My official half way point and I think we've all heard enough about how much I've changed in the past six months so here's how Ghana has changed too...
Everywhere is now a luscious healthy green, hiding the secrets of compund houses behind six foot tall maize from passersby on the road. The amount of red dust is minimal, making the landscape seem less flat and monotonous, but instead rich and alive. Animals and people are looking fatter, stronger and healthier, like Spring time at home, thanks to the increase in nutrient filled produce. All this in Ghana, a country I did not even know has seasons and rainfall until I was packing to leave to spend a year of my life here! All this in the West of a continent that is experiencing extreme drought in its East. All this in a continent that survives on aid and no more so than when mother nature causes such things as drought, but human nature causes such things as famine! With only an estimated 20% of Somalis who need aid actually receiving it out of the 12.4 million who are in need of humanitarian assistance, short of marching over to Somalia yourself, how does one ensure their charitable donations really end up in the hands of those most in need? (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-14517866) I told my parents when Haiti hit the news headlines in 2010 that that was the kind of aid work I wanted to be doing. I wanted to be in a first response team saving lives. Now I have experienced capacity building work in the development sector, I know this is not enough for me, but maybe the next step is... The tough 'risk' debate between putting my life out there to do some good, both for me in terms of personal reward and the people and lives I can help or plodding along quietly, happily, maybe selfishly as more and more things enter my life that I would never want to lose!
...the rain this morning started at 5am and continued to drizzle until lunchtime, the temperature dropped dramatically taking us from stuffy and sweaty to cool and breezy. As I sat reading my book, under the blanket with my fan off, drinking a cup of tea I lost myself for a moment and thought I was at home in my room, which I suppose to some extent I am, because in six months this house, this place and these people (most of them) have made Ghana home for me. But home is where the heart is and mine is currently split between so many places in England and a small city in Northern Ghana!
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| The view over the compound wall when I first arrived in the dry hot season in February! |
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| The view over the compound wall now in the peak of the wet season! Amazing for farmers and their families who farm enough produce to survive the entire year until next rainy season! |
...the rain this morning started at 5am and continued to drizzle until lunchtime, the temperature dropped dramatically taking us from stuffy and sweaty to cool and breezy. As I sat reading my book, under the blanket with my fan off, drinking a cup of tea I lost myself for a moment and thought I was at home in my room, which I suppose to some extent I am, because in six months this house, this place and these people (most of them) have made Ghana home for me. But home is where the heart is and mine is currently split between so many places in England and a small city in Northern Ghana!
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