Day 3
A pancake breakfast followed a good night’s sleep we then set off for the school to start our project work. We soon got into our painting and sanding –we all got covered in sawdust! All the school children gathered to watch us work we soon found out that we had to take many breaks due to the heat.
In the afternoon we had a drumming and dance performance from a local Ghanaian group it was fantastic. After this we spent some time with our buddies, we taught them songs such as head shoulders knees and toes and the hokey cokey, they also taught us some of their songs. We were then called to collect water the worst task of the day! We had to carry water buckets on our head, ouch! All the villagers laughed at us … it is fair to say we all miss tap water.
Just as we were settling down for an early night Teddy ran in saying ‘I have had enough I want to go home!’ A boy had dangled a live rat in her face! Let’s hope that doesn’t happen again. We are all looking forward to going on our first excursion tomorrow with our buddies to Elmina castle.
Day 4
For breakfast we had eggy bread after the cooking team woke up extra early to make it – delicious. After breakfast we headed over to the school to continue our project work. This involved lots more sanding and smoothing down the surface and rounding off the edges and corners. We all really working well as a team now and doing a fantastic job on the project and everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves.
Around midday we were all invited to the chief’s palace with our buddies for a grand lunch, that oozed with delicacies like chicken stew, spinach, rice, beans and the local favourite Plantain. (called RedRed). After a quick speech by Tom thanking the chief for the meal we proceeded to Elmina castle in the sweltering heat.
Elmina castle was a main Portuguese slave trading post built in the 15th century and taken over by the Dutch in the 17th Century again for the same purpose. I think that our visit to Elmina castle really opened our eyes to the harsh realities that the slave trade brought Ghana, especially seeing how the slaves were kept and the conditions they were held in for months on end. Six hundred men were put into 5 relatively small rooms with only one bucket for a toilet.
On the way out of Elmina castle a few of us bought souvenirs for family and friends. Others indulged on Ghanaian frozen yoghurt – yum yum! Back at camp our buddies collect more water for us to wash and clean with whilst others went to the market to get the fresh fish and fruit for tomorrow.
All in all we all had a fantastic, interesting and tiring day. Time for bed.
Day 5
Today was eventful and exciting for the group, breakfast was so good this morning pancakes with fresh lemon juice and sprinkling of sugar. After breakfast we took our daily walk to school with our buddies to continue the project work. We painted the window frames, shutters and doors with gloss paint. Later on we spent an hour in the kindergarten – teaching nursery rhymes and playing games. They all got very excited with the bubbles. We returned to camp to have lunch to have rice balls the size of our stomachs with peanut soup and either salmon or vegetables. After lunch we had a hour to chill out before we visited our buddies homes to meet their families and prepare some Ghanaian food, such as Banku, Fufu or fish stew. Everyone agreed that visiting the houses was one of the best experiences so far. All of the neighbours’ extended family cam e to meet us.
Fiona said ‘The visit was eye opening and a huge privilege to meet my buddies family however the worst part was getting weed on.’
Teddy said ‘I really like all of the food was bought fresh from market and prepared with no waste’
Tiff said ‘Preparing the fufu was hard work, it was a very good experience’
After our visits we returned to a meal cooked by Augustina, rice with spiced boiled vegetables and juicy pineapple for dessert. We are looking forward to continuing our project work tomorrow and making some Batik. We look forward to seeing all of our families soon.
Day 6
In the morning we carried on with project work in the ICT room. Most of the wood was varnished so we had time for the school teachers to show us some textile work before lunch. They explained and showed us tie dying and Batiking. After lunch we had a well deserved rest followed by a delicious dinner of rice and beans. Later in the evening our buddies took us the local market, the excitement of our visit still hasn’t calmed down with the locals. Crowds of children were pushing for our attention Fiona’s remark was ‘I feel like Jesus’ because the children keep feeling our arms. Before bed our buddies joined us for some stories, jokes and riddles as our exciting culture swap continues.