Day 5
Early start again and the group enjoyed a continental breakfast of hot pancakes with chocolate spread and jam. A quick taxi ride to school for some with the lunches left us waiting for the walkers who trekked in the humidity through Elmina. Split into four groups the team were categorised into painting inside rooms, painting the outside walls, litter picking and carpentry. Using very watered down paint we did our best and the results were excellent even considering the many children hanging off of our limbs and every words. Lunch was a piping hot spaghetti with sausage and vegetables – enjoyed by the team as a hard earned meal. After this one member of the group (Siena) gave the children a football and their faces lit up, piling onto our only female student with desperate agitation to begin their game. Mr Devonald had already erected two large goals out of bamboo sticks and the 50 strong Ghanaian students hurried across the dirt-ridden pitch to play.
A monstrous pick-up truck picked us up from the school, the driver at one point began to pull away leaving Miss Dean and Miss Aldous trailing behind with the swarm of children waving goodbye. Regrouped we journeyed back to HQ for showers and fresh clothes before we met our partners at a Ghanaian rainforest for the eagerly anticipated canopy walkway, 50m above ground. The wildlife was in full flow from the moment we stepped off the truck, lizards and monkeys within the first 10 minutes and a trail of giant ants with a trail as thick as the wrist. The ride home was incredibly bumpy and a very inquisitive Mr Devonald took every opportunity to question Shepard, our tour guide of Elmina. The truck then snagged a low hanging branch and despite no casualties, there were many left with leafs and twigs caught in their hair.
At time of writing we sit in the lobby area of HQ as the heavens have opened around us, the rain had been falling for hours prior to our wake and we seem to be tasked with the challenge of walking to the school soon to continue our hard work. After this we will go back to the FIFA football arena and play with our buddies before we move hostels to ‘Stumble Inn’ – equipped with a 9-hole golf course (the other 9 are waterlogged apparently).
Updates will continue in usual fashion. We hope.
