Day 4, Thursday 22 October
Today was the first, dare I say, normal day! By that I mean we woke up and went to bed in the same place. Don’t get me wrong, the first part of the journey was great but it was nice to wake up without having to wake up and prepare for a long, hot bust journey. Breakfast was surprisingly English, pancakes, but somehow everything seems to taste a lot better here in Ghana. Whilst walking to the school we were hit with the sound of drumming and singing which could be heard throughout the village. This we later found out was morning worship that happens a few times a week! We were then shown through the village to the palace where the chief lived. This was actually just a breeze-block building painted white, but compared to the rest of the village it was quite nice! We were sat in front of him and his elders who were quite intimidating. The chief sat in a thrown like chair wearing a vibrant cloth around him, compare to his elders who were in jeans and a mucky tops. Once again we had to introduce ourselves in the way we had been taught and it’s funny to hear everyone reciting our names back, this time there was no laughter at Zach. It was a scary experience being in front of the chief as he has little expression on his face. It was surprising to find out that our gift to them, vodka, was a way of praying to the gods. The expression on their faces was priceless as the swallowed the vodka to pray for us. The whole community has been so welcoming so far and it has been so cute to see the excitement on the young children’s faces. After a long chat with the chief we finally met our buddies, much to our excitement. They all turned up in a classroom in full Ghana costume and introduced themselves to us. They next hustled us into their library and sat us down to watch their welcoming performance. They began by singing what sounded like a traditional welcoming song. The skill of the drummers was amazing and something they must have built up since they were kids. It was funny to watch two boys fighting over a cow bell, one thinking he was a lot better. They finally acted out a traditional Ghanaian story which led to a moral of that together we are better! We had time afterwards to get to know our buddies. They were fascinated by all of our cameras spending ages having fun taking photos, and talking to us about our lives at home and family. Before lunch the work began. We painted the whole of the inside of a classroom unfortunately putting a lot of drips on the floor as the pant was extremely watery. After a once again amazing lunch we carried on painting, this time the outside of the classroom. We worked surprisingly quickly and most of the painting is done but still a second coat is needed. The next stop was the refugee camp where they were all from the Ivory Coast. It was shocking to see the size of the houses they live in, smaller than most bedrooms in England. They all still seemed so happy with what they had which goes for most people we have seen in Ghana. It was nice to see how included the refugees in the school and the village even though they were from a different place and spoke a different language. What shocked me most of all is the fact that there were two girls my age that had young children already and the fact that that was normal for them and their families. A few of the buddies lived in this camp and it was interesting to hear their stories and how they felt about living in Ghana. We said goodbye to our buddies and all had a quiet afternoon chilling inside. A couple explored the village and found it interesting seeing the difference in price, paying 5p for sugar cane. We then experienced our first proper power cut and enjoyed eating in the dark and having another relaxing evening playing cards.
Emily
