Days 1 and 2
Amazing doesn’t even begin to describe what it feels like to be here. After a relatively peaceful trip over here, the bombardment of children was overwhelming to say the least. It didn’t really hit us until we arrived that what we’ve been waiting for for two years has finally come. The traditions here are fantastic and there’s a lot of difference between our cultures.
After a wait of about 3 hours in the airport filling in immigration forms and attempting to collect 90 bags from baggage collection, we were all knackered when we reached the hostel for the first night. After limited sleep we got up and headed of for our four hour car journey to Elmina. Stopping at trashy bags on the way to learn about the recycling process of Fan-ice packets and water bags was interesting. The next three hours consisted of a mix of sleeping, singing/screaming and general raucous. Our arrival was an emotional surprise as we were met with hundreds of smiling children running along side our mini bus and jumping on us at the first chance they had. After hours of socialising, with our faces aching from smiling so much, the welcome ceremony began. Being greeted by the chiefs and the elders of the village was wonderful and they made us feel very welcome. We then went back to the kindergarten to have dinner. Dinner was delicious, especially to our exhausted and very hungry selves. Despite our love for every single one of the children here, it was a relief to be given the chance to set up for the night without millions of hands trying to push and help us.
Before bedtime we all decided to venture into the toilets. Even though we were aware of the toilet situation before arriving, the actual experience is something else. The smell, for one thing, was unavoidable but we managed to survive the experience, vowing to avoid them as much as possible in the future.
We slept outside with stars visible through our bamboo canopy. The discovery of the fireflies around us exited everyone before we eventually fell into our not so long but very deep sleep. So far this trip has definitely exceeded all our very high expectations, making us feel as though we have been here forever. Missing you all.
