Heading to the coast of Ghana

COUNTRY: Ghana
PROGRAM: GapBreak
PROJECT: Teaching & Orphanage work
WRITTEN BY: Lachlan Walker

Hello once again from Ghana! It's crazy to think that this being the 3rd blog update of our trip we've now reached the halfway point of our time here in Ghana! To say time has flown by would be an understatement! I think it's safe to say that the 4 of us have now well and truly settled into Ghanaian life and we are all loving it! There's been a few changes since the last blog update, Lucy and Summer are now teaching at the orphanage with Katie and myself, which has made things a lot Easier! Summer and Lucy are no longer living with there original host family and Katie has joined them at the new one, while I have moved into the orphanage! (Hopefully that all makes sense)

Our teaching has really Improved over the last few weeks. We've developed a pretty good idea of all the children's strengths and weaknesses, meaning we are able to plan our lessons accordingly and help out the children who need it and also set some more challenging extension work for the higher achieving students. Not only this, but the way the classes run in general has been a lot better. Most of the kids are now able to pay attention for the full hour of each lesson without being distracted too much. I think it's going to be really interesting to see what progress we can make in another 2 weeks!

Our weekends have been super busy with more travel, we've now seen a fair bit of Ghana, especially the coast. Our first weekend since the last blog update was spent at Green Turtle Lodge in Busua, a stunning beach front set-up, where we celebrated Lucy's birthday! After a 6 and a half hour trek (1 hour of which was on quite possibly the worst road we've ever seen), the white sands, and crystal clear blue water was a welcome sight! We spent most of the weekend laying on the sun in the beach, drinking cocktails and eating from the amazing on-site restaurant, which without a doubt served the best food we've had since arriving in Ghana!

The following weekend seen us Travel to Cape Coast once again, as Summer and Lucy were at the wedding when Katie and Myself went. The first night was spent all together at Oasis Beach Resort, where the for of us had our first real taste of Ghanaian night life as a group. The following day we did a tour of Cape Coast Castle, one of the oldest and largest castles on the Ghanaian coast, and also the site where some 10 million slaves were help captive over the course of the African slave trade. It was quite shocking to go down into the dungeons that once housed the slaves and see and hear stories about the horrible conditions in which they were held captive for as long as 3 months, before being shipped off as slaves to another country, never to return again.

The second night of our Cape Coast weekend seen Summer and Lucy travel to Kakum National Park where they slept in the tree house there. While they didn't see a Tarantula like Katie and Myself, there was still a state of panic when Summer discovered a mouse up there! Mice aside, they were lucky enough to see lots of other wildlife while they were there, in particular monkeys as it is quite rare to see them there as they generally keep away from the noise of the tourist area of the National Park.

Last weekend we traveled to Anomabo, also on the coast where we stayed at a lovely resort for Katie's birthday. It was great to enjoy luxuries like air conditioners and showers with hot water once again! (Only the second time since being here) This weekend Katie, Lucy and Summer are returning to Green Turtle Lodge in Busua, while I will be traveling with 2 guys from Sweden and Germany to Kokrobite.

Anyway, as always I seem to be running out of time to write, I think I squeezed in most of what's happened! Once again, thanks for reading, and until the next update, Good bye!