First of all, sorry I haven't written in ages. Fate, slow computers and Kumasi's internet drought have come between me and this blog for the last few weeks! Hopefully today I'm going to try and get some photos up on here or Facebook, but last time it ended in disaster, so we'll see!
Since I last wrote, we've lost two volunteers. Noa from Israel and Jasmine from America set off for home on Friday morning. The house is very quiet without them, and I'm very jealous of Jasmine who said that the first thing she'll drink in New York will be a pint of cold milk, and that for the next week absolutely everything and I mean EVERYTHING she eats is going to be topped with cheese. She'd been here for six months, so I expect she'll have a lot of cravings to get through! Noa is hoping she'll have contracted a mild dose of marlaria, or have a dormant spider bite, so that she won't have to go back to work when she gets home. Fingers crossed!
Last time I wrote we were on our way to the Hand in Hand project in Nkoranza. Set on beautiful grassy grounds overlooking farmland and forest, it's a children's home that funds itself by renting out guest rooms. In Ghana it is believed that when a woman gives birth to a mentally or physically handicapped child, it is because she has been attacked by water spirits, so the newborn babies are often left by the side of the river to be 'reclaimed' by the water. Institutions for disabled children are reputedly more damaging than helpful for children. If they don't have serious issues when they go in, they will when they come out. Hand in Hand takes abandoned children who have been left on their premises, given by families who can't cope or removed from state institutions. Set up by some Ghanaian and Dutch doctors, the project only takes a very small number of western volunteers. For the most part, each child is assigned with a constant Ghanaian volunteer who lives at the home full time, long term and acts as a parent to the one or two children they are helping. Obviously there is a lot of fear in Ghanaian culture of these kinds of problems, but Hand in Hand are gradually trying to change attitudes in the local community so that disabled people are now a more accepted part of Nkoranza life. The home itself is beautiful. You'd struggle to find a better equipped children's home in Britain. There were individual chalets for 'parents' and their children, there was a colourful play room with a ball pit - one little boy with cerebral palsy demonstrated it to us, divebombing in with a massive grin and wriggingling about for about five minutes - there was a play park and even a swimming pool for the kids. there's a school just outside the grounds, and in the complex there was a gorgeous outdoor church, where they congregate every Sunday among the breathtaking rock formations. Disabled adults who have been helped by Hand in Hand often stay on to work there, serving in the restaurant, greeting visitors and working in the craft workshops. They has a kente clothmaking workshop, they fired recycled glass beads and made necklaces, purses and bags to sell in the giftshop. The project was really trying hard to be self sufficient, and not have to rely on donations any more, and you could really see that it was going that way. On our second day there we met Bob, a vivacious Chicago Jewish playwright with a song or literary quote or dramatic reference for every possible sentence you said to him. He is the husband of Ineke, one of the founders. Their home at the project was covered in black and white photos, Ineke's artwork, piles of movies, music and books. There were photos of Ineke being decorated by the Ghanaian president, as she is the founder of the National Health Insurance System in Ghana. Bob assured us he never wanted to work for Good, he just happened to marry a good person. He told us that Ineke was an MD, had written books, was an artist and a lifelong volunteer, but all she ever wanted to be was a clown.
Another trip we made was to Lake Bosumtwi, which was 45 minutes from Kumasi, the main town near us. We stayed at a lovely guesthouse right on the lake and spent a lazy day and two nights reading our books and spending far far too much money on CHEESE! and wine. The lake was very still and peaceful, one legend is that it is the home of the god Twi, another that it is the place where souls go to in between when they are alive and dead. The villages nearby were very, very quiet, and not quite as friendly as Ejura, so we couldn't do much exploring. It almost made me feel nostalgic for the hordes of Ejuran children running towards us at every turn screaming 'How are you?' 'How are you?' 'How are you?' Almost.
School is going very good. Madam Paulina and I have been working on the P1 English lessons, and she's getting into a routine now, so I've started to break away and do some remedial lessons, which are lots of fun because their more creative and very rewarding. It's unbelievable, but we only have a month left of school before the exams start. Time is going so fast.
We found some pirate DVDs in Kumasi, so the Namaskar boys have been spending a few evenings watching Disney films and Die Hard.
The Girls' Club is going very well, they've joined a group of local schools who have guest speakers on issues like hygeine and teen pregnancy, but for some reason this means that we now have to let the boys come to the girls club, which I still don't quite get.
The local women have worked out that us Obrunis love babies, so we're getting regular deliveries of babies to cuddle, with instructions to 'send it back when it's hungry'. Babies are often cared for by their brothers and sisters, so we don't usually mind relieving a child of her younger sibling so that the
kids can play in Namaskar House, and the babies are very cute - even Jack has been known to tickle some feet when he thinks no-one's looking.
A week or so ago us girls applied lei lei, or henna. We bought it at market as crushed leaves, which when mixed with water and left on the skin leave a red stain. Ghanaian women cover their whole hands, but it looks a little ridiculous on our skin, so we just did our nails.
I think that's all my news - I'm missing people at home, but it's very fun here, so I'm not missing you too much!! Hopefully I'll be able to write more in a week or so.
Love you all, miss you all xx
Since I last wrote, we've lost two volunteers. Noa from Israel and Jasmine from America set off for home on Friday morning. The house is very quiet without them, and I'm very jealous of Jasmine who said that the first thing she'll drink in New York will be a pint of cold milk, and that for the next week absolutely everything and I mean EVERYTHING she eats is going to be topped with cheese. She'd been here for six months, so I expect she'll have a lot of cravings to get through! Noa is hoping she'll have contracted a mild dose of marlaria, or have a dormant spider bite, so that she won't have to go back to work when she gets home. Fingers crossed!
Last time I wrote we were on our way to the Hand in Hand project in Nkoranza. Set on beautiful grassy grounds overlooking farmland and forest, it's a children's home that funds itself by renting out guest rooms. In Ghana it is believed that when a woman gives birth to a mentally or physically handicapped child, it is because she has been attacked by water spirits, so the newborn babies are often left by the side of the river to be 'reclaimed' by the water. Institutions for disabled children are reputedly more damaging than helpful for children. If they don't have serious issues when they go in, they will when they come out. Hand in Hand takes abandoned children who have been left on their premises, given by families who can't cope or removed from state institutions. Set up by some Ghanaian and Dutch doctors, the project only takes a very small number of western volunteers. For the most part, each child is assigned with a constant Ghanaian volunteer who lives at the home full time, long term and acts as a parent to the one or two children they are helping. Obviously there is a lot of fear in Ghanaian culture of these kinds of problems, but Hand in Hand are gradually trying to change attitudes in the local community so that disabled people are now a more accepted part of Nkoranza life. The home itself is beautiful. You'd struggle to find a better equipped children's home in Britain. There were individual chalets for 'parents' and their children, there was a colourful play room with a ball pit - one little boy with cerebral palsy demonstrated it to us, divebombing in with a massive grin and wriggingling about for about five minutes - there was a play park and even a swimming pool for the kids. there's a school just outside the grounds, and in the complex there was a gorgeous outdoor church, where they congregate every Sunday among the breathtaking rock formations. Disabled adults who have been helped by Hand in Hand often stay on to work there, serving in the restaurant, greeting visitors and working in the craft workshops. They has a kente clothmaking workshop, they fired recycled glass beads and made necklaces, purses and bags to sell in the giftshop. The project was really trying hard to be self sufficient, and not have to rely on donations any more, and you could really see that it was going that way. On our second day there we met Bob, a vivacious Chicago Jewish playwright with a song or literary quote or dramatic reference for every possible sentence you said to him. He is the husband of Ineke, one of the founders. Their home at the project was covered in black and white photos, Ineke's artwork, piles of movies, music and books. There were photos of Ineke being decorated by the Ghanaian president, as she is the founder of the National Health Insurance System in Ghana. Bob assured us he never wanted to work for Good, he just happened to marry a good person. He told us that Ineke was an MD, had written books, was an artist and a lifelong volunteer, but all she ever wanted to be was a clown.
Another trip we made was to Lake Bosumtwi, which was 45 minutes from Kumasi, the main town near us. We stayed at a lovely guesthouse right on the lake and spent a lazy day and two nights reading our books and spending far far too much money on CHEESE! and wine. The lake was very still and peaceful, one legend is that it is the home of the god Twi, another that it is the place where souls go to in between when they are alive and dead. The villages nearby were very, very quiet, and not quite as friendly as Ejura, so we couldn't do much exploring. It almost made me feel nostalgic for the hordes of Ejuran children running towards us at every turn screaming 'How are you?' 'How are you?' 'How are you?' Almost.
School is going very good. Madam Paulina and I have been working on the P1 English lessons, and she's getting into a routine now, so I've started to break away and do some remedial lessons, which are lots of fun because their more creative and very rewarding. It's unbelievable, but we only have a month left of school before the exams start. Time is going so fast.
We found some pirate DVDs in Kumasi, so the Namaskar boys have been spending a few evenings watching Disney films and Die Hard.
The Girls' Club is going very well, they've joined a group of local schools who have guest speakers on issues like hygeine and teen pregnancy, but for some reason this means that we now have to let the boys come to the girls club, which I still don't quite get.
The local women have worked out that us Obrunis love babies, so we're getting regular deliveries of babies to cuddle, with instructions to 'send it back when it's hungry'. Babies are often cared for by their brothers and sisters, so we don't usually mind relieving a child of her younger sibling so that the
kids can play in Namaskar House, and the babies are very cute - even Jack has been known to tickle some feet when he thinks no-one's looking.A week or so ago us girls applied lei lei, or henna. We bought it at market as crushed leaves, which when mixed with water and left on the skin leave a red stain. Ghanaian women cover their whole hands, but it looks a little ridiculous on our skin, so we just did our nails.
I think that's all my news - I'm missing people at home, but it's very fun here, so I'm not missing you too much!! Hopefully I'll be able to write more in a week or so.
Love you all, miss you all xx
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