COUNTRY: Ghana
PROGRAM: GapBreak
PROJECT: Teaching & Care work
WRITTEN BY: Sophie Heard
We are all again very sorry for the lack of blogs that have been posted over the course of our trip. This can only be attributed to the fact that we have been so overwhelmed with life in Ghana and in the orphanage that we have simply just forgotten, but hopefully this blog will compensate for our laziness!
The last few weeks have been full-on. We have traveled a lot, have done a lot of teaching and have started planning what our donation money will go towards. Three weekends ago we traveled to Kokrobite Beach in Accra with Clement, young ex-teacher who used to work at the orphanage. It was a rather uneventful weekend as it rained the entire time, however it was very relaxing and we bought a lot of clothes and souvenirs and the market on the beach. On Saturday night many games of pool were played with some Ghanaian locals (who of course showed us up quite a lot) and Clara and Jazzy in particular made the most of the cheap drinks and woke up the following morning with a bit of a headache.
The next weekend we went to Hands Cottage Botel (hotel on a pond), the home of a large handful 'friendly' crocodiles, just outside Cape Coast. Here we were able to not only have a boat ride on this pond, but were able to touch them and watch them be fed chicken on the end of a stick about 2 meters away from us. It was a very scary experience and I'm surprised we were able to come back with all our limbs still intact! The rest of the day was spent relaxing at the swimming pool and playing very competitive games of ping pong. That Sunday we went to a Monkey Forest Resort, about 15 minutes drive away from Hans Cottage. This animal sanctuary is owned by a very friendly, if a little crazy, Dutch couple who had built the entire establishment from scratch 10 years ago. It is home to about 3 different species of monkeys, as well as snakes, antelope, crocodiles, African civets, Genet cats, a hyrax (which is supposedly the closest living relative to the elephant, although its about 1/20th of the size and furry), tortoises, parrots and about 10 house cats. We were taken around the resort by the couple. They talked about each animal as if it were their own child, and gave us each monkey's backgrounds and why they were put into the sanctuary. Later we were able to have a cheeky baby monkey climb all over us. He weed all over Sophie's lap which triggered a whole lot of laughing from everyone, apart from Sophie who was covered in monkey wee in the tro-tro all the way home that night.
Last weekend was spent at the orphanage, since it was everyone's last weekend there apart from Jesse. On Friday night we met Lucas, Clement and Lawat in Winneba and just spent the night going from spot (bar) to spot. It was nice catching up with Lucas as we don't see him very often anymore. Saturday was spent relaxing at the orphanage and on Sunday we hired a tro-tro (for 100 cedis) and took all the children to the beach. It was a very fun day; the children loved splashing around in the surf and getting covered from head to foot in sand. By the time we got home in the evening the majority of them were fast asleep.
This Saturday we are starting our two weeks travel (apart from Jesse who is staying at the orphanage). Our plan is to go to Hohoe near the Volta Lake to see the Wli Waterfalls; supposedly the largest waterfall in Western Africa. Then we're going to a beads market in Koforidua, then up to Kumasi where we will see Lake Bosumtwi which is 25 square kilometers, up again to Nkoranza to the Boabeng-Fiema Monkey Sanctuary and then up one more stretch to Mole Park, a National Park full of many African animals. The whole trip should hopefully take two weeks exactly. Then we will return to the orphanage for a week before flying out of the country.
As we don't have much time left we are hurriedly trying to decide what things our donation money can go towards, as we have a lot between the 5 of us. Ideas so far have been to put mosquito-repelling lights in the toilets (not only are the children too scared to go to the toilets at night so they just wee in buckets in their rooms or in their beds, but when they do go they get eaten alive by mosquitoes which heightens their risk of malaria). The children have trouble sleeping at night due to the heat so we will put fans in each of their rooms. We are going to send about 4 children to the local Abaasa school where the education is probably not great, but is more consistent and ordered than the school in the orphanage. Also we think it's good for the older children especially to have stronger discipline, and learn to socialise with other children apart from those at the orphanage. Sophie has bought the orphanage 200 cedis worth of meat, fruit, and vegetables which is very much lacking in the children's diets, as well as mosquito nets and a gas stove, as the women can't cook when it rains (which during the rainy season is once a day or two) so the children either have late meals or are given less-nutritious meals as a result. Other things like towels, sponges, soap, toothbrushes, toothpaste, clothes and shoes have been bought in excess for the children during our stay. Jesse's vegetable garden is going well; tomato, carrot, cabbage and other vegetable sprouts can already be seen coming up through the soil.
We have started a well-structured teaching regime which includes the other teachers; Sophie is teaching class two and three English and class two Science, Jesse is teaching class one, two and three ICT and Maths and class three Science, and Clara and Caleb are teaching Creative Arts to all three classes. The other three paid teachers teach the other classes. Jazzy is taking the day children to and from Abaasa each day. This set up is working very well. It's a pity that when we leave it will return to its natural state of chaos.
Over-all everything has been going very well and we are pleased with our progress at the orphanage. We are looking forward to traveling but will be very sad to leave. We hope all is well at home, see you all soon! From Sophie, Jesse, Jazzy, Caleb and Clara
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