Once leaving BF, our intention was to make our way southwards, eventually ending up in Accra for Kerstin's final weekend, via the Volta region - the east side of Ghana, closest to Togo and where the river Volta runs wide.
We'd stayed in a town called Yendi on the Sunday night and felt sufficiently refreshed after a day travelling from Ouaga. We rose early on Monday 25th January and made our way to the bus station, eating a respectable spanish omeletter and bread en route. at one of the many street stalls.
We'd allegedly missed one bus going south as it was full so we had to wait for the next one to come - and as always waited till it was full before departing. We only had to wait a little while (one hour) then we were off - the tarmac road swiftly turned to a red, dusty and dirty track, much the same as the one to Mole (but several kilometres longer). We had hoped to get a bus direct to Hohoe (not as in Yo Ho Ho and a bottle of rum, but more Ho as pronounced in the word "hot" and Hoe pronounced Hoy) but this one took us only as far as a place called Bimbila - from where we could pick up another bus going to Accra and which would drop us in Hohoe.
We arrived in Bimbila at about 11 and were suitably impressed with the efficiency of the ticket office (but not with the price of the ticket) and booked ourselves on the next bus out of town. So we waited and waited ....
To while away the time, we watched as a convoy of 5 men loaded several hundred yams on the roof of the bus. You can get the picture of the excitement we were enjoying...
Three and a half hours later, we were herded on to the bus where we must have had two of the most uncomfortable seats given to man (or woman!). They had no cushions at the back - only metal - and I had to "steal" a cover for my dirty foam cushion to sit on. So off we went at 2.30 pm (remember, we'd left our guesthouse in Yendi at 8.00 and had travelled so far approx 100 kms) and bumped along the same dusty, uneven, pot-holed road until 12.30 at night, stopping only for a quickie bowl of rice and plantain, and comfort breaks. Numb bums and exhausted.
But all was not lost - for I had learned a highly interesting piece of information from one of the other volunteers at Madame's orphanage, who'd called me during the journey. She told me that ....
Madame and the Nigerian mafia manager/headmaster have been siphoning off lots of money that the main benefactor has been sending each month - to fund/build a new private school! I've heard since that Mafia Man is about to be sacked ( and is probably the mastermind behind the plan), Madame has sent away Pamela back home (home? I thought she was an orphan) and one of the Richards has been sent somewhere else, as Madame "couldn't afford to keep them ". So my instincts about the two of them were right all along. But the uncertainty of the future of the orphanage is of far more concern. I intend to go next week to meet Mia, the benefactor, and her father who are here to set things straight. More info when I get it -
