New Places!

I've been here since Monday. 'Here' is about 45mins North of Accra (the capital) in the hills. Its nice and cool. The people Im staying with are a couple who used to live in the UK (and sweden and the US) who came back to live in Ghana. They started off with their kids in a government school, saw how bad it was, and then started homeschooling. A couple of years later they have a school with 60 children from 5-11 in. Its incredible compared to Ghanain school standards - the ethos and atmosphere is like a modern primary school. This is in stark contrast to the Ghanain norm, which is closest to a Victorian school with rows of desks and a cane sitting in the corner. Its a joy to teach in, everything is incredibally smooth compared to the government school I was in.

I've spent this afternoon exploring the local town - Aburi - and the Botanical gardens there. They are lovely...and somewhat unique. On the edge of the center lawn, in amoungst a clump of trees sits a helicopter. One blade is intact; one bends slowly down to the grass, and the other two are broken at the stem. Its rusty, falling apart, and generally dilapidated. The two sections of the nose are held together with wire. The rest of the park matches the feel - nice, pretty, but the wooden benches sag as you sit on them and the flowerbeds are starting to spill over their borders. Aburi iself is nice - a fairly quiet largish town. Most of the facilities are based around one circular road, which can just squeeze two cars past each other. There is a small interent cafe which seems to work and let me listen to BBC world over the net. Im going to run out of tie soon, so Im going to leave. I have a couple of groceries to run; picking up mail from the PO box etc...I'll see a little more of the town, and then catch a tro tro or shared cab back home.

MMM air conditioning

Today the last of the people who arrivd with me left. We're all upset...I think i was affect by the leaving least because Im staying in Ghana - I was the only oe in the taxi not in tears (apart from our lovely pet taxi driver who smiled as usual). We took the STC Bus to Accra and I booked into the Paloma hotel. It has airconditioning and nice beds and a decent shower and tiled floors and etc. My aircon is set so cold I will need the large duvet, which will be amazing - I miss sleeping with at least a sheet. Accra is interesting...it doesn't smell as much as cape coast; i don't think theres so many open sewers where I am. But its still not exactly...clean. The internet cafe Im at now is pretty good though. Its a litle more expensive than in Cape, but its got headphones and stuff...although this keyboard does have a couple of stuck keys.

I haven't got much more to say right now...I might go church tomorrow as well as doing some touristy stuff in Acrra, and buying some cheap paperbacks to read...I got through most of the books that had been left in Brenu. I think this is about it for the moment...See you all later.

New Guys!

The new guys have arrived, and I am preparing to leave. There are 7 new volunteers, but 3 of them are in Beseyase (sp) - another town nearby. We spent Sunday trying to get the house ready for the volunteers. When we arrived none of the floors were down, the walls in all the bedrooms needed some paint, the celling in one room was only half painted and the tiling hadn't been started in the kitchen or bathroom. We were assured that it would all be finished by the time they arrived - in about 5 hours. It didn't seem feasible then...and its still not finished. When it is done it will be a lovely house, but its incredibly annoying that they didn't complete on time, and refused to admit that they wouldn't.

The new guys are really nice. There are 4 Americans here - all around my age which is nice. Three of them knew each other in some way and are all from New Jersey, the fourth is from New Orleans and has a nice accent. They are all fitting in OK and seem to be getting on with the Ghanaian way of things. The volunteers at Beseyasee (I have no idea how to spell it) are really cool. There is a father and daughter team from Yorkshire and an American woman. They have coped with the building works really well, and seem to be taking it all in thier stride. They are gonna have a lot of work ahead of them as the facilities and school just aren't as good as in Brenu. Sabre have only just started working there so its not developed as muhc, and some of the school fell down in the recent storms. Apart from that everything continues retty much as normal. I will be leaving on saturday, and have booked a hotel in Accra for two days to meet the Yeboahs before heading up with them.