Day 15 began with more eggs, beans and bread followed by a better organised team talk after another early start. Ella seemed to have the role of project manager sussed and had everybody’s roles planned and ready to hand out over breakfast. The weather was good enough for Gazza to climb trees so we could plait leaves for the new shelter to smarten up the kindergarten for the handing over ceremony. During the morning Raj managed to cut his hand opening paint with a chisel, conveniently getting him out of a day’s work and leaving Naomi and Alice to clean the floor with antiseptic wipes.
The cook team started making lunch at 10:30 as it was soup and pasta and we needed to have eaten before the buddies arrived at 1.00 however, even with the extra hour of cooking time lunch was still not ready till 1.15 luckily the buddies arrived later so we finished before they came for the rehersal of the malaria awareness play. Most of the team organising it didn’t seem to know exactly what was happening but Jess and Isaac seemed to have everything sorted and managed to explain all the instructions so the buddies could get involved.
While the rehersal was happening, down at the junior high school the murals were being finished off with only a few arrows to complete on our last project day. The unfortunate group from camp got stuck doing a water run as there was no washing or drinking water so after 5 runs there were lots of wet people with sore necks who attempted to carry the water on their heads.
We all went to bed relatively early with not many people up for playing charades and the funeral in the village beginning that we had been warned meant 3 days without sleep as there is constant music throughout the night.
Friday, 27 August 2010
Tuesday, 24 August 2010
Day 13 - Ali and Joe
Day 13 started off with another early wake up, after are first night back to the reality of the kindergarten. The morning then continued with some eggy bread and another teamtalk hosted by our new camp manager Lucy. Tom dominated the meeting as one of the project managers handing out jobs.
Work started off with mainly glossing white walls and blue shutters, some people stayed and worked at camp and Lucy and Naomi started off the first of the murals. There was hard work all morning. Just before lunch Tim, Ali, Catherine, Ghandi, Kambole and Big Bill all witnessed the most intense goat fight, it was hilariously amazing. It was yellow goat versus black with little ones watching as both goats used jumping head buts. Tim decided to chase another black goat into the equation, even though it was two on one the yellowishy one came out on top.
Lunch was more manwiches followed by job sorting. People set off for an afternoon of jobs and put in some more hard work in the afternoon. At about 3:30 in the afternoon Alice and Emma returned from a supposed shopping trip after being left at sabre headquarters because Isaac took a cheeky 3 hour trip to the bank. They then had to for fill a few more little errands. Meanwhile at the JHS there was a power cut which left us unable to see if the projector was working.
For tea we had a quite nice carbonara whipped up by the cook team which everybody excepting Carol enjoying it. Later on we had the best team meeting yet, which was pretty much “have a brownie” then “team meeting over”, brilliant.
p.s from Catherine, Happy 79th Birthday Grandad!! Hope you have a brilliant day and wishing I was there with you. I am having such a great time so nothing to worry about and will look forward to seeing you all when I get back. Love you lots and lots xxx
Work started off with mainly glossing white walls and blue shutters, some people stayed and worked at camp and Lucy and Naomi started off the first of the murals. There was hard work all morning. Just before lunch Tim, Ali, Catherine, Ghandi, Kambole and Big Bill all witnessed the most intense goat fight, it was hilariously amazing. It was yellow goat versus black with little ones watching as both goats used jumping head buts. Tim decided to chase another black goat into the equation, even though it was two on one the yellowishy one came out on top.
Lunch was more manwiches followed by job sorting. People set off for an afternoon of jobs and put in some more hard work in the afternoon. At about 3:30 in the afternoon Alice and Emma returned from a supposed shopping trip after being left at sabre headquarters because Isaac took a cheeky 3 hour trip to the bank. They then had to for fill a few more little errands. Meanwhile at the JHS there was a power cut which left us unable to see if the projector was working.
For tea we had a quite nice carbonara whipped up by the cook team which everybody excepting Carol enjoying it. Later on we had the best team meeting yet, which was pretty much “have a brownie” then “team meeting over”, brilliant.
p.s from Catherine, Happy 79th Birthday Grandad!! Hope you have a brilliant day and wishing I was there with you. I am having such a great time so nothing to worry about and will look forward to seeing you all when I get back. Love you lots and lots xxx
Monday, 23 August 2010
Day 11 and 12 – Emma and Alice
Waking up to another breakfast of porridge (not the camp favourite!) everyone was really excited to get out of camp for the weekend. However the TaTa bus got stuck on the hill about to overturn so the ‘Bant Tank’ was called in, which meant a 2 hour delay, in heavy rain- so we couldn’t even have showers while we waited! We finally got on the ‘Bant Tank’ with all of our camping equipment and headed to Sabre HQ, with Matt. B and Joe leading the singing. At HQ we changed busses so that we could continue to the restaurant, in the newly rescued TaTa Bus. We Arrived at the Zizibi restaurant, only to be delayed further as the service took so long. But the wait was worth while as everyone was jealous of Alice, Naomi and Lucy’s fried chicken and C HIPS!!! But what amused us most was Catherine crying at the extremely spicy Spaghetti Bolognaise, that everyone enjoyed trying.
We arrived at them Monkey Sanctuary too late to look around and still in heavy down pour, so we took a vote whether to outdo Team 1 and camp in the Rainforest or stay at Kakum where there was permanent shelter. We carried all of our heavy camping equipment up 12 flights of steps, sending Joe, Raj, Connor and Emma back down to get more stuff. After we set up camp trying to avoid the rain, hoping that the Tarpaulin would hold out through the night. We all finally got into bed after Carol, Julia and Bill gave up trying to control the banter. During an awkward silence Raj came out with the perfect ice breaker of – ‘Now for my daily check for testicular cancer’ Alice then continued the theme by asking Carol, rather out of the blue – “Carol is it possible to feel your ovaries?” with Naomi then adding “or are they glands?” After the laughing had dies down, Isaac brought out the brilliant new quote saying that he was “sweating like a hot cup of tea.” In the middle of the night, the Tarpaulin failed and emptied itself all over Connor and his camp bed leaving him damp and miserable, but everyone else highly amused.
In the morning we woke up to another breakfast or more boring sandwiches, and then packed up for more trips up and down the 12 flights of stairs. We did short whistle stop tour of the money sanctuary and then set of to Kakum after Isaac had broken the tree so that the bus could fit out. We arrived at Kakum with half and hour to spare so everyone stuffed their faces with popcorn, coke and cookies. Carol avoided the walkway and waited for us at the end. It was great fun and no one was too scared to give the full 7 bridges a try and we all completed them. After the walkway we left to drive to Hans Cottage Boatel (a cross between boat and a hotel) to grab some lunch. Nobody could quite decide whether the crocodile that the Ghanaians were paying to touch was real or not, until it jumped up and ate a weaver bird.
After Carol, Julia and Bill left us completely in charge, we somehow successfully managed to navigate to driver to a market where we brought food and project materials for the following few days. On our journey home, the roads were still a little slippery, so the TaTa Bus managed to slide backward al the way down a hill, and we must say that Bill looked terrified and desperate to drive us himself. When we got back to camp I think it is safe to say that we were all VERY HAPPY to see a long drop after using the rainforest floor and all its creatures as our toilet. After a controversial meal of soggy/crunchy rice and tomato and vegetable sauce there was yet another queue for Catherine’s massages. For one we were all in bed by curfew, looking forward to a breakfast of Eggy Bread, other than the cook team!
We arrived at them Monkey Sanctuary too late to look around and still in heavy down pour, so we took a vote whether to outdo Team 1 and camp in the Rainforest or stay at Kakum where there was permanent shelter. We carried all of our heavy camping equipment up 12 flights of steps, sending Joe, Raj, Connor and Emma back down to get more stuff. After we set up camp trying to avoid the rain, hoping that the Tarpaulin would hold out through the night. We all finally got into bed after Carol, Julia and Bill gave up trying to control the banter. During an awkward silence Raj came out with the perfect ice breaker of – ‘Now for my daily check for testicular cancer’ Alice then continued the theme by asking Carol, rather out of the blue – “Carol is it possible to feel your ovaries?” with Naomi then adding “or are they glands?” After the laughing had dies down, Isaac brought out the brilliant new quote saying that he was “sweating like a hot cup of tea.” In the middle of the night, the Tarpaulin failed and emptied itself all over Connor and his camp bed leaving him damp and miserable, but everyone else highly amused.
In the morning we woke up to another breakfast or more boring sandwiches, and then packed up for more trips up and down the 12 flights of stairs. We did short whistle stop tour of the money sanctuary and then set of to Kakum after Isaac had broken the tree so that the bus could fit out. We arrived at Kakum with half and hour to spare so everyone stuffed their faces with popcorn, coke and cookies. Carol avoided the walkway and waited for us at the end. It was great fun and no one was too scared to give the full 7 bridges a try and we all completed them. After the walkway we left to drive to Hans Cottage Boatel (a cross between boat and a hotel) to grab some lunch. Nobody could quite decide whether the crocodile that the Ghanaians were paying to touch was real or not, until it jumped up and ate a weaver bird.
After Carol, Julia and Bill left us completely in charge, we somehow successfully managed to navigate to driver to a market where we brought food and project materials for the following few days. On our journey home, the roads were still a little slippery, so the TaTa Bus managed to slide backward al the way down a hill, and we must say that Bill looked terrified and desperate to drive us himself. When we got back to camp I think it is safe to say that we were all VERY HAPPY to see a long drop after using the rainforest floor and all its creatures as our toilet. After a controversial meal of soggy/crunchy rice and tomato and vegetable sauce there was yet another queue for Catherine’s massages. For one we were all in bed by curfew, looking forward to a breakfast of Eggy Bread, other than the cook team!
Saturday, 21 August 2010
Day 10 - By Ella and Kambole
After a late night (10:30!!) we all woke up pretty late to a breakfast of beans, egg and bread. After our motivational team talk Raj and Matt washed up for a good two hours. Work then resumed on the painting and roofing of the Junior High School.
Lunch in general was a failure, with very delayed small portions, from a highly forgetful cooking team. The only salvation was that Isaac does amazing pancakes. Kambole, Catherine and Emma pinned Ella down with a mosquito bite zapper, which Kambole continued to surprise her with (ON THE BACK OF HER NECK!)
After another lengthy team talk from Carol, the project managers decided who was to do what, giving themselves the best jobs. Tim, AKA Papa Smurf managed to paint himself blue.
Ali, Raj, Alice, Catherine and Jess discussed which celebrities were ‘hotties’, Alice carried on the fun with a singing sesh. Tim, Naomi and Kambole also had a sing song, singing the ‘Ebay Song’.
Jo, Matt and Tim all managed to knock a pot of blue turpentine all over the floor. Jo ended up looking like whale rider after trying to clean it up. Kambole realised that his laugh is getting incredibly more camp, and a random Ghanaian girl told Ella that she laughed too much.
Sarah cooked dinner, outshining us once again, with Palava sauce and mashed yams, in Ali’s words – ‘Fishy Supreme’.
Kambole just went to the toilet for the fifth time, where a lizard dropped on his head. LOLZ.
P.S Ali says, Ellie, hope you got into Warwick, and missing all of you and also missing toilets.
P.P.S. Kambole says, Ghana is so much better than Scotland.
Lunch in general was a failure, with very delayed small portions, from a highly forgetful cooking team. The only salvation was that Isaac does amazing pancakes. Kambole, Catherine and Emma pinned Ella down with a mosquito bite zapper, which Kambole continued to surprise her with (ON THE BACK OF HER NECK!)
After another lengthy team talk from Carol, the project managers decided who was to do what, giving themselves the best jobs. Tim, AKA Papa Smurf managed to paint himself blue.
Ali, Raj, Alice, Catherine and Jess discussed which celebrities were ‘hotties’, Alice carried on the fun with a singing sesh. Tim, Naomi and Kambole also had a sing song, singing the ‘Ebay Song’.
Jo, Matt and Tim all managed to knock a pot of blue turpentine all over the floor. Jo ended up looking like whale rider after trying to clean it up. Kambole realised that his laugh is getting incredibly more camp, and a random Ghanaian girl told Ella that she laughed too much.
Sarah cooked dinner, outshining us once again, with Palava sauce and mashed yams, in Ali’s words – ‘Fishy Supreme’.
Kambole just went to the toilet for the fifth time, where a lizard dropped on his head. LOLZ.
P.S Ali says, Ellie, hope you got into Warwick, and missing all of you and also missing toilets.
P.P.S. Kambole says, Ghana is so much better than Scotland.
Day 9 - By Jess and Tim
Tim woke up at the call to prayer at about 4:30 as he was sleeping outside; he was slightly damp seeing as there had been a brief shower in the night. I (Jess) as usual slept like the living dead until half six and still has not heard the call to prayer despite already being here a week already.
Today we had one of the best breakfasts of the trip, which consisted of ample slices of French toast (for once we are not hungry after eating!!) cooked by Matt (Ghandi), Emma, Tom and Connor. During a girly chat with Julia and Carol, Kambole tripped over a mosquito net flashing his “meat and two veg” (Carol’s words), to which Naomi said “I rather enjoyed it” claiming it was just to make him feel better, but we all knew better. ;) ;P.
We had a very successful day painting the classrooms and glossing them with oil paint which is a nightmare to get off. (AAAAAAAAAAaahhhhhhhh turps!!!) During this eventful working morning Naomi’s buddy questioned whether Ella was a Muslim as she had her legs crossed. LoL.
Lunch was the norm with manwiches (which were massive chunks of bread with a tiny scraping of tuna). After lunch Matt and Carol had an intimate moment, where Carol was rubbing Matt’s back (who was making the most suggestive groaning noises).
After lunch we got back to work, where we managed to finally finish the coco-nut roofing !!! YAY! We have nearly finished the third room which was not part of the plan but we are still on schedule and will be painting the murals or “Murials” as we all call them next week.
Dinner was pasta with tomato sauce and vegetables, which Ella managed to drop on the floor (PASTA SIDE DOWN!) before she’d even tried it, it could be only be her.
(Jess) Hi to mum and dad, hope you are not worrying to much, I am having a FAB time, despite the horrendous toilets!(And have only been bitten 3 times!! so far any way) Missing you guys and all my friends as well, can’t wait to get back and show you all the photos!! Love you lots!! Jess xxxx
Today we had one of the best breakfasts of the trip, which consisted of ample slices of French toast (for once we are not hungry after eating!!) cooked by Matt (Ghandi), Emma, Tom and Connor. During a girly chat with Julia and Carol, Kambole tripped over a mosquito net flashing his “meat and two veg” (Carol’s words), to which Naomi said “I rather enjoyed it” claiming it was just to make him feel better, but we all knew better. ;) ;P.
We had a very successful day painting the classrooms and glossing them with oil paint which is a nightmare to get off. (AAAAAAAAAAaahhhhhhhh turps!!!) During this eventful working morning Naomi’s buddy questioned whether Ella was a Muslim as she had her legs crossed. LoL.
Lunch was the norm with manwiches (which were massive chunks of bread with a tiny scraping of tuna). After lunch Matt and Carol had an intimate moment, where Carol was rubbing Matt’s back (who was making the most suggestive groaning noises).
After lunch we got back to work, where we managed to finally finish the coco-nut roofing !!! YAY! We have nearly finished the third room which was not part of the plan but we are still on schedule and will be painting the murals or “Murials” as we all call them next week.
Dinner was pasta with tomato sauce and vegetables, which Ella managed to drop on the floor (PASTA SIDE DOWN!) before she’d even tried it, it could be only be her.
(Jess) Hi to mum and dad, hope you are not worrying to much, I am having a FAB time, despite the horrendous toilets!(And have only been bitten 3 times!! so far any way) Missing you guys and all my friends as well, can’t wait to get back and show you all the photos!! Love you lots!! Jess xxxx
Day 8 - By Ella and Jess
After waking up to the prayer call at 4:30 for the 8th day running we were all pretty annoyed. Things were made better by Isaac’s amazing cooking of pancakes (basically everything we make is utterly disgusting).
After breakfast we continued painting the classrooms and sanding the doors and windows in preparation for the gloss paint. Lunch was minestrone soup, which was ridiculously late, it basically consisted of soggy spaghetti and crunchy vegetables (kind of inevitable when you’ve got me (Ella) cooking!). We also managed to tip a whole load of chilli powder in it after Steve telling us it was pepper, so yeah burning tongues.
The afternoon was slow as everyone was exhausted from the hard morning’s work. Sarah cooked dinner again for us, which was like heaven! (But very spicy heaven!) After which everyone headed off to bed for an early night - half eight! Though the Ghanaian children are lovely (and incredibly cute) they were being extremely noisy which prompted Jess to tell them to be quite ‘cause we wanted to sleep, BARE LOLZ.
The year 11s are becoming increasingly nervous about there exam results, which is in six day’s time! :S Everyone knows they’ll all do fine though (:
P.S. Ella says she missed you all, (not really though ;)) It’s AMAAAAZING here and I absolutely love it, I think I could easily live here if only there we re running water and decent loos :D Rooooby Booooby, Carol keep talking about you, saying how you should be here, shall tell you about it on the walk to school ;) LAAAAVV YAAA xx OHHH MUTHAAAA, plez can you reserve me ‘Lord of the Flies’ talking book at the library, not sure if I’ll have time to read it tbh. And I am expecting a banner on my arrival at Heathrow.
After breakfast we continued painting the classrooms and sanding the doors and windows in preparation for the gloss paint. Lunch was minestrone soup, which was ridiculously late, it basically consisted of soggy spaghetti and crunchy vegetables (kind of inevitable when you’ve got me (Ella) cooking!). We also managed to tip a whole load of chilli powder in it after Steve telling us it was pepper, so yeah burning tongues.
The afternoon was slow as everyone was exhausted from the hard morning’s work. Sarah cooked dinner again for us, which was like heaven! (But very spicy heaven!) After which everyone headed off to bed for an early night - half eight! Though the Ghanaian children are lovely (and incredibly cute) they were being extremely noisy which prompted Jess to tell them to be quite ‘cause we wanted to sleep, BARE LOLZ.
The year 11s are becoming increasingly nervous about there exam results, which is in six day’s time! :S Everyone knows they’ll all do fine though (:
P.S. Ella says she missed you all, (not really though ;)) It’s AMAAAAZING here and I absolutely love it, I think I could easily live here if only there we re running water and decent loos :D Rooooby Booooby, Carol keep talking about you, saying how you should be here, shall tell you about it on the walk to school ;) LAAAAVV YAAA xx OHHH MUTHAAAA, plez can you reserve me ‘Lord of the Flies’ talking book at the library, not sure if I’ll have time to read it tbh. And I am expecting a banner on my arrival at Heathrow.
Wednesday, 18 August 2010
Day 7 - Matt B and Raj
Day 7 started yet again with the annoyingly early prayer call at 4:30am. We woke up to a breakfast of porridge, which after our last experience with the stuff was surprisingly tasty. As usual the work began at 9:00 at the Junior High School, and with the team finally starting to settle into a routine everyone was quickly at work, getting on with the tasks of painting, concreting holes in the classroom floor and the increasingly tedious, as well as painful, coconut bashing.
After the minor hiccup of over-eager local children getting hold of full buckets of paint during lunch (a make your own sandwich/manwich), work resumed and then continued until 5 when everyone took a well earned rest.
Dinner consisted of crunchy rice and undercooked vegetables which of course was mighty tasty, but the highlight of the evening had to be a massage from Jess! After a busy day everyone was left knackered and everyone was into bed by 9:30, ready for more hard work to come.
P.S. Matt B: Dad, can you record every Match of the Day please!
Raj: Have a great holiday in Australia.
DA END.
After the minor hiccup of over-eager local children getting hold of full buckets of paint during lunch (a make your own sandwich/manwich), work resumed and then continued until 5 when everyone took a well earned rest.
Dinner consisted of crunchy rice and undercooked vegetables which of course was mighty tasty, but the highlight of the evening had to be a massage from Jess! After a busy day everyone was left knackered and everyone was into bed by 9:30, ready for more hard work to come.
P.S. Matt B: Dad, can you record every Match of the Day please!
Raj: Have a great holiday in Australia.
DA END.
Day 6 - Naomi and Alice
After another early start and yet another breakfast of scrambled eggs, beans and bread; we all started on another full project day. As it was Gaza’s birthday we all promised him to work extra hard. After a successful day we had finished the log pathway and also- team 1 you will be proud- we finished painting the kinder garden playground seeing as we had a bit of spare time, Ghandi (a.k.a Mat Hand) finally gave in and let us wax his upper thighs, during which he squealed like a girl.
In the evening we had a special meal cooked by Sarah (a Ghanaian local) to celebrate Gaza’s 23rd birthday. She was kind enough to cook us some authentic Ghanaian cuisine, which tasted yummy. Gaza was ecstatic about the amount of hard work we had put in throughout the day. After dinner we all celebrated Gaza’s birthday with a Ghanaian style party, drums, dancing and lots of fire!
While on a quick pre-bed toilet trip we discovered a spider the size of our palm on the bamboo wall. It was all good until Tom hit the wall and it fell off running over Carol’s foot. Alice and Lucy screamed extremely loud! We are missing Brian the kitten deeply !
Joe says – Mum and Dad, have an amazing time on holiday!
Alice- hope you don’t miss me too much and daddy, I hope your plaster cast is off by the time I get home!
In the evening we had a special meal cooked by Sarah (a Ghanaian local) to celebrate Gaza’s 23rd birthday. She was kind enough to cook us some authentic Ghanaian cuisine, which tasted yummy. Gaza was ecstatic about the amount of hard work we had put in throughout the day. After dinner we all celebrated Gaza’s birthday with a Ghanaian style party, drums, dancing and lots of fire!
While on a quick pre-bed toilet trip we discovered a spider the size of our palm on the bamboo wall. It was all good until Tom hit the wall and it fell off running over Carol’s foot. Alice and Lucy screamed extremely loud! We are missing Brian the kitten deeply !
Joe says – Mum and Dad, have an amazing time on holiday!
Alice- hope you don’t miss me too much and daddy, I hope your plaster cast is off by the time I get home!
Monday, 16 August 2010
Day 5 - 15th August - Connor + Raj + Mat H
Rest day - Church and Elmina slave forts
Day 5 started with an early wake up call, and a quick change, ready for church. We were aloud to separate into groups depending on what church we wanted to go to. However most of us went to the Pentecostal church with Robert, whilst the others went to the Methodist church with Isaac, another of our guides. The Pentecostal church consisted of lots of singing dancing and music. At one point during the service, we were all asked to go up to the front to sing and dance. We decided to sing “reach for the stars” and “if you’re happy and you know it” after that we stayed a short while before retiring to camp. The Methodist church began with signing and drumming, then everyone did prayers for the country and the community. Afterwards a very intimidating man stood up and started to say that if we didn’t do a good job then we would be going to hell, so basically it was all smiles! After that we took all our buddies to Elmina Castle, which is the largest and oldest castle in west Africa. We had a 45 minute tour, and time afterwards to make a video of the things we found most moving or horrific about the conditions slaves were kept in during the slave period. To the disgust of most of our buddies during the ‘bant tank’ ride there and back we sang a lot of songs such as Bob Marley – Buffalo Soldier with Gaza, Robert and Izaac (a.ka. Shaggy). We all love Robert and Gaza and Isaac!!! Peace out, love Connor, Raj and Mat H.
Day 5 started with an early wake up call, and a quick change, ready for church. We were aloud to separate into groups depending on what church we wanted to go to. However most of us went to the Pentecostal church with Robert, whilst the others went to the Methodist church with Isaac, another of our guides. The Pentecostal church consisted of lots of singing dancing and music. At one point during the service, we were all asked to go up to the front to sing and dance. We decided to sing “reach for the stars” and “if you’re happy and you know it” after that we stayed a short while before retiring to camp. The Methodist church began with signing and drumming, then everyone did prayers for the country and the community. Afterwards a very intimidating man stood up and started to say that if we didn’t do a good job then we would be going to hell, so basically it was all smiles! After that we took all our buddies to Elmina Castle, which is the largest and oldest castle in west Africa. We had a 45 minute tour, and time afterwards to make a video of the things we found most moving or horrific about the conditions slaves were kept in during the slave period. To the disgust of most of our buddies during the ‘bant tank’ ride there and back we sang a lot of songs such as Bob Marley – Buffalo Soldier with Gaza, Robert and Izaac (a.ka. Shaggy). We all love Robert and Gaza and Isaac!!! Peace out, love Connor, Raj and Mat H.
Day 4 - 14th August - Ali + Tom
Project day 2 and Buddy Houses
Another early wake up call at 6.30ish! We all started with a water run – no one has dared yet to try and balance a bucket on their head. At breakfast we had our first porridge which we already hate after just one bowl. Ali was the new camp manager and welcomed the arrival of the new camp member Brian (The female kitten) by letting her sleep on his back. We then trudged off to work for more coconut bashing – only 10 000 left to do, yay! Meanwhile Kambole and Ella went off on a shopping trip lasting 5 hours. Making us wait for the WONDERFUL array of sandwiches. In the afternoon we met back up with our buddies and strolled into town to find their houses and kind families. Whilst we were chilling in town Tim slipped and ripped a toenail off (He’s fine now, don’t worry Heppers). The locals were continuously saying ‘sorry’ even though it wasn’t their fault. When our group were strolling, an awesome random Ghanaian dived out of alley way and gave us a cheeky dance. Later on poor little Brian was returned to town otherwise she would probably die of starvation and Bill would have a little munch of her for tea. After a lovely pasta carbonara everybody’s jobs were ready to rotate for the next day.
Another early wake up call at 6.30ish! We all started with a water run – no one has dared yet to try and balance a bucket on their head. At breakfast we had our first porridge which we already hate after just one bowl. Ali was the new camp manager and welcomed the arrival of the new camp member Brian (The female kitten) by letting her sleep on his back. We then trudged off to work for more coconut bashing – only 10 000 left to do, yay! Meanwhile Kambole and Ella went off on a shopping trip lasting 5 hours. Making us wait for the WONDERFUL array of sandwiches. In the afternoon we met back up with our buddies and strolled into town to find their houses and kind families. Whilst we were chilling in town Tim slipped and ripped a toenail off (He’s fine now, don’t worry Heppers). The locals were continuously saying ‘sorry’ even though it wasn’t their fault. When our group were strolling, an awesome random Ghanaian dived out of alley way and gave us a cheeky dance. Later on poor little Brian was returned to town otherwise she would probably die of starvation and Bill would have a little munch of her for tea. After a lovely pasta carbonara everybody’s jobs were ready to rotate for the next day.
Saturday, 14 August 2010
Day 3 - 13th August - Alice + Naomi
First Project Day
We woke up at 4:30 by the prayer call and had our first showers in Ghana. After a lush breakfast of scrambled egg, bread and beans, we were led by a group of local dancers to meet the elders and be accepted into the community. On the way we were ambushed by children fighting to hold our hands, and asking us to be their friends.
We started our projects, painting, coconut husking and log striping, ready for treatment. After around six hours the playground is nearly finished with just a little painting left (when Ella and Kambole have bought some red paint!)
We then met our buddies and had a dance sesh where we taught them British dances such as ‘big fish, little fish, cardboard box’ etc. They then went home to have dinner and wash while we had ours.
At around 8:00pm we all met up again to have bonfire and dance, except Ella who went to bed with a tummy ache. All the village girls braided the girls from the team’s hair. It was very painful. Following the villagers up to us was a tiny lost kitten…awww!
Then we went to bed and had a good chat with Matt H, Connor, Alice, Naomi, Lucy, Emma, Kambole and Catherine trying not to keep people awake (i.e Ella) Good times!
We woke up at 4:30 by the prayer call and had our first showers in Ghana. After a lush breakfast of scrambled egg, bread and beans, we were led by a group of local dancers to meet the elders and be accepted into the community. On the way we were ambushed by children fighting to hold our hands, and asking us to be their friends.
We started our projects, painting, coconut husking and log striping, ready for treatment. After around six hours the playground is nearly finished with just a little painting left (when Ella and Kambole have bought some red paint!)
We then met our buddies and had a dance sesh where we taught them British dances such as ‘big fish, little fish, cardboard box’ etc. They then went home to have dinner and wash while we had ours.
At around 8:00pm we all met up again to have bonfire and dance, except Ella who went to bed with a tummy ache. All the village girls braided the girls from the team’s hair. It was very painful. Following the villagers up to us was a tiny lost kitten…awww!
Then we went to bed and had a good chat with Matt H, Connor, Alice, Naomi, Lucy, Emma, Kambole and Catherine trying not to keep people awake (i.e Ella) Good times!
Day 1 + 2 - 11th + 12th August - Catherine & Lucy
The Journey
Team 1 lied! The plane wasn’t ‘extravagant’ at all. However we arrived safely at Casablanca if a little tired; however a 2 hour delay for the plane to Accra left us all exhausted and very grateful for the pillow and blanket on the plane. Nearly all of us managed to catch our forty winks with the exception of some unlucky few. We stepped off the plane into very hot and humid weather, but our day was made when we saw team one hanging out of the window. I (Lucy) had an unfortunate incident with the insect repellent where I put on too much which resulted in blue legs after leaning against a blue sign. After we changed our money we got on to the bus and headed to Sabres office and on the way ate our well deserved breakfast and tried fried plantain crisps. To get to the school we had to get on a giant bus with tractor wheels and plane seats to tackle the bumpy road. We arrived at the school to the welcome of our friends Gaza, Alex and Joseph and dozens of little children who were fascinated by the camera, demanding pictures from the new white people. For dinner we had a slightly spicy vegetable casserole with yam which was tasty. After that we were tired and decided to go to sleep at the late time of 10 o’clock. Team one: everyone misses you, but we’re filling the gaps that you left. We’re all missing family and friends but are enjoying being here as the Ghanaians are so friendly and welcoming, looking forward to the weeks to come.
PS. Holly, thank you for the flip flop and biscuit wrapper . When I told Gaza, Joseph and Alex that you said hello they went crazy and were all hugging me. I love it here!
Love, Lucy xx
Team 1 lied! The plane wasn’t ‘extravagant’ at all. However we arrived safely at Casablanca if a little tired; however a 2 hour delay for the plane to Accra left us all exhausted and very grateful for the pillow and blanket on the plane. Nearly all of us managed to catch our forty winks with the exception of some unlucky few. We stepped off the plane into very hot and humid weather, but our day was made when we saw team one hanging out of the window. I (Lucy) had an unfortunate incident with the insect repellent where I put on too much which resulted in blue legs after leaning against a blue sign. After we changed our money we got on to the bus and headed to Sabres office and on the way ate our well deserved breakfast and tried fried plantain crisps. To get to the school we had to get on a giant bus with tractor wheels and plane seats to tackle the bumpy road. We arrived at the school to the welcome of our friends Gaza, Alex and Joseph and dozens of little children who were fascinated by the camera, demanding pictures from the new white people. For dinner we had a slightly spicy vegetable casserole with yam which was tasty. After that we were tired and decided to go to sleep at the late time of 10 o’clock. Team one: everyone misses you, but we’re filling the gaps that you left. We’re all missing family and friends but are enjoying being here as the Ghanaians are so friendly and welcoming, looking forward to the weeks to come.
PS. Holly, thank you for the flip flop and biscuit wrapper . When I told Gaza, Joseph and Alex that you said hello they went crazy and were all hugging me. I love it here!
Love, Lucy xx
Tuesday, 10 August 2010
Day 18
Today was buddy day, a celebration with all our buddies of our hard work on our projects, and a chance to relax and have fun with them. It had been planned that we would go to the beach, in Bessiase, as it was less of a western beach then the ones at Elmina, so our buddies would feel safer. After several teary goodbyes to the smaller children of Dwabor, as we knew this would be the last time seeing them, we caught the bus with our buddies as well as Gaza, Alex, and Joseph who helped us with the language barrier. The bus was very different to the ones back in England, the bus was packed with 4 people in each 3-seater, and many people standing up holding large objects like their giant bowl carrying things on their heads, and stacks of oranges as well as a man holding a massive old fashioned tv! To make the journey even crazier, the back door was open the whole way and the roads were mega bumpy.
When we reached the beach basically everyone quickly got started on a game of beach cricket and some others went into the sea. Many of the buddies couldn’t swim, so were nervous at first, it was quite difficult getting them into the water – particularly the girls, but once they were in they loved it – many of them had never been to the beach before! The Ghanians that could swim made sure of showing off (especially Gaza) and as the waves were like massive it was so much fun.
After a shower (A SHOWER!!!!!!!!) we had lunch at the restaurant with the team having mostly chicken and chips, and the buddies having chicken and curried rice. It was the first time for all the buddies to eat in a restaurant, so they felt very honoured and excited, and struggled with their knife and fork technique because they were all used to eating with their hands. During the meal, some random Ghanian kid who looked about 10 climbed up a 30ft palm tree in the space of 1 minute, and perched on a scarily thin branch to pull out the coconuts and lob them into his wheelbarrow. It was quite entertaining.
With ten meals over ordered, and all the leftovers on the teams plates, most of our buddies picked up the leftover pieces of chicken and put them straight into their bags, to their family what they had eaten and to feed the pigs. My buddy started putting rice into his pockets which was weird, so I hurriedly got him a plastic bag.
After 5 and a half hours at the beach, half of us went home on the sabre bus tractor plane thing, and the other half got taxis. The journey was mostly quiet on the buddies behalf as they were tired after the day. We arrived back at Dwabor to a campfire and a singsong where we shared some British songs. After a very happy day, the evening was very sad, with lots of people crying as they were sad to leave Dwabor – Becky being the first to crack, followed by Mia, Gaza, Joseph and basically all the girls except Lydia who had gone to bed for an early night LOLLL. After lots of hugs goodbye, we went to bed at our latest night ever – 10.30!!!
When we reached the beach basically everyone quickly got started on a game of beach cricket and some others went into the sea. Many of the buddies couldn’t swim, so were nervous at first, it was quite difficult getting them into the water – particularly the girls, but once they were in they loved it – many of them had never been to the beach before! The Ghanians that could swim made sure of showing off (especially Gaza) and as the waves were like massive it was so much fun.
After a shower (A SHOWER!!!!!!!!) we had lunch at the restaurant with the team having mostly chicken and chips, and the buddies having chicken and curried rice. It was the first time for all the buddies to eat in a restaurant, so they felt very honoured and excited, and struggled with their knife and fork technique because they were all used to eating with their hands. During the meal, some random Ghanian kid who looked about 10 climbed up a 30ft palm tree in the space of 1 minute, and perched on a scarily thin branch to pull out the coconuts and lob them into his wheelbarrow. It was quite entertaining.
With ten meals over ordered, and all the leftovers on the teams plates, most of our buddies picked up the leftover pieces of chicken and put them straight into their bags, to their family what they had eaten and to feed the pigs. My buddy started putting rice into his pockets which was weird, so I hurriedly got him a plastic bag.
After 5 and a half hours at the beach, half of us went home on the sabre bus tractor plane thing, and the other half got taxis. The journey was mostly quiet on the buddies behalf as they were tired after the day. We arrived back at Dwabor to a campfire and a singsong where we shared some British songs. After a very happy day, the evening was very sad, with lots of people crying as they were sad to leave Dwabor – Becky being the first to crack, followed by Mia, Gaza, Joseph and basically all the girls except Lydia who had gone to bed for an early night LOLLL. After lots of hugs goodbye, we went to bed at our latest night ever – 10.30!!!
Monday, 9 August 2010
Day 17 By Iain And Ollie
Another early start with breakfast of baked beans and scrambled egg, finished by 6.45, a new record. Much of the team appeared bleary eyed at start of work, which started at around 7.30. Frames for the climbing frame quickly took shape thanks to Iain and Bob’s efforts. Painting of the swings and see-saw frames increased the look of playground dramatically, as well as giving the impression of almost being done. Mia’s bright colour scheme really helping the look. As usual it was sandwiches for lunch in the heat of the day. A couple of people suffered from the heat and took time out to recover. Work continued late into the evening, using every last minute of daylight available, finishing at about 6.45pm. Minestrone soup with mashed yam was for dinner and went down a treat.
Day 16 By Iain And Ollie
It was decided that we would all get up early have breakfast and work before going to Josephs twin sister’s ceremony at 10am. Everyone pushed to complete part of the playground because it was behind schedule. The shopping team had a long delay of 1 hour 30 minutes waiting for the bus. Definitely a case of GMT! (Ghana Maybe Time). Work progressed reasonably well before the team headed off to the celebration. The team was greeted with face paints before being shown their seats. Our very own twins, Polly and Hannah, sat with the local twins at the very front. Several of the team were invited to sit at front as well during the sacrifice of a sheep, much to the horror of some slightly more squeamish people. Dancing then ensued with everyone having a great time. Work then resumed after lunch at a slow pace after waiting around for more materials to arrive. A large frog was found in camp and it was decided that the best way to catch it was with a shoe. Iain’s were conveniently placed and became the item of choice. The frog was caught and to everyone’s amazement it urinated in the sole of his shoe. Iain returned several hours later from shopping to be informed of the incident, he was not best pleased. After dinner, our inspirational team leader Harry, briefed us on our jobs for the following day, which would include an awful lot of work! An early night followed in order to be ready for it.
Thursday, 5 August 2010
Day 14 by Becki
Day 14 by Becki
Today, after a deep sleep resting our exhausted selves, we woke up to yet again a bowl of porridge which many of the team are now very fond of. On the other hand after the 100th time I personally think it looses its charm. We then, after showering, washing and the other usual what not (and maybe another quick nap :p) we set off to work.
The log path was well on its way with all the logs being carefully laid at a roughly constant level. Well we did have a minor setback when the experts didn’t quite approve but this only meant we could redo it to perfection ;). The play ground also took a massive bound forward with it now naked of weeds and other lumps and bumps. What’s more the trench surrounding it is as straight as a ray of light and the correct depth which allowed us to start concreting- with once again the experts pointing us down the right path :p!
Our extremely nutritious and original lunch of sandwiches kept us going throughout the day giving us the strength to manage another bamboo collection and 2 buckets each of water. And a few hours later the log path was very, very nearly finished! It was a few painted logs short, however some of us couldn’t stand being so close and not being able to complete it. So instead we inserted a few temporary unpainted logs just so we could see what the finished product would look like and even if I say so myself it is looking gooood :D
So we ended the day with: a few more structures forming in the playground; the concrete edge well on its way; a slightly less stable bench after Iain had a little accident :p; a “finished” log path and a group of yet again fully drained people.
Dinner was a total success of another local Ghanaian dish- Jollof rice and after a lovely little chat with Joseph, our personal handy man, who gave us a small insight of his life out here in Ghana we all headed once again to our camp beds and mosquito nets under the stars!
Today, after a deep sleep resting our exhausted selves, we woke up to yet again a bowl of porridge which many of the team are now very fond of. On the other hand after the 100th time I personally think it looses its charm. We then, after showering, washing and the other usual what not (and maybe another quick nap :p) we set off to work.
The log path was well on its way with all the logs being carefully laid at a roughly constant level. Well we did have a minor setback when the experts didn’t quite approve but this only meant we could redo it to perfection ;). The play ground also took a massive bound forward with it now naked of weeds and other lumps and bumps. What’s more the trench surrounding it is as straight as a ray of light and the correct depth which allowed us to start concreting- with once again the experts pointing us down the right path :p!
Our extremely nutritious and original lunch of sandwiches kept us going throughout the day giving us the strength to manage another bamboo collection and 2 buckets each of water. And a few hours later the log path was very, very nearly finished! It was a few painted logs short, however some of us couldn’t stand being so close and not being able to complete it. So instead we inserted a few temporary unpainted logs just so we could see what the finished product would look like and even if I say so myself it is looking gooood :D
So we ended the day with: a few more structures forming in the playground; the concrete edge well on its way; a slightly less stable bench after Iain had a little accident :p; a “finished” log path and a group of yet again fully drained people.
Dinner was a total success of another local Ghanaian dish- Jollof rice and after a lovely little chat with Joseph, our personal handy man, who gave us a small insight of his life out here in Ghana we all headed once again to our camp beds and mosquito nets under the stars!
Wednesday, 4 August 2010
Day 13 by Nick
Dear bloggers this is my first entry so I hope you enjoy it. For the convenience of your reading I shall summarise the day’s events into a series of bullet points.
• Woke up at precisely 4:29:57 for the call to prayer
• Woke up at roughly 6:37 am with the Sun
• Left bed at 7:01 am
• Ate breakfast of French toast lovingly prepared by our cooking team
• We then went of to do different jobs on the project
o Painting logs for path with preservative
o Digging holes for Bamboo poles
o Levelling path for logs
• Iain packed and organised his clothes for the remainder of the trip using a concise but inclusive list
• Ate Palava sauce and mashed Yam cooked for us by Sarah, our local cooking advisor
• The poker resumed after a 2 day break from it, with Holly raking in the chips
• Ollie once again started sleep talking, there were various references to the budget and food.
• Tom from SABRE had a hair cut which caused a larger than anticipated crowd, the resulting trim left his head considerably breezy
• We then retired to our beds after a long, tiring day
Dan: Thank you everybody for all the presents you gave me and the cards. Also the supplies were delicious.
• Woke up at precisely 4:29:57 for the call to prayer
• Woke up at roughly 6:37 am with the Sun
• Left bed at 7:01 am
• Ate breakfast of French toast lovingly prepared by our cooking team
• We then went of to do different jobs on the project
o Painting logs for path with preservative
o Digging holes for Bamboo poles
o Levelling path for logs
• Iain packed and organised his clothes for the remainder of the trip using a concise but inclusive list
• Ate Palava sauce and mashed Yam cooked for us by Sarah, our local cooking advisor
• The poker resumed after a 2 day break from it, with Holly raking in the chips
• Ollie once again started sleep talking, there were various references to the budget and food.
• Tom from SABRE had a hair cut which caused a larger than anticipated crowd, the resulting trim left his head considerably breezy
• We then retired to our beds after a long, tiring day
Dan: Thank you everybody for all the presents you gave me and the cards. Also the supplies were delicious.
Day 12 By Ollie and Mia
Back to our usual routine in the village with an early wake up call from the mosque. Back to our own-cooked porridge and bucket showers. Harry and Tom still embraced their feminine side with multi-coloured nail varnish which they had failed to remove from the weekend. Hard project work started again with our buddies proving very useful. They did however find our efforts hilarious especially when Tom wildly hacked at a coconut, spilling its contents. We made lots of progress, especially on the playground with bamboo cut and trenches dug. Our local helper ‘Gazza’ managed to catch a rat from in the orange grove behind the school before showing the group his prize. To the shock of everyone he then butchered it behind the toilets. The first water fight of the trip broke out after a water run, which we are still appalling at, after Katia soaked Mia, Matt and others joined in. The inexperienced cooking team of Dan, Harry, George and Ollie, successfully managed a meal of pasta and sauce, a real achievement after the previous nights disaster.
From Mia, Happy early Birthday to my mummy, have a fabby day, gutted I couldn’t be with you, but im in Ghana so its ok missing everyone loads, and give a big hug to freya and pickles!! X x x
From Becki, miss you mummy, daddy and seb hope you are all well I am having loads of fun though and so glad that I am here! Hope mum and sebby have a good flight and give kisses to maminou and papitou too. Love you all very much and can’t wait to see you all. xxxx
From Ollie, Having a great time, hope everyone at home is well, its very hot but well worth it. Ben hope you had a good trip. xxx
From Mia, Happy early Birthday to my mummy, have a fabby day, gutted I couldn’t be with you, but im in Ghana so its ok missing everyone loads, and give a big hug to freya and pickles!! X x x
From Becki, miss you mummy, daddy and seb hope you are all well I am having loads of fun though and so glad that I am here! Hope mum and sebby have a good flight and give kisses to maminou and papitou too. Love you all very much and can’t wait to see you all. xxxx
From Ollie, Having a great time, hope everyone at home is well, its very hot but well worth it. Ben hope you had a good trip. xxx
Tuesday, 3 August 2010
Day 11 by Tom
On the Sunday we had another lie in and a breakfast buffet which was awesome. We then walked into Elmina which was anything but the promised “ lovely ten minute stroll. It took us forty minutes and it smelt like a sewer but we did stop to grab a drink along the way. Sadly Iain didn’t join us as he had sun stroke and wanted to stay in bed.
We went into the slave castle and had a guided tour around. It was an eye opening experience as we found out facts such as 60 million slaves were deported from Africa. We saw the door of no return, the dungeons, the lord’s room and lots more. At the end we climbed up some poles that had been used for training which led us to believe Dan was a monkey.
We got back to stumble inn in time to have a quick swim before we left. The waves were huge and had no problems push us over or pulling us out.
We then went back to Dwabour on the plane, bus, van, tractor, tank thing and put up our tents before it got dark. We then ate what was meant to be egg fried rice but failed dismally.
We then gave Dan a few presents and cards as it was his birthday and listened as he read his embarrassing cards out two everyone.
Tom failed a bit as he gave the wrong present to Dan, he had got something for Mrs Warnock and for Dan but gave them to the wrong people so Dan ended up with a beauty kit and book.
We went into the slave castle and had a guided tour around. It was an eye opening experience as we found out facts such as 60 million slaves were deported from Africa. We saw the door of no return, the dungeons, the lord’s room and lots more. At the end we climbed up some poles that had been used for training which led us to believe Dan was a monkey.
We got back to stumble inn in time to have a quick swim before we left. The waves were huge and had no problems push us over or pulling us out.
We then went back to Dwabour on the plane, bus, van, tractor, tank thing and put up our tents before it got dark. We then ate what was meant to be egg fried rice but failed dismally.
We then gave Dan a few presents and cards as it was his birthday and listened as he read his embarrassing cards out two everyone.
Tom failed a bit as he gave the wrong present to Dan, he had got something for Mrs Warnock and for Dan but gave them to the wrong people so Dan ended up with a beauty kit and book.
Day 10 by, Elen , Polly, Emma, Hannah and Tom
We had a huge lie in today, we stayed in bed until about 8!!! We the had another good shower and got breakfast. We could choose from French toast, pancakes or beans and egg on toast. As today was a relaxing day we went swimming in the sea and were thrown around in the strong waves which got salt in everyone’s eyes apart from Ian who had some sexy bad man goggles. In the middle of the day most of us went into Elmina to look around and buy anything we wanted. We were told it was a 10minute stroll but in reality we walked around blindly with nothing but a small hand drawn map in the scorching mid day sun along side an open sewer that as you can imagine smelt great. It made us truly appreciate how lovely Home and Dwabour are .
Day 9 by Hannah, polly, Elen, Emma and Tom
Day 9, 10 11
Friday we had to start early for work do we could finish early and pack up to go to stumble inn. Today was great fun as we peeled logs and painted them. We worked hard but only did a small amount of the total 2000 logs. We painted the logs with solegram which is black, sticky and messy stuff That preserves the logs. Little did we know that it stains clothes and skin which wasn’t so bad for Hannah and Elen as they were “hand washed” by a tanked Ghanaian guy called Gazer.While the team worked Polly stayed in bed for the day and slept for about 2o hours.
Finally the bus came and we went of to stumble inn. However the bus wasn’t really a bus, It looked like a bus on tractor wheels but looked like a plane from the inside. It had plane seats with the drop down tables and everything. It was a good journey with most of the girls singing and most of the boys groaning.
We finished the day with a chicken stir fry which made a change from cooking it ourselves and a shower which was actually a shower!
We then had a good nights sleep under the stars, listening to the crashing waves which was quite a contrast from listening to crickets, drumming and Ollie and Tom’s sleep talking and then being woken up by the lovely prayer call and 4:30AM.
PS, I didn’t know Jennifer Anistan and Brad Pit were going out? Did Jennifer date Vincent Van Gogh?! Bertie Polly said you would be ashamed of me.
Love Emma
Friday we had to start early for work do we could finish early and pack up to go to stumble inn. Today was great fun as we peeled logs and painted them. We worked hard but only did a small amount of the total 2000 logs. We painted the logs with solegram which is black, sticky and messy stuff That preserves the logs. Little did we know that it stains clothes and skin which wasn’t so bad for Hannah and Elen as they were “hand washed” by a tanked Ghanaian guy called Gazer.While the team worked Polly stayed in bed for the day and slept for about 2o hours.
Finally the bus came and we went of to stumble inn. However the bus wasn’t really a bus, It looked like a bus on tractor wheels but looked like a plane from the inside. It had plane seats with the drop down tables and everything. It was a good journey with most of the girls singing and most of the boys groaning.
We finished the day with a chicken stir fry which made a change from cooking it ourselves and a shower which was actually a shower!
We then had a good nights sleep under the stars, listening to the crashing waves which was quite a contrast from listening to crickets, drumming and Ollie and Tom’s sleep talking and then being woken up by the lovely prayer call and 4:30AM.
PS, I didn’t know Jennifer Anistan and Brad Pit were going out? Did Jennifer date Vincent Van Gogh?! Bertie Polly said you would be ashamed of me.
Love Emma
Thursday, 29 July 2010
Day 8-by Lydia
This morning was yet another early one; worship was now due to go ahead at 8am so everyone rushed to get ready. Our breakfast was impressively early at 6.30am-something of a shock in comparison to breakfast in the UK! Polly was feeling pretty unwell so she and Ellen remained in camp whilst the rest of us walked down the hill to the Roman Catholic Church. This is the biggest building in Dwabor and easily fitted our team along with the Catholic members of the High School. Michael, the Deputy Head, spoke the majority in Fanti and there was a lot of preaching and praying. Unfortunately, for my accident prone self, we had been in worship only 20 mins or so before I nearly fainted quite unexpectedly. I went back to bed and am now in Elmina writing this blog after stopping at another being-built playground to look at the design with Alex the Bamboo man The remaining team are clearing room for the Playground (boys using machetes) and removing the bark from the 2000 logs that were delivered yesterday. This is probably our first full day of project work so we look forward to watching everything develop.
Day 7-by Lydia and Holly
Extreme early start today after a sudden rain attack at 1am for an out of bed wakening at 5.30am. Several members of the team wandered down to the football pitch to set up for our first project: Kindergarten Sports Day, which we had demonstrated the day before (an eventful practice!). Ghana Maybe Time (GMT) meant that the intended Wednesday Morning worship never occurred but it gave us an opportunity to complete the Sports Day, Cricket and Football layout-an attempt to sort around 120 under 6 year olds into 12 equal groups. If you have never tried this before; don’t risk it!
Sports Day began on a high with our JHS buddies helping look after our teams. Each race had 3 repeats and the kids loved participating in the sprint, relay, sand-in-water bag-on-head game, lime and spoon, and sack race. Overall community humour moment was when one of the smallest children ever ran in the sand on head game, a drastic fail . The event went down a storm with the winner of each race receiving a very flash Weydon pencil, something we are sure the children will treasure. Next came the Cricket Match: an organised (thanks to Miss Frost) but chaotic game that enabled the older students to have an interesting day too. The boiling midday sun was not a good mix for a cricket game with the Ghanaians, though, on true English Cricket style, there was brief yet heavy downpour of rain. Canopies were up along with a sound system so announcements could be made about the scores and winning team. If all this wasn’t enough a football game began immediately after the Cricket between the teachers in Dwabor + 2 Weydon students, and the Ghanaian students + 2 Weydon students. By now the whole village was out to support in numbers, adults cheered on the student team whilst Kindergarten children danced cheerily and amazingly around the speaker system which played music and had the football commentary.
The football match, which seemed to last hours in the eyes of some spectators under the canopy in the hottest part of the day, ended 6-2 to the teachers with Ollie Brown as man-of-the-match.
When we finally got back to base, Becky and Mia made everyone sandwiches which were much appreciated, especially by the sweaty boys who had played football most of the afternoon. After a break folowing lunch, a group went to put logs in the land rover ready to be stripped for the pathway. The rest of the afternoon was spent by most, stripping logs and collecting water from the well. A successful day which now means 1 of our 3 projects is complete!
Sports Day began on a high with our JHS buddies helping look after our teams. Each race had 3 repeats and the kids loved participating in the sprint, relay, sand-in-water bag-on-head game, lime and spoon, and sack race. Overall community humour moment was when one of the smallest children ever ran in the sand on head game, a drastic fail . The event went down a storm with the winner of each race receiving a very flash Weydon pencil, something we are sure the children will treasure. Next came the Cricket Match: an organised (thanks to Miss Frost) but chaotic game that enabled the older students to have an interesting day too. The boiling midday sun was not a good mix for a cricket game with the Ghanaians, though, on true English Cricket style, there was brief yet heavy downpour of rain. Canopies were up along with a sound system so announcements could be made about the scores and winning team. If all this wasn’t enough a football game began immediately after the Cricket between the teachers in Dwabor + 2 Weydon students, and the Ghanaian students + 2 Weydon students. By now the whole village was out to support in numbers, adults cheered on the student team whilst Kindergarten children danced cheerily and amazingly around the speaker system which played music and had the football commentary.
The football match, which seemed to last hours in the eyes of some spectators under the canopy in the hottest part of the day, ended 6-2 to the teachers with Ollie Brown as man-of-the-match.
When we finally got back to base, Becky and Mia made everyone sandwiches which were much appreciated, especially by the sweaty boys who had played football most of the afternoon. After a break folowing lunch, a group went to put logs in the land rover ready to be stripped for the pathway. The rest of the afternoon was spent by most, stripping logs and collecting water from the well. A successful day which now means 1 of our 3 projects is complete!
Day 6-by Ellen and Hannah
Today we had a cheeky lie in which meant we were behind schedule by about an hour and a half, meaning most of the morning was a big rush with many people missing out on showers. BUT don’t panic, we had ours ;). Because there was always a big queue for the shower, we made a new awesome one out of bamboo and weaved palm fronds with the help of Gaza (our cool security guard) and Joseph and Alex (random dudes). The new shower is bigger than the old one, about 2x2m and tall enough for no one to be seen over the top. It has a stone floor where we stand to have lovely morning showers of half a bucket of cold water which we share with a partner and then is used to wash our dirty clothes, although they still aren’t clean because of the never ending clay. YAY. At least this is all character building ;).
As well as making the shower out of bamboo, we (with the help of the locals) also made bamboo cups by sawing off a joint of bamboo, shaving it with a knife and sandpapering it smooth.
As today was our first proper working day towards the building projects, we prepared logs for the log pathway. This basically meant using a chisel to prise the bark off each log and then carrying them on our heads up the hill to where our path will be built – this is more difficult than it sounds as, for each log that we shaved, our local helper Joseph got through about 5. Unlucky for Lydia she started her “own special method” of shaving logs and cut her hand but its fine, she’s been taken care of and is now reduced to the important one handed jobs of putting the scrabble letters back in the pot. Oh and Ellen got a blister on her thumb. Sad SAD times.
Whilst a few of us were shaving logs, another few were attempting to train the Kindergarten children ready for sports day. This meant they had to line up and then practise each race which was very chaotic as the children always want to be held or hold our hands. The rest of the team were off shopping for the next 4 days worth of food and Nick went to buy tools for the projects and Emma bought supplies for sports day.
We had changed the cooking teams over,so for dinner, the new group made spaghetti with tomato and vegetable sauce – which we ate in the daylight for a change!
Because of our late morning start today, we were banned from playing poker, so went to bed very early (8.15 LOL PARTAY ANIMALS).
So today was quite an eventful day with lots of funny moments e.g. the moment when Mrs Bowden flopped out a Marie Clair magazine to read in peace and then got bombarded by kindergartens wanting to join in and look at the pretty pictures.
Hannah says, hello mum dad and TOM and of course bertie who I know is reading this!x
Ellen says, YAY 1 YEAR JOSH I love youuu. And mumma and dad and the rest of the clan at home. xxxx
As well as making the shower out of bamboo, we (with the help of the locals) also made bamboo cups by sawing off a joint of bamboo, shaving it with a knife and sandpapering it smooth.
As today was our first proper working day towards the building projects, we prepared logs for the log pathway. This basically meant using a chisel to prise the bark off each log and then carrying them on our heads up the hill to where our path will be built – this is more difficult than it sounds as, for each log that we shaved, our local helper Joseph got through about 5. Unlucky for Lydia she started her “own special method” of shaving logs and cut her hand but its fine, she’s been taken care of and is now reduced to the important one handed jobs of putting the scrabble letters back in the pot. Oh and Ellen got a blister on her thumb. Sad SAD times.
Whilst a few of us were shaving logs, another few were attempting to train the Kindergarten children ready for sports day. This meant they had to line up and then practise each race which was very chaotic as the children always want to be held or hold our hands. The rest of the team were off shopping for the next 4 days worth of food and Nick went to buy tools for the projects and Emma bought supplies for sports day.
We had changed the cooking teams over,so for dinner, the new group made spaghetti with tomato and vegetable sauce – which we ate in the daylight for a change!
Because of our late morning start today, we were banned from playing poker, so went to bed very early (8.15 LOL PARTAY ANIMALS).
So today was quite an eventful day with lots of funny moments e.g. the moment when Mrs Bowden flopped out a Marie Clair magazine to read in peace and then got bombarded by kindergartens wanting to join in and look at the pretty pictures.
Hannah says, hello mum dad and TOM and of course bertie who I know is reading this!x
Ellen says, YAY 1 YEAR JOSH I love youuu. And mumma and dad and the rest of the clan at home. xxxx
Tuesday, 27 July 2010
Day 5
We awoke earlier than normal so that we could get down to the school to prepare for our lesson on British Day. Different people did different tasks including making scones, London and monopoly game, pom poms and magazines. The day consisted of very excited children who where very loud and enthusiastic about each task. We where greeted by the chief and a few of the elders who attended the British Day presentation which was another initiation into the community. Different school and community authorities spoke and children did presentations of dancing and what the did in their British day lesson. The children who where by then very excited where given water bags which they then used for squirting at each other. After such a busy morning the group was knackered so spent the afternoon relaxing before going down to the well to get water, which took about four trips cause we aren’t quite as strong as the children.
Day 4
As it was a Sunday we all decided to attend the churches. They have three – Methodist, Pentecostal and Church of England. They where different to your traditional English church as there where drums and dancing. We all attempted to sing and dance, but didn’t quite possess the same amount of energy. The Priests where very enthusiastic and gave us gods blessing and protection while we are in Ghana. Each service we attended was translated in both English and fante for our benefit. There has been a lot of project planning as we are starting all our building in the next few days. After church we were persuaded to play a game of football with the local children, who to our dismay where pretty good, and at half our size scored more and played better. Everyone has been getting pretty exhausted from all the children so it was nice to have an evening of poker within the team
Saturday, 24 July 2010
Day 3- 24th July- By Holly
This morning, everyone was a little more tired than we had hoped as the music played all night on possibly the highest volume they could and the rain early before sun rise disturbed a few people who had to move their beds inside. More bucket showers and porridge went down a treat and again children arrived from the village as we finished breakfest, ready for more games. The morning was spent having a meeting and then we went down to have a look at the funeral that was going on the whole weekend. The funeral was very different to English ones, filled with loud music and dancing. The body was laid in a grand double bed where all the locals paid their respects until they went back to the celebrations. When we got back to camp, accommpanied by loads of local children, we had a lesson in weaving palm leaves to make a new shower. I have just driven down to Elmina to post this blog with Tom from Sabre and many people caught a lift with us to various places along the way so the landrover was filled to the brim. We will try to carry on blogging in the days to come and so far everyone has really enjoyed themselves.
Day 2- 23rd July- By Holly and Lydia
Light was upon us at 6am so we all grabbed a bucket and had a quick, needed wash. Kindergarten pupils arrived early and began sweeping the floor ready for their lessons. For one of the classes the teacher was running late, we sat outside the door which created a huge distraction for the children as they began waving and high-fiving us with huge grins plastered on their faces. Break time was the most chaotic thing we will probably experience! All the boys felt the full force of the Kindergarten pupils as they gave piggy-backs and played football for entertainment. At 5pm, “the culture group” put on a spectacular show, inviting Ollie up first to dance before parading through the village to the palace where the elders waited to accept us into their community. It was quite a short ceremony and before we new it, we were people of Dwabor! A long eventful day was had by all and a long sleep was being looked forward to, but the six huge music speakers playing constantly in the village through the night kept us awake until the early hours. Overall, its been a fantastic trip so far.
Lydia says Happy Birthday Mum, missing you all xxxx and Holly is missing everyone and Ellie thanks for the pen, it was very useful for writing the blog <3 xxx
Lydia says Happy Birthday Mum, missing you all xxxx and Holly is missing everyone and Ellie thanks for the pen, it was very useful for writing the blog <3 xxx
Day 1 - 22nd July -By Holly and Lydia
Royal Air Maroc: an understatement to its extravagant interior, delicious food and quiet company! To the delight of the whole team we were blessed with this airline from Heathrow to Casablanca and then Casablanca to Accra. Stepping out of the Ghanaian airport, the stuffy 6am heat immediately hit us along with the crowd of ‘eager’ locals who pounced on our trolleys and demanded magazines, money and marriage. Fortunately for Katia she was the lucky one, receiving a proposal just half and hour after entering the country! We packed up into a noisy minibus and bounced along to first stop several hours later for breakfast. The language barrier meant little of our orders actually arrived fully and correctly, but fried egg and heated bread were a delicacy after the plane food. Harry ended up with no breakfast because his order of a mushroom omelette arrived twice-both times as a fried egg. At every junction on the road, hoards of Ghanaians dashed to the windows of our bus selling local foods and fabric to which we succumbed and purchased Fan Ices (ice cream in a bag) for the team and staff. Eventually we reached our destination just before the sun went down, with exhaustion seeping through our bodies we just managed to set up the camp beds and eat up our first real meal: rice with a tuna and tomato sauce prepared by Emma, Polly, Hannah and Ellen, and finally get some well needed sleep.
Thursday, 22 July 2010
Arrived in Ghana
Just a short post to let everyone know that the team has arrived safely in Ghana. I saw them off from Heathrow yesterday afternoon and they were met on arrival by Tom, Sabre's expedition leader.
More to follow from the team once they start blogging...
Dominic
Thursday, 15 July 2010
Welcome to the blog...
This is the team blog for the Weydon School summer expeditions to Ghana. The teams will be updating their diary as frequently as the internet connection allows, and friends and family will be able to follow the progress of both teams as they work to complete their projects at Dwabor School.
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