Monday 26th January
We had lecture about Religious practices today. It was pretty interesting to see how much religion does influence Ghanaian life. Shops names have religious psalms and phrases that bear no resemblance to anything that it actually sells. My favorites so far are – 'I'm afraid of my friends even you', 'Don't stop trying nonoboy', 'Don't stop praying Hair salon'!!!
What really stood out was when I was helping Peace with her science homework. It was talking about artificial and natural satellites. The definition of a natural satellite was that it was made by God and an artificial was made by man. It also explained that stars were a heavenly body. This was taken from a text book that all the public schools have and is government issued. I just found it so crazy that it do not mention forces or gases just that it was made by God. Which is fair enough as this is what some people believe but to teach all children regardless of their faith really struck home.
The woman spoke about traditionalism which was practiced before Christianity was introduced. Some of the 'rules' were crazy, well in my view, polygamy was practiced, one reason for this was because women are not allowed to cook for the husband when they are menstruating so a husband needs many wives so he can always be fed. Well maybe I am slightly simplifying it but still!!
Tuesday 27th January
I was in my class alone today, my teacher is out for the rest of the week, The class was crazy today, I think it must have been a full moon because the whole school seemed to be acting up. The kids just kept hitting each other and not paying attention to anything!!!
Well everyday can't be a good day!
In the afternoon we went to the monkey sanctuary. It was soooooo cute!!! I was feeding the monkeys bananas, they would peel the banana, look at you to make sure you weren't going to do anything, then would bite a bit off then run off and eat it.
Wednesday 28th January
My class were pretty naughty again today. I think they began to realize how disappointed I was in them. I told them that I did not want to teach them anymore and that I was not going to come in tomorrow.
I was teaching them about primary and secondary colours and what colours you get when you mix them. Again it took them a while to get it but they did in the end.
I just need to add to this that I am typing this in the other house at the home base watching Ann teach Emily, Heather and Liz bikram yoga. This is sweat inducing tie yourself in knots yoga which is VERY funny to watch!!
Anyway back to my kids, saying this to them quieted them down. They said oh Madam, please, we beg forgiveness, please come in tomorrow. Then played hangman using words from today's lesson.
Something else I have noticed about the education system is kids learn by memorization. They cannot sound words out phonetically but just randomly guess. There really is a thin line between understanding and just remembering. They may not understand what you have just taught them but then can remember it. If you try to change the order they just don't get it.
Had another drumming lesson in the afternoon, my rhythm is awful and Jojo is very patient with me, I think I just need to practices more!!
In the evening Heather and I went to watch Man U play against West Brom. It was so funny to watch. The guys were really getting into and shouting at each other. When Heather said she didn't think that Man U were the best team and the guy looked at her and then moved to another seat!!
Thursday 29th January
I taught the kids about technology today and went over everything I had taught them about communication and information, they had surprising remembered most things.
I also gave them a spelling test on months of the year. This again enforced the fact that they learn by memorization. They could spell and write all of the months in order but if I mixed them up and asked them, they could not do it. Some of them did not even try. I tried to shame them by marking them and telling the whole class what marks they got… I am going to test them again tomorrow so we will see if it worked!!
I sort of gate crashed a seminar that was being held for some local women by a Doctor and his wife from he US. The part I sat in was about health. It was pretty eye opening! They were asking questions about childbirth, periods, menopause, how to get a flat stomach and what sit ups were!. Some of the questions were pretty basic that I would automatically know just from discussions with girl friends. The way the health system works here is that is not patient orientated. The Doctor does not tell the patient what is wrong with them, what medicine they need to take and the side effects. They literally just give them the medication, which shows why people are pretty clueless about health.
Ended up meeting up with Jojo on the search for some Hip- Life music, a cross between the traditional High-Life music and Hip-Hop.
The weather has heated up again. The season is 'hamitem' which basically is the dry season but with incredible amounts of dust. The dust gets everywhere!!!! Lots of the volunteers are suffering with allergies and general snotty-ness! I am washing my feet about twice a day but they are still filthy. I am not sure if I have tan lines or dirt lines!!
Friday 30th January
I was told off at placement today by the teacher in the next classroom because my kids were being to noisy!! On the plus side, I had divided them into teams and was testing them on everything I had taught them that week and they had remembered most of it, so it was worth getting excited about!
Liz, Heather and I decided to go to Ada Foah for the weekend and brave the tro-tros. We set off about 1.30 and got on a tro-tro from Hohoe to go to Tema Roundabout. We got to Tema about 4.30 and managed to find our way to another bus that would take us directly to Ada Foah… it all seemed a little too easy! The 2nd tro-tro we got was huge, it had about 20 rows of seats, with 2 on each side, we went on sat and the back, then they flipped out jump seats down sat in the middle of the aisle! There were about 40 people packed into the bus! We were travelling for about 30 minutes and stopped, the guy sitting next to Liz, jumped out of the huge window, peed and then jumped back in!!! We then got to Ada and every got off the bus. We sat there for a few minutes trying to figure out what was going on. There was another Ghanaian guy who was still on the bus who also had no clue what was going on. Then we heard the Medi (the guy who takes the money) shout 'Hey White.. get off the bus'. Apparently the bus was about to break down so we got packed into a smaller tro-tro where we were told 'Whites, I've paid for you"! The Guy who had been on the bus with us was sitting in the back with us. He was Ghanaian but had been living in Belgium. He was the most neurotic and scared Ghanaian we had ever seen. Obviously tro-tros are a little bashed up and not always totally road worthy but this guy was petrified. He was like ' slow down slow down, no one has to die today'!
We finally got to our Hotel and it was soo nice. It was a tiny little compound with about 4 huts in, hammocks, plam trees, beer and pasta. It was right on the beach and we could hear the sea from our room.
Saturday 30th January
We had a lie in – until about 7am! Then we just mooched around the beach and relaxed, drank, ate, walked around. It was so relaxing and chilled. We walked into town, to find a bar and the town was so quiet and nonexistent that we walked straight through it!!!
I don't think that Ada Foah sees many 'Yoevus' we had kids running up to us all the time. Heather and Liz were accosted by a mob of about 20 naked young boys on the beach who were playing in the sea!
The kids are so friendly though and don't give it a second thought about running up to a stranger and throwing their arms around them for a hug.
Sunday February 1st
We started on our journey back to Hohoe about 10.15 and hoped that it was going to be as uneventful at the way to Ada.
We managed to get a tro-tro to Tema really easily, once we stepped of fthe tro-tro at Tema, we were instantly surrounded by taxi drivers. They were asking where we were going and saying I want that one, no, I want that one, oo I like that one and pointing at us. We managed to get a taxi driver to take us to the Hohoe tro-tro station and another taxi driver was shouting, no I want the fat one, pointing at me, I like her, she can be my mattress!!! So I have had about 4 marriage proposals now and a request to be a mattress…… hmmmm
Monday 2nd February
My teacher was back at school and was doing fractions when I came in. Her first words were pretty much so what are you teaching them today! Which was fine as I don't mind but it would but it would be interesting to see how she actually teaches. I taught them about prepositions such as below, above, behind in front etc. They actually got it when I asked them to act it out. Writing sentences was a little bit harder though as their vocabulary is limited to sentences out of their much rehearsed text books.
I had to give the headmaster a letter, as there will be 2 new Volunteers at the school on Monday. I walked past the P1 class and could see that the teacher was asleep on the desk… pretty normal by Ghana standards from what I hear!
I spent the afternoon relaxing at the home-base as it was so hot, it rained a little bit but then there was huge rumblings of thunder and it began to properly chuck it down. Emily and I danced in the rain and actually got cold so had to stop. The storm caused the electricity to go off also.
We had a guest speaker come and talk about politics, religion and he also threw in some stuff about education. It was also interesting to hear him speak about how peaceful Ghana is – the most peaceful out of all the African countries. Which is really true. The election that happened in January was so close that they had to have another between the 2 parties – the NDC and the NPP. If this had happened in any other country they would have been riots, and huge disturbances but not in Ghana. Ghana is looked upon by other African countries as a sort of role model, which is great.
He also spoke about how Christianity, Islam and Traditionalism religions exist side by side peacefully also. Religion is a huge thing in Ghana so to have 3 such distinct religions coexist so calmly is amazing. Especially when you look at the rest of the world.
I taught Peace in the evening, as well as her brother and one of the neighbours. I seem to be acquiring quite a few students. Kenneth, the neighbor, brought along some mock Religious and Moral Education papers and also one on Politic and Economic stability. I wasn't much help with the political paper but it was interesting to go through te RME paper. The questions were things like what are responsibilities, what are a parents responsibilities to their children, it talked about teenage pregnancy and STDS. All pretty normal topics, but the answers that they gave were more eye opening. One question was what is repentance and the effects of repentance. Kenneth said that if you repented you would live longer as God would forgive you and allow you to live longer. Again it shows that how much religion creeps into education.
Wednesday February 4th
I went over with my kids, prepositions, primary and secondary colours, and possessive pronouns and….. they remembered everything!!!! I was so proud of them.
I had also been getting them to draw pictures of their houses etc when they had finished to keep them entertained. When they finish they come up to my desk and say ‘Madam, see see, Mark it mark it.’ I look at it and say oh its beautiful. Which has now become a catchphrase. One boy will show me his work and look at me and say ‘Beautiful? Beautiful?’ My kids are seriously taking the Mickey but praise is a positive influence and they all strive for me to tell them their work is beautiful. Another one is I always tell them well done, so that is another they tend to repeat.
Today I did some sewing with them, I got them to chain stitch their initials and then blanket stitch 2 piece s of material together. It went down really well! Even Lucy, my teacher wanted to do one. Some of them were really good, others will not be taking up a career as a seamstress!
I also had my long awaited epiphany today!!! I think I am going to look into a teacher training course when I get back or do art workshops in schools. I really enjoy working with kids and it is so rewarding when the kids actually get something. Even just sitting with Peace, God’s Way and Kenneth with them asking me questions, it makes me really see how much I don’t know but wish I did. I really wish I could tell them all the answers because they are so eager to learn but I am just not that intellectual and don’t seem to absorb that kind of information.. hence the art route!!!
I did IT with my kids yesterday and some of the boys picked everything up straight away and I know that they should be come IT consultants or something, it’s just whether they will have the opportunity or not.
Heather, Ann and Emily leave this weekend, and a new group of 17 people arrive. I am not looking forward to them leaving. It’s going to be so sad. Emily and Ann are travelling from Kenya to South Africa over the next 3 and half months. I am half tempted to meet them somewhere along the way……. Hmmmm……!!
Friday 5th February
I attempted weaving with my kids today, they really enjoyed it, it was gluey and messy and they had fun, the weavings were not fantastic but they are pretty good! They went out for break and never got called back in so they were all playing games. The boys had found a football and were have in very serious game with the goalie wearing socks on his hands as goalie gloves. They all stripped down to their underwear because it was so hot!
The girls all crowded around me and were asking when I was leaving, they kept saying ‘oo Madam do not leave us, if you have to leave us, you must take us all with you’. It is going to be sooo hard to leave them.
It was Ann. Emily and Heather’s last day today so we bummed a lift down to Accra with them and went to the mall and had pizza. We dropped Heather off at the airport. It was soooooo sad! It’s going to be really strange not having her here. Heather completely got my sense of humor and we tended to get into quite a bit of mischief together!
Ann, Emily, Liz, Chris and Tim got dropped off at our hotel in the Osu district which is supposed to be the happening places to be. There are lots of clubs and bars. It was a huge culture shock. For a start we were not the only yeovus, we were no longer a hot commodity!! Also the bar that we went to was full of ex pats and even more yeovus. The bar was also full of prostitutes and Tim was also approached by a drug dealer. This made me really sad that they saw us as people who came to their country and used prostitutes or came for cheap drugs. We were also followed by this small girl that was begging. It was so different to sleepy friendly Hohoe, it was definitely a city - a touristy city. It made me really appreciate Hohoe. Even though you are seen as an ATM or a plastic bottle provider. (Literally the kids see a yeovu, run over and shout ‘give me bottle’!) One guy walked past me n the street and said Hi, then went I need an investor. Ghanaians see white people as rich and it can be really hard to break this stereotype. But the average wage here is about 6 Ghana cedis a day which is about 3 pound a day, so I suppose we are better off but it is still difficulty and slightly annoying to be seen as a cash machine.
Saturday February 7th
We went down to Liberation Square, walked along the beach and then walked back to our hotel.
Went out for a really nice Chinese meal, it was so nice to have something different. The food is good, but its basically rice, beans, plantains, yams and potatoes. I didn’t realize how spoilt I was with all the different types of food that is so widely available to me – especially in New York!!
Sunday February 8th
We had to go back to Hohoe today and leave Ann and Emily to start their tour around Africa. Again super sad. Dr Ann, as we call her is going to be sorely missed at homebase not only for curing us all but entertaining us as well. Emily is the sweetest person ever and so fun to be around. I love CCS program be cause they attract such wonderful people, but its so hard to say goodbye to them though.
We started our tro-tro journey back, we waited about 45 minutes for it to fill and be on our way. We drove off slowly, very slowly…… then there was this smell of burining. It turned out that the brakes kept locking and he was driving with breaks on.. or something like that. We all piled out of the van and he fiddled around with the breaks and said it was fixed. By this point no one wanted to get back into the van and a huge fight broke out. The driver would not give us our money back to get on another trotro but wouldn’t call another van for us as he said it was fixed and would be fine. This was one on those moments where you have to embrace Ghana and just laugh. All the other passengers were getting really het up and at one point one of them was grabbing the driver and the shaking him. Then the police turned up, (remember this is all on the side of a highway/ dual carriage way in the mid afternoon heat) these police had these huge guns on them, all the passengers were shouting, trying to explain what had happened, the driver was back tracking on his story, it was all loud and really funny!
It all sounds a lot worse than it was but sorted its self out. A new trotro arrived and 2 hours later we were on our way!!
We were walking back from were we got dropped off, back to the homebase and I heard a group of Kids chanting ‘madam, madam’ it was a bunch of my kids from school.
Then when I arrived at the homebase, Peace, Kenneth and Jennifer were out and came running to give me a hug. It was so lovely! Jennifer had crocheted a bag for me to carry my phone in.
It is going to be soooooo hard to leave. Ergh!
Tuesday 9th February
Today was the first day for the 2 new volunteers at my school. I found myself getting really over protective about my class! They were saying how thy liked my kids and wanted to take over. Then they came into my class and sat in the back and totally interrupted while I was trying to teach directions.
I am a pretty social person but this new group is loud! I have been used to waking up about 6am, and pottering around for a bit, watching the sun come up. I came out of my room at 6am, having woken up about 5 minutes earlier, so I could do my laundry. There were about 4 new volunteers out already. It was ‘oh you are doing Laundry, How do you do it, can we watch’ not in their quiet voices. It’s going to take some getting used to!
In the afternoon I went to met Peace at the library and managed to pick up Melody along the way. The children’s library was consisted of maybe about 200 books that were pretty tattered. As soon as I walked in and sat down about 7 kids came and sat around me and wanted me to read some stories out loud.
That is one thing that I have noticed here, the kids and people are so trusting. I walk down the street and kids will come up to me, grab my hand, and walk with me for about ten minutes. Even adults will just hand their kids over to strangers to hold. I love the fact people are so open and friendly and ready to talk to you.
Thursday February 12th
I took some coins and English money in today, and talked to the kids about London, the currency and the Union Jack. They were really interested in the money and then they did rubbings of the different coins and loved it. Half way through the class the teacher came from the class next door and asked me to go and teach his class. Fortunately I had my ‘This is your life’ book so I went through that and also showed them the money and we did more rubbings. I think that half of Ghana has now seen where I live, what my family look like and photos of Helsby!
One of the teachers was asking me how I was finding teaching. I told her I was enjoying it so much I was going to look into training to be a teacher when I go back to the UK. They loved it!!! I am going to get the Head teacher to write me a glowing reference hopefully!!
We then spent the afternoon taking out Liz’s braids!!! It took a lot longer than we anticipated!
Friday 13th February
I walked up to school today and there sounded like there was a huge party in my classroom! I could here drumming and people dancing, singing and cheering!! I walked in and was greeted by a swarm of children running out of the classroom. Apparently there was going to be football match against another school o they were gearing up for it.
We made Valentines Day cards, which of course they loved. They really do not get much chance to be creative. I had made a card to show them, as it had a pop up heart in it. The majority of the class copied my card pretty much exactly.
About 11 we all walked down to the other school, the kids were singing and clapping on the way down. The other team was all decked out in shiny new football kits, our school had football kits but you could definitely tell the difference.
The boys were looked at as heroes and everyone was swarming around them. When they were playing one of the teachers was starting different songs and chants, so all the girls were going crazy, dancing, clapping and singing. The girls dancing put even me to shame, they certainly know how to ‘shake their booty”!! The atmosphere was amazing and it still surprises and astounds me when groups of people spontaneously break into this amazing dancing. Every Ghanaian seems to have this innate rhythm and can make music out of old pot and plastic bottles!!
I came back to the home base, all the new volunteers were going away for the weekend. So it was just 5 of the old volunteers. Melody, Peace and God’s Way came over, we listened to music, danced in the rain to Scissor Sisters, watched some very toned men do some carpentry on the well, watched Dela wind Joe up to the point that he pouted like a 6 year old and went and sulked in the corner of the garden. Basically I did nothing and it was great!
Melody is the cutest child ever, she is about 3 years old and has the most infectious giggle and sprit ever. I really want to bring her home!
In the evening, Marcella, Chris, Brenda, Robin and I sat and watched The Bee Movie with Peace, Melody, KK, God’s Way, Kofi, and 2 of the cats! It was so cute, it was like being a very large dysfunctional family! Melody fell asleep on my lap half way through the movie.
Saturday February 14th
Liz and I were up at 6.30am to go and watch some of the teachers from her school play football, they ended up winning and we went and got some palm wine and banku. We literally walked to this shack at the side of the road with a palm leaf roof and drank palm wine out of some hollowed out seeds that had been made into bowls at 10am on a Saturday! When in Ghana……
We were talking about nicknames that people had. When you have a nickname this is sort of an insulting name that you have. People also have a ‘guy’ name which would be like Joss for Jocelyn. Other examples were ‘ Brown paper’ which is when someone has lots of money, as they carry it around in a brown paper bag. If you area a cheater then you are nicknamed Spider as there is a story about the spider who cheats. Tony’s nickname is Assistant Headmaster because he has a big head, but there is another guy that has a bigger head, so he was demoted to Assistant Headmaster. Julius’ nickname was Senior because he is so tall and looks older. We worked out that I was the oldest of the group, so I was nicknamed Grandma!!
It rained in the afternoon again while I was playing football with KK, Kofi and God’s Way. We also played piggy in the middle.
It was just a perfect Saturday afternoon, getting muddy, cooling off in the rain, playing with Melody and just relaxing at the homebase. KK had also bought me some chocolate with Valentines Day!
We all went to Malezia to celebrate Valentines day, it is huge here, people party on the same scale as we would at New Year. We all dressed in red and walked down into town.
The beginning of the night was pretty quiet. Liz and I decided to do shots of the local gin, it took us about 20 minutes to order as the guy could not understand us and then forgot what we ordered. We finally got the drinks and it worked out at about 30p for 4 shots of gin!!!!
The club started to liven up and there was lots of dancing! There was also lots of grabbing, Ghanaian men are not shy!!
Then all the power went out in the whole town but fortunately Malezia had a generator so it didn’t stop the party. The town was so busy though, there were even women out partying with their babies on their back!
I also peed outside for the first time! There was ‘four walls’ for the bathroom, so Brenda and I went outside, but there was a huge group of men there so we didn’t fancy it. We went out the front and walked to find a dark quiet spot. Some guy came up and started walking and chatting with us, we had to discreetly get rid of him. It is so funny because people are not shy about peeing in public. I have literally had Jennifer in the middle of her homework, just walk off a couple of paces, lift her skirt up and pee in front of everyone. This is definitely not one the Ghanaian customs I will be taking up!
When we got back into the club, I was greeted by a chorus of ‘Grandma, Where have you been?’ My nickname had some how managed to get out to practically half the club!
We got back about 2am and had to wake Alpha, the Night Guard up to let us in. I felt like a naughty school girl coming in late!
My first proper experience of a Ghanaian club was fun and interesting but the groping got a bit too much!
Monday 16th February
Today I attempted to teach the kids about capital and small letters, full stops and commas. They sort of got it but I think I will need to go over it again with them.
I had also made some toy for them from half a plastic bottle, a piece of string and scrunched up piece of paper. They loved it!!! Lucy, my teacher even wanted one to take home for her son.
In the afternoon I just chilled around the homebase, Melody came over after school and I made one of the plastic bottle toys for her also. Marcella, one of the other volunteers in her early 30’s enjoyed it more though!
Tuesday 17th February
I did picture dictionaries with the kids today, they really enjoyed it, they never really get a chance to be creative in their learning as they learn everything by rote.
The kids crowded around me at break time telling me that I wasn’t allowed to leave and that I should take them all with them.
I had a a really long conversation with Lucy about caning at school and explained that if that happened in the UK, you would be sent to prison. It is so hard to see, I understand that it is their culture but it doesn’t make it any easier to see. Lucy said that if you spare the rod then you spoil the child. She said that some children are so stubborn that you have to cane them, I can slightly understand with some of the kids, especially the naughty boys. But a teacher from the other class came in and was just caning kids because their uniforms were slightly ripped, and other stupid reasons. I think that the fact that the kids even wear uniforms when they have so little is amazing.
We also talked about the fact that kids will just come up to you and are so trusting, there seems to be no ‘stranger danger’ concept here like there is in the UK and US. In a way it makes me sad that we have come to that, that every person is viewed suspiciously until proved otherwise.
I was also talking to Lucy about flying and what plane are like, she was asking if they were like lorries and were I had travelled to. She was pretty amazed at how much travelling I had done.
We also discussed some of the behavior of the kids. There are a couple who are really smart but cause trouble, because they finish their work quickly and get bored. I spoke to Lucy about this, and she is looking at moving them to a higher class next term.
Some of these kids have such potential and I know with the right encouragement they could do whatever they set their minds too.
On the way home I walked past Bertha, who has made a skirt for me and she called me in and said she had something for me. She had a bushel of bananas for me, which was so sweet!!
Liz and I went into town, typically when you walk through town you get people hissing at you to get your attention or calling at you to go over. We decided that we would go and talk to every person that did this to us! We both got several marriage proposals, lots of new phone numbers. One guy said he wanted to marry me before I left, I told him I was leaving on Thursday and that he couldn’t afford my dowry, he found this pretty funny!
Wednesday February 18th
2nd to last day at placement! I had asked the Headteacher to do me a letter of reference, which he had, so I nearly cried in his office as it was so lovely.
I was teaching the kids about different verbs and completely had one of those moments. They were all sitting there copying off the board and writing out sentences, it really struck me how much I am going to miss the kids and how such a huge part of my daily life they have become. I have been in this Ghana bubble, just teaching a few hours a day, mooching around town, not checking emails, relaxing and just generally not stressing about anything. The bubble is going to burst soon and I will have to go back to working 9-5, having to be on time for things, having to integrate into using technology, computers, my mobile again. And I just don’t want to! I am excited to figure out my ‘new career’ but I know it is going to be such a huge culture shock.
Sampson one of my kids at break told me that he liked me and asked me not to leave. The kids all wanted to be packed in my bag to come back to the UK with me. A couple of them had brought me ice cream and biscuits, and then I was given another bushel of bananas from all the teachers as I would be leaving tomorrow.
The kids here are so amazing and yes they can be bratty and fight just like kids in the UK but things seem so much more simple and laidback here. They don’t care if they have the latest pair of trainers, they are more concerned if they have a pencil or an exercise book to do their school work in.
My last day at placement tomorrow is going to be so tough!!
Thursday February 19th
Last day at placement! ;( I walked into the school land they were all practicing marching for Independence Day. We watched that for about 20 minutes and then everyone went back to their classrooms.
I did a quiz with them all testing them on everything I had taught. I gave out sweets to the people that got the answers right. I could not believe how many people remembered everything. Most of the boys that never answer questions knew all the answers… bribery goes a long way!!! It made me so happy that that actually understood and had learnt things from me. I wish they had let me know sooner though!
We then played pin the tail on the donkey and some balloon games.
I also gave them all photos of themselves that I had taken and glued onto the weavings that they had made. They loved it!
Loads of the kids had brought me oranges and bananas and nuts, it was so sweet. During break I videoed the kids singing the songs I had taught them, they were sooooo cute!
Then the time came for me leave and several of the kids burst in to tears, which completely set me off. Its amazing how in such a short time, you can get so attached to the children.
Liz and I set off for our mammoth journey to Mole National Park. We left Hohoe at about 2pm and got a tro-tro to Accra, then a super posh bus to Kumasi. The bus had air-conditioning and reclining seats! We got into Kumasi about 12. We hadn’t booked a hotel but fortunately had made friends with the girl sitting behind us so she took us to a hotel near her house. She was so lovely, she wouldn’t let us pay for the taxi and was a god send as we weren’t really sure where to stay!
Friday 20th February
We got up at about 5am and Theresa met us and took us to the bus station. We had just missed a bus so had to wait 3 hours for the next one to fill up. That’s the thing in Ghana buses leave when they are full, so sometimes you get lucky, other times you are waiting for a very long time!
We finally left about 10am and started the journey to Tamale. This took about 7 hours and with the fact that we left late meant we missed the one bus to Mole National Park.
We met a Peace Corp Volunteer who had been in Ghana for 17 months already. Having been here that long you would thing he was used to Ghana time and the fact things never run smoothly. The bus driver kept stopping and this volunteer was getting so worked up about it all. It really gave me an insight to I used to be like and the US and UK is like. There was nothing we could do about it, there was no point in getting worked up… you just need to ‘go with the flow!’
We managed to get a taxi to take us after arguing the price down from 300 cedi to 90 cedi we set off again!
The road to Mole is the dustiest, bumpiest, bone jarring road ever. The taxi was pretty beat up anyway and the rattling was so loud it made my ears ring!
By this point it had started to get dark and then the taxi driver took a wrong turn. It was a pretty much make or break moment. We had been traveling for so long and we just wanted to get there. I turned and looks at Liz and she was covered in a bout an inch of dust and dirt, we just completely broke down in to fits of hysterics!! It was one of those moments that you have to laugh about it otherwise you will just cry!
We finally got to the motel at about 10.30 but the bar was closed and so was the restaurant. We had been eating digestive biscuits and bananas for the past day and half. We managed to get a beer, have a quick bucket shower and headed to bed.
Saturday 21st February
We got up for a guided tour at 7am and went off in a group of about 8 people to see some wildlife. About 45 minutes into the walk we came across an elephant!!!! We were literally about 25m away from this huge elephant, then another came along. This one had been in a fight and had a broken tusk. It was pretty amazing to be that close to a real life wild elephant. What made the experience slightly more surreal was that the Guides mobile phone kept going off and he was shouting down the phone, the elephants just mooched around and didn’t seem bothered at all.
We walked on a bit further to a watering hole and there were 4 elephants just chilling in the middle!
We also saw antelope, baboons, monkeys and the tops of a couple of crocodiles!
We just sat by the pool for the rest of the day because we had traveled so much yesterday.
Sunday 22nd February
We got up to get the one and only bus that leaves Mole at 4am and got back to Tamale about 8.30. We got another bus to Kumasi at about 10 and finally got into Kumasi at 4.30. Theresa – our angel - came and met us at the station and took us back to hers. She had cooked a meal for us and insisted that we stay with her.
Her house had a large living room/dining area, the kitchen was outside and there were 2 bedrooms, form what I could tell. Off the kitchen was a really small room, that had a flushing toilet in and a shower fixture on the wall. There was no door to the ‘bathroom’ but I was pretty glad that there was evening a western style toilet!
We met up with Akos’ brother who lives in Kumasi and went for a few drinks outside a pub. It then started to rain and there were huge bolts of lighting so we were dancing in the rain. It was so much fun!
Monday 23rd February
So after 2 hours of sleep we were up at 3am to go and get a bus that took us straight from Kumasi to Hohoe.
Theresa’s mum gave me a 5 cedi phone card to call them when we got home, they also made breakfast for us. Theresa had asked me a couple of times what church I went to and said that I should look up her church when I get back to the UK. I kept expecting her to ask me to make a donation to her church or ask for something. We literally met her on Friday and she let us stay at her house, fed us, paid for taxis and took us about and wouldn’t accept anything in return. It really struck that this would not happen in the UK or US. It’s kind of sad that I was expecting her to ask for something when really Ghanaians are the most welcoming and hospitable people I have ever met. It is so wonderful that she just opened up her house for 2 random yeovus and took care of us!
The bus left the station at about 5am and then drove off to wait for more passengers. Here we found out that we would wait until the bus filled (not looking likely) or until 8am.
Again we were shown another act of kindness when we asked the driver where we could ‘urinate’ (You have to be pretty specific as to what you are doing as it will depending on where they take you!!) He paid for us to use the bathrooms as well. The stalls were literally tiled stalls with a small drain in the floor. They were right next to a slope that led up to the market so anyone looking down would have seen right in. I went in and there was a guy in the next stall that sort of nodded hello. It was so embarrassing!!
The journey back was pretty good as the bus wasn’t full and the scenery was beautiful. We got back to Hohoe about 3.30. So over the past 4 and half days we spent 44 hours traveling to see 6 elephants!!! It was definitely an adventure and we meet some wonderful people. I probably would not do it again but it really restored my faith in human kindness!
I hung about with Peace, Jennifer, KK and Kofi in the evening. It was so sad to say goodbye to them. Peace and Jennifer walked me to Lips where I was going to meet some people for goodbye drinks.
Tuesday 24th February
So today I leave Hohoe…… It’s so sad… I don’t even want to think about it…..
I am going to go and stay with Sarah so still have about a week and half left in Ghana but I really feel at home in Hohoe. On the way back form the tro-tro station yesterday, we met about 7 people that we knew. I feel so comfortable here and don’t want my Ghana bubble to burst……
