As promised to Sam, this is our holiday blog when we (Di and I) flew out to Ghana via Burkina Faso (28th Nov – 10th Dec).
[I am having problems with the photos - I can't get them to insert in the right place - they all come up at the beginning and in reverse order! I have marked where they should come in the text with a # - you'll have to match them up yourselves - sorry! I'll publish this part, then put the rest of the photos on the next blog.]
First impressions? Very hot – 38 degrees – bicycles and cars everywhere, in surprisingly equal proportions, and amazing loads carried by the women on their heads.# This lady was cycling placidly through the traffic with the bowl of material on her head, but we saw multiple trays of eggs carried in this fashion, or firewood, or just about anything else you could think of…
As we landed at Ouagadougou [Push pineapple shake the tree…] in Burkina Faso everyone spoke French. Confronted by Di’s and my attempts at communication, the locals invariably looked hopefully to Sam – fat chance! But we made it to the hotel and found the pool, so all was well.#
After a day exploring the cathedral, mosque and Artisanal village we caught the STMB bus down to Ghana – 3 hours+ of dusty red road with mountains of luggage on the roof # This was the bus beside us at the bus station, but we saw many lorries and buses overloaded with people, goats, sponges, etc, more or less tied on top.
We finally saw the Welcome sign, # and our luggage was ferried across no man’s land on bicycles – I feared for the ipod in my case, but it survived…We also saw the Paga sign for the sacred crocodile pond # but, as tourists are invited to buy live chickens to be fed to the crocodiles, that was the closest we got.
We spent a merry day meeting Sam’s volunteer friends and exploring the local area. Schoolchildren climbed out of their classrooms to wave to us from the local school # seemingly founded by Elton John…#
Sam gave us a grand tour of the teacher training campus, in the blistering midday sun (Di and I trailed behind her, lingering hopefully in the shade of every tree). A previous volunteer had put his artistic talents to good use on every wall – note the Ghana map# for our travels – we went from Navrongo to Bolga(tanga), then to Tamale and Mole National Park. This is the JSS #(Junior Secondary School?) where Sam teaches #one Maths lesson a week on Thursday# to keep her hand in and get an idea of what her students will be experiencing in class. The desks were quite rickety and squashed together #.
The campus is a mix of new buildings like the nearly-finished Science block # and the disused and derelict Art Studio # – although Peter Kay does seem to have been using the board to jot down lyrics…#
Some students were about, so I have a photo of them with Sam and Di. #
The artistic volunteer was in evidence everywhere, giving a taste of Ghanaian pride and tradition. # #
The borehole is Sam’s source of water when the taps fail to deliver (quite a common occurrence). Her house is visible behind #. #
Di and I stayed at a lovely chalet block at the Catholic Mission, run by Father Lazarus # I was most impressed by the toilet cistern and its claim to fame.#
I think I shall stop now, and see if I can publish the blog successfully so far. To be continued…
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