HELLO FRIENDS! It is with shaky hands that I write to you from the Eagle's Link Net Cafe in Ghana, no I am not hungry, or scared but in fact COLD! A celebrated phenomenon. It's been a rainy day in Ghana - a nice touch when you spend most of it sitting in church...But more of that later.
This feels like a bit of a wrap-up blog because next time I send my words your way I'll be back where we started in Accra at the Felcare Hostel, most of us getting ready for the next stage of our journey but for Kristen, Harriet, Renee and Katie getting ready to go HOME and see all your smiling faces! It's a very strange thought!
But I'm getting ahead of myself, let me take you back to where I left you, about to head off for a weekend in the Volta region visiting the Wli waterfalls. It was such a long distance to travel to Hohoe, we left at 8am and didn't arrive until 5pm! A whole working day spent with sore bums and trying not to drink water.. trotros don't stop for anything so thirst must be balanced with bladder control. We stayed at taste lodge (oh so tasty) and enjoyed being the only people on the premises. The people that owned the lodge were so kind! As soon as we arrived they all said "awkwaaba!" and pulled up plastic chairs for us. The waterfalls themselves were magnificent - so loud and extremely powerful.
We couldn't communicate with our guide well enough to tell us how tall they were, but from 100m away you were getting wet from the falls splashing on the rocks below. I was too chicken of fresh-water creepie crawlies - but Lauren, Bardie, Hari and Katie braved the power and had a splash! That was when Lauren and Gina took off for a 4 hour hike to the upper falls, basically a higher part of the waterfall. Most of us were feeling blistery and lazy and tired so we chilled at the bottom and ate cookies and mushy bananas. Apart from the falls there's not much to do in the sleepy town, so after taking advantage of some cheap local souveniers we were once again on our way back home to Swedru.
And so it began our second last week of work. I'll take some time to talk about other random things before I dive into the happenings of our next weekend.. let me see.. twas a good week. Though I had to take some time off work, and not for anything exciting but I was painting my classroom and fell off a stool and the stool landed on my toe. So I crumpled and it went blue and swelled up and I stopped walking for a few days. Lucky I had Hari to carry me around, she piggy backed me down our whole driveway which may sound fickle but is actually quite the achievement considering it takes about 5 minutes to walk over all the uneven ground and sand and rocks all the while avoiding the diseased dog (Peace) from jumping all over you.
Who am I kidding - all the dogs in the compound are called Peace. Which is a strange touch but fun all the same when you're calling for a dog to eat your leftovers - "ahh - Peace! ahh - Peace!". Got a little side-tracked there didn't I. But I believe I speak for all us antips-ladies when I say that everything that was once scary and exciting and new is really quite normal! There's nothing strange about buying things through windows or out of baskets on peoples heads. You wouldn't think twice about fishing some earth out of your bucket-shower water, and having someone (female or male) urinating on the side of the road is completely normal. Every day I swap my thongs for my sandals, and every day I saunter out to the well in the hot sun to fetch myself some water. Swedru has been a bit dodge on the running water lately so we're all quite accustomed to the famous bucket shower :D
Ok now for the weekend. For our final one all together we decided to head back to Cape Coast, the absolutely stunning beach about 2 hours drive from Swedru. When we got to the tro-tro station the only one available was AIR-CONDITIONED (what?) so we had to pay an extra 50 pesewa. It was strange and empty without the wind in our faces - instead a man who was preaching extremely loudly to the whole bus. Ohhhh Ghana. Nobody seemed to really be listening but he insisted on the arm-flailing party for a good 45 minutes before he collapsed in his chair. You've just got to go along with it.
UHH just lost power. Another thing that has become normal here ! The moment of dread when the lights go and the fans slow and you're left with a blank screen .. just asking yourself why you didn't save a draft sooner. Good times. Oh well it only took 30 minutes of awkward conversation with Ghanian's (avoided giving out my number, don't worry) before the happy hum began again.
Where was I CAPE COAST ahh yes. The sun was hot! Luckily we had the communal TRUE GUARD sunscreen on the bench for a last minute pump-lather on your way out the door... (thanks mum).. It was nice just chilling, and not really having anything in particular to do but lie in the sun and eat peanut brittle. She was so happy when the girls practically bought out her .. store? (her case on her head). I'll have 1 please. Make that 2. Or 3.. "oh me too, 3 please..!" Our outings were limited to sauntering to the orange lady across the road, the vegetarian place that sold amazing tofu sticks and vegan cakes. TASTY TIMES. But not as tasty as that Hawaiian burger... Maddie will agree. We had this burger 6 weeks ago and even after dreaming about it and raving and trying to remember the juicy goodness for all that time, it was still just as perfect. The pineapple here is so sweet and juicy, and in burger format it's just perfection. Sorry I'll stop talking about this now - everyone's heard enough of it for it to deserve a whole paragraph in the blog.
Anyway we also spent some time venturing back to the souvenier stores at the Cape Coast castles that we were unsure of the first time around. Bardie was feeling good - finally crossing things off her list - "Buy gifts for friends = check!" Our nights were spent chilling out in our happy dorm room, this time avoiding falling through bunks. Hoorah! On Saturday night we watched the most amazing drumming and dancing. They had so much energy! For hours they danced and drummed with smiles on their faces and in their hearts :) <3
After that the rest of the group (bar Gina, Hari and I) headed off to Hans cottage for some chillz with da crocodiles! We didn't get to see any before we left but at least we got a good swim in the pool. We also followed all the rules - It's hard not to when there's a massive sign saying NO DROWNING hanging above the pool.
And then at last it was our last week of work, and I've never felt more proud of the kids there. Especially Staffan! Our youngest little bopper took his first steps! :D We spent our last days with the same routines as usual, but Hari and I knew that it would be the last few times we sung the "Days of the week" song, the last times we give out stickers before break, and the last few times we danced to Michael Jackson on the classroom floor. On our last day we all gave them special lolly bags we had made, and these awesome drinks called Africa Fun. Although they were content just running around with the balloons that we drew on... the end of the day was rough though. We were glad we wore our big long skirts to wipe tears of our darlings' faces. At least we get to see them again! And so will all the others - we're taking them out for a trip to Winneba beach on Sunday :)
And it wasn't just the last teaching moments - we had the lasts of everything! Last market day, last time we wash our clothes, and the last obruni meeting! We celebrated nicely (Bardie got particularly excited and managed to knock over everyone's fanta bottles) and Harriet, Katie, Maddie and Hari brought along things to get signed.. you know things are serious when there's signing involved.
A quick word from the others!:
Katie and Ren - "Cape Coast was fun! Weird that it was our last weekend, loved the vegan cakes. Me and ren loved the last day of teaching, Sir Patrick gave our certificates and we bought them icecream and danced :) It was sad when we started our walk home 15 minutes later remembering we forgot the certificates, we went back and all the kids were like "you're here to stay forever now!"
Harriet and Kristen - "Our last days of school were fun involved 26 FanIce, glitter everywhere, singing, dancing and guitar playing, bubbles, gorgeous photos and sad goodbyes. We will miss our grade 2 kiddies so much :)"
Bardie and Lauren - "We finished teaching abruptly as inter school sport games were wednesday to Friday. We surprised the school with an art + sport cupboard full of goodies and they kept saying "you are too good to us!" :) We had a goodbye prayer and morning tea with all the teachers at our school, they got us Ghanian dresses made."
Maddie - "It was sad to leave the kids, but knowing that we left them with something to remember us by is relatively comforting."
And as it stands it is our final day in Swedru! It's going to be so strange leaving this town that has become our home. We have learnt so much over the past few months and it's going to be so sad to leave. Last night was our goodbye dinner which was so much fun. :) It was really cool to meet everyone else's family members that we have heard so much about! We had it in Seth's backyard and there was amazing food and drinks and lots of Ghanian style dancing. Seth, Felicia and Tina have been the most amazing in-country agents we could have asked for. Every little worry or qualm we had was easily fixed or sorted out - all you had to do was ask. And I think everyone will agree our group had no shortage of house swapping and sickness and donation money to organise so they have just been a god send!
And it turns out that most Ghanians you will meet are the kindest and selfless in the world. Every time they eat you'll hear "you are invited" as they offer their plate to you, taxi drivers will give you free fares occasionally just because "you are human!", if you're running down the street in a torrential downpour they'll beckon you into their shop and spend 15 minutes mending your broken shoe... and there are always smiles. Happiness is just everywhere in Ghana, and we hope on our two weeks travel we'll be able to experience much more of this beautiful country.
We're off to Kumasi tomorrow, and next time I write to you I'll have to tell you all about it. Unfortunately Katie and Renee have left to go back to the land down under, so hopefully they will be safe at hope by the end of the week. We'll miss you guys!!
Ok that's all for now :) We send our love, our happiness and our thoughts.
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