COUNTRY: Ghana
PROGRAM: GapBreak
PROJECT: Teaching & Care work
WRITTEN BY: Michael Paton
G'day friends and family! I am writing this blog post as we sit in the back of a rocky tro tro on our way home from our recent weekend away to Liati Wote, but more about that later!
Since our last post, we have had many incredible experiences of all facets of life in Ghana. The weekend following the Safari Lodge, we travelled into the Accra to experience the wonders of the nation's capital. We went to the Accra mall, which was almost identical to an Aussie shopping centre, apart from the lack of white people (although we definitely saw more than usual). We met a group of British volunteers who are scattered across the country for the whole year! They were teachers as well and gave us their details if we ever wanted to travel to their villages. That night we decided to head out for a quick drink and unfortunately Chloe's purse was snatched out of Grace's hand by a motorcyclist. So as you can imagine, the rest of our weekend was spent at the Police Station.
The following weekend six of us made our way to one of Ghana's other capitals, Kumasi, which is further inland. After Friday night in a largely questionable hotel, we managed to tick off many boxes in this wonderful city. We started with the Kejetia Markets, the largest open-air markets in West Africa. The size was incredible. Just walking through took us a decent hour. The girls were amazed at the selection of fabrics on display, which went as far as the eye can see! We were also able to take a quick look into the Baba Yara stadium, one of Ghana's national stadiums, where Ghana recently thrashed Egypt 6-1. We then hopped in a taxi to go to a village out of town to see and stay a night at the largest natural lake in Africa, Lake Bosomtwe. After a very bumpy ride in the taxi, we celebrated Chloe's birthday by the Lake, which was unfortunately accompanied by heavy African rains. The next day Ella, Rachel and Michael headed home as the others stayed an extra night to relax.
During the week we met at Ella and Michael's to enjoy some Satay Chicken, and to plan our two weeks of travel, accompanied by Seth's guidance. It was a very nice evening, and the plans were set!
This weekend, voted best weekend so far, was a trip out to the Volta Region in the east of Ghana, to Liati Wote. Liati Wote sits right on the border of Ghana and Togo, and luckily houses two of the British volunteers we met in Accra, as well as Ghana's highest mountain, and a wonderful waterfall. So we got in touch and they organised accommodation for us in this tiny little town with one street going trough it. So we arrived and were greeted with a very warm welcome by the two volunteers, Josh and Finlay. They took us to what looked like a lady's house for dinner, as we couldn't see so much as a corner store in sight. It turned out to be Stella's, a lady who makes dinner for all the tourists that pass through. After dinner the other British volunteers in the group arrived to join us for the weekend. They made a wonderful campfire for us and we sat around sharing our Ghana experiences so far. It was truly eye opening to see how different our two journeys had been. The next morning we set off early to climb Mount Afadjato as a group. It was an arduous journey, but well worth it to see the vast view of the country in front of us, and Togo right behind us. We were able to wash off a bit of the sweat with a wonderful swim in the stunning Tagbo Waterfall at the bottom of the mountain. The next morning we made out way early back home, on the way visiting the Tafi Atome Monkey Sanctuary, where we were taken on a tour, bananas at the ready, through the forest. Within minutes of beginning our walk, a family of monkeys was jumping all over us to get our bananas! It was a wonderful experience. The trip home was smooth, and it was a great weekend to spend with our new British friends.
Here are some highlights from each pair:
Rachel and Keyla
Hey!! Ghana is unreal! As Keyla and I come to our last week at the orphanage we feel incredibly sad to leave. The kids are so amazing we dead set cannot describe how they make us feel! We started to make cupboards along with Grace and Chloe! The process of sanding and lacquering has been great as it has both given us wood and chemical inhalation causing a great cough and headache! But we would definitely do anything for these beautiful kids! We really hope we will be able to see them again after our two weeks traveling as our remaining week with them is not enough!
Peace KK and HUCK
Grace and Chloe
Last week was our last week of teaching before we move into the orphanage for the end of our trip. We've thought a lot about something to donate to the primary school and decided a computer was the biggest necessity. Despite having no computers and very little access to technology of any kind, the kids at our school still study I.C.T daily. On Thursday we traveled to Accra to buy a computer and some English reading books for the kids. After a long day of searching, we finally found a computer with the help of our Ghanaian friend Rebecca. It was a long journey home on the overcrowded tro tro with a computer on our laps, but it was well worth the struggle when we saw the looks on the students faces the next day. For our last week, our host mum Pat prepared a special meal of fu fu, spinach soup, fish and snail. It was different to anything we'd ever had before but we don't think we'll be eating snail on a regular basis! We have loved the time spent with our host family and are very sad to leave them but excited for what's next!
Michael and Ella
Over the past few weeks, we have progressively decorated our classroom with the children's work. What was once bare stone walls, is now a colorful display of the artworks of our year five class. Creativity is not something that the Ghanaian education system places a lot of value on, so we have spent a lot of time and effort trying to cultivate the creative minds of our students through art. Pictures of emus and kangaroos, portraits of the class, nature collages and big Australian and Ghanaian flags line the walls, not only making the children proud of their work but giving them a stimulating learning environment. We are so proud of everything we have achieved here at Calvary Methodist and every morning, when we step into our classroom we know we've made a difference to the education of our eight students and all those who attend Calvary Methodist!
Bianca and Brenna
We have settled into a very busy routine of waking up late for school, spending the afternoons taking some of the kids from the orphanage into Swedru and going to bed at 8 every night. Last Thursday we spent just under 5 hours getting our hair done rasta style only to slightly regret it when it came to sleeping with a million plaits. We have planned a goodbye party for our classes this Friday which we will be giving our students much needed stationary packs and lots of lollies. We are dreading saying goodbye to everyone but looking forward to the upcoming 2 weeks travels.
Laterz peepz
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