Im leaving back for England tonight :( so thought id give the final update now. Starting to regret this already as im writing on an enormous hangover.
Ah wow there is so much to talk about so ill just try and keep it to the highlights...soo i last left you guys when i first visited Akosia the street kids filming organisation which is actually spelt wrong its supposed to be Akosua its the name they give to girls born on a sunday here i think....so its quite sweet they've got all their t-shirts printed with the spelling wrong. Oh well. So after meeting the guys and girls there i went back with Peter and got back to business, setting up more meetings with potential donors etc etc
This weekend H & E had planned special treat for me, as my sis had had a little prang due to some idiots driving too far on the wrong side of the road leading to the car ending up in a ditch they rented a taxi guy for a couple of days to take us down to a place called Ada. Ada is east of Accra along the beach and takes around about an hour and half to drive (if your as nuts as this taxi dude) maybe 2 hours for my mother.
So we pulled up and i had no idea what to expect but as soon as we got into reception i could not believe how amazing it was, literally on the beach on the first day of actual real sun since i had been out there and the water was so calm, i was a happy man. We sat by the pool feeding this Gecko which took down bout half a pizza. Played some crazy french version of bowls and then took a pedalo out on the sea which was very cool. The sunset was pretty incredible so we got some photo's with it i will be putting up as soon as i get home!
That night we had fresh baracuda for dinner which i loved and we went for a walk on the beach as all the stars were out, we then got a reasonably early night, tried seeing what was on the tele and it was pretty much a choice between football and some trippy old school movie so we watched Arsenal hammer someone 6-1 and went to bed...love this place
The next day after some serious negotiating skills from Eoghan we got a private boat trip down to the tip of the beach where the sea meets the estuary. He took us round all the islands which almost all have Lebanese houses on them...they own so much in Ghana! Whilst we were on this one island this fishing boat came round shouting at us to buy some fish from them as they had just caught the most incredible Baracuda. It was the length of about 4 or 5 guys standing next to each other, we got loads of photos with it, and we were keen to get some of it and get the hotel to cook it up for us but it would have meant buying the whole fish which would have fed half of Ghana and was about £100.
The boat guy then tried taking us back to the hotel but Eoghan wasn't having any of it as we had paid for longer so he took us to an Island where they made their own Rum. We met the dude that runs it all and he gave us a shot of this rum to share and it was like petrol, we literally all felt pretty tipsy after that. So we bought one and half litres of it :)
I sooo did not want to leave this place but we had too so we got back and all pretty much crashed hard and slept very well.
My last week i helped both Peter and Akosia out. Wed and thurs i spent with Akosia, on wed Eoghan came with and we basically had to keep the kids entertained off the film set whilst they were waiting to come on, tried taking them to see Morrow the drumming dude as it was in the same place but he wasn't in so we drummed with some random guys for a bit and then took them for a drink where they showed us some cool games which we played for a while.
Yesterday i managed to get an interview with Right to Play, a worldwide organisation which helps schools teach their kids about HIV/AIDS and many other things through sports and games. It was really interesting, i may work for them next year for a while if i come out again! As it was my last full night i went out with Peter and some of his mates...one thing led to another and i ended up getting pretty pissed again...very random though - actually met a girl that went to Caterham in the middle of a club?!! Mental...
So today as its my final day H & E are taking me everywhere, might even be able to slip in some horse riding on the beach, try get some presents for the lads and mother as it was her birthday last week!
My experience in Ghana has been one ill never ever forget, the country and people are amazing and if anyone is thinking about going to Africa, Ghana is most definately the place to start. So much potential here, can't say a lot about their food or driving skills but the rest is perfect!
Peace out and see you at home!!! x
Saturday, August 22, 2009
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Update no. 2!
Hey guys, so i think i left you on my first day working for Peter at Africa Change International last monday...
That very same night i went to the gym with Peter, this man is an animal! We were training back and he was just lifting double everything i was and he doesnt believe in breaks so we had like 30 seconds rest in between sets. Hating life....so straight after the gym Eoghan picked me up and we were feeling kinda peckish so stopped off at a stool on the street which was selling nuts. We got some kashew nuts and i pretty much necked my bag and immediately thought something wasn't right...anyway we went to go play football for an hour or so with some other people from the British High Commision and friends. It was around 10 minutes in and i started feeling really weird, didn't know whether it was the heat and thought i was just dehydrated but then i got worse so we stopped playing football and went home.
It was planned that we were gonna go out for pizza with some of Helens friends but i was feeling so shit i did what had to be done and went upstairs for a tactical chunder. Worked a treat and felt fantastic after that so i went out with them, we went to four different restraunts but they were all closed, theres a weird thing about restraunts being closed on a monday here, guess its as they are all open sundays too. We finally found a place that was open but it was a curry house, and i was starting to feel rough again, as soon as i walked in there was that filthy smell of curry and i was really struggling. I put a brave face on for about 10 minutes but then it came back and i basically threw up half my bodyweight which isn't a lot to be fair since coming out here !
I felt awful for a couple of days so went to the doctor at my sisters work and they gave me so antibiotics so ive been taking them ever since. I spent the week contacting organisations and arranging interviews regarding sport development in Ghana as i have been really considering doing my dissertation on it so thought i'd gather some research since im out here. I also went to a few meetings on behalf of ACI to help establish some partnerships and good contacts. I felt good again by the weekend so happy days again.
Saturday morning was spent shopping and preparing for lunch we were having people over for bbq and banana cake which we were making. We were inspired as i was telling H & E about when me and Luke made it in Southampton and was a bit of a revelation so we got the Ghana cook book my sis had and banged one out from an age old recepie, except we used 3 times the amount of bananas they told us to.....damn that was a good shout it was amaaaazing so we made one big cake and about 30 little ones which pretty much all got eaten up when the people came over. We then went swimming and played tennis with everyone until about 5 or 6. That night H & E had arranged wine tasting followed by a performance by the Ghana's National Symphony Orchestra haha! In England its a pretty big deal but the equivelant here was not so special. I think the average age of the people there was about 50 so it was quite sweet to watch them all, unfortunately the performance wasn't anything to write home about and it was about 6 thousand degrees in the hall but it was funny all the same...
We had to get an early night in as we had an amazing trip planned for sunday. Shai Hills nature reserve followed by Akosombo - Lake Volta, the largest man made lake in the world! Shai hills was amazing, we didnt get there until about half 10 or something so i wasn't sure we would see much but we saw antelope, baboons, lizards and thousands of bats in this cave which stunk of bat piss so bad i put my shirt over my nose but i had just climbed a huge mountain so wasn't sure whether i smelt better or worse than the cave...After the bat cave we were taken by our guide to the highest part of Shai Hills, 290m above sea levels where the views were incredible...i took loads of pictures so you can see them soon!
After Shai Hills we drove straight to Akosombo where we had lunch on lake Volta. Lunch was shit but the place was stunning. We then took a boat out on the rive and rowed for an hour or so which was tiring but really cool. Then to finish we went to the dam out of hours so we werent expecting to go on the dam however the guards there seemed to take a liking to Eoghan and basically took us on a private tour in which we were allowed to drive and park on the dam (this is never normally allowed) and got to see and learn all about the dam which is Ghanas biggest electricity provider which seems to work in silence. It was amazing.
Yesterday i started to make progress with Peter, we've arranged lots of meetings this week with potential partnerships and plans are in progress to build apartments for future volunteers to stay in when working for ACI in the future. We went to the gym again last night and Peter showed me and his brother up again on chest - for anyone that knows anything about gym he was doing 95kg on decline press for 8 reps and like 4 sets! My chest is hurting in a big way today, but havent noticed it too much as i had the best morning ever...Peter took me to the art centre in the centre of town and behind loads of shanty buildings there was this organisation run by a group of people from Edinburgh Uni...they basically run a sort of summer camp for kids where they get kids to create a film - the kids are given these child friendly video cameras and shoot film and they are split into three sections i think like one is film production and one is script writing but i cant remember the other one. After its filmed they have a special screening at the end and get the community to come and watch it too. They provide all this along with schooling, provide films for them to watch, play games and sing songs as well as eat twice a day. As we were 'special guests' all the kids sung 'The Lion Sleeps tonight' from the Lion king whilst one of the volunteers played the guitar which was so cool and then we all sung an Akon song together and now i cant get it out of my head!...
So theres the update, ill probably do another one at the end of this week
Missing home but not too much!
That very same night i went to the gym with Peter, this man is an animal! We were training back and he was just lifting double everything i was and he doesnt believe in breaks so we had like 30 seconds rest in between sets. Hating life....so straight after the gym Eoghan picked me up and we were feeling kinda peckish so stopped off at a stool on the street which was selling nuts. We got some kashew nuts and i pretty much necked my bag and immediately thought something wasn't right...anyway we went to go play football for an hour or so with some other people from the British High Commision and friends. It was around 10 minutes in and i started feeling really weird, didn't know whether it was the heat and thought i was just dehydrated but then i got worse so we stopped playing football and went home.
It was planned that we were gonna go out for pizza with some of Helens friends but i was feeling so shit i did what had to be done and went upstairs for a tactical chunder. Worked a treat and felt fantastic after that so i went out with them, we went to four different restraunts but they were all closed, theres a weird thing about restraunts being closed on a monday here, guess its as they are all open sundays too. We finally found a place that was open but it was a curry house, and i was starting to feel rough again, as soon as i walked in there was that filthy smell of curry and i was really struggling. I put a brave face on for about 10 minutes but then it came back and i basically threw up half my bodyweight which isn't a lot to be fair since coming out here !
I felt awful for a couple of days so went to the doctor at my sisters work and they gave me so antibiotics so ive been taking them ever since. I spent the week contacting organisations and arranging interviews regarding sport development in Ghana as i have been really considering doing my dissertation on it so thought i'd gather some research since im out here. I also went to a few meetings on behalf of ACI to help establish some partnerships and good contacts. I felt good again by the weekend so happy days again.
Saturday morning was spent shopping and preparing for lunch we were having people over for bbq and banana cake which we were making. We were inspired as i was telling H & E about when me and Luke made it in Southampton and was a bit of a revelation so we got the Ghana cook book my sis had and banged one out from an age old recepie, except we used 3 times the amount of bananas they told us to.....damn that was a good shout it was amaaaazing so we made one big cake and about 30 little ones which pretty much all got eaten up when the people came over. We then went swimming and played tennis with everyone until about 5 or 6. That night H & E had arranged wine tasting followed by a performance by the Ghana's National Symphony Orchestra haha! In England its a pretty big deal but the equivelant here was not so special. I think the average age of the people there was about 50 so it was quite sweet to watch them all, unfortunately the performance wasn't anything to write home about and it was about 6 thousand degrees in the hall but it was funny all the same...
We had to get an early night in as we had an amazing trip planned for sunday. Shai Hills nature reserve followed by Akosombo - Lake Volta, the largest man made lake in the world! Shai hills was amazing, we didnt get there until about half 10 or something so i wasn't sure we would see much but we saw antelope, baboons, lizards and thousands of bats in this cave which stunk of bat piss so bad i put my shirt over my nose but i had just climbed a huge mountain so wasn't sure whether i smelt better or worse than the cave...After the bat cave we were taken by our guide to the highest part of Shai Hills, 290m above sea levels where the views were incredible...i took loads of pictures so you can see them soon!
After Shai Hills we drove straight to Akosombo where we had lunch on lake Volta. Lunch was shit but the place was stunning. We then took a boat out on the rive and rowed for an hour or so which was tiring but really cool. Then to finish we went to the dam out of hours so we werent expecting to go on the dam however the guards there seemed to take a liking to Eoghan and basically took us on a private tour in which we were allowed to drive and park on the dam (this is never normally allowed) and got to see and learn all about the dam which is Ghanas biggest electricity provider which seems to work in silence. It was amazing.
Yesterday i started to make progress with Peter, we've arranged lots of meetings this week with potential partnerships and plans are in progress to build apartments for future volunteers to stay in when working for ACI in the future. We went to the gym again last night and Peter showed me and his brother up again on chest - for anyone that knows anything about gym he was doing 95kg on decline press for 8 reps and like 4 sets! My chest is hurting in a big way today, but havent noticed it too much as i had the best morning ever...Peter took me to the art centre in the centre of town and behind loads of shanty buildings there was this organisation run by a group of people from Edinburgh Uni...they basically run a sort of summer camp for kids where they get kids to create a film - the kids are given these child friendly video cameras and shoot film and they are split into three sections i think like one is film production and one is script writing but i cant remember the other one. After its filmed they have a special screening at the end and get the community to come and watch it too. They provide all this along with schooling, provide films for them to watch, play games and sing songs as well as eat twice a day. As we were 'special guests' all the kids sung 'The Lion Sleeps tonight' from the Lion king whilst one of the volunteers played the guitar which was so cool and then we all sung an Akon song together and now i cant get it out of my head!...
So theres the update, ill probably do another one at the end of this week
Missing home but not too much!
Monday, August 3, 2009
I made it!
So i've been in Ghana now for 3 days and felt i should already make a post as there is so much to talk about!
Both the flight to amsterdam and Accra were awesome. The flight to Amsterdam was crampt to say the least but it went really quickly as i was sat next to a really nice girl who worked at Abercrombie & Fitch and was on her way to China to help with panda conservation and to go travelling. We did the usual British way of breaking the ice by complaining about something or other and the plan was to go and explore what the Dam has to offer but it turned out my flight to Accra was boarding pretty soon after we arrived so we said our Goodbye's and i boarded for the flight to Ghana. I had never been on a long haul flight before and i couldnt understand the concept that it's basically all you can eat and drink for free which was amusing for the air hostesses. They did not find it so amusing when i was ringing the bell for them to bring me another beer every 10 minutes! Never one to pass up on free booze...
It has been non-stop ever since i arrived on friday evening, after a slight delay at the airport in Accra due to some muppet thinking my bag was his, i was met by my brother in law Eoghan. We had about an hour to kill until my sister arrived on a different flight so Eoghan took me to a hotel nearby to try the local brew. They have two types of beer out here called 'club' and 'star' which i swear are the same but everyone seems to have their own favorite. So we sat outside by the pool with our clubs watching the hotel band who were hilarious, singing their version of swing low sweet chariot, enjoyed that in a big way.... We made the beer a swift one as we were worried about being late for Helen so we made our way back to the airport. It was here, Eoghan introduced me to a guy, i think his name was James and is a driver they know through the High Commission who gave me my first taste of the welcoming city of Accra. He taught me the special hand shake greeting which is used everywhere around here, its just like a normal hand shake but the hands slide apart and the middle fingers pull against each other to create this click sound which is either really satisfying if it works or a super anti-climax which always happens when Helen and I do it with each other, so we just give it the shake and bake instead.
So we got back to the complex where i will be living for the next 3 weeks, ill be putting up tons of photo's so you can look at it...its basically pretty damn sweet and there is a swimming pool and tennis court which is shared by the other people living within the complex. Theres also a quality hammock in the garden which i've been taking full advantage of...loving life here !
Saturday morning - first thing - breakfast with fresh mango and paw-paw (papaya) and fruit smoothies, i am OD'ing on vitamins here! H & E had arranged a drumming lesson with a dude called Morrow - nicest guy ever which was such a laugh, especially watching the concentration on Eoghans face trying to master this beat we had been learning for half an hour... So we all had a jam on the bongo's and he then took us to where the drums are made in the marketplace. As i was new i was taken into a hut surrounded by these heroes who basically played a little welcoming drum session...i have never felt so welcomed anywhere it's such a nice feeling. Also the main guy who is just known as the 'Emperor' around these parts is a legend, he reminds me of the guy from Bob's pillow the rasta on youtube. Anyway, they were all amazingly talented and would have loved to stay but H & E wanted to show me the beach so we went there for lunch and watched some random naked guy swimming in the sea, not in a gay way just pretty confused ! This was where i got my first taste of the local staple food which tastes like wall paper paste and Helen insisted i tried it with this sauce which was hotter than the sun. Was like the Ghana initiation so once i manned up they got me a lovely local delicacy 'club sandwich with chips and onion rings', so not embracing the culture fully yet!
That night we went to some russian guys flat for food and drink and met lots of different people all either working for different agencies with good causes or students. It started off pretty slowly with some conversation but a few glasses of wine and this incredible drink called 'manula fruit cream' which sort of tastes like a fruity baileys later we had a dancing circle going with Eoghan busting a few break dance moves in the middle - so funny...not to be shown off i pulled out the worm - went down pretty well im not gonna lie!
Sunday was when i noticed the weather. It's pretty weird, like humid but completely overcast so it's not really sunny. I was kinda glad about that on sunday though as we went and played a round of golf at the course which is less than a minutes drive from the complex. I say a round but it's just 9 holes. This was Helen's and Eoghans first time ever on the golf course so it was pretty amusing. After a quick lesson from a PGA golfer though H & E picked it up and Helen was showing us both up and finished the day only 15 over par for the front 9 which is bloody good! I won't tell you my score...
After this we checked out the gym which is right next to the golf course and ooooh my life its incredible. So much better than any gym ive been to in England but it's pretty expensive so i might be going to a different gym with the guy im working with here, gonna go check that out today. After this we went and played some tennis and table tennis at a hotel with some of Helen's friends which was cool, caught up on the ashes as well. Evening, Eoghan did a lovely bbq and then we had a nice chill, g and t and a film. I can't get over how cool it is here!
Today ive just started at ACI (Africa Change International) ...Peter, the guy who runs the show here is great and he's got such good dreams, the guys here, just like all the other NGOs are in desperate need of sponsorship. The place is linked to the local primary school which has around 400 kids. I went there today but most the kids are on holidays now. Met a few of the cutest kids though who told us one of the subjects they learn in school is ICT, except they don't have any computers, they've never even seen a computer, they just read about them. ACI has an ICT room which has just been created whereby the kids can come along and use the computers for free. It was really touching looking at the photos of the unvailing of these computers to the kids, they had no idea what to do with them.
So thats the story so far, serious essays but its only because this place offers so much..im hoping now to get a deeper experience of the poverty which is everywhere in between small pockets of huge wealth. Someone told me this crazy figure the other night, 80% of all Ghana's wealth is owned by 5% of the people. The corruption here is pretty shocking.
If you want to look up about the organisation im working for here the website is:
http://www.acighana.com/
If you want to donate anything, be it clothing, computing stuff or money just let me know or email Peter whos address is on the website. It's such a great cause and gives a chance for these kids to obtain scholarships to secondary schools so they can carry on going to school instead of working on the streets and being tempted by drugs and gangs.
Thanks for reading, ill keep you guys updated as soon as theres more to talk about!
Both the flight to amsterdam and Accra were awesome. The flight to Amsterdam was crampt to say the least but it went really quickly as i was sat next to a really nice girl who worked at Abercrombie & Fitch and was on her way to China to help with panda conservation and to go travelling. We did the usual British way of breaking the ice by complaining about something or other and the plan was to go and explore what the Dam has to offer but it turned out my flight to Accra was boarding pretty soon after we arrived so we said our Goodbye's and i boarded for the flight to Ghana. I had never been on a long haul flight before and i couldnt understand the concept that it's basically all you can eat and drink for free which was amusing for the air hostesses. They did not find it so amusing when i was ringing the bell for them to bring me another beer every 10 minutes! Never one to pass up on free booze...
It has been non-stop ever since i arrived on friday evening, after a slight delay at the airport in Accra due to some muppet thinking my bag was his, i was met by my brother in law Eoghan. We had about an hour to kill until my sister arrived on a different flight so Eoghan took me to a hotel nearby to try the local brew. They have two types of beer out here called 'club' and 'star' which i swear are the same but everyone seems to have their own favorite. So we sat outside by the pool with our clubs watching the hotel band who were hilarious, singing their version of swing low sweet chariot, enjoyed that in a big way.... We made the beer a swift one as we were worried about being late for Helen so we made our way back to the airport. It was here, Eoghan introduced me to a guy, i think his name was James and is a driver they know through the High Commission who gave me my first taste of the welcoming city of Accra. He taught me the special hand shake greeting which is used everywhere around here, its just like a normal hand shake but the hands slide apart and the middle fingers pull against each other to create this click sound which is either really satisfying if it works or a super anti-climax which always happens when Helen and I do it with each other, so we just give it the shake and bake instead.
So we got back to the complex where i will be living for the next 3 weeks, ill be putting up tons of photo's so you can look at it...its basically pretty damn sweet and there is a swimming pool and tennis court which is shared by the other people living within the complex. Theres also a quality hammock in the garden which i've been taking full advantage of...loving life here !
Saturday morning - first thing - breakfast with fresh mango and paw-paw (papaya) and fruit smoothies, i am OD'ing on vitamins here! H & E had arranged a drumming lesson with a dude called Morrow - nicest guy ever which was such a laugh, especially watching the concentration on Eoghans face trying to master this beat we had been learning for half an hour... So we all had a jam on the bongo's and he then took us to where the drums are made in the marketplace. As i was new i was taken into a hut surrounded by these heroes who basically played a little welcoming drum session...i have never felt so welcomed anywhere it's such a nice feeling. Also the main guy who is just known as the 'Emperor' around these parts is a legend, he reminds me of the guy from Bob's pillow the rasta on youtube. Anyway, they were all amazingly talented and would have loved to stay but H & E wanted to show me the beach so we went there for lunch and watched some random naked guy swimming in the sea, not in a gay way just pretty confused ! This was where i got my first taste of the local staple food which tastes like wall paper paste and Helen insisted i tried it with this sauce which was hotter than the sun. Was like the Ghana initiation so once i manned up they got me a lovely local delicacy 'club sandwich with chips and onion rings', so not embracing the culture fully yet!
That night we went to some russian guys flat for food and drink and met lots of different people all either working for different agencies with good causes or students. It started off pretty slowly with some conversation but a few glasses of wine and this incredible drink called 'manula fruit cream' which sort of tastes like a fruity baileys later we had a dancing circle going with Eoghan busting a few break dance moves in the middle - so funny...not to be shown off i pulled out the worm - went down pretty well im not gonna lie!
Sunday was when i noticed the weather. It's pretty weird, like humid but completely overcast so it's not really sunny. I was kinda glad about that on sunday though as we went and played a round of golf at the course which is less than a minutes drive from the complex. I say a round but it's just 9 holes. This was Helen's and Eoghans first time ever on the golf course so it was pretty amusing. After a quick lesson from a PGA golfer though H & E picked it up and Helen was showing us both up and finished the day only 15 over par for the front 9 which is bloody good! I won't tell you my score...
After this we checked out the gym which is right next to the golf course and ooooh my life its incredible. So much better than any gym ive been to in England but it's pretty expensive so i might be going to a different gym with the guy im working with here, gonna go check that out today. After this we went and played some tennis and table tennis at a hotel with some of Helen's friends which was cool, caught up on the ashes as well. Evening, Eoghan did a lovely bbq and then we had a nice chill, g and t and a film. I can't get over how cool it is here!
Today ive just started at ACI (Africa Change International) ...Peter, the guy who runs the show here is great and he's got such good dreams, the guys here, just like all the other NGOs are in desperate need of sponsorship. The place is linked to the local primary school which has around 400 kids. I went there today but most the kids are on holidays now. Met a few of the cutest kids though who told us one of the subjects they learn in school is ICT, except they don't have any computers, they've never even seen a computer, they just read about them. ACI has an ICT room which has just been created whereby the kids can come along and use the computers for free. It was really touching looking at the photos of the unvailing of these computers to the kids, they had no idea what to do with them.
So thats the story so far, serious essays but its only because this place offers so much..im hoping now to get a deeper experience of the poverty which is everywhere in between small pockets of huge wealth. Someone told me this crazy figure the other night, 80% of all Ghana's wealth is owned by 5% of the people. The corruption here is pretty shocking.
If you want to look up about the organisation im working for here the website is:
http://www.acighana.com/
If you want to donate anything, be it clothing, computing stuff or money just let me know or email Peter whos address is on the website. It's such a great cause and gives a chance for these kids to obtain scholarships to secondary schools so they can carry on going to school instead of working on the streets and being tempted by drugs and gangs.
Thanks for reading, ill keep you guys updated as soon as theres more to talk about!
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