Firstly we apologies for no pictures on here or Facebook, the internet is as slow as a snail and to upload even one takes a long time. We know you’re all eager to see where we are staying and the children however we will need to designate a day to uploading photos.
We’ve really grown attached to the children and their own little personalities that they bring. We only have a few more days to spend with them, so we are growing very sad to leave them. One month is not enough time to learn their names, learn their traits and bond with them as you have to leave to soon.
We got to travel last week to a place called Princestown, a little seaside town with a Castle on a hill overlooking the ocean and the village. For $3AUS a night we got to stay in the Bell Tower of the Castle and laze about on the deck bed overlooking the ocean and the village. The Castle called Fort Gross – Friedrichsburg is about 4hrs away from where we are staying. To get there you have to take a bus from Swedru (we caught the nice bus luckily) then a tro-tro (van) to Princestown. The road in is a little rough with some dirt and being the rainy season there are lots of pot holes and water over the road.
We had our very own cook at the Castle, his name was Joseph who made amazing food for 6 Cedi each meal ($4AUS), which made it nice to just relax and not have to worry about doing anything! While we were there, we went to a small seaside town called ‘Mie Mia’ that we had to Kayak to, down the river. First of all, don’t think of a nice plastic yellow Kayak, as Jamie first thought. It was a calved boat from wood that water had to be bailed from before even getting into the boat – not off to a good start! We jumped in and rowed for an hour to get to the local village where we were greeted with “Obruni, Obruni” (meaning: tourist, white person) and children asking for money. We met a local fisherman there that asked if we wanted to buy Lobster for 15 Cedis per kilo ($8AUS), so we jumped at the opportunity for CHEAP Lobster!!! The fisherman then took us to the beach where a local guy ran down to the water and pulled a netted bag from the ocean, FULL of Lobster and gave us three kilos worth. Greedy we know, but when it’s that cheap why not - we did share with Joseph and our guide Matthew though. We had a lovely time and learnt about the history of the Castle being the only German Castle built in Ghana. Ghana has 80 Castles in the country built from Dutch
When we left Princestown it was raining heavily and Joseph had advised us that we may not get out of the town due to flooding of the roads. We walked down with him to the village square where lots of locals where waiting for the only tro-tro to leave. The driver didn’t want to risk driving through the water so he said he wasn’t going. Low and behold though as soon as Obruni’s are around, for a sure price we are able to get a tro-tro to take us through the flooded water! Just to give you an idea of how cheap a tro-tro is meant to be, we paid 6 Cedi for the both of us and our bag to get there, but to take this ‘special’ tro-tro it cost us 50 Cedis. Candice wanted to stay another night as it was cheaper, the food was great and so relaxing, but the weather was rainy and wasn’t very inviting. Jamie was keen to leave as we had organized to meet the other volunteers from our program at Busua and due to him losing his phone we were unable to contact them so we had to go. So we reluctantly agreed to fork out this amount to get to Agona Station. We were told that if other locals were to join us it would lower the price but they would still be able to pay the normal 2 Cedi per person amount. So after receiving 14 Cedi’s from a full van, off we went. A quarter of the way there the driver pulls up and connects his ‘snorkel’ which is a PVC pipe on the side of the van. We go though the first water over road and we get through easily, the next one wasn’t the case…
We pulled up at water over a road you would not go through in Aus in a 4WD with a snorkel, let alone a busted broken looking tro tro. Never the less, everyone starts piling out of the van. They tell us, stay there, stay there – as we had paid so much money we were meant to stay in the van and be pushed across the flooded water while everyone else walks and the men push. As you’re all aware we like to help and not just sit around, so we hoped out and push the van also through the water. We asked if our bag in the back would get wet as the seals on the van had long been perished! We get the usual response of “its fine”, knowing full well it’s not. As this is the Ghanaian way, similar to ‘she’ll be right’, we fobbed off the comment and pushed the van across. Candice started pushing while the other women (including Jamie) walked behind. Jamie then saw the trend and soon took over from Candice! Once floating the van to the other side, we checked our bag as the water well and truly went inside. It was wet and we soon noticed that there was a little Goat that had been wedged between the back seat and the spare tire that also get wet too, poor little thing! As Candice has been doing the Cap Animal Aid foster program, she has had to learn that animals are very mistreated here and you just have to deal with it. Or as Jamie puts it, “harden up princess”. We got through other water over the road, a few large ones where the water actually came up to our ankles whilst still sitting in the van. Got to our destination still in one piece so we were happy.
Busua wasn’t one of our favorite spots, however we did have a nice time there staying right on the beach for 10AUS a night, not the nicest of places but cheap and close to everything. We stayed at ‘Peter Place – Bar and Restaurant open 24hrs’, however there is no bar and the restaurant is just his wife that cooks and brings it to you. We got to try Fufu which wasn’t overly pleasant but it’s a traditional dish so we had to try it. It’s Cassava and Plantain (unripe banana) mashed together to create a sticky ball. It is rolled into a ball and put in a bowl with a oily broth around it. The consistency is like eating glue, if that paints a picture for you. Although it’s a great belly filler, makes you feel fuller longer so it’s a good meal for Ghanaians.
We sat around the beach reading and relaxing some more with the other volunteers from our program. Candice was going to do a surfing lesson with a chick from Belgium she met the night before, but it was too expensive to hire so gave it a miss. So we ended up hiring boogie boards and riding the waves into shore. The waves were very forceful and after half an hour of being dunked we were water logged and gave it away! We would eat at a local ‘spot’ which is a restaurant over here – Ghanaian standard, not ours – very open style with no walls just a hut with table and chairs.
We have been very busy at the orphanage, playing with the children and helping the Madam (Aggie) and Mama Sarah (owns the orphanage with her husband and hires Aggie) with duties that need to be done like cooking, cleaning and washing their clothes. There are 36 children and only two ladies to do it all, while keep order! The childrens rooms are VERY basic and there are two children to a bed and about four bunk beds in one room. They all have their stuff spread everywhere so it’s always a hassle to find uniforms in the morning as they will blame each other of moving it on them. It seems like organized chaos everyday and somehow they all seem to brush their hair, clean their teeth put their shoes and uniform on (optional underwear if they don’t have any),sit on your lap for what seems like and hour then go to school. To be fair it’s not always on time, however they do try with a little coaxing and sometimes walking them to the door!
The donation money has really helped us achieve a few purposeful goals at the orphanage. We have started by making a cupboard for the children. From our donation money Jamie and I (mainly Jamie) built a cupboard with ten shelves and picked which room needed it the most, no surprises it was a girls room! He had to cut all the timber by hand with a blunt saw and no power tools, so he is happy to go home with the appreciation of having power at home. He was so sore that night after cutting all day, the Ghanaians aren’t educated well in the maintenance of their hand tools and if a saw is getting stuck in wood it needs oil not the teeth spread apart evenly. Never the less Jamie put his heart into the project (being a perfectionist it was hard for him tolet the little imperfection go) and the girls were so happy to receive their gift. Augustina even did a little dance in front of it with a huge smile.
The children are born with rhythm and they like to dance as much as they possibly can and they know how o shake it, especially when they are happy. So when they see the effort we put into making something for them they are so happy and proud.
Some of the children commented about Jamie when he arrived “finally a real man” as mainly uni students and young adults just out of school without trades volunteer here. (They are still very much needed and appreciated, more so for tutoring as we have been out of the education system for quite some time now) The comments from the children helped Jamie find more motivation when he was struggling with the saw.
The children are always so eager to help you, no matter what they just want to be in your presence and when you’re not around they are always asking after you.
When we were sanding the cupboard down we had about six kids all with sandpaper helping us, so the job took no time at all. Did have to guide a few of them not to sand the whole cupboard away; however they were so happy and eager to help through their lunch hour.
More of the donations have been spent on the orphanage, buying an ironing board as they were using the kitchen table, putting new fly screen in the windows and buying timber to go around the windows to hold it on so they mossies don’t get through any gaps. We have fixed doors with new hinges and ply so they are able to close the doors to keep the mosquitoes away. Malaria is so bad here and some of the children’s rooms don’t even get a fly screen door, so it’s worrying that we have run out of time to do more. It’s also hot over here and mossie nets are useless as the children pull them down due to it being too hot. We are trying to suggest they use them, like we do every night, however it’s easy for us to say that when we have a fan in our room and they don’t. Another cost needing donation is the children’s healthcare cards. Luckily Ghana has health insurance and each individual person is eligible to receive a card (similar to Medicare at home) with this card it lowers the cost of seeing a Doctor. The children have their healthcare cards except two, but each year they need renewing and they have to be renewed three months out from the expiry. It’s not that expensive, although when you have 36 children plus a few of your own it starts adding up and that cost can’t be met, so the volunteers help. It’s an easy process to renew them, you pay your money they put a sticker on it and your good to go. However EVERYTHING in Africa takes forever, there is no easy or quick process it’s always long winded and difficult to understand the logic. We have used the money to renew the children’s Health Care Cards for another year and the children are always very grateful. It’s so sweet to see some of the children that have other siblings in the orphanage looking out for each other. There are these three children Emanuel, Marta and Maphia– Ema is the older brother and came up to one of the other volunteers Emma and asked if Candice and Emma once home from the insurance office if his sisters had been renewed before asking of himself. It’s so sweet and they are such good kids, they don’t deserve their circumstances but they are better off here then on their own.
We are off to Cape Coast this week to see the Castle built there where majority of the slaves were kept, it will be an emotional day but great to learn the history.
This could be our last journal before we leave Ghana for our tour. We have enjoyed our time here so much and wish we could have stayed longer. One volunteer left today and seeing the emotional goodbye the children give you there’s going to be tears – it’s inevitable!
