Heartbreak and happiness for our Ghana GapBreak volunteers

It's so hard to believe another two weeks has gone by! Since I last spoke we've had another two weekends of travel and two weeks of teaching with our classes. I think I speak for everyone here when I say that things are getting easier, like we knew that they would. Once you get an idea of your class's rhythms and capacities for learning, it's much easier to make lesson plans and construct your day.

On our first weekend after Cape Coast (where I last left ye jolly blog-followers) we set off to Winneba (the beach town) for a nice chilled weekend. Hari, Gina and I didn't join the others until Saturday (we braved another church service), so the word we got from the others was that "Winneba is a bit random". And it was exactly that.. as soon as we pulled up in the taxi he let us out and instructed us to walk through some grassyland.. at which point we found a man playing trumpet on a roof (?) who couldn't quite hit the high notes of his scales. But that didn't stop him from trying... until late at night... for two days... it was a nice relaxing chillout because really there's not much to do at Winneba. It was nice to have a cheap weekend after the money guzzles of Cape Coast!

After some ukulele strummin' and a good sleep on a makeshift bed out of couch cushions (I lost scissors paper rock on that one) we headed off to yet another beach. There are so many beaches in Ghana but unfortunately it's quite difficult to swim in a lot of them - either full of rips, or plastic everywhere, or very shallow rocks. Good times.

After working hard we decided to travel far to the Western regions of Ghana. It literally took all of Friday to reach our destination - Appilona Beach Resort. Even after twp applications of sunscreen I still got a tro-tro burn! You never really know what you're in for when you book accommodation but this one was really one of those special little finds. There were 4 huts right on the beach front, all made of bamboo and palm fronds. All throughout the night/day we were startled by each other's swearing as we whacked our heads on stray bamboo slats that hang low from the rooves. We were so well looked after by Steve, who cooked us all an amazing dinner of spaghetti and rice for the tiny price of 3 cedi each!! What a dear!

The next day good old Stevo helped us to organise our trip to Nzulezo, the village on the water. Much to Renee and Maddie's dismay, we set off in tiny boats of three that were pretty much at water level.. lucky they had their sexy fluoro orange life jackets to keep them company. It took us about 45 minutes to row there with our awesome guide called Charles that entertained us with his rapping about his "four strong ladies". I'm quite pleased that Hari got some of his golden lyrics on film. The village itself was quite remarkable, although quiet. When the only way to get somewhere is 45 minutes by boat, you can imagine it's a bit secluded. There were about 50 house all on stilts above the water. We had an awkward chat to the "chief" and then got a nice group photo with him before departing our way across the water again. It was really nice singing along to Mary Poppins, Disney and Annie, with the rhythmic stroke of the paddles and emptying water out of the boat with tomato soup cans.

After another long tro-tro sesh (with an unforgettable plantain sandwich), we arrived at Green Turtle lodge - the cutest little eco village near Akwiida beach. The lodge itself was incredible - so much amazing food and tasty drinks (Jesus Loves Cocktails! If it's raining - it's Happy Hour!), right on the beach front with a trusty dog called 'John Rambo Fufu' by our sides. You kind of forgot the fact that the toilets were drop toilets and you didn't have any electricity because the place was kept so well. Unfortunately everyone got a bit sick that weekend. But I suppose that's just a part of it all. Gotta remember the gastro-tro stop. Overall I think it was one of those weekends where we really got close to one another. Two days with the place to ourselves and a whole head of Lauren's braids to remove lead to a lot of interesting conversations.

On the way home we stopped off in Takoradi which had an amazing supermarket... it was fabulous to finally buy some cheese and chocolate and olives and yoghurt.. wow. But I think we can all safely say we're addicted to Creamos (these impossibly tasty biscuits) and Fan Ice (icecream in a sachet.. a sachet of glory). It was quite refreshing to spend the weekend without electricity or toilets or water, but I admit it was good to home to a fan and a little light in your room. Our host families are really beginning to feel like home. Sorry, Australia. This is it!

As great as the weekends are, it's nice to be in a routine of work. I'm finding it hard to believe how fast it's going, and am not sure I'm ready to leave our orphans or host families just yet. Everybody is so different, but Hari and I are making small progresses with our kids. All the other volunteers are teaching in schools where most of the kids can read, so sometimes it's frustrating comparing stories when some of our kids can barely talk. Even though we can never say "one of my kids got 100% on his exam!" we can still say "Esther recognised a 'b' today!" or "Richmond spelt pig!". These small achievements are what remind us why we're here. Our community projects are well under way - my classroom that I'm building should be completed by the end of next week, so we will finally be able to bring the children inside. Maddie has also paid the money to furnish the room - so the kids will be able to have tables and chairs and a nice whiteboard out the front just like all the other children!! Lauren and Bardie have donated a huge amount of textbooks to their school which were received with such heartwarming gratitude.

This week has been really rough at the orphanage, because on Monday we were given the news that Kwabi - one of our orphans - died on the weekend. We had all watched his condition deteriorate into more severe sickness over the past week, but were expecting him to bounce back like all the other kids tend to do. Obviously, this sort of thing is bound to happen but it's just so shocking and heart wrenching when it's a gorgeous two year old boy that you've put to bed, and dressed, and fed a million times, only to have his folder in your classroom a reminder of what he used to be. But life goes on at the orphanage, even after hearing the news, we still took assembly and somehow managed to conduct class as though nothing had happened.

So after contacting back home, Gina, Hari and Maddie are hoping to raise some money to do something about the health standards at the orphanage. I also still have a fair bit of money leftover after the classroom, so we are hoping to use this, and the money raised from the girls at home to get them all to a hospital for a check-up, or a round of vaccinations amongst the kids. With Kwabi - we weren't even sure what he had. We were told he was being treated for malaria, even though after his death Measles was another diagnosis thrown in the air. So many of the children have open wounds, rashes, fungal infections and strange eye infections that just need some sort of medical attention.

It's these challenges that we will remember for a long time, but will shape our experience here for the better. It's always so good to have our friends and family at the other end of the phone.

Well that's blog 3! What the hedge! Halfway through the blogs... it's so hard to believe how quickly this is all going.

WE SEND OUR LOVE FROM GHANA! Until next blog, Anna.

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