off to drink himself into a stupor! So when he finally decided to grace us with his presence, stinking of pito, I couldn't contain myself any longer...I ran through with him in a heated discussion the list of things that he had done recently in which he was completely abusing how kind Rachel and I had been to him, how he had gone against every single rule we had set and how he had not spent the money we leant him to buy seeds on seeds, but on drink and his wedding instead! I told him that I would have no problem in firing him and telling him we never wanted to see him again!

Following this conversation I then found myself feeling so angry, but not at Godwin, at myself! Had I completely lost sight of where I am? Had my Western side taken over my more compassionate and thoughtful Ghanaian side? Had I just told him that his wife cannot stay here to cook for him, when he has been known to eat meat from our bin that is green and beyond edible? But then I remembered the times Godwin has been so drunk he hasn't noticed people coming and going from the compound or even me riding my bike straight past his head one evening! I remembered how he tried to trick us into putting his pay up after Vic left and how clever he is with numbers! I remembered how no other house in our neighbourhood has to talk to their night watchman, as they don't drink, ask for money and invite strangers into the compounds where they work! 

So it seems my constant battle with myself over what to do with Godwin will remain, as will my constant battle with Godwin! But all I know is that for some reason he has been put here in my life right now, so I must be learning something from him, even if I have no idea what that may be yet...!

Chapter 45...The Tamale 'Triathlon!'

Running (stomach), Tennis and Swimming were the three components of my energetic weekend with one of the EWB's in Tamale! On Friday afternoon, after spending the morning running back and forth between my bedroom and the toilet then downing water and rehydration sachets, I braved the three hour tro journey down to Tama where a super chilled, super fun weekend lay ahead...

Friday evening consisted of the EWB boys cooking dinner, which meant portion sizing was completely off, around twenty chilli's were used, but a great tasting meal was made and we all left feeling well fed (having discussed extensively the pronunciation of 'oregano' and the ruthless-ness of English women)!

Saturday started after a well-earned lie-in followed by lunch - baguette, salad and pizza at Luxury (definitely a new Tama fave of mine)! From there it was off to VRA tennis courts where we planned for me to test out my tennis knee to see whether I could even play! Unfortunately it wasn't my tennis knee that let me down on the day, but my complete lack of practise over the past few years, which resulted in the majority of my shots going either long or into the net! Luckily though when there's a tennis coach on the other side, most of my shots were salvaged to allow play to continue and I wasn't made to run around too much in the midday sun! 

My post tennis glow!

After 45 minutes of sweltering hot tennis we hit Bigiza Hotel where we paid 5GHC (the best money I've spent so far in Ghana) to use the swimming pool! I was literally squealing with excitement as I dipped my toe into the not-too-cool, yet refreshing water and as my head went under that was the moment I had been waiting three and a half months in Ghana for - heaven! We found ourselves unexpectedly included in a game of 'volleyball' with around 15 Ghanaians who were already in the pool and we had a brilliant afternoon listening to them joking and chatting ("you swim like a tilapia"), having underwater swimming competitions and lobbing the ball over the fence  to get a breather from the intensity of a Ghanaian mans throw (especially when trying to catch the ball while treading water in the deep end)!

Leaving the pool had to be done in stages so as to lessen the blow!

 So after a breath-takingly energy consuming day we walked back to TICCS Guesthouse... 

...in the cool evening air with every good intention of showering, getting dressed and heading out for dinner! Instead we found ourselves flaking out on the bed for a couple of hours sharing I-pod earphones as we laughed and cried our way through Shane Koyczan's album of poems. Eventually around 9pm with rumbling stomachs we strolled the five minutes to SWAD fast food restaurant where we ordered chicken massala and a chicken burger then it was back to TICCS for a much needed early night after such a late one the night before!

Sunday earned us another lie-in (waking up after check out), an egg 'n' bread breakfast for the EWB then it was the end of a terrific triathlon weekend in Tamale and the start of the three hour tro ride back to Bolga for me! As I was tro-ing it back on the monotonous Bolga-Tamale road I found myself reflecting on life and it's funny way of surprising me exactly when I think it can't anymore! I received this quote as a text last week and at this precise moment in time I couldn't agree with it more...

"Sometimes the slightest things change the direction of our lives, the merest breath of a circumstance, a random moment that connects like a meteorite striking the Earth. Lives have swivelled and changed direction on the strength of a chance remark..."

Chapter 44...The reason I'm here!

Recently there has been a small miracle in Ghana - I have actually started to slowly make some progress at work (I know can you believe it?!) Now this progress has been very small indeed, but in Ghana, and especially at the GES any progress at all is considered a great achievement (in my eyes anyway)! This week I have... 

...met with two people (there should have been six) from my newly formed CPTeam (Community Participation Team) and we have put some dates in the diary to meet to set baselines for PTA's and SMC's and to plan a week of refresher workshops for some or all PTA's and SMC's in Talensi Nabdam district. 

...helped a newly appointed colleague to type up a 21 page report on a school he recently visited to assess.
...attended the districts Educon (Education Conference) at Gbeogo School for the Deaf. This is where the GES is given the opportunity to share some facts and figures on how schooling and education is working out in Talensi Nabdam with their schools, communities, chiefs and elders. 

One of the paramount Chiefs in Talensi Nabdam!

Some local school boys providing some music and dancing entertainment! It seems they forgot to get changed out of their pyjamas in the morning though (I know this is such a daddyo joke, but I couldn't help it)!

Some school girls from my local school 'St Martins' who put on a flip-flop dance for the top table!

Me with one of the girls from the school who loved my camera and teaching me sign language!

...finally (only six weeks late) held my JIM (Joint Introductory Meeting) with VSO, GES and LCD (Link Community Development)! There should have been around 20-25 people at my JIM, all there to discuss me and my plans for the rest of my time in Ghana! However instead of the expected 25, we started with five and eventually grew to a respectable group size of eight! I myself was two hours late so I could not be annoyed with others for not showing up at all! The reason for this was the rain, which I have now discovered puts a holt to life entirely when it comes during the day! We have mainly had evening and night storms so far, which haven't effected moto riding, but when the rains come during the day being on a moto on a dirt track road is not the wisest of moves so most people do not travel around until the rain has stopped! The day of my JIM it rained from 08:30 to 11:00, which meant a morning of finishing my book, another one I would highly recommend - 'Don't Lets Go To The Dogs Tonight.'
...facilitated the first of three days of Girl Child Training at Pelungu Primary School! This was a great opportunity to work with two of the officers from GES - Stephen and Daniel - who did really well running the majority of activities on the day! 

Stephen and Daniel running the show at Pelungu Primary!

I ended the day feeling extremely proud of the work they did and totally pumped for the rest of our training! Thursday will consist of the second day, but luckily between now and then we have tomorrow off, as it is African Union Day so weather permitting there may be some pot painting at Sirigu as entertainment for the day...!

Chapter 43...The weekend with the American!

At the moment the Abster is in town, as she has travelled across from Lawra in the Upper West to do some work shadowing here in the Upper East! We've spent the weekend catching up, which as always has meant some good old heart-to-hearts, lots of giggles, a  road-trip somewhere new, a few (minor) catastrophes and plenty of daydreaming (on Abbie's part)!

On Saturday we road-tripped to Zebilla, which is an hour North East of Bolga in Bawku West! I rode up with Christina and we met Abs, Cherith and Ellie at a spot for lunch and drinks before heading back to the big B for an evening of kebabs and beer at 'Feel at Home' (should I be questioning how this always happens when Abs is in town?!) We then came home to a dinner of vegetable risotto, which Rach and Hannah very kindly cooked up for us while we were gossiping away over a Club and a Star! 

The Upper East!

The only place to find Christie and I at the mo...Travellers!

On Sunday we decided that it was time for Abs to have her first Ghana haircut so I donned my scissor hands and got snipping! I'm not sure it went down too well when I said 'don't worry it'll be fine we'll just play around with it for a bit!' Need-less-to-say everything turned out fine and she hasn't found herself with hair on the wonk, bangs (a fringe) or even worse bald! We then rode into town for an egg 'n' bread breakfast at Travellers International (the best egg 'n' bread in town), which turned out to be free because Dan the VSO mechanic showed up and bought it for us - result! After this we purchased a few items at the market (mainly mangoes) in order to make mango cobbler (tart), then set upon the task in hand when we got home! While the tart was baking away we did a 60 minute yoga workout (with the fan off in order to sweat out all those impurities from the night before) then it was yoga done, guacamole made, tart baked and the evening ahead was looking good...until the wildest of Ghanaian storms hit and with it so did lights out! 

Me doing 'warrior one!'

The beginning...

...the middle...

...the end!

Chapter 42...The immunity! The Western Way! The Head or the Heart!

Today I woke up to a flat back tyre on my moto (just to add to all of the moto problems of last week and to test my ever-growing level of patience) which has left me with a free morning,  while I wait for a mechanic, to finally write up this post that I have been thinking about for the past few days! Last night I got the inspiration I needed to piece it all together...

Have I slowly over the past three months become immuned to all things Ghanaian, all things horrific and awful, all things impoverished?
Recently when I heard a story of a small girl being decapitated when out walking with her younger brother, I was traumatised, but not surprised! Especially when I heard the next part of the story that after being decapitated by one man, a second man came running out from behind the bushes where the men had been hiding and drank her blood from her rolling around head! To me this must have been a juju murder, a killing of sacrifice, which somehow here in Ghana acts as some sort of justification for taking the life of another!

When I met the small girl at the school for the deaf who had scars all over the right side of her face from where she had been battered and left for dead as a baby by her own parents who thought she was a witch, I shook my head to the person who was telling me the story to show my disgust and disapproval of the situation, but I did no more! I knew from things that Ghanaians had told me that a belief in witches was still an everyday phenomenon in today's Ghana, but on second thought when I was riding home that day, I was shocked to think that when I was entering my teens in my priviliged Western, educated World upbringing, a baby here in Ghana was born then for whatever reason was suspected of being a witch so was then battered and left for dead by the same two people that bought her into the World!

It is not only the extreme cases like this that I feel I am now immunised against, it is the everyday, now mundane things too! I do not look twice when I see women carrying stacks of wood, huge bowls of water or anything for that matter on their heads! I do not think for ages after when I see small children and women on their daily walk to boreholes where they pump and pump for hours just to get enough water to drink and wash with! I do not laugh to myself in fear when I see Ghanaians carrying anything from ladders to doors to rubbish bins on their motos (often infront of them so as to block their full view of the road ahead)! 

Is all of this becoming my version of 'normal,' my version of reality?

Or is my Western World version of reality engrained in me forever?
After talking to other people recently who are volunteering here through organisations such as EWB and Peace Corps I realise that my volunteering experience is still very much one of Western luxury (which I am ashamed to say I do like)! When I close the compound gate on my return home everyday, I close out the sights, smells and sounds of Ghana and I enter into my Western reality of peace and quiet! To come back to a house everyday that has electricity; running water; a flushing toilet; a fridge and freezer; a cooker; fans and sofas sounds ridiculous when you compare it to the homestay life other volunteers are leading where the directions to the toilet are 'outside, turn left and under the tree!' To sleep in a comfy double bed, under a fan with socket points on either side where I charge either my netbook, phone or I-pod most nights is a level of living that I am used to in life so something I enjoy! But again when comparing it to the 'single mattress on the dusty floor where creepy crawlies tramp all over you all night long' way of doing things I feel like my way of life here in Ghana is a bit of a joke!  
Should I be doing this the Western way or the Ghanaian way? 

Or am I doing it the rich Ghanaian's way by living in a neighbourhood with doctors and lecturers who drive nice 4x4's and have watchmen to keep them safe at night? 
Ghana's divide between rich and poor is ever-growing! There is a distinctive North/South divide where in the South you see ex-pats driving their children to and from school  in Alfa Romeo's, you see Ghanaian women following suit in their BMW's and Mercedes! You see young Ghanaian workers smartly turned out in clothes that fit them properly (there is a huge second-hand clothes culture here in Ghana and I am still adamant I will see someone walking down the street one day in something I have thrown away, unwanted in the past)! You see houses with gardeners who mow the lawn on the weekends! In the North these are a rare sight, as even the rich are still poor by the standards of the South and if you go out into the rural communities you see it, you see the real-life Ghana that I have been sent here to 'save!' The second-hand clothes culture remains, but it is not a case of trying on fancy Western things and seeing what fits well, it is taking what you can, when you can and making it fit! School children's uniforms hang off them and I can't remember the last time I saw a school boy who was able to do up the zip on his shorts, instead using string or a shoe lace to keep the things from falling down!

Regardless of which way I want to do this, I am doing it this way, because it is the way VSO has chosen for me! I'm sure I could if I really wanted, do it another way, but clearly I don't want that way enough! I like my creature comforts and I like my way of life here, but I do want to dip my toe occassionally into the other World that is out there, the World where volunteers sit with a family each night sharing a Ghanaian dinner from the same bowl; where they are referred to as 'part of the family;' where they know that no matter what they will have at least a handful of people and a few animals in the compund when they get home from work each day; where they enjoy travelling and hotels and VSO houses because they offer them a snippet of their old life before they return to their Ghana life and the simple things that they have grown to love!

Maybe I have become half-immuned to Ghana and I am holding back a little bit of my Western self as protection for falling too deep?!

Or am I simply protecting my heart by following my head? 
...something I promised myself I would never do again following the end of mine and Daniel's relationship, which ended due to me following my head and not my heart! But at times we need to protect ourselves from what is going on around us otherwise we are simply sponges soaking up all the negativity and bad things that this World has to offer and eventually it  just breaks our hearts!

So I must always try to keep my head and my heart open and positive to the future generation of Ghana who I am here for the next seven months to work with! This is the generation who through improving education systems will hopefully be able to bridge the ever-growing gap between the richest and the poorest in their country! But I still ask myself the same question whenever I see the beautiful symmetry of a Ghanaian childs face...
What difference can I really make to your future and what on Earth does that vast amount of time and space ahead of you really have to hold...!

A small boy I met at the School for the Deaf! He is the first child I have seen in Ghana with a hand-made toy car, which he was very proud of!

Monica, the cleaner at work's, baby girl who is the youngest of five! I question every time I see her what her edcuation will be like, what her future as a girl in Ghana will be like, what her role as a woman will be!

Akwea, the fruit lady from work's younger sister who can barely speak any English and has a very timid nature! She will no doubt be married and a mother by the time she is twenty!

Chapter 41...The three month Ghanaversary!

My three month (can you believe it, time is flying by)  Ghanaversary  post feels like a miscellaneous one, tying up all the lose ends from a dramatic week in Ghana! The week started brilliantly after a perfectly well spent weekend and has finished on a similar note too, but just with a little Ghanaian craziness inbetween! I have...
 

...had a broken down moto, done my first ever (unintentional) wheelie down the busiest street in Bolga and ran out of petrol on my way home with no money in my purse! 

...managed to form a Community Participation Team at work who went for drinks and meat on Wednesday night to do some strategic planning! 

...started and finished the book 'Gogo Mama,' which has been added to my highly recommended book collection alongside 'The Alchemist' 'The Kite Runner' 'A Thousand Splendid Suns' and 'The Girl with...'

...been reduced to tears while reading the twelve real-life stories of hardship and pain experienced by twelve African women and I've been inspired beyond belief to make a change!

...got used to a house of two and not three following Vic (and Lewis') departure to the UK! 
...loaned our night watchman (against my better judgement) fifty GHC to buy seeds for farming season and then ridden my bike right past his head at 11pm and he has not stirred due to too much alcohol consumption! 
...been for drinks at Comme Ci, Comme Ca with one of the EWB's and his 'buddy!'

...picked (taken on my moto) with a wobbly start, one of the EWB's to watch the royal wedding (on DVD) at the blue house, past the blue spot in Kumbosgo!

...been to Gbeogo school for the deaf and started to learn small small Ghanaian sign language! This is where I met an 11/12/13 (true age is rarely known in Ghana) year old girl who was battered and left for dead as a baby by her parents who thought she was a witch! 

...watched the rainy season descend on Ghana in the form of magnificent lightning and rain storms and thought the tin roof of the house would cave in from the hammering of hailstones, or it would come off from the wind whipping it up Wizard of Oz style!

...seen how the grass is sometimes greener on the otherside, as the landscape is changing and growing before my eyes! 

...been touched by the kindness of Ghanaians, including those who once frustrated and angered me in the office, who too have their own story to tell!

And as of today this is the longest I've spent away from home and away from my nearest and dearest! It is the longest time I have spent living in one place other than home, and it is pretty cool (well very hot actually) that that place is sub-saharan Africa! It is also the same amount of time, plus two weeks until I see my family again for yet another airport reunion, this time swapping London Heathrow for the likes of Nairobi International. Am I counting down the days and am I ready to burst with excitement...hell yes!

Chapter 40...The long-awaited arrival of goodies!

An emotionally charged blog post as I have just spent the past half an hour in tears while opening the four birthday packages that were waiting for me at the VSO Program Office while I was away! It's amazing what that first sight of familiar handwriting  on an envelope can do, how the proud messages written inside cards can restore hope and how the thought behind each of those presents can be felt even from thousands of miles away!

My five new books will be read in super speed, aided greatly by the use of my new head torch! My new top, silk scarf and bangles will be saved for special occassions or when I need a reminder of those who sent them! My chocolate and mini birthday cake will be munched straight after this post is finished (somethings will never change) and my birthday cards will be pinned on my wall alongside my leaving cards so I can be reminded everyday of those of you back home who mean the absolute World to me! None of this would be possible without you, and I thank you all from the bottom of my heart for constantly being there for me throughout every challenge I set myself in life! No-one will ever truly know what receiving those parcels today felt like, but believe me when I say, it felt really good!

How to bring a smile to my face :-)

Chapter 39...The Volta vacation!

Akwaaba! Well actually what I should be saying here is ‘welcome back’ and not just ‘welcome’ because once again, as was the case after my three week holiday to Cambodia at the start of the year, I feel I have somewhat (unintentionally) neglected my blog for the past two weeks as I’ve been off galavanting around Ghana! As this post will no doubt be a long one I feel I should just get to it and avoid all the rambling that I love to do on this thing! So here goes...

Day 1: Tamale 

9am - Rachel rides me to tro park, but not without the first mishap of the trip...with Rachel sat on her moto ready to go I attempt (with my over-sized backpack and helmet on) to swing my leg over the moto to hop on behind her, but gravity has other ideas! As I unglamorously have my leg halfway over the bike the weight of my backpack takes me tumbling to the ground and leaves me lying there on my back unable to get up and in absolute hysterics! Eventually after several failed attempts to stand up Rachel hops off her bike to give me a hand and we are on our way...!

12:30pm – Meet Abbie and Nancy in Tama and head for lunch at The Crest! Spend the afternoon walking around the market, eating yoghurt and attempting to find some spots of shade or areas of Tama that are clean from trash! 

Pineapple, orange and strawberry yoghurt - yummy!

6pm – Dinner. G&T. Bucket shower. Early to bed!

Day 2: Tamale to Bimbilla
5am – Taxi to Metro Mass bus station to catch ‘regular’ buses to Bimbilla, but no buses are running as the road conditions are too bad!
Taxi to tro park where one tro is heading to Bimbilla, but only when full...
...two hours later the tro is nowhere near full, as we are still the only two people  bwanting to go to Bimbilla!
Walk back to Metro Mass bus station where to our delight one bus is going to Bimbilla at 1pm! But as it’s currently 7am we grab a seat because we’re going to be here for a while...
12pm – Get a ticket. Scoff down egg ‘n’ bread lunch. Board bus. Away we go...
6pm – Arrive Bimbilla. Buy tickets to leave Bimbilla on first bus next morning. Check in at Jnr Original Guesthouse. Eat dinner. Shower. Early to bed!

Day 3: Bimbilla to Ho Hoe
7am (lie-in) – Walk to bus station. Eat egg ‘n’ bread ( a recurring theme of our trip) breakfast. Second mishap of the trip (once again involving gravity)...as the bus pulls into the yard I decide it would be a good idea to head to the toilet before we embark on the five hour journey ahead! Now as you can probably imagine the ‘public toilets' here in Ghana are not the greatest! They are usually just a long drop hole in the ground, which require a good squatting position and if you’re lucky they have two walls on either side, but no door! So as I was pulling my trousers up ready to leave I accidentally kicked one of my flip-flops (my favourite (once white) Havaianas that I purchased at the very start of my travels in Brazil and have been all over the World with me since) down the ‘toilet!’ Now I know you’re all probably cringing at what might come next in this story, but rest assured I didn’t love the flip-flop enough to embark on a ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ moment, instead I limped my way back to Abbie who noticed my missing shoe and laughed her head off as I told her the story...

The surviving flip-flop!

10am – Third mishap of the trip (luckily not to me this time)...the bus was finally ready to depart with all 100+ yams safely under netting on the top so Abbie and I decided it was time to head for our seats! As Abbie stepped up onto the bus she heard a loud rip as her trousers burst wide open at a rather unfortunate place! Being the good friend that I am, I decided that it was now my turn to laugh hysterically at her misfortune!
6pm – Arrive Ho Hoe after a slow yet beautiful bus journey through the North of the Volta region! As I was sat there half way through the journey looking out of the window and admiring the view I had a sudden feeling of peace (how cliche eh?!) where I decided I wanted to close my eyes and really make sure I captured that moment! Now this only happened once on the entire eight hour bus journey and it just so happened to be at exactly the same time that Abbie turned to me to unleash a four-letter-word rant about the bus driver who was driving ridiculously slowly and on some sort of power trip! Moment of peace and tranquility lost, but I did manage to make Abbie laugh when I told her what she’d just interrupted!

A passing tro, which made me realise how lucky I was to be able to afford a seat on the bus!

Day 4: Ho Hoe
After checking in at Taste Lodge last night we decided today was a day of adventure and no travel, so what better way to spend it than at Tsatsudo waterfall...

Day 5: Wli Falls
Today is Easter Sunday, a day that I would normally spend with my family, hunting down Easter eggs, enjoying a family lunch then scoffing chocolate in front of a DVD in the afternoon! However as I can’t do that, why not another waterfall! This meant that after a free breakfast of omelette, toast and milo we set off by tro to Wli Falls ‘the largest waterfall in West Africa’ (this status is yet to be confirmed)! 

Me infront of the waterfall before donning my bikini to go into the pool!

At the falls we met four Canadian guys volunteering in Tama through ‘Engineers Without Borders!’ They had planned to camp overnight at a site one hour away from the falls, which Abbie and I thought would be great fun, but there was one drawback...we had already checked into the beautiful Waterfall Lodge in Wli! So the six of us plotted  our great escape from the Lodge and then we would ride three on each bike to the camp site where we would have a much cheaper night under the stars! However as with all good plans, we couldn’t check out of the lodge without paying for the room we hadn't even been into yet  so ended up arranging to meet the EWB’s at our next stop in Ho instead...

 

The view from our room at Waterfall Lodge!

Day 6: Ho Hoe to Ho
8am – Tro from Wli to Ho Hoe.
10am – Tro from Ho Hoe to Ho.
12pm – Check in at Mayflower Guesthouse.

2pm – Bump into Adele, Kelly and Jacky from ICT. Head to Talk of the Town spot and chop bar for lunch.

The sky after lunch, but it did not rain or storm at all!

7pm – Meet two of EWB’s at Queens View for beer – Club and dinner –  ‘Cow’ Kebabs, Banku and Tilapia.

The dreaded banku with yummy tilapia!

Day 7: Ho
After our late night last night we decided it would be a good idea to wake up at 6am to go climb a mountain today! Adaklu mountain is 15km south of Ho so what better way to travel there than three on a moto – the rider, Abbie and I! 

Our three hour hike up the mountain can only be summed up like this...
Harder than the Inca Trail. Rock climbing. Cave writing. Stings. Ropes. Abseiling. Falling. Crawling. Barefoot. Slipping. Sliding. Mud. Scratches. Water. Breath-taking views. Happiest moment in Ghana. Teenage boys. Machettes. Stupid. Reckless. The most adventurous trek of my entire life. 

And the adventure can only be shown like this...

Abbie and I after the short trek up to the starting village...wewere puffed after that let alone what was to come!

Adding my name alongside those in the cave!

Me embracing the dirt after falling or sliding in the mud hundreds of times!

With breath-taking views at the top like this...

My excitement having reached the top!

Abbie and I looking down at the village where we began the trek 3 hours earlier!

After all this we then grabbed a quick lunch, showered and hopped in a tro to Atimpoku...

Day 8: Atimpoku and Akesombo
After persuading Abbie that we should splash out at the end of our trip and spend 40GHC instead of our usual 30GHC on accomodation we checked ourselves into Aylo’s Bay last night and woke up this morning to a yummy breakfast by the lake, which was definitely worth the extra 5GHC (£2) each! 

We then headed to Akesombo Dam, a tourist attraction in Ghana and one especially favoured by engineers for it’s genius mechanics! 

So after being less than excited by our trip to the Dam we did what we do best and headed back to the lake, markets and for a drink!

Now as beautiful as the lake is, we both agreed that we needed some city life for a few days so jumped on an afternoon tro headed to Accra, the big Capital City of Ghana...

Day 9: Accra
9am – What would be the first thing two country girls from Ghana’s Uppers (Abbie Upper West, Me Upper East) do when they find themselves on Ghana’s Atlantic Coast...yep you guessed it, we rush straight for the beach...La Badi Beach!! We spend five hours baking ourselves in the Ghanaian rays and avoiding the rough and tumble of the Ghanaian waves!
6pm – Burger and Chips dinner with Adele at Semi’s spot and chop bar.
9pm – Massive thunderstorm. Early to bed.

Day 10: Accra
The big day that the whole World had been waiting for...the Royal Wedding had arrived! I watch the special occasion on a dodgy Ghanaian TV with tears in my eyes and a longing for home! But after a few texts back and forth to loved-ones I soon man-up and do what all vols do best when in the Capital...shop! Abbie and I hit Osu aka ‘Oxford Street’ to buy cloth and enjoy some much missed smoothies! We then tro it to Accra Mall where we purchase chocolate, oil, nuts etc and treat ourselves to a 10GHC lunch while watching CNN report on the wedding highlights!
7pm - we eventually stroll home just in time to shower and get dressed for Adele and Irene’s ‘not the royal wedding party’ where actually what we end up doing when numbers start to dwindle is play Pictionary into the early hours and realise just how bad each other’s drawing skills are!

Day 11: Accra
Our last day in Accra we manage to fill with pizza, pizza and more pizza!
12:30pm – 2-4-1 pizza lunch at Paloma Hotel with Adele and Irene.
4pm – Arrive at STC bus station for 5pm bus to Wa.
5pm – Bus to Wa is delayed until 11pm.
6pm – 2-4-1 pizza dinner at Paloma Hotel.
9pm – Leave Paloma Hotel to return to bus station for 11pm bus to Wa.
9:02pm – Bump into Aiden, Irene and Anthony outside Paloma Hotel.
9:03pm – Walk back into Paloma Hotel for a beer while the guys enjoy 2-4-1 pizza.
9:45pm – Leave Paloma Hotel for the third time today to return to bus station for 11pm bus to Wa.
1am – Bus to Wa finally leaves after eight hour delay!

Day 12: Wa
2pm – Arrive Wa. Taxi to Uplands Hotel. Shower. Stand under a/c. Watch CNN.
3pm – Lunch with Damien and Jackie
7pm – Dinner with team TENI. Early to bed to watch CNN.

Day 13: Wa
TENI meeting on public holiday – dedication to the cause!

Day 14: Wa to Bolga
3:20am – Wake up. Shower. Pack.
4am – VSO car to Metro Mass station
6:30am – Board bus. Cat fight between two Ghanaian women on bus. Moto accident outside. Man with head injury taken to hospital.
7am – Leave Wa heading for home.
2pm – Arrive Bolga.
2:30pm – Home with stories of adventure to tell and laundry to do! Roll on the next vacation in July to Togo and Benin is all I can say...!