Cape Coast

Written on 31st of July
Summary:
On Tuesday Anna and I were really ill and couldn’t get out of bed as we had really bad stomach cramps, I’ve never experienced that much pain before but when we had to leave to Cape Coast the next morning at 4am, I already felt a lot better compared to before. We had to wait for 6 hours for the bus, which means we could have slept in, and ended up arriving in Cape Coast at 10pm. During our stay there, we went on a canopy walkway which was a walkway created above a forest and we went to visit Cape Coast Castle. We also did a lot of just reading and chatting to people that we met at the resort. On Friday morning, Anna had to go, which was really sad as I’d spent my last 4 weeks with her. On Saturday morning I went to the bus stop and made my way back to Tamale. I arrived back here at 1.30am and ended up having to take a taxi as Fred wasn’t answering his phone. Now it’s just Marcus, Valentine, 2 German girls and I left.
Detailed:
Tuesday Anna and I were really ill. We were ill to the extent of not being able to move as we had the worst stomach cramps ever. We were doubled over in bed all day and both had a cry as it was pure agony, never experienced anything like it. It was her, Matt and Frank’s last night in Tamale, but we simply couldn’t move so we just stayed in bed. We never really got to sleep properly and at 4am we had to get up to get ready to get a bus to Kumasi and then end in Cape Coast. We still weren’t very well but we were a lot better compared to a few hours before. We got to the bus stop at about 5am and were told it would leave between 6 and 7am. We didn’t leave until 10.30am! One thing I will definitely take away from Ghana is patience...
Six hours later we got to Kumasi and an hour after we were on a bus to Cape Coast. A lady got on with a bible and preached to us for 20 minutes in Twi, the main language in Ghana, got paid by the Ghanaians on the bus and then got off. I was quite surprised to hear them asking us for offerings towards her, as we didn’t understand it and just heard talking (mainly shouting) in a different language so I simply explained that and they, funnily enough, agreed with my point. The bus from Kumasi to Cape Coast was very tiny and Frank, being as tall as he is, couldn’t even fit his legs between his seat and the seat in front of him. One thing I didn’t understand, well I do understand it but it just frustrates me, is we had to continually pay separately for our bags on the bus. It was just a way to get more money of people. Francis, one of our Ghanaian friends who stays at Fred’s, had given us a number to call when we got to Cape Coast, which was for a taxi from the bus stop to Oasis Beach Resort, the hotel we were staying at. This was very convenient as it was really late. We arrived at 10pm at Oasis so it had been a very long day. We had booked two doubles for the both of us, even called twice more after having made the reservation for them to confirm to us it’s booked, however on arrival they didn’t have a room for us, so we ended up staying in dorms. We didn’t mind this and nearly expected it, just the one thing that I don’t like about it is that your things can get stolen really easily as everyone walks in and out. We also found out that a rat had gotten into Anna’s backpack, which was lying at her feet all night, to eat her biscuits and part of her bag. We then later on in the day saw it on the ceiling. Lovely.
The next morning, Thursday, I woke up at 6.30am because of my stomach aches and I hadn’t eaten for nearly 2 days, so my body wanted some food but at the same time it was all just a feeling of discomfort. I was able to take a shower at this resort though. An actual shower! It was amazing, it was cold but it felt so good! I felt clean for the first time properly in ages. It was really nice as it’s in a cubicle outside and the cubicle doesn’t have a roof so your view is the palm trees, beautiful! The resort is on the beach and it really does give us a holiday feeling, but Anna and I felt as if it wasn’t really Ghana anymore, the same feeling we got with Mole National Park. For us, and for other volunteers that I meet in those tourist places, real Ghana is the villages where we work. It’s nice to see different parts of Ghana but it definitely makes me realise how lucky I’ve been to have been placed in Tamale. Kumasi, Accra (the capital) and Cape Coast are very crowded and I would not ever feel safe there. In Tamale I can just walk around on my own and you need that comfort if you’re staying for 6.5 weeks. But as a holiday place Cape Coast is very beautiful, it’s got a lot of history and the beach is stunning. It’s nice to be going to sleep and hearing the waves in the background.
We ended up not having time for breakfast as we went to the Canopy Walkway by taxi at 7.30am. We got there about 45 minutes later and were able to go on a tour straight away. It was a bit of a climb to get to the start of the canopy walkway, which definitely made me realise how long I haven’t done exercise. The canopy walkway are walkways that are hung above all the trees at the height of 40 metres. It was breathtaking. On our way back, the taxi’s tyre went really flat, which ended up us driving on the rim. We had to stop and wait for the taxi man to get a new tyre and while we were waiting the women from the village we stopped at, brought us a bench which was really nice of them. About 45 minutes later, which definitely was a lot quicker than I thought it would take, we were back on the road. We got the taxi driver to drive us past a breakfast place where it felt so good to get some food down me. An egg sandwich, yum. Best part was it was 1 cedi (40p).
The rest of the day we just relaxed, I napped on the beach a bit, read a bit, walked a bit and we grabbed a bite to eat at the resort at around 6pm. THEY HAD WESTERN FOOD! It was so exciting! I shared a Margarita Pizza with Anna and we both had a crepe for dessert as well, so good! After dinner, many westerners who stayed in Cape Coast started arriving from their host families to get a drink as our resort has a nice bar and a small night club as well. I met at least 10 Dutch people that night. I swear Dutch people are everywhere... The boys were getting more and more drinks down them and we just cringed at anything they said so Anna and I went and sat on our own for a while on the beach and later on just went back to our room as it was 10pm, late night for me once again haha! We were able to stay in nice little houses for the last two nights, which was a nice luxury.
On Friday we had a bit of a sleep in, yes 8am is definitely a sleep in in Ghana haha, and at 9am went for a walk around Cape Coast to try and find some breakfast. The people are very different in Tamale to Cape Coast, I feel like they’re less friendly here. Afterwards, we went to the Cape Coast Castle. This was a slave castle at the end of the 1600s and was used by British people to capture Africans in. The condition, as I bet you can imagine, were really surreal and the rooms they were kept in was pure darkness and of course without any toilets or anything and as they were with about 300 people in a room, which was maybe just over 30 metres squared, they were not treated like humans at all. Also if the women refused to have sex with the British men they’d be locked up without any food and water for 4 days in a really small room without any windows. It was really nice to hear some history about Ghana, as I’d read some information on it but to hear it being said by a Ghanaian guide made it a lot more interesting. We were able to take some beautiful photos of the castle and sea.
Once again the rest of the day we just relaxed. I swam in the sea for a bit, but the current and waves were really strong so after about 20 minutes I was knackered. I went and sat on my towel and two young Ghanaian girls, about 5 years old, came and sat by me. They talked for ages to me in Twi, while I just smiled. I then taught them a song which was fun as they love learning anything.
Anna had to leave to get to Accra at 3pm for her flight on Saturday morning. It was sad to see her go as she’s been my roommate for the last month. At night Matt, Frank and I went to the bar again to just hang out. Even more Dutch people than Friday night were there and it ended up being a really good night. I really do find it surprising though, that even in a country in Africa, everything is still all about alcohol, sex and drugs. I mean to get marijuana here is so incredibly easy and so cheap that all the tourists just smoke it all the time, the alcohol is really cheap which means all the tourists get drunk all the time and all the tourists end up having drunk sex with strangers. Maybe I should have expected it, but it still shocks me as it just seems wrong to waste money and time doing that type of thing in Africa. I mean one of the volunteers of my program ended up spending at least 200 cedis (80 pounds) on alcohol and marijuana and that is a hell of a let if you know the prices of things here. So there were definitely many drunk people around, but quite a few sober Dutch people so it was a really nice night overall. There was even a bonfire on the beach, so it was a really nice ending to Cape Coast.
I decided to leave Cape Coast a day early just because it all ended up being a lot more expensive than I thought it would be and my money is definitely close to running out. I left the resort at 9am and was able to get a bus to Kumasi at 11.30am. A Ghanaian woman on the bus asked what my end destination was, I told her Tamale and she got concerned about what bus I should take from Kumasi to Tamale. She called about 5 people and an hour later told me which would be a good bus for me, especially with me being a foreigner. It was so lovely of her to do, it definitely made me feel more at ease as since that morning I hadn’t seen any ‘white’ people and so had felt very alone and uncertain about where to go when I was in Kumasi. She organised for the driver to take me to the right bus stop. I got to that bus stop at about 3pm and got told that it wouldn’t leave until 7pm. I ended up just lying down on the chairs in the waiting room and fell asleep for two hours. Also there at the bus stop, people kept making sure I was okay and asked which bus I was taking, so they could keep an eye out for it and warn me when it was here. The bus left at 7.30pm and I didn’t arrive in Tamale until 1.30am. Fred didn’t answer his phone all night, so I decided to just risk it and take a taxi from the bus stop to the volunteering house. I didn’t feel very comfortable with the decision as I mean you can’t really trust anyone you don’t know at night in any country, but God’s been looking after me incredibly well and I got home only about 10 minutes later. That was the first day in Ghana that I hadn’t seen anyone white apart me which was quite a strange feeling, but Ghanaians are really nice and really put me at ease.
I’m meant to be doing extra classes with the kids the next two weeks, but the teacher had told me that Fred hasn’t contacted them about that at all. This, once again, isn’t surprising to hear, so I guess I’ll just see what he plans last minute for me. I wouldn’t mind doing the orphanage either, but we’ll see!

Mole National Park

Written on the 24th of July
Summary:
I've had an awesome week! All my kids have done their exams and 11 out of 12 got over 70% in them. The teacher I taught alongside with for a while had been ill for a week so I did loads of revision with them and the teacher saw the results and she was absolutely shocked! She said it was because of me that they got these as she didn't think all of them would pass and with such high grades, so I was so happy! They were so grateful as well, so it definitely made my week amazing! We went to Mole National Park on Friday till Sunday. We went on a walking safari and went canoeing. On the walking safari, we got to see elephants, baboons and many other animals. It was surreal to be standing about 30 metres away from them. There were a lot of dutch people at the resort we stayed at and everyone was white there, which felt really strange as we're used to being surrounded by Ghanaians. Monday and Tuesday will be normal work days for us and will be Matt, Anna and Frank’s last two days in Tamale. On Wednesday us four will leave to Cape Coast to enjoy the coast and do some excursions there and lie on the beach. Anna will be staying until Friday, Frank until Saturday and Matt and I until Sunday. Can’t wait!

Detailed:

I’ve had such a good week! On Wednesday and Thursday the girls from my class had to do their exams, which was 45 minutes each day, maths on Wednesday and English on Thursday. I knew what was in the exams so I prepared them to the best of my ability. Went over and over and over things at least 5 times as they don’t have time to study when they’re at home. They probably thought at times I was going over the top a bit when I kept asking them to do it again, but it helped! As when I marked the papers, 11 out of 12 girls passed their exams all having over 70%! I was so proud of them. One of the girls got 27%,but I found out afterwards that she’s just in the wrong class as she’s 4 years younger than the other girls. Their teacher that I usually teach alongside with had been ill for a week, so I was teaching them every morning. When I showed her the results on Friday, she couldn’t believe it! She was amazed by the results and she says they got me to thank for it. That was so nice to hear! So this means that all those 11 girls get to go to state school, so a school where they’ll actually get a qualification! However, education costs money in Ghana and only 4 of those girls have sponsors. So please please please if anyone is interested in sponsoring a girl, let me know! It’s about 80 pounds a year.
After school, I walked home with some of the girls from Maltiti School and one of them was in my class, Nihad, the girl that had written the letter. She said she needed to buy something from the shop but that I could continue walking. She ended up catching me up and gave me a lollipop! This doesn’t sound like a big deal, but it really is! Kids never have any or much money and so the little money she had she spent on me, it was so sweet!
For Friday we needed bus tickets for Mole National Park and the boys from Fred’s house said that the best way to buy them is that they buy them at like 5am on Friday morning. I reminded Bwocke again on Thursday night and his reply was: ‘Yeah if I wake up on time...’ That really frustrated me as it’s a big deal for us because if we don’t have bus tickets we’re not going, so I said I’d call him to wake him up. At 4.30am I called him and he woke up, but 10 minutes later I got a phone call saying that he didn’t have fuel, so we all needed to pay him 1 cedi. I got so annoyed as fuel is probably about 1 cedi to get where he needed to get and because he was obviously unprepared to get those tickets. He then also made me walk over to Fred’s house at that time to give him that money. I argued with him for about 10 minutes about why he needed 8 cedis and he never gave a good reason, so I ended up pressing it into his hand while saying ‘There you go, but I’m seriously pissed off’. It just infuriated me as he doesn’t need that money for going over there and Ghanaian people always try and get more money off us. The next morning he returned with the tickets and the 8 cedis back as he obviously ended up feeling bad.
We went to school that morning and after that grabbed a taxi to the bus station. The taxi to town is 50 peswas, which is 20p, so absolutely nothing! When we got to the bus station there were suddenly white people everywhere! They were all going to Mole National Park. We hadn’t seen that many white people together in so long and at least half of them were Dutch. At the bus station there were Ghanaians everywhere selling literally anything you could possibly need. They all carry it on their head and just walk around waiting for people to come to them. You could buy biscuits, bread, fish, chicken, extension leads, perfume etc. The bus ended up being 1.5 hours late, which is apparently not a lot at all as Matt, one of the volunteers, went two weeks ago and waited for 4 hours. The bus had 60 seats which were all filled up and about another 20 people standing. This meant that those people standing, stood for 4 hours! The bus cost us 4 cedis (1.60 pounds), once again absolutely no money for a trip that long. All the Ghanaian people on the bus got off about half an hour before us and we ended up being with only white people when we arrived. We got there at about 7pm and walked into the restaurant and about 100 white people were sat there having dinner. That just felt so strange as there was not a Ghanaian to be seen anywhere except for the waiters. The pool closed at 7pm, but we all really wanted to go for a swim. We ended up paying a cedi each to the night guard to let us swim. It was such a laugh!
The next morning we had to meet at 6.45am for the walking safari. Everyone went in groups of about 10 and a guide (with a massive gun) went up front. The walk was for about 2 hours and we ended up seeing elephants, baboons and many other animals I’ve forgotten the name of haha. We were able to get 30 metres away from the animals, it felt so surreal! It was amazing to see. When we got back we had some breakfast and then got a van into a village nearby to go canoeing. I fell over just before we got into the canoe, full on grazing up one of my legs. I’m really clever like that. A Ghanaian rushed over to help me clean dirt from the cuts which was really nice. The canoe ride was for about an hour and was really nice and relaxing. The rest of the day we just relaxed by the pool. The pool had a beautiful view over the national park. Often baboons came and stole food from the people which was quite hilarious, but obviously not good for them. Once a baboon got a whole cup of sugar and literally looked so cheeky walking off with it. He returned the cup when he’d finished with it, which was nice on him haha.
This morning we got up at 3.30am (beautiful time) for the bus back to Tamale. We got back at about 9am and just have been relaxing since. Monday and Tuesday will be normal work days for us and will be Matt, Anna and Frank’s last two days in Tamale. On Wednesday us four will leave to Cape Coast to enjoy the coast and do some excursions there and lie on the beach. Anna will be staying until Friday, Frank until Saturday and Matt and I until Sunday. Can’t wait!
Oh also what you’ll be interested to hear is that I have two Ghanaian admirers. They were both my friends and one of them about a week in, sent me a text confessing his love for me. It said things like “you are so beautiful”, “i fell in love with you the moment i saw you” etc. I told him I have a boyfriend, which was the easiest way to show him that there’s no way anything is going to happen between us. A week ago another one, who I see every day, also sent me a text confessing his love. His text said things like “i’ve never had someone in my heart like you”, “to tell the truth I always find it hard to tell someone how much I love her” and “I dream of you almost every day” etc.
Interesting...

The group we're going to Cape Coast with.

I got given such a cute note!

Written on the 19th of July
First of all, the dog is all back to normal! Which I’m very happy about, although I still can’t believe what they’d done to him.
Summary:
On Sunday I’d gone to church for the first time in Ghana. It definitely was an experience, but I didn’t agree with everything the pastor had said and he seemed to say Hallelujah and Amen a lot, which for some reason got on my nerves. Very cute thing happened on Monday as well. I got a note from a girl in class called Nihad. She’d written:
Dear Marika, I am very happy to write you this letter. How are you? I hope you enjoy your stay with us at our school. I love you so much. I like you face. Thank you.
We’d found out on Monday that one of Fred’s brothers had died, so Fred will be absent all of this week. It must be so hard for him to leave this all as no one can take over from him and he’s still getting bombarded with phone calls. Today I’m picking up a shirt I got tailored from Ghanaian fabric, hopefully it’ll fit perfectly!
Detailed:
Sunday morning I joined Baba and Francis, two of the boys that live at Fred’s house, at church. The English service started at 11pm. They sang two songs with 6 Ghanaian ladies leading it at the front which was really well sung and then it was followed by everyone leaving. Everyone had been told to go out for 25 minutes and ask people on the street to come to the church service. Apparently they do this every Sunday, it’s a nice way to get people to church but I was a bit surprised that they took time out of the service to do that. When everyone returned, we sang some more songs and prayed. The projector had been broken, so I couldn’t sing along which was a shame but it was nice to just listen as well. When the pastor preached, I understood most of it, but although it was all spoken in English, he had a heavy Ghanaian accent. I definitely didn’t agree on everything he said or did (e.g. he got an ipad out and showed it off a bit, which was uncomfortable), but it was an interesting experience. At the end the team there wanted to know where I lived and if they could have my number, but I didn’t feel completely at ease with that, so I somehow was able to avoid that.
After that I just got a taxi into town and walked around a bit and spent some time on skype with my friends, which was nice. I also have been talking to my parents twice a week which has been nice, it gets me very excited to see the new house and settle back in Geldermalsen. I also received an email from my uni about introduction week, which makes me look forward to it all so much!
On Monday a new boy arrived from Romania. He’s 23 years old and about to start his last year in medicines. He definitely keeps us amused. As I’m the only volunteer left at Maltiti school as the others are now all teaching at the village I taught the first 2 days at, no one was there to pick me up. I didn’t mind that and was trying to find a taxi, when I suddenly saw Bwocke (one of the guys that lives at Fred’s) on his motorbike. He was on the way to town and told me to hop on! So there I was riding on the back of the motorbike for the first time. Of course there are no helmets involved, and he had no mirrors, so it’s definitely an adventure (not sure if it’s a safe one, but it was fun!). He said he’ll teach me one day as well, which is exciting!
We found out on Monday that Fred’s brother has died. We’re not sure yet if it’s a related brother as all Ghanaian friends call each other ‘brothers’ here, but he’s understandingly very torn up about it, so he won’t be around for about a week as the burial isn’t in Tamale. I wonder what this will mean for the organisation around here, but fingers crossed that it will just all continue flowing. The boy with Malaria, Mike, left today to go back to Accra to catch the flight back home, as he just doesn’t feel very good. Prayer will be appreciated for him and also all of us to hopefully be able to prevent this from happening to us.
Aw very cute thing happened on Monday as well. I got a note from a girl in class called Nihad. She’d written:
Dear Marika, I am very happy to write you this letter. How are you? I hope you enjoy your stay with us at our school. I love you so much. I like you face. Thank you.
It was so sweet and definitely will keep the note forever.
Yesterday was a harder morning than usual. The teacher that I teach alongside with was ill, so I did some things we’ve done before and then I tried to explain to them how 11.40am is easier to be said as ‘twenty to twelve’ than ‘forty past eleven’. I tried and tried, but they just didn’t understand. I think it’ll be easier when the Dagbani teacher is back so she can help explain it in Dagbani. For lunch Anna, Matt, Frank and I (who will also be the ones who I’m going to Cape Coast with) just bought a pineapple, 2 mangoes and 5 bananas to make a fruit salad. It ended up being 5 cedis (2 pounds!?) and being absolutely delicious. I’d bought Ghanaian fabric from a lady who had come past our house a couple of days ago and I’d gone to a tailor to make a top for me. It was finished within 4 days and I went by yesterday, but it was a little too big, so I’m going to pick it up today and hopefully it should fit perfectly!
On Friday we’re going to Mole National Park, where you can go on safari’s and they have a pool and a shower as well! Pure luxury! It should be a nice weekend away. We’re going with 8 of us, which should be good!

Off to church :)

Poor dog

Written on the 16th of July
Summary:
Wednesday night ended up being really good! Many people came over to the volunteering house, Fred had organised a dj and he ended up getting the goat from us. Men in Ghana dance VERY differently to ones in Europe and it was interesting to experience that to say the least. The kids that I’ve been teaching have got exams next week and if they pass, they go to proper primary schools as the one I teach them at just prepare them for primary school. I think I have a vague idea of who will pass and who won’t which is sad, but I guess we’ll find out soon! This morning I witnessed something horrific. Fred has 2 dogs and like many Ghanaians, they don’t really care about their pets. Today the boys that live at Fred’s house thought it would be really funny to get the dogs drunk. They forced so much rum down one of their throats that he ended up in such a bad state! He was disorientated, falling over everywhere, peeing everywhere and wouldn’t stop yelping. It was horrible to see. We tried to calm him down and got him to lie down where he just lay still for hours. We were convinced he was going to die, but he’s been walking around so I think he’ll be okay. I just get so angry thinking about how they just did it for a bit of fun and how much laughter took place while doing it! It was just very upsetting to see that.
Detailed:
Wednesday night we all had such a good time! Fred had bought a lot of drinks and organised a dj and about 50 people turned up. The way men dance here is very different to Holland or the UK or many European countries. They have very loose hips and definitely all are able to dance. They also don’t need any alcohol to dance which you can’t say for many men that I know. Men are also very comfortable with each other, which can be very awkward to watch. They dance with each other the way a man dances with a woman at a night club. In Europe everyone would quickly assume they’d be ‘gay’, however in Ghana it’s perfectly normal to dance like that, which I found surprising as being gay is pretty much forbidden here. I had a bit of a dance as well, but you’d quickly have a Ghanaian man coming towards you, which I’m never completely comfortable with, the whole dancing closely with people you don’t know...
One thing that surprised me is suddenly at about 10.30pmish everyone started leaving. I’m assuming this is normal in Ghana and that they don’t dance until midnight or later, but it all surprised us. We ended up being able to buy Fred a goat, which we all got to pet etc, and we’ll probably eat very soon (which definitely is an unpleasant thought). That’s another thing that always shocks me, the way many people treat animals here. It’s perfectly normal to cane your pets. We have 2 dogs at the house and the way the boys treat them is horrific! We always try to prevent it, but they just laugh at how shocked we get. Animals are like objects to many of them.
I did a lot of my laundry on Thursday, which we always do outside and as so many people come and go by our house, it’s the hardest thing to be able to do your own laundry. EVERYONE will offer to do your laundry for you. Young, old, male, female, anyone! I really don’t need any of them to do my laundry as it’s not their duty to, I made it dirty, and so I’ll clean it. They are so kind, but some things, us as westerners, just got to do ourselves. Also when we arrive at our schools the first thing the kids will do is, make sure they take our bags of us, that our desk and chair is straight and that they are clean etc. It’s incredibly endearing, although we can easily do that ourselves.
I really love teaching my class. The girls all have exams next week, which is a scary thought as some of them definitely aren’t ready yet. The exams determine whether they go to a state school, which means an actual primary school, which they pay to go to (or in their case, get sponsored to go to). I have felt that I’ve made a difference though, being able to take many girls one on one and go over their maths with them, which is a good feeling, but I wish I could have helped them for a bit longer. By the way, I heard that school doesn’t finish next week, but the week after, apparently the 28th and I asked Fred what I’ll be doing after that and he said there’ll be classes even in the summer holidays with girls at a higher level, so I’m glad to hear that, but I’m sad that I couldn’t have taught the girls I have been teaching for longer as we’d have formed a stronger bond. Another thing that shocks me is that teachers answer their phones in class!
As last night everyone had had brought some drinks with them as we just had a drink at the house(some went clubbing, but Anna and I, the old sods), some rum (or in Ghana’s case ‘rhum’), had been left over. The Ghanaian boys from Fred’s house thought it was a hilarious idea to get the dogs drunk. I tried everything to get them to stop, but I couldn’t. They’d literally given Snoopy, one of the dogs, so much to drink! As soon as I was able to I grabbed both the dogs and put them in my room. I had to literally lock the door, as the boys were still trying to get the dogs to get them drunker. It was horrible. Snoopy went absolutely crazy in my room, jumped on everything and had no clue what was going on. When I finally realised I couldn’t keep them locked up, I just let them out hoping that they wouldn’t continue. A while later, Mike, another volunteer, said he heard loads of yelping. We ended up finding Snoopy locked in a room and he was absolutely going mad. The noise that was coming out of his mouth sounded like a chicken, he couldn’t stand up straight, kept falling over, kept peeing everywhere and he was just so disorientated. It was so sad and hard to watch! That chicken noise came out of his mouth continually for about an hour. Then we were able to finally lie him down and we were convinced he was going to die. We’ve just gotten back from town, he’s still weak, but he’s up at least, we thought we’d find him dead. It was so horrible the way they’d literally opened up his mouth and poured the rum down it and how they found it so hilarious. We were all fuming, but there’s nothing much we can do. I don’t think the dogs will last long after the volunteers leave...
The group we’re left with now, Anna and Matt from the US, Mike and Frank from the UK, Marcus from Spain and I, are all at least staying until the end of the month now. It’s a really nice group and we’ve been planning a trip down to Cape Coast. All them, but Marcus and Me, fly out at the end of the month, so we really hope we can plan to leave on Wednesday the 27th and go down there for a few days. As I don’t think Marcus would want to come to Cape Coast, I’ll then probably head back to Tamale on the 31st. I just feel that now there are people that I could travel with for a few days, I should take the chance, it sounds amazing, we’ve heard good things about Cape Coast!
We also learned last night that Mike has malaria. He’s on the same medication as me, but still got it, so definitely fingers crossed for me! He’s doing okay, he had to stay in the hospital for 2 days and now has anti-malarial tablets. His parents want him home, but he’s going to see how he feels in the next few days. Definitely hope for him, that with the tablets, he’ll feel better very soon!

It's Fred's birthday today!

Written on the 13th of July
Summary:
On Monday we were 1.5 hours late for the reading club, due to the volunteering solution’s car picking us up late which was really sad to see as they’d all been waiting but they couldn’t read with us anymore as they had to go help their mums with dinner. Today’s Fred’s birthday so we’ll going out for drinks tonight, it’s also the last night for 2 of the volunteers. We’re slowly decreasing in numbers, which is sad. The last 3 days have just been the same as last week, which is nice as it’s good to have a routine. I also got to meet the chief’s newborn baby, she was so cute! Also I just told school finishes next week for the summer holiday, which I never got told, so I wonder what I’ll be doing after that...
Detailed:
On Monday, I went to Maltiti Girls school again in the morning and at lunch 3 more volunteers arrived. One 34 year old Israeli woman and two British 17 year old boys. We were meant to get picked up at Sparkles, the restaurant we have lunch at everyday, at 3pm, but they didn’t get there until about 4pm. This was really sad as the girls at Maltiti had been waiting from 3pm and as we had to drop some volunteers of at the orphanage, we didn’t get there until about 4.30pm. The kids had already set up the tables etc and when we arrived only about 6 of the 40 girls were left over. We felt so bad! I asked Francise, one of the Ghanaian boys, to really apologise and that we got delayed, but all the Ghanaians were just like don’t worry! Which was frustrating as we all just felt incredibly bad.
That lunch many of the volunteers were very frustrated as we often feel like we waste a lot of time at lunch (from 12pm until 3pm) which sometimes can extend to 4pm. Vicky and Colm talked to Fred about this. Also on our trip on Saturday there were 6 volunteers that went which meant that we paid 420 cedis altogether. The entrance fee was 12 cedis each so we really wanted to know where the rest of the money goes. They talked about this too. Fred took this quite badly and so when he came home to the other volunteers we had about a half an hour lecture about where the money goes to and about how we thought he cheated him which we didn’t think at all, we just simply wanted to know where the money is going. The whole lecture was very uncomfortable as it was all about figures and about how much of his own money he puts in etc. Also they’ve now made sure that our lunch is shorter and we do some manual labour like painting and the boys are building an office by the Maltiti school, which is good.
Yesterday was just a normal day, I got a lot of reading done in my breaks and a lot of sleeping. I’ve been going to bed at around 9pm since Sunday night now, it’s been great! People keep asking me, where I go, which I guess is a bad sign, but I love just reading, listening to my ipod or sleeping in my room. I’m going to try a bit harder to socialise a bit more in my free time.
Today is Fred’s birthday. We’re buying him a goat, which we bring to him alive and apparently he slaughters it. Tonight we’ll all be going out for drinks with everyone which is nice.
At the school break today, we got to see the village’s chief’s baby, which is now 7 days old. A week after the child is born they have a naming ceremony, so we got to come along for a part of that. I got to hold her, she was so cute! It was strange though as she was wearing eyeliner and eyebrow pencil and her ears were already pierced as well.
2 of the volunteers are leaving tomorrow and 1 is leaving on Saturday. This slowly cuts down the numbers of our group, which is a sad thought as we all gel so well, but ah well that’s all part of it! I also got told yesterday that the schools in Ghana close after next week, so I wonder what I’ll be doing after that... I’m a bit frustrated that I didn’t get told this, but ah well ‘this is ghana’!

Trips to the Monkey Sanctuary and the Waterfalls

Written on the 10^th of July
uploaded 2 new blogs today

Summary of this blog:
Yesterday I went to see a monkey sanctuary and to see the Kantampo Waterfalls. It was a really nice day out, but was a 5 hour drive there and back. The way they drive here is unreal! We were glad we survived the trip. The waterfalls were beautiful and at the monkey sanctuary we got to feed some monkeys which was nice. We went for drinks on Friday and Saturday night, which was a good laugh, however everywhere we go, people always come up and chat to you (specifically the Ghanaian boys to us girls) which can be frustrating and annoying. Today, I was able to sleep in which was so good as throughout the week I only get about 7 hours which just isn't enough for me at all! 2 things that get me frustrated here is the way the Ghanaians treat their country. there is rubbish EVERYWHERE! The other thing is that the mothers of families get their 4 year old or older kids to look after their baby siblings. It just isn't right..

Detailed:

On Friday night, all of us volunteers with the Ghanaian boys that live at Fred’s house went out for drinks. We got into the club and as we were white all eyes were quickly drawn to us. We tried to ignore it and many of the men greeted us but we’d just quickly respond and walk off. The Ghanaian boys from Fred’s house, Moosa, Kelvin, Francise and Bocke looked after us well and made sure that we kept away from creeps. They are all the sweetest guys ever and really make us feel comfortable and help us whenever it’s needed. Three of us girls decided to go to the dance part. As soon as we stepped on the dance floor, we were surrounded by Ghanaian men. They all grabbed our ass, one would be in front of you dancing with you, one would be behind you, they’d get really close to your face and although we kept pushing hands away, they didn’t get the message. After 5 minutes, we’d definitely had enough and decided to go back to where the others were. It was an interesting experience... At 12 o’clock Rachel, Anna and I were really tired and just wanted to go home especially as we had to leave at 6am to go on a trip. The rest of our lot went to the club and had a good time.

The next morning, Vicky, Colm, Helen, Marcus and I got into a van to take us to the Monkey Sactuary and the Kantampo Waterfalls. It was a 5 hour drive and once again an unbelievably bumpy one. We nearly kissed the ground when we arrived there as we were definitely close to death at least 5 times. The speed that they drive over those bumps and the way they overtake other cars, even around corners, is just crazy! At the Monkey Sanctuary, we first walked through bits of forest, which felt so nice as there’s barely any nature in Tamale. It was nice to be walking and just smell the forest and hear the birds and the monkeys. We got to feed the monkeys and I ended up buying a Ghanaian necklace in the shop at the end. Afterwards, we drove back 2 hours and got to the Kantampo Waterfalls. There were 3 stages of the waterfalls that we could see. The last stage was where it’d really classify as a waterfall. It was a big drop. It was really pretty and we stayed there for a while just putting our feet in, as those are always dirty. At around 4pm we started driving back towards Tamale, a 3 hour drive.

One thing that really frustrates me in Ghana is that the people always say that they love their country so much, but the way they treat it is saying the opposite. Every part of the city is COVERED in rubbish, they don’t have bins anywhere which is why literally everyone just throws their rubbish on the floor. Also most kids pee on the street as there are no toilet cubicles anywhere. I just find that so contradictory as the way they talk about Ghana is like you’re in heaven. Another thing, which I find pretty upsetting is the way 4 year old and older kids, carry their baby sisters or brothers instead of their mums. The Ghanaians always want really big families, although they have no money or time for the kids. So everywhere you’ll see as young as 4 year olds carry around their baby siblings. Some even take them to school!

 It was raining really hard last night, so Anna and I got into our bikinis and decided to shower outside. You get so much cleaner than showering using buckets. We felt so clean afterwards and it was just so funny standing outside with shampoo in our hair washing it out with the rain. As it was Emma’s last night (which is sad as she was one of my roommates) we all went out for drinks again. It was really nice, but us old ladies, Anna and I, were once again really tired so we decided to get a taxi home at 12. I ended up sleeping until 10am this morning, which is the most sleep I’ve gotten in one night so far.

Today, Sunday, I’m planning to just have a relaxing day. Anna, who I’ve gotten really close to, is moving into my bedroom in the place of Emma, which is exciting, and we’ve decided we’re going to give into buying nutella, although it’s super expensive, as we’re just craving European/American food. I’m looking forward to it already haha. 

Showering in the rain

My new Ghanaian necklace

First school week

Written on the 8^th of July
Summary of this blog:
On tuesday I had another day of teaching at the same school which was really hard. However I'd told Fred, the coordinator, my problems with it and he's changed me to a different school. From Wednesday until now when I leave I'm teaching at Maltiti Girls School, which is a much better school and the level of it is a lot higher! I've loved it! I've also loved doing the reading classes there in the afternoon. You just see the girls improve before your eyes which is so exciting! I did have one day where on my own I had to teach a really young class which was again harder, but it was doable as teachers kept checking if I was okay. I also did my first set of laundry which was a new experience haha.
Detailed: 

On Monday night, 3 new volunteers arrived. Helen, 17 from America, Anna, 19 from America and Marcus, 17 from Spain. They’re all lovely and it’s nice to meet new people! Anna is staying 4 weeks and Marcus is staying 5 weeks, so they’ll be people I’ll be with the longest as most of the volunteers leave on the 14^th of July.

On Tuesday, teaching at the school was still hard. There are 3 classes and Matt and I as volunteers go there, but because of the chat with Rachel, she came with. None of the teachers had turned up (what a surprise) and so we had a class each. Rachel was hoping to have talked to the teachers about their attendance, about the students and about their level, but that obviously couldn’t happen as they weren’t there. Rachel had the smallest kids, about 4 to 7 years old, and Matt and I had the same ages about 8 to 12, but Matt’s class is at a higher level. I continued doing some maths with them and did places in town and was able at the end of that to have them draw things up and name them in English. This was improvement, which is always very exciting as you can see they’re taking it in.

We were meant to teach until 12pm, but at 10.30am I decided to play a name game outside and suddenly all of Rachel’s class burst out to play outside. I checked on Rachel and she was literally about to cry. She’s never felt that helpless and with 40 young kids who just hit each other all the time, nothing’s possible. All they were able to do was repeat the alphabet and repeat 1 till 10 in English. If she tried to do a word they’d look at her blankly. It was also impossible to get them to behave, which was the same problem with one boy in my class. You can raise your voice, get in their faces, send them outside, but nothing works. They seem to have a LOT less respect for us than their Dagbani teachers. Especially as we can’t speak Dagbani, it’s hard to tell them off, but she even knew phrases like stop and go outside etc in Dagbani, but they just laughed at her although they understood perfectly well. We gave up for the day and painted the huts that Volunteering Solutions own near the school, which are meant to be used for if volunteers want to stay in a hut for a night. So if we get that all painted and cleaned up again, I’ll definitely give that a go!

In the afternoon I got to hear that I’m changing schools. They’ve moved me to an all girls school, where the teachers are usually always there and most of the children are keen to learn. It’s also walking distance from home, which is perfect as then I don’t need to give the organisation money for transport. They moved me as they knew how much the situation was stressing me out and they said as a 17 year old, I shouldn’t be dealing with that, so I’m definitely not complaining.

At night there was a cultural show. This was absolutely amazing! There were about 200 kids and us and some parents who watched and the chief of the village came and watched as well. It consisted of 4 songs played by a flute and 4 drums and danced to by breathtaking dancers. The video on facebook or the pictures can’t do it justice in the slightest! In the end, they tried to take one of my friends up, but she didn’t want to go so I joined her and we had to dance haha! All the other volunteers ended up joining in as well and we copied one of the dancers with the moves. We definitely got laughed at haha, but it was so much fun! At the end all the dancers came up to the white girls and started chatting and asking for our email address etc. Typical Ghanaians. They were nice though!

Yesterday was my first day at Maltiti, the girls school. I absolutely loved it! One of the teachers came in an hour late, so I taught with Rachel for that hour which was fun and then the teacher came and I helped her mark work etc. As my class I’m helping at is nearly doing exams, it’s all mainly revision so I mainly marked their work. 2 kids got 5 out of 15 which really upset them, which was so sad to see! They had to do improper fractions and big multiplications and all, so some struggled. If they pass these exams then they will be able to go onto state school, which is a normal primary school, but they have to pay for that. So primary school is at a much higher level as Maltiti and the village school just prepare the kids for that. The Maltiti girls all need sponsors for state school, so if you’re interested in sponsoring them, let me know! It will mean that they get good education and can move onto high school after that.

In the afternoon, all the volunteers went back to Maltiti and we did reading club with the girls. I really enjoy that as you see so much improvement every day and you can just see how keen they are to learn and it’s amazing to be part of the help towards that. I ended up getting an early night last night at about 9pm and I heard this morning that all the boys got really drunk and that I missed a hilarious night, but honestly? I really do not mind, seriously love my sleep here, as we all get back so completely drained and exhausted every day.

Today, was another stressful day, but that’s okay I didn’t come here for an easy ride. One of the teachers didn’t turn up for Maltiti and that’s the class which was the youngest ones, so the 4 to 6ish year old. The teacher that teaches them hasn’t gotten paid yet, so we think that’s probably why she didn’t turn up, which would be fair enough, so we’ll see if she’s there tomorrow. Teaching those little ones was such a struggle. I had to think of a lesson plan. We sounded out the alphabet and even when I randomly pointed at letters they could sound them out without me saying them, which was great, and then I made them copy the alphabet followed by a word for it. The class only has really small pencils as they’ve been used a lot, but there weren’t enough for the whole class. There are new pencils available so I gave them new pencils. Those kids got so excited and so suddenly everyone had lost their pencil or it wasn’t good enough. I couldn’t control them, couldn’t get them to sit down or anything. After a while I took the new pencils off them and made them all share between the old pencils as I didn’t know what else to do. Especially as they can barely speak English. Later this was the same case with new notebooks. One kid’s book was finished so I gave her a new one and it was bigger and thicker and so she was so proud of it and so suddenly everyone’s had run out and so I had to, again, take that book off her and just ripped a page out of it.

It was just a very stressful morning as they were always surrounding me with things to mark or to approve (even after they’d only written one word of the alphabet), they didn’t listen and they were never in their seats. Also the class is at very different level as some kids couldn’t even write out the letters of the alphabet, they just looked like random symbols, so that was sad to see as after a while I just needed to move on.

This afternoon I did my first laundry, so hand washing my laundry by hand in a bucket. I think I got most the stains out, except the white shirts were near impossible as they always end up being brown at the end of the day from the sand which flies around, and got them smelling at least a bit clean haha. This evening we found out that one of my friends from Volunteering Solutions, Helen, who stays in a host family across the road, that her ipod has been stolen. And this time for real. She could never lock her room, but she kept everything always hidden. When she walked in her fan was on which she never turns on and her case for her headphones and ipod was lying around. The ipod was missing. Luckily she’d hidden her passport and money in a really good spot, it’s just such a scary thought that someone has been in her room, got comfortable enough to turn on the fan and literally searched through her stuff to find her ipod. They’d left her headphones. That thought is a very scary thought, which definitely warns us again to keep locking our room all the time even if we’re in the garden, as it can be anyone..

We also had to live without running water for 2 days, which means you can’t do your laundry, the toilet doesn’t flush, you need to be careful with the water in the tanks etc, so that was quite hard as even taking a shower you should use only a little bit of water as everyone needs to use that water. As it’s 35 to 40 degrees every day, you feel very gross all the time, so not being able to wash every time you felt like it was a struggle.

Anyways, in conclusion, I’m definitely loving Ghana more every day. Every day I learn more about the culture and about the people and I love (although it’s hard) helping the kids as it’s so rewarding. 

Me doing my laundry

at the culture show

my new blanket:)

the water they drink out of

First day of teaching

Written on the 4^th of july

Wow okay I’m not sure where to start. Yesterday was a really nice relaxing day. I was ready at 8.30am to go with Fred to church, but he was nowhere to be seen until 11am. He then asked if I still wanted to go and I’d been up for it 3 hours before, but I just felt sweaty and hot at 11 and couldn’t imagine going to church anymore. 3 other volunteers and I decided to go to town instead, however when we were about to leave the heaviest rainfall started. It was absolutely pouring it down and as we have no real windows the floor of the bedroom got really wet. There are Ghanaian boys that live at Fred’s that do jobs around the house, so they were kind enough to clean it up for us. As we had just been sat outside enjoying the sun right before the rainfall, I’d left my phone outside in the rain. Typical me. It was absolutely soaked, but still turns on however says it has no sim card, so I’m leaving it in rice for a while as that’s meant to soak moisture out. If it doesn’t end up working it’s okay as I brought an oldish phone with me and I can buy a phone here for about 10 pounds.

When we went into town after the rain (those rainstorms last about 20 minutes) and checked our emails and facebook quickly and afterwards tried to find somewhere to eat. As it’s a Sunday, many places were closed so we ended up getting a rice takeaway. The rest of the day I just read and as it was one of the volunteers’ last day, we all went out for a drink at night which was really nice.

This morning we had to get up at 6.30am to leave at 7.30am to the schools we were teaching at. I got ready to take a bucket shower and wash my hair etc but realised there was no running water anywhere in our area. We just had to get ready without a wash and I felt so gross, especially as I’d put mosquito spray on the night before and you just perspire 24/7. For breakfast we always have this yummy bread that tastes like cake with egg or jam. The drive to the schools are about 30 minutes as they are in the villages which means there are no roads and just mud roads with big holes and bumps in it. I think I hit the roof of the car a couple of times that’s how bad it was. The fast speed they drive at doesn’t help the situation in the slightest. Most of the time that they drive they call at the same time as well and as there are no traffic rules anywhere it’s just a scary experience overall. As my travel insurance didn’t start until today, because the teaching didn’t start until today, I felt lucky to have reached today without needing the hospital haha. The goats, sheep and cows on the road make you feel even more scared as sometimes they’ll move and sometimes they don’t so they’ll have to brake quickly.

When we reached the village, I got told that Fred would help me teach or tell me what to teach, but when I turned around just after I’d gotten out the van, they’d already started driving off. I was shocked for words. One other volunteer, Matt, had been in that exact situation last week and could help me a little bit with how he filled the time. The two other volunteers that teach, teach at a different school. I could not believe I was just left like that! I didn’t know what level the kids were at, how good their English is and what material they’ve learnt! I was so angry/upset/frustrated, but put on a brave face and looked at my classroom I’d be teaching in. As you can see in the photos below, half the classroom was filled with wood of broken tables etc, half the roof was missing and as it had rained the day before, the class was covered in water. Great. There have been no teachers around since the roof broke, so there was no one to ask for information about the kids etc. Fred didn’t want the kids to just stay at home, which is why he got us to ‘teach’. The kids in Ghana are so well disciplined and behaved, e.g. the teachers always get the kids to clean the school and the playground around it before school starts. Therefore when I looked into my room to kids were already sweeping the water out. When we had the class back into some sort of decent state, I decided to just get them to copy out words they knew e.g. Ghana, Tamale, school etc. And fill in the missing letters that I’d leave out. First of all, to get them to understand what they had to do was a 10 minute task. They’d copy out everything I’d written but still leave the blanks, blank. Half of the kids understood the task, but got many of the letters wrong and half just left them blank until I filled them in on the board. Secondly, I got them to copy their family members e.g. mother, father etc and they copied that, but then I asked them to write their mother or father’s name after it, which is where it got hard again. Lastly I did some maths. I did equations like 8 + 2 or 20 – 3, first thinking that might insult their intelligence, but that was indeed the level they were at, and when they are numbers that they can use their fingers and toes for it’s okay. When I start doing 35 + 6, they’d have to tally it (like IIIIIIIIIIII) and then take away some of them to work out the answer, in other words that would take about 5 minutes to work out.

All in all, I hope you can imagine how hard and frustrating it was. I taught them for 1.5 hours (usually it should be from 9 until 12), but due to the teachers not being there because of the roof, we wouldn’t have known what else to teach them for that day. So at 10.30am we were finished and just played with the kids for a bit. The kids all were fascinated by our cameras and seriously at one point you just got to say, ‘no more photos now’ or it never ends. By 1pm (!?!) we finally got picked up. We were all exhausted and would have loved to go home, but we could go to town quickly to get some lunch and go by the supermarket to then go onto the Maltiti school, which is another school in a closer village to us. At that school every day from 3pm until 4pm, we read with the kids. For most kids that only go to the village schools, this means that we read and they repeat and have no clue what they’re saying. It’s really sad to see that. But I learned to speak English by it just being spoken to me etc, so I do believe that it will work and I just picked out random words like ‘tree’ or ‘short’ which you could then explain or point at a picture to show what it means.

I’m now back at the volunteer’s house and we are all just completely exhausted. I find it hard to imagine me doing this for 6 weeks, but then again I’m really excited to achieve something with the kids. As I’m staying for 6 weeks, I’m determined to see the kids improve as it’d be harder to see the improvement if you only stayed 2 weeks. Also I think I’ll enjoy the reading class, as I did a similar thing with year 7’s at high school and I do believe that it will help them. 

There’s one girl that stays at Fred’s house, Rachel, who’s American who did the teaching program for 6 weeks last week. She’s come back this year to do some research and help an organisation for women empowerment, which she’s passionate about. She also helps out at the schools, so when I told her how my day had been today, we went over to Fred and ended up having a heated discussion about the situation. He blamed the whole situation on the roof, but she felt in the same position last year and is determined things will change. In conclusion, Fred has promised me that I’ll get a syllabus and a book to teach out of and usually it’ll be alongside a teacher, unless (he said) they don’t turn up... So fingers crossed!

Two things that had shocked me today was finding out that a volunteer last year had spent a lot of money and effort on building a well for the village and as no one maintained it, after a few months it had just broken down. Sometimes that’s really hard to accept as some people try so hard to make a difference here in Ghana, but it sometimes feels like they don’t appreciate it. Because the well doesn’t work anymore, many kids drink out of the mud puddles... so shocking to see. Also in the villages the huts are either round on square. The round huts are for the women and children and the square ones are for the men, how strange is that? What’s the point in marriage then? The men can also marry more than one woman in Ghana and whichever wife cooks the meal for him, he’ll sleep with her that night. I find it hard to accept and come to terms with hearing things like that. But that’s all part of learning things about the different culture!

 The room I taught in. The broken roof

 the huts the people in the village lived in

 some of the kids

 some of the volunteers:)