My life in Tumu, Ghana

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

2006-12-22T10:13:00.000Z

So that brings me up to date. I am leaving for the beach on the 19th December. I will be spending Christmas and New Year on the beach. I hope to have lobster for Christmas dinner, with crackers of course!

So I would like to say Merry Christmas and a Very Happy New Year to you and I will write again in January 2007.

NOW READ REST OF BLOG FROM BOTTOM UP!

Farmers Day/ World AIDS Day.

2006-12-22T10:11:00.000Z

Both these functions fall on 1st December, so Tumu held a joint ceremony for them. The World AIDS day started with an AIDS walk. It was unfortunately only announced the previous night, so I was unable to attend but I have been told that it was pretty impressive. Many people marching around town waving flag streamers and blown up condoms. Farmers day is a bit like a harvest festival with many regional farmers showing their crops. There were many prizes, consisting of a bicycle, machete, wellies, matches, material, and much more, including a certificate. There was a star prize of a motorbike too. I have since been told that the farmers who win have to contribute to the prize fund! So the star prize may not have gone to the best farm but the person who contributed the most!!! - But that is only a rumour.

The day was also Market day. So I moved onto market fully expecting to see an abundance of vegetables now harvest has come. So I was somewhat shocked to see most veg had finished, and only managed to get tomato, cabbage and onion, so much for harvest. Oh well!

National Festival of Arts and Culture: Culture – a Vehicle for Wealth Creation

2006-12-22T10:09:00.000Z

The National Festival of Arts and Culture celebrated biennially has become one of the Institutionalised national events of our country. It was established to bring our chiefs and people together to celebrate the underlying unity of our various cultural expressions. NAFAC has projected our cultural heritage and promoted our traditions and values.

This festival was established in 1978 and each region has hosted it in turn. This year it was the Upper West’s time to shine.

I was told about this festival at the start of year staff meeting. Principal asked if anyone would like to join him at the opening ceremony. A sheet of paper was circulated and was still blank by the time it got to me. I was up for it. Any chance to go to another town in comfort of a private vehicle rather than a tro (I still have a dislike for them). I am very much glad I went. It was a opening ceremony, I was dreading it to start with as every ceremony I had been to so far had been lots of speeches and not much else. However this one was different. Yes we had the pomp and circumstance, but it was glittered with traditional dancing and drumming for each region. These dancers were, may I say, AWESOME. I am always mesmerised by the natural rhythm that every Ghanaian seems to have bred into them from birth.

We had great seats, right next to the VIP stand (the president was supposed to attend, but unfortunately was unable to) so we had a great view. The highlight was a procession of all the dance groups. The only way I can describe this procession was an amazing harmony of drums, tambourines and xylophones. Not to mention the dancing every which way you turned.

The festival lasted a week. I am so glad I had the opportunity to attend.

College Happenings...

2006-12-22T10:07:00.000Z

It’s been an interesting time at college over the last couple of months. College was due to re-open on the 2nd October. This was delayed by GES and the new date was to be the 9th October. However, the NAGRAT teachers union (graduate teachers) had called a strike at the beginning of September. Due to the outrageous pay increase that the Nursing staff had received. Now I am not denying nursing staff a pay rise, they thoroughly deserve it, it is just the percentage it went up by. It is a rise that that has put them out of league with all other bodies of employees. The best way I can describe this is to compare a newly qualified nurse with a newly basic education teacher. (one that would leave TUTCO) The nurse would start at a salary of ¢7million per month. The teacher would start on ¢1.1million. A Tutor at TUTCO who has a degree and a vast amount of experience receives less than ¢2.5million per month. The teachers rightly striked at this, however, the strike was futile, there is just not the money to give them an equal pay rise. The strike continued to mid November. Where there was a promise of money in the budget, and without getting into politics it is my understanding that this money didn’t materialise. The teachers are now back at work, doubling their work load as they are concerned for their students and don’t want them to fail.

Myself and Diane, our new volunteer chose to work through this period, the students were in college doing self study. I made it clear that I was totally behind the strike but as a volunteer was in the position that I could teach them. It was an awkward time for Diane. She was new didn’t know what was going on and had no way of gaining information. The tutors were helpful, but she didn’t want to put them in a compromising position as they were on strike.

Having gained a good relationship with my students last year, I felt protective towards them and to meet new ones it felt wrong. Now a couple of months in I am equally proud of my new students and they are mostly showing good aptitude to the computer. Though some lessons have been especially frustrating, I am not sure if it is me they don’t understand or the tasks. We are getting there though. It has made such a difference having the extra 10 computers. Mostly they get their own computer and I rotate the sharing. They also have 2 hours practice a week. Last year, they got one hour, sometimes sharing 3 to a computer! We also have a projector and laptop so our theory sessions have completely changed.

The next challenge is to get the rest of the tutors to use the projector. Which brings me on to my second big success – the first being that I found out at the beginning of term that only 6 our of 137 students had failed their ICT exam. I was very proud. This year I am going to strive towards no one failing and that they all pass with at least C’s – ambitious but hopefully doable!

The second success is that I have finally managed to organise the tutors attending Computer training sessions on Saturday mornings. We have had ok turnout, it is funeral season at the moment so I haven’t had everyone show. But it is good and they are all interested, apologising if they cannot make it. I have one more session before Christmas and then will start again in the New Year.

I have been made a form tutor I am not sure still what I am meant to do, it is a form 1 class so they are all new and cannot help me. I having to learn their names to. I am doing well with my 2nd years names surprising them when I greet them by name out of class.

The most recent update I can give on college is that this week I have managed to set up a dialup connection in Principals office. We are ordering a phone line for the computer centre so we too will have the Internet. One of my personal goals I set before coming. We are all very excited at the prospect of having the Internet at college. Kansec will still be our main source as it is faster and cheaper. But still it is good that we have it at college too.
College has now broken up for Christmas and will re-open on the 15th January 2007.

Week Four

2006-12-22T10:05:00.000Z

21st September – our final leg begins. I had honestly forgotten up to this point that the last time I had been on the road west from Accra, it had not been surfaced. I suddenly remembered and shared it with mum. We thought it best not to tell dad. He had finally got used to the roads and was happy they were again tarred. I was anxious most of the journey and was thoroughly surprised that in the 4 months since I had last been on the road that it was completed (or almost – we travelled on bad road for about 20 minutes) The villages we passed through were very run down and I could feel dad getting tense. He didn’t seem at all impressed. I had not been to the beach resort before but as it had been highly recommended I hoped it would all work out. Dad would hold judgement until he had seen it.
I have never seen anyone change in a matter of moments. As soon as we arrived and entered the resort dad totally changed I could see him physically melt into absolute relaxation, and a broad smile spread across his face. Anomabu Beach resort is a little piece of heaven on the coast of Ghana. The staff, food rooms, beach, weather were perfect. We were practically the only guests for much of the time. At this point we were ending our time with Malik. Rather than saying goodbye there and then, which is what Malik thought. We wanted to thank him so made him stay as our guest for the night and leave the next morning. Malik had not been to the beach before so was like a kid on the sand. It was quite fumbling. What we take for granted can still be a first for people. He was astonished that the water was salty, and hurt his eyes. We finished the day with a lobster meal which was absolutely delicious
22nd September – we said a sad farewell to Malik. We spent the day on the beach, deciding that anything else would be far too much hard work. We planned our next day which was a trip out to Cape Coast and Elmina. We organised a taxi for the day.
23rd September – The Cape Coast area was the last stop for the slaves before being transported to the States and Europe. Elmina Castle was our first stop. We took a guided tour of the castle. Having been to Pikwora a couple of weeks before and driven the length of Ghana in a comfortable air-conditioned car. It made us think how hard the journey was for the Africans. The place even now were bleak in the castle, to try and picture the overcrowded, stark conditions, stench and punishing cruelty they had to cope with was beyond my comprehension. Something that caught my breath was the tiny crack of an exit that the Africans were forced to leave by - The gate of no return. We were told that if they were too big to squeeze through the gate they hadn’t yet been through enough and were kept back for further starvation and maltreatment.
Someone said to me recently who had also visited Pikwora and Cape Coast, that it is no wonder that many Black Americans are so big and strong, they come from good lineage. They had to be to have survived all they went through.
Cape Coast Castle was bigger and the dungeons worse if at all possible. There was an interesting museum.
24th-25th September – two more days relaxing on the beach, we walked down the beach to the Anomabu fishing village and watched them bring in the morning catch.
26th September – time to head back to Accra for the final time. We decided to hire a car for the journey. It was cheaper and more reliable than the taxi. In the few days we had been on the beach the road was finished, I was astonished.
27th September – time for mum and dad to leave. It was an amazing trip, one I was very much looking forward to I had saved my travelling to share it with them and none of us was disappointed.

Well that account was much longer than I originally planned. But once I start to write I find more things to talk about. As this is meant to be a online diary – why not, though it has taken a couple of hours to write. I can understand why I have put it off for so long.

Week Three

2006-12-22T10:03:00.000Z

13th September – we explored the Upper East. We visited Sirigu, a traditional village where the custom is to paint the houses. We also visited the Pikworo Slave Camp. This was a highlight of the trip for the historical context. It was a camp where the slaves marched from Mali and Burkina Faso were kept before being sold and marched through Ghana to the Cape Coast area. Seeing this place brought home the truth of how badly the people were treated.
14th September – We returned to Tamale to pick up a new truckload of money to pay for the car and hire it for a further two weeks. We had planned our trip whilst in Tumu and decided that having a car was essential. Dad had by this time come to terms with the fact that is was better to have a driver. Malik by this time had become part of our trip and we couldn’t leave him behind.
15th September – we now headed south to the Volta region. This was by far the worst road we had ever driven down. It made the Upper West roads feel like carpet. It was not helped by the torrential rain we encountered and one village that was situated on a hill found its road turned into grade 4 rapids rather than a road. Malik did well to drive through it. After 8 hours we should have been in Wli our next stop however, we had only managed to get 2 thirds of the way before having to give in and find a bed for the night. This we managed quite comfortably.
16th September – the weather was much better today, and we continued with our journey quite quickly. Arriving at Wli falls by lunchtime. We found some accommodation – not the place we wanted but the another place. They owners were very friendly and on Saturday nights had local drumming and dancing. We were very lucky. The place was not in the Bradt guide but mum has informed me that following an email she sent them on her return the hotel is going to be mentioned in the next publication. We feel we have done a little something for Ghana tourism.
17th September – the reason we included Wli on our trip were the magnificent falls. The walk to them was through a mini rainforest, extremely different landscape from the barren north. We left Wli in the afternoon for Ho our next stop. By this time the roads had improved somewhat and the rest of our trip would be on tarmac. The hotel we stayed in, in Ho had a swimming pool. Malik was very excited about this as he wanted to swim. There is a pool in Tamale where he lives and he has used it a few times but only with armbands. Ho didn’t have any only a big rubber ring. After some unsuccessful attempts using the ring dad decided to teach Malik to swim. 2 hours later he had Malik swimming the length of the pool without stopping and with no aids. Quite an achievement for them both.
18th September – Malik was back in the pool first thing making the most of his new skills. We travelled back halfway back to Hohoe today, much to Dad’s uneasiness, to visit a couple of villages. Tafi Abuipe and Tafi Atome. The former is a Kente-weaving village and the latter a monkey sancturary.
We were all extremely impressed with both of them especially Tafi Abuipe. The whole village works together to produce the kente cloth. The money earned gets split amongst the workers. They also have a factory where 2 people from each family work and the kente produced there gets exported out. All the kente cloth. Mum particularly liked the kente and bought so much that I don’t think they needed to produce any more for a couple of months!!!
The Tafi Atome Monkey Sanctuary was fun we got to feed the mona monkeys. Very cute.
19th September – we again headed south, the destination Accra. We travelled via the Akosombo Dam. I had been there before but hadn’t had a very good guide. this time the guide was much better, and we got a good insight as to why there was such a problem with the water levels and how much was needed before minimum would be reached. (they finally reached the minimum in October and hopefully there shouldn’t be a shortage for the hot dry season).
We also stopped at a place where traditional glass beads are produced. In the olden days beads were used as currency. The method hasn’t changed much in the last few centuries, the source has. Instead of making glass from sand they now recycle bottles. I thought it was funny to see Bombay Sapphire and Baileys bottles lined up to make beads. Again we bought from the source. Ghana makes you realise the importance of fair trade. The prices they charge for a bracelet where the process has taken hours and is hot and hard work, is ridiculously low. I just know how much they would charge for the bracelet in Europe and the States. The money is just not getting back to the source.
Our final stop before Accra was Tema, we met and chatted to some doctors who were volunteering on a medical ship docked in Tema for a few months. It was with an organisation called Mercy Ships. They specialise in facial and eye disorders. They invited us to ship to have a look around. We took them up on the offer and landed at the dock. Malik was exceptionally excited about this stop. He had never been on a ship before so wanted to have his photo taken. Finally at the end of the day we arrived back in Accra and felt our trip was coming to an end. Not quite though we had another week to relax at the beach. But only after mum had bought the material shop out of all the fabric they had. 20th September – met up with new volunteers who were on their induction. I introduced myself to Di and Alan the volunteers coming to Tumu, we spent much of the day with them.

Week One and Two

2006-12-22T10:00:00.000Z

31st August – mum and dad arrived mid afternoon. Spent rest of day and evening opening the endless suitcases they brought and spying all the goodies they brought me.
1st September – spent the day exploring Accra, trying to get Dad to relax into the pace. It is quite difficult to initially understand the pace of Ghana and the concept of Ghana time being much slower than Africa time.
2nd September – Flew to Tamale, way to go if money was no object. Only took an hour or so, rather than the 14 hours by bus. Their initial impressions of Tamale were not so good – it is the main city of the North but is not like a city at all, quite a contrast to the south.

The rainy season wasn’t so good this year. National electricity is mostly provided by the Akosombo Dam, the water level had not reached the minimum it needed this year. In order to conserve electricity to get through the dry season there was an electric shedding exercise whereby electricity was cut off for 12 hour periods in different areas. Therefore some of our trip was spent in power cuts, some big hotels and restaurants bought generators to supply electricity, however, I am not sure what was worse, no electric or electric but no sleep due to generator motor noise. The weather is much cooler in September, especially pleasant at night so the need for a fan (or aircon – for dad) was not essential. Tumu was one of the only places in Ghana where the shedding didn’t happen, we lose electricity when it rains, is too hot or just for no reason!! So shedding was not necessary.

3rd September – Sorted car, bit of a palaver, the car we were promised was not there, the alternative 4wd looked like it had been a write off at one time with bald tyres and no battery, dad was rightly worried about this, however there is only one car hire place in Tamale – competition is needed definitely!! The only choices were to travel back down to Kumasi (6-7 hours away on bus) or to hire their other car which could handle the roads – a mini bus! And take our chance to pick the good 4wd in Wa. We chose the latter option. And so Mum and Dad had their first experience of the roads of Northern Ghana. Fun all the way!

We left for Wa at lunchtime and arrived in Wa around 6:30. We would pick the new 4wd and driver the next morning.
4th September – I can tell you we all breathed a sigh of relief when we saw the new 4wd. It looked road worthy, tyres had tread and the windscreen was in one piece. Picking a few provisions we headed off early for Tumu…

Just as we thought all our car troubles were over we had car trouble. The fuel tank started to fall off and grate along the ground. We were in the middle of nowhere with no phone signal. Luckily for us it must have been market day in a local village as a man cycled past with his goat. He stopped and helped us. A little later another man came past seeing the bike he too stopped spoke to our helper and we discovered it was his brother. He too helped. We patched up the car and hobbled to the nearest village. More a through road with a few houses than a village but luckily for us they had a good mechanic with a large assortment of nuts. One eventually was found in the right size and 6 hours later we were back on our way. Mum and Dad realised there was no point getting too anxious there was nothing we could do about it so they just relaxed and enjoyed the experience (well afterwards at least).
The rest of our journey was pretty uneventful apart from the ominous black clouds I had been keeping my eye on all afternoon finally broke and we had a torrential down pour.
It was still raining when we arrived in Tumu – in the dark. And for once the electricity behaved itself and stayed on throughout the storm in honour of my parents trip.
5th – 12th September – We spent the week in Tumu, just relaxing, meeting people, eating and drinking. It was just nice to relax and enjoy the place. We were the talk of the town, everyone wanting to know who the folies were in the posh car!
The hippo came out a couple of times for our viewing. We took a trip to Gwollu with Bukari, (TUTCO Demo Headmaster) whose family are the bonesetters. That was an interesting and somewhat squeamish experience. I couldn’t watch it but dad photographed it. Insert web address other than that we didn’t go anywhere. The girls across the way took us on a guided tour of the market and made us dinner one evening. Dad made friends and went for pito. He was also fascinated with the building work that was beginning next door to me. He was impressed by how quickly the foundations were dug, how they made bricks from scratch and the walls went up. The rate they were going the building would be finished in no time (unfortunately after we left not much else has happened – the men left for the end of Ramadan – and have only just returned)
Dad was able to use his engineering experiences when the truck bringing sand got completely stuck in the wet ground. They didn’t learn very quickly, after ruining one track they started on a second one and got stuck again. This is when Dad intervened. He got them all rallying around and get the truck out of the trench. (3 months later the track is still bad and I have to use a different route to my house)
We eventually had to leave Tumu and continue on our journey. So we left on the morning of the 12th September for Bolga.

Ghana: my first tour around.

2006-12-21T18:06:00.000Z

As I said my parents came for a trip to Ghana in September. I was very much looking forward to their trip, for them to finally see the people and places I talk about, to share my experience with home, and not forgetting all the lovely goodies they were bringing me.

I tried to make a plan of where we would go, and what we would do, which I jotted down on a piece of scrap paper. I headed down to Accra a few days before they were due to arrive to book a hotel and buy our tickets for the flight to Tamale.

Buying things in Ghana is always an experience and something you have to plan. You see credit cards is pretty much an alien concept here. Virtually no where accepts them, and if they do, 99% of the time the authorisation process fails. Therefore the only payment choice is cash. I am not sure if I have previously spoken about money, the paper currency denominations are, ¢5000, ¢10000, ¢20000, with ¢1000 and ¢2000 as small change notes. It is likely when you withdraw money from banks they will give you 5’s or 10’s. Now the airline I bought the tickets from would only accept cash, dollars or cedis. Unfortunately I didn’t have enough dollars on me to buy three tickets so I had to pay in cedis. Each ticket cost ¢1,400,000. so in total ¢4,200,000. I had mostly ¢10000 notes, so 420 notes! I had to practically take a briefcase to deliver the cash.

I think the photo journey sums up our trip, it was wonderful to share my experiences of Tumu with family. Both Mum and Dad thoroughly enjoyed their trip and particularly Tumu. Everyone in town made them feel very welcome, and Dad was taken under the wing of some people and carted off for a Pito session. The rest of the trip we travelled around Ghana going to some very beautiful and interesting places. We hired a car and driver, Malik.

A brief outline of our trip was as follows in the next couple of Blog Entries

Finally a Blog update…

2006-12-21T18:04:00.000Z

Well it has been a long time since I last properly updated my blog. I have just been so absorbed in life in Tumu that I just have had the opportunity to put fingers to keys. I’ll start with a quick summary of what I have been up to then will go into more detail on the interesting bits.

Mum and Dad visited for September
New Volunteers arrived end of September
College opened (or not) for 06-07 year
New Computers finally set up
National teacher strike for September through to most of November
Began training Tutors
Wa Festival
Farmers Day and World Aids Day.
End of term

That would bring me up to date.

I can also tell you that as of today 21st December the hippopotAAAmus is still alive and well and living happily in Tumu Dam. I have been told recently that he is a she! The water level is decreasing though so I am not sure how much longer she will stay. People are still fascinated by her, but fearful now. She goes into town very early sometimes and one day when I was on my way to the tro station at 4:45am she was busy eating a tree on the side of the road. Quite a crowd had gathered to watch.

I'm sorry for no recent blog updates

2006-12-10T15:06:00.000Z

I have been so busy with work that I haven't updated my blog for so long. I promise I will soon... I am trying to put together a photo journey of my holiday with my parents. but its taking a while.

I'm off to the beach for christmas and new year so very much looking forward to that.

be back soon for proper update

The day a hippo came to town!

2006-08-24T17:42:00.000Z

Yes you did read that properly, Tumu is now the proud foster parents of a full grown male hippopotamus. I was taking an afternoon nap on Saturday (as you do in hot countries!!) and I got a call from a friend asking whether I had seen the hippo. Considering I was half asleep I really didn't comprehend this information, and answered no... I slowly came to and realised I needed to ask what hippo?

Apparently a hippopotamus had found its way into Tumu dam.

This I had to see... I promptly cycled down to the dam with my camera to see the hippo. There were so many people crowded on the dam, and I was guided by one of the Demo pupils to the best spot to see it.

Now seeing a hippo in Tumu is not an every day occurrence, in fact this is the first time one has found its way here. Not so it would seem to the crowd of onlookers by the side of the river. They were more interested in the folie with the camera rather than the hippo in the water. As I got my camera aimed ready to take a great shot, I felt hundreds of eyes on me... I looked down and all the children were crowded round me waiting to see the hippo snap. I kept telling them don't look at me look at the water and tell me when he pops out of the water. Finally the suspense was over the hippo came up for air... just as my camera powered down into standby! so I missed the picture because by the time it had powered back up the hippo had gone back under.

I was determined next time to get it... and what a picture it is!

can you see it? can you, can you?? it is there honestly!

You might be wondering like I was how on earth someone spotted a hippo in the water if thats all you could see... I certainly wouldn't and as 99.9% of Tumu population have assuredly never in their life seen a real live hippo I doubt they would have either. However, on the friday night the owner of that piece of land was wandering around and stumbled across this big grey elephant without a trunk or ears and probably wondered what it was (the last description is my own - not the discoverer's!) anyway word got out that a hippo was in the dam...

That was Saturday.
Sunday the crowd had subsided somewhat but still around - the hippo was still in the water. Monday he decided to go walk about along with his onlookers who obviously thought he was a friendly creature that would like to be provoked and have stones thrown at him... much to their surprise he wasn't too happy at having stones thrown at him so he turned round and charged, knocked someone down and tore at their arm... luckily both parties are ok. However now the hippo is being guarded by the local reserve guards, so people are not allowed anywhere near him.

I didn't see him on Tuesday, but yesterday I passed the dam and the crowd had once again grown. I asked if he was around, and was told he was near the bank - I looked out and there he was having a wash, half out of the water. Unfortunately I didn't have my camera with me so wasn't able to take a shot. It would have been good too... one for national geographic - so you'll just have to put up with the posted one.

Today he is still around but I only saw his ears.

Question is how long will he stay and how on earth will he get home? - he is a long way from home. He's probably from somewhere near the Côte d’Ivoire border.

I'll keep you posted as to what happens next...

Brianne and Alhassan's wedding reception

2006-08-18T11:55:00.000Z

The following pictures are from Brianne's wedding reception. i will blog about this later, but I thought it was about time I put some photo's up.
the night before the reception Brianne had a special foot painting ceremony, part of the muslim tradition.

they stick plaster strips on her feet and left hand in a pattern and then cover it all in henna

the special criss cross pattern

and a mango leaf

the next day was the wedding reception here's a picture of some of the guest, there was probably about 600 people in total who came! The reception was held in the KanSec assembly hall. (cos it was probably going to rain - and it did!)

brianne and alhassan making their entrance

They organised some traditional dancers, who were amazing. The drummers were drumming so hard and the beat so fast you could barely see their hands move.

then everyone got up and started dancing with them - I got as well, but it shows that whiteman can't dance. Ghanaians have this natural rythym.

finally one of me in my Ghanaian dress - I am standing with Ilona a Dutch VSO

To show how the henna pattern came out.

the Folies!! VSO and the Danes and Alhassan

trip south photos

2006-08-16T17:14:00.000Z

the Upper West Volunteers...

just to show we can stay in nice places too...

a bridge at lake Volta

attempting to canoe!

a selection of photos

2006-08-03T14:43:00.000Z

I've been a bit slack to say the least on my blog site recently (not to self - must do better)

I, unfortunately am going to cop out again today and only upload photos. Firstly of my trip south, and then of Brianne and Alhassan's wedding (yet to be blogged)

Well I am sorry to say the connection is very slow today and I cannot upload the photos I have been trying for 1/2 hour now to upload one so after the weekend i will try again

WATCH THIS SPACE!!

Due South

2006-07-27T15:10:00.000Z

I have just returned from a trip south for the Annual VSO Conference in Accra. I decided to make a little trip of it going a couple of days early to meet Line (Lina) and Rasmus the Danes who work for the IMCC NGO here in Tumu, and watch the World Cup final in a sports bar. It was expat central, still they had massive TV screens and great picture. They even had draft beer… oh the things I miss. (saying that I didn’t drink much draft beer at home so what am I talking about!)

Anyway back to the conference, it was held at a beach hotel just outside of Accra and was luxury all the way. Unfortunately the bar prices matched that luxury, so it was a trip out to the local spot to buy beer and gin (shhhh! don’t tell anyone) I felt like such as student!, but the VSO supplement doesn’t stretch that far.

There was a swimming pool, sunloungers and my favourite – a hot shower! Other luxuries included the coldest air-conditioning ever. We have all got so used to the climate that we kept asking to turn the aircon off. Unfortunately, I think it caused me to get a cold so I spent half the time sniffing, sneezing and streaming… generally feeling very sorry for myself.

The conference itself was interesting and pretty positive, a change to the other meetings I have been to, and VSO invited some guest speakers so we learnt more about corruption, Chieftaincy’s and Juju (witchcraft) so some fascinating topics. It was also great to meet nearly all the Volunteers in Ghana, there were about 40 people in all.

The conference finished on the Friday night so we all left the hotel on Saturday. Rather than returning directly to Tumu, I went for a detour to Ho, with Pete from Wa to visit Bobbie and Elaine, two volunteers who came out with us in February and to see where they live and what they are up to in their placements. Ho is the regional capital for the Volta Region. Its much hillier in the area and very, very green. Bobbie has made some lovely friends Hope and Tony. Tony runs a local spot (Phil’s Place – if you’re ever in the area!) and Hope works there. Hope looked after us whilst we were there, and he became our unofficial tour guide. we planned to go for a trip on lake Volta but found that the boat only ran on weekends, we found an over priced option at a hotel but decided against it. As we were looking at the lake to boys pulled up in a small canoe and asked if we wanted to go for a ride. Elaine, Pete and Hope went first and Bobbie and I said we would go when they returned. Well we watched them set off in the canoe, and thought that doesn’t look too comfortable or stable. We settled down to wait for their return, less than 10 minutes later we see them walking back towards us… the boat was less than water worthy, it took in lots of water, so they thought they should get out when the going was good. In the 10mins though they had quite an adventure and kept us laughing for quite a while, especially when Pete had to wring out his socks… the last canoe he had been on sank, so he seems to be a bit of a jinx on them.

On the Sunday evening of our trip Phil’s place was hosting a birthday party for a small boy. I asked how old the boy would be and whether they would have cake and balloons and cake. The response I was given was he was going to be 22!! – in Ghana men officially remain small boys until they are 40 – I think that is a very good observation.

Tumu in World Cup frenzy...

2006-07-27T15:05:00.000Z

I won’t go on about the world cup as you all know the score! But I will say the atmosphere here in Ghana was magical… even in a small remote town like Tumu, World Cup fever was amazing. From the first game, losing to Italy they didn’t look at as a defeat but as a challenge, of course there was the usual blaming of players but still the party season had started. The students at my college must have watched every game shown, and there were a couple who kept my score sheet up to date, I only watched the England and Ghana games and kept up with the news from Bukari the Headmaster and the students. Now I am not just “Folie” but “Folie where are you from?”. My usual answer would be UK but now it’s England as we then have a football conversation. They couldn’t quite understand to start with why I have been supporting Ghana but towards the last games its total comradeship! Watching the matches was fun in it self! Except when GTV had no signal, or the signal was so bad you couldn’t make out the players in the snow storm, we would then watch the Burkina Faso channel; commentary is just not the same in French. Then we could have lights off at a crucial moment. Wa lost power for the last 60 minutes of the last England game, only to regain it just when we missed the final penalty!! – Pete was not happy…

The Ghana, USA game was a great one to watch. Bukari invited me to his house to watch. The first goal Ghana scored Bukari practically kissed the TV has was so excited, his children thought he had gone a bit mad. The commentators didn’t even hide the fact that they were going to be biased towards Ghana, and then the station played the Ghana world cup song each time they scored. After the game as I went home through town, there were people out on the streets waving flags, blowing whistles and dancing, - just like home!

Before the last Ghana game I had been having a conversation with Ali who I met through Brianne, about the world cup and the best place to watch a game. I had been to various places, but wanted to watch the next game in a busy place. He suggested St Augustine’s a local drinking spot with a TV!. He said he would organise the TV to be moved into the large area so we would be able to watch it more comfortably. In the end there were about 25 people watching the game, the atmosphere was something else. Because of the usual tin roof the room had a loud echo, and as the game progressed the noise and cheering in the room was so loud you would have thought you were in the stadium. Unfortunately the game didn’t bode so well for Ghana, but you wouldn’t have been able to tell, it didn’t matter – they had got to the last 16 and that was good enough for now – next time watch out!!

I didn’t think there were any bad feelings towards Brazil; being beaten the number one team is not a bad thing. However, when the Brazil v France game was on, there was the loudest cheer ever when France won.

my house

2006-06-21T16:35:00.000Z

my house

view from my house - the big house opposite belongs to the vice principal who has the friendly daughters.

my garden!!!!!! the ground is a bit greener now but there are no houses for miles

Folie, Folie, Folie

2006-06-21T16:18:00.001Z

I am getting quite annoyed with this chant now – I don’t mind the children calling it when I cycle through town to get my attention, they stop when I wave. It’s their way of saying hello look at me. But when teenagers and even adults chant I think it’s a little rude. I particularly have a problem when the nursery school at TUTCO chant. They went mad the other week and about 40 2-4 year olds chanted over and over and over. I was well out of site before they stopped. The next day when I cycled past they started up again, so this time I stopped and told them to stop chanting folie as I am not a stranger, I live here and my name is Lucy. This confused them for a bit and then one little girl said ok. Now when I pass by I get lots of Madam Lucy hello, Madam Lucy bye bye. This seems to be catching as now when I cycle through town I get a few madam Lucy greetings thrown into the folie chants. The other vols have also told me they have been greeted with Madam Lucy hello as they pass by…

Things are a changing…

2006-06-21T16:18:00.000Z

I found the Easter break here very tough – when I am not working there really isn’t too much to do in Tumu and when lights go off a length of time there is even less.

I chatted to the other VSO’s and told them that I am finding it really hard to settle, and they told me that it can be quite often like that here, but, then you get the good moments which far out weigh the hard times. I looked at this optimistically and finally I had my first “this is a good moment”

I spent the Easter break very much being a stranger on campus again – the untrained teachers come in to take classes, with them they bring their children. As they are from the rural villages they don’t often see white people and just stare, rather than calling out. So many times I would be in my house and suddenly I get a feeling I am being watched – I then catch two or three sets of eves peeping over the window sill just watching.

Anyway they left as suddenly as they came and the regular students returned and my first cycle through campus was interrupted many times by students stopping to greet and have a chat, no more folie or staring – now it’s a wave and a greeting and once again is a pleasure to move through campus.

Finally an update...

2006-06-21T16:16:00.000Z

Its been a while since I last updated my blog, this could be seen as good and bad, good because I have been so busy with work and life in Tumu. But bad cos there not much new to say.

My work at TUTCO has fallen into some kind of routine, a routine where I am still not sure what is really going on but one that every Monday I seem to struggle through and then ok for the rest of the week. I am still not sure how the college semesters are structured and am constantly surprised if the classes are taking place or not.

On my return from my trip south I genuinely thought I had a few weeks to finish the semester and go through all the topics the students need to be taught, however, I was shocked into reality when I was told half way through my first day back that the next week students would be writing continual assessment quizzes and were to take two in ICT, one theory and one Practical… this was fine I thought until I realised that the practical was to be on PowerPoint and that not all students had used PowerPoint before. So that week was to be a crash course in PowerPoint and how to create a multimedia presentation in 10 easy steps. The practicals were then to take place the weekend after the written quizzes. The students were great and took it very seriously, however, it showed how at present we don’t have enough computers – at some points when they had the opportunity to come and practice we had about 40 students vying for 5 PC’s. We hope this will soon be rectified as we have received 10 new computers but unfortunately have to wait for the suppliers to come and install them. I just hope it is in time for the next academic year. I hope the next batch of students can benefit from them.

So that was four weeks ago since then I have gone through the briefest of brief overviews of access and excel… I just hope it is enough for their final exams which start next week. I have seen the previous semester exam and if the questions are similar to that one I am not too worried – here’s an example: question 10 – Indicate as T (true) or F (false) in the space provided… A computer is made from wood - Ok so that was the easiest question but none of them are too hard (I hope!!!)

Once the exams are over the DBE II students will be leaving – having today found out their placements for the teaching practice. I will then have a couple more weeks with the JSS children (I think) and then the school term ends. I plan to start to train some of the college tutors on basic computer skills during the summer and write a supporting document for the curriculum and other training documents. Then it starts all over again with a few weeks of this is a mouse and this is how to use it…

The other big news is that we finally have Internet connection in Tumu, what a difference it will make. I have been able to check my emails so regularly recently that I am ahead of them and don’t always have any new ones… on a work note it will enable me to gather various research material as only having one source (Encarta) is not enough – there are no books at college on ICT or computers a bit difficult when having to explain things like how the Internet works and the benefits of a wireless network in a classroom… things I have not really ever had to explain before!

Life is pretty quiet at the moment, the current VSO volunteers are coming to the end of their time here, Katherine and Stephanie are already on their way home – taking the scenic route by cycling through West Africa to Spain – you can read about their adventures by clicking on the link on the right, Shewart and Bikeshorts do Africa (sorry K&S for the name I have given your link but it still makes me laugh!!) - there are also some pictures of Tumu on it – I have not been too good at uploading photo’s but now that the Internet is here I promise I will do better.

Brianne leaves in August and then hopefully new volunteers will arrive in September. I can’t believe then I will be the established volunteer in town and be the one to introduce the new vols to the wonders of Tumu – the endless restaurants, bars and nightclubs, the high street full of endless clothes stores and supermarkets – ok the chop bars, spots and …, and the weekly and daily market and folie shops, that’s a couple of hours covered! So the rest of the time can be spent getting comfortable at Tani’s (Best Bar of the Upper West 2006).

September is going to be a busy month my parents are coming over which I am very much looking forward to and we will go on a bit of a tour around Ghana.

Stop Press: Tumu moves with the times!

2006-06-14T18:34:00.000Z

I am very happily writing this sitting in Tumu’s very own brand new Internet Café its very exciting… I hope this means that I will be able to update my blog more regularly and even upload some photos... perhaps all after the world cup has ended!

There is a great atmosphere around town at the moment, every shop that owns a tv has it plugged in and switched on outside the shop and there are usually crowds of people watching it... my only choice now is which shop do I go to on saturday for the next Ghana game.

i'll keep you posted

Teacher shortfall...

2006-05-13T10:03:00.000Z

I read yesterday that there is a shortfall of 17,ooo(approx) teachers for basic education in Ghana. And that is if all teachers graduating this year teach and no one leaves teaching!!!

But to be honest what can you expect when some teachers can work for a year and not get paid! not much incentive is it?

Beach Life

2006-05-13T09:47:00.000Z

I have just spent the last week on a really idyllic beach. The reason being a VSO workshop! - nice place to have one i'd say...

The place was about 4 hours west of Accra, so it was quite a feat to get there. The journey started so well with us getting a lift in a NGO Aircon Land Cruiser to Tamale, which took 4 hours instead of a journey which took 1.5 days last time! then the next day we took the bus (no aircon this time) to Accra. This bus was a coach with middle seats so some poor people had to sit on a uncomfortable jump seat for 13.5 hours... Glad it wasn't me.

We then had a day in Accra and then took a aircon Tro-Tro to Takaradi - slight difference to the ones between Tumu and anywhere... and finally a taxi to the beach - in all it took four days to get there!

There is such a difference between the north and south of Ghana. I never really noticed it on the way north, I guess I was overwhelmed by everything new. But looking out of the bus window it is quite ridiculous the size and quality of houses the fruit and food in the shops the total lack of obvious poverty in the towns - its still there but the divide is that much wider. It makes me angry to see the number of children not attending school in towns which are so much more wealthy than the north!

I will write more about this next time when I have had time to sit and think about it more.

This post is about the beach...

Ahhh the beach. I think I overdosed on good food and relaxation. We spent 6 days there in total and now we are on our journey back north. At the moment we are in Kumasi. The second largest city in Ghana. I like it here, much nicer than Accra which is like any capital anywhere.

I am in the British Council using the internet for free - shhhh don't tell anyone! great what the VSO card can do...

Tomorrow we head backt o Tumu so hopefully I should be there for classes on Tuesday...

Then there was rain...

2006-05-05T12:40:00.000Z

The Sunday night of no electric we had the most amazing rain storm. I have never seen anything like it. The water came down in sheets and the lightning was right over my little house making everything light up pink and white, it made me hope my house is water tight - You may question why - but I know houses where the roofs have come off or swimming pools appear in the living room.

So it is now the start of the rainy season (or should be if the rain came more regularly) and with only 3 rains so far every where has become a carpet of lush green. You can almost see if growing in front of your eyes - amazing!!

Along with the rain the insects come out. My house is right on the edge of town, I seem to have so many more. I look out of my bedroom window at night and the mesh is covered in a blanket of crickets, beetles and moths as they take a rest from flying at the security light. They never seem to get bored of doing this. I think they play games to see how many times the can hit the light in a second.

My little house maybe water tight but it sure isn't bug tight - even with my new screen doors - There is one bug - a little black ladybird type thing that can get through the mosquito nets. These bugs seem to have some kind of vendetta against me. If I switch a light on in my bedroom then my mosquito net turns black with these things they commando down through the net and onto my bed. I now don't put lights on in my room and even on some nights tried sleeping under two mossie nets, but those things still managed to get through the obstacle course. I think they saw it as a bit of a challenge.

Its not so bad now cos I can sit in the living room until late when they start to go to sleep, but when we had no power and it was pitch black at 7pm (which reminds me I think someone has stolen the moon, it hasn't been here for ages!!) There is not much to do but to go to bed, its too hot for candles - droopy candle syndrone!! and my kerosene lamp doesn't really give off enough light to read by. But 7pm is bug rush hour, they are all out!! So I have survived the end of Harmattan and the really hot season now its the start of the rainy season or should I say bug season... What will happen next???

When the lights went out...

2006-05-05T11:51:00.000Z

Since my last update life in Tumu has been pretty quiet. It has been Easter holidays so I have had no teaching to do, and with the arrival of 10 brand new PC's (still to be set up) the computer centre is going through a refit so the existing PC's are not fully connected, consequently I have not even been doing any ad-hoc training so have made the most of the time to write some user manuals and training courses by taking my laptop to the airconditioned computer centre - absolute bliss!!!!

April in Tumu is the hottest month of the year. The temperature has been in the high 40's for the most part and even reaching 50+ on some days... And then the lights went off... What was the cause who only knows. But they went off early on in the month over night, no sleep those nights that was for certain! If there is no breeze April nights are in the hight 30's (indoors) Towards the end of the month we had an occasional downpour of rain which dropped the temperature to a much more comfortable level. Luckily this is when the lights went off...

It seems so far, you either get rain, or electricity, they don't seem to work together. The lights went off on a Thursday night around 2am. They came back on for a couple of hours on Friday evening but off again until Saturday afternoon, We were lucky to have power all saturday night but it went off agaim about 7am Sunday morning only to finally return Tuesday 4:30pm.

Luckily as I said the temp had dropped cos of the rains so sleep was oj but no power - no fridge, no fridage - no cold water/drinks. Absolute nightmare as all you want to do in that kind of situation is to leave the house head to the bar and have a nice cold beer!!! - NO COLD BEER

Also meant I couldn't do any work - which was a good thing schools were out for easter!

here's hoping I can upload some photographs...

2006-04-05T14:54:00.000Z

attempt one!!

some of the JSS boys

Independence Day parade, children preparing to march.

the chickens

the good and the bad of the college inter-house athletics competition high jump - the sports ground is the football pitch as well. note the lack of training shoes!

Learning Sisaala: No. 1

2006-04-05T10:09:00.000Z

During in country training I began Sisaala language classes, causing much confusion when arriving in Tumu having been taught much of the wrong dialect. Now I have joined a couple of the Danes, Lina and Rasmus who have started taking lessons here in Tumu. I told Ajara (16 year old from across the way) this and she has taken it upon herself to test me regularly between each session. Anyway I have to share some of the words we learnt this week; prices in cedis.

It started off so simply:

100 cedis Siidi zכlכ
200 Keteku

Then its starts to get a little complicated

500 Keteku balia ari siidi zכlכ (200x2+100)
1000 keteku banכŋ (200x5)
2000 keteku fii (200x10)
4000 keteku mara (200x20)
5000 keteku mara ari fii (200x20+200x10)

Still with me – because now mara changes to mahiŋ

10000 keteku mahiŋ balia ari fii (200x20x2+200x10)
15000 keteku mahiŋ batori ari fii ari banכŋ (200x20x3+200x10+200x5)
20000 keteku zכlכ (200x100)
30000 keteku zכlכ ari mahiŋ balia ari fii (200x100+200x20x2+200x10)

And so it went on. Lina test some of these prices on her watchmen and they had to spend a few minutes to work them out. It seems that sisaala prices are not used in Tumu, they all know English numbers and as the language changes a few miles out of Tumu I think I will just leave it to the pros and play the white person card when it comes to buying things, and anyway as a white person I will never be sold anything for less than 1000 so there is no point even learning the simple prices...

Donkeys, goats, cows and chickens…

2006-04-05T10:08:00.000Z

These are the animals I share my neighbourhood with. I still crack up every time the herd of cows skim past my windows and it is funny that I go to sleep listening to donkeys eye-oreing instead of cars and sirens passing. When I arrived I had a night watchman – a chicken who sat on my veranda gate. She has now been joined by six of her friends, I wouldn’t mind but they do leave an awful mess and there is the dreaded bird flu loaming… They are so funny to watch. The other night I was sitting out on my veranda well into the evening, along came three of the chickens, I am not sure if they saw me but the fly up to their usual perch. I shooed them away, and they wandered off. They must have had a tactic discussion as a couple of minutes later they clucked back. This time they crept past me – I am sure checking to see if I was watching and then pretended they had found some tasty things to eat on the ground before making a new ascent on the side of my veranda. I shooed them away again. They didn’t give up for a long while. I felt as if I was watching Chicken Run. It kept me entertained for ages, that says a lot doesn’t it, to spend my evenings laughing at SAS trained chickens, oh how my life has changed…

First outing out of Tumu

2006-04-05T10:07:00.000Z

Finally after a month of being in Tumu I decided to venture out.
Destination: Wa
Mode of Transport: Tro Tro
Travel Time: 3 5 hours
This trip was to be an overnight stay in Wa to catch up on emails and meet some other VSO’s staying with Pete and his housemates, Hazel and Lesley. Pete is one of the VSO’s who came over on my flight. I went on this trip with Katherine one of the Canadian VSO’s in Tumu. She was showing me the Tro Tro ropes. We met at 6am at the station in Tumu and lucky for us there was a Tro Tro ready to go, we managed to get the last two seats. The roads are pretty bad and the condition of the transport is questionable, but both is something I have to get used to. We broke down a few times fixed things along the way and had to plug the water tank up and finally arrived in Wa about 11am. The ironic thing is that we got stopped at the police stop on arriving in Wa and the Tro Tro was thoroughly checked over – not for road worthiness but to make sure that the indicators and lights were working!!!!! – the police were after some cash.

Coming from Tumu, Wa seems like a bussing metropolis, so many people and so many cars. They even have traffic lights and street names!

Our mission for the trip was Internet so we headed straight for the café. It was great to finally check emails even though time was short. We met with Pete, Hazel and Lynda (Dutch VSO) and went for a drink and socialise. Tumu only has a handful of Folies, there are so many more in Wa, I am sure I looked like a local child who just stood and pointed and stared at the passing Folies.

Unfortunately our trip came to an end before we had a chance to check emails for a second time, we had to head back to the station in the morning to head home. We had an extra passenger on our return, Angel, a dog that Katherine was rehoming in Tumu so it could run free without the chance of being chopped. We tried the Tro Tro’s but one had just left and the next wouldn’t be for hours, so we bargained a taxi down to a reasonable price to take us home. Lucky we did as Angel was not at all well on the journey and I’m sure that the Tro Tro passengers wouldn’t have been too appreciative of it. Anyway the return trip took 3½ hours with only a couple of breakdowns. I am not sure what was more comfortable, Tro Tro or taxi, pretty close in the discomfort zone!!

Next trip Bolga and Tamale…

3 lesson plans, 25 classes…

2006-04-05T10:06:00.000Z

And there I was panicking before I came to Ghana that I would struggle with my lesson planning and teaching secondary level maths – no need to as I only have to plan three lessons a week none of which are maths – phew!! My challenge is not the prep but managing to sound fresh for each class. I teach 16 classes of DBE students (teacher training students) of about 8-9 per class. This week I presented an hour long PowerPoint presentation titled What is the Internet? Explaining what a network is, what the internet is, what you can do on the internet and how it works – all theory because you know we don’t actually have the internet in Tumu. By Friday at 2pm I was exhausted. Next week I am sitting back and let them work by using an interactive programme especially designed for Ghana by the BBC to give them a better understanding of the Internet and email, however, there is only so far you can take it before needing to actually use the net! – maybe we will be lucky and it will arrive before the end of the semester!

The students are so eager to learn, the first week I had a few problems wit lateness, but when I told them that if they were late they wouldn’t be allowed in class I have had no problems since. They only get a one hour class a week so time is tight. We often get the added bonus of ‘lights off’ (power cut) which is great fin when you work with computers – teaching theory is manageable, but practical stuff – no chance! Lights off lasts about for about 15-20mins, which can be unfortunate especially when it seems to happen to the same class each time, I will have to come up with some fillers for those times. The students then ask for extra classes, but at the moment I have little free time, I feel for them so need to look into some alternatives…

Independence Day 6th March

2006-04-05T10:04:00.000Z

From the moment I arrived in Tumu all the children in town have been practicing marching. This is every morning about 8am. They march to the accompaniment of a drum and the march itself is almost a dance, a quick step and their arms swing very high. They also sing a song.

The children who live around me came to visit one Saturday morning and took great pride to show me their marching on my veranda for about half an hour saluting me as they went past me.

All this was in preparation for Independence Day, 6th March, to celebrate independence from Britain in 1957. I tried to find out why marching but no one has been able to give me a full answer, I guess its just tradition.

The day itself was quite an experience. I had been told that it would start about 8:30 so got to the town community centre in plenty of time. Pretty much everyone from Tumu had come to watch and each school had about 50 or so children marching. It was market day too so there was a real buzz about town. A covered stage had been erected for the officials to sit and watch but no other shade was on offer. The day was introduced by a man on a LOUD speaker – I think he forgot to switch it on!!, and was followed by a half hour speech, very short for Ghanaian standards. Then the marching began – 2 hours later they were still marching. Finally the children finished and the local traders joined in. The hairdressers put scissors and combs in their hair, the mechanics carried exhaust pipes, the butchers’ meat cleavers and the seamstresses marched with sewing machines on their heads. They had all been on the Pito (local brew – I have yet to try) all morning, so had a great time, remembering their childhood marches.
Then it finished and we were finally able to find some shade and have a cold drink. It was a fun day and I took some photos, maybe I’ll even be able to post them online sometime…

Tumu: the early weeks. (Written beginning March 2006)

2006-04-05T09:59:00.000Z

Tumu is a sleepy town spread out over a few kilometres. It has a daily market consisting of a few stalls of tomatoes, onions, beans and rice. I have been assured that this is a seasonal thing and soon when the rains come so will more choice of vegetable. There is another market that is held every 6th day and traders come from all over the region to sell their wares. It is bright and chaotic but somehow organised. It was market day the day I arrived so I had a false first impression of town. The streets were crowded and noisy. Returning the following day I found the real Tumu; sleepy, quiet and laidback – apart from weekend nights when sound systems are blasting from every bar and chop stall.

Tumu is a pretty little town compared to others in the surrounding area and well maintained. TUTCO where I am based is about 1km out of town on the road leading to Burkina Faso, on a road that is part tarmac and part dust. The entrance to the college campus is an avenue of mango trees. These mangos are beginning to ripen, however I will be lucky to get any as every child, student and teacher gets great pleasure in grabbing every mango in reach and also those not. Then a vast number of devices are used to retrieve them, from stone and stick throwing to climbing up and also some very developed wooden grabbing contraptions. Its like a drug, the children need to get their daily mango fix!! Most of the mangos aren’t even ripe yet. The local children do come to my house and donate some of their pickings to me, so hopefully I won’t go too short!

My house was described to me by the VSO office in Accra as a cute little house. It is quite cute. It has two bedrooms a living room large kitchen wetroom and toilet and massive hall connecting all rooms. I have a tap and shower in the wetroom, but no running water in the kitchen. The place is somewhat sparse of furniture, but I am going to try and organise some basic things to be made to make it a bit more homely.

There have been a number of things to get used to here, the main one being the water. It started off rather shakily with that. I was told that the water would run for two days and then be off for one so that the tank could be refilled. This was not the case to begin with and was off more than on. I rather overreacted and got a bit too obsessed with it. Now it has calmed down into a routine of being on first thing and during the day and then off most evenings. This I can cope with and feel much more relaxed about it all.

Food has been interesting. I have tried most of the local specialities, some I like and some I think I will have to learn to appreciate I’m sure. Others I am working up to trying such as TZ which is a thick porridge like food. I like Fu Fu and Banku, the soups and stews that accompany them are pretty hot from chilli pepper, also very oily. I can eat them in moderation. They do great plantain and yam chips here, which are a good snack from the chop stalls. Meat is fun – I think the staple diet meat is goat and ‘fowl’ – chicken or guinea fowl, whichever is around. There are many cows so beef is also widely available, I have kept away from the intestine soup… there are some things that I just feel I won’t get around to trying. I haven’t cooked meat at home yet, I think I will stick to the veggie option until I am more aware of what I am buying.

Town itself has lots of little shops most of which sell the same things ‘duck’ soap, plastic containers and tomato purée. The other day I really needed a sugar drink and obsessed about getting a orange fanta only to find that there were none available. Eventually I tracked down some warm overpriced cans – which I promptly bought and savoured a few hours later after they had cooled in my fridge.

There are a few bars and the other VSO’s in town have reintroduced Folie night. Folie means white person in Sisaala and little children take great delight in football chanting folie, folie, folie whenever I cycle past, they only stop when I turn and wave, which, at the moment is no small feat. I am still getting used to cycling again and can just about take one hand off the handlebar, but not long enough for a wave!

I have begun teaching the JSS classes (Junior Secondary School). The children range from about 12 to 16+. I have 5 PC’s and the classes are kept to 10 children, they are all really well behaved and eager to learn. The JSS2 class have been using computers for a little while now and know basic word processing skills. The JSS1 class have only just begun. They are like sponges and can already create a folder and write a few lines in word and save their work. The hardest thing to master has been the mouse, but even that they are beginning to grasp. A few teething problems with remembering left from right, but that’s normal.

As for me I am sure I have offended more than a few people with the left and right thing. It is bad manners and disrespectful to hand anything to another person using the left hand, being a leftie I keep doing so. They also eat with their right hand. I am getting better, but it will be a slow process…

so there is life outside of Tumu

2006-03-18T12:37:00.000Z

it's been a while since I last updated my blog and a lot has happened in that time. I have pretty much settled into life in Tumu, everyone is so friendly and helpful. I am so busy at work there is enough for two people.

I will be getting on email again in a couple of weeks when I go for my VSO training part 2. so this is just brief to let you know I am well. It has taken 5 hours to get to this town, so I think it will be only a once a month trip, though there is definite signs that internet is coming to Tumu, perhaps even this year!

So my next update I will fill you in on Tumu and what it is like. I might even tryu and upload a photo or two

Final day in Accra

2006-02-18T14:17:00.000Z

We leave first thing tomorrow for our long journey north, there will be 7 of us travelling with luggage in the VSO Land Rover. Our first drop off is in Tamale - 12 hours away, Three vols will be leaving there, the rest of us will spend the night and then leave first thing Monday for Bolgatanga. Two vols will be based there, one in bolga and one in Bongo which is North of Bolga so we are to make a slight detour up there. then there will be two remaining. We have been told we will spend the night in Bolga, and leave for Tumu on Tuesday morning. I will arrive in the afternoon, the prinicpal has been told I am coming and hopefully he will be there to meet me - I have also been told that I shouldn't be surprised if the Chief turns up too... I must practice my greetings.

I tried to find out some more information about my placement:

The computers could very well have windows xp (they say they are pentium 4)
My school day is 7-2 though during exam time there is a likelyhood that it could well be earlier, apparently it is quite common for the students to knock on the door at 5am - thank god for ear plugs because they won't get a very nice reception at that time!
I will no longer be teaching secondary Maths but I will be teaching JSS which is basic level - I am pleased about that - they tried to rope me into teaching englist but i have put my foot down on that.
I am 2-3 km out of Tumu so definitely need a bike - eek!

Today we have a free day so I did my usual of wandering around the city - best way to find your barings... we ended up near the beach though we couldn't see it and found ourselves in very local places where the children run out to greet us and did high fives.

Nothing new to say, so i will leave it here and write again in a few weeks when I am next in a place with internet

How is it possible?

2006-02-17T13:04:00.000Z

to pack your life into 25kg luggage allowance... Answer IMPOSSIBLE!! I did however, manage to pack it into a 120 litre holdall. Fantastic apart from it took both me and my dad to lift it into and out of the car. At checkin the woman almost fell off her seat and told us that the maximum one bag could weigh was 32kg and that 46 was just not acceptable! - I had to go and repack it... luckily I was using my rucksack as hand luggage, so transferred some stuff into it, and ended up with 30kg and 20kg!

We then queue jumped and met a great check in clerk who didn't charge excess baggage. - phew!!

Day one in accra was spent going into an internet cafe and buying a local sim card and then being introduced to the course. There are 10 volunteers (inc me) starting this week, 5 from uk, 1 from Canada, 2 from India, 1 from kenya and 1 form Philipines - so quite a cultral mix. No one is going to be quiter as remote as me but there are 2 based in Bolga and one in Wa. I have found out that there are three other VSO vols in Tumu, so I won't be totally alone.

We have been learning about the Ghana culture and I can also greet introduce myself say where I am from and what I do and buy food at the market in my local language - all very important.However my local language covers Tumu and the close surrounding area further than that I will need to learn another language. There are 72+ in total - so not much chance at being fluent...

On Wednesday evening we were all invited to the British High Commisionners Residence to a reception for the VSO Global Education Conference. There were representatives from most (all) the countries that VSO has an education programme, as well as some reps from UK and a couple of vols from my region. It was interesting to chat to the programme managers from other countries.

I have found out a little more about Tumu, my mobile phone will work if the wind is going the right direction the sun is not too high there is no "day" in the spelling of the weekday! - so i feel even more isolated than before... I have been told that there is taps in my house and a bore hole nearby - there is a shower but I am not sure if it works. However I have been told there are ceiling fans and at an average of 48degs at midday I will pretty grateful for that... All in all I am very much looking foward to moving there now. We begin the journey on Sunday morning, and I should be in Tumu on Monday evening. I have a day off tomorrow so I plan to buy a bicycle to take with me as I will be living 2-3 km from Tumu itself.

I also plan to go to the beach for a while on Saturday to make the most of being in a hot country in February... it is really quite wonderful to be here. Ghanaians are really lovely and if the people of Tumu are even just a fraction as friendly it is going to be great.

My language teacher has told me to look up his friend who is a teacher at the college "Taller" cos he is very tall, as well as his sister who is a nurse at Tumu hospital, so I have two friends already.

Just to finish, two things I have found really refreshing here so far are that there is no incessant beeping of car horns and there is none of the usual harressment to but this buy that, it is a really chilled out country... My kind of place.

Well this is it...

2006-02-11T23:54:00.000Z

...I am all packed and ready to go, just hope they let me off the excess baggage charge!

Now I have this blog I can't think what to write. So rather than waffle I will keep this blog short and say thank you to all family and friends who have supported me in all sorts of ways since I decided to embark on this adventure, and also my new VSO friends and wish you all the best in your placements

I will write again as soon as I have some free time next week and fill you in on Accra and the warm weather and sunshine!!!

The beginning

2005-12-07T19:11:00.000Z

I have created this site to chronicle my life in Ghana. I am usually pretty hopeless at keeping diaries so I am hoping that this will be the answer for all my troubles...

I still have very little information about my placement with VSO. I have a 16 page document outlining my role, college and Tumu. Other than that I have done my own research on the internet - for a tiny place in the world I found quite a few articles on Tumu.

I am in the process of getting ready for my time away - I have had about a third of my immunisations, and one wisdom tooth removed (another two to be removed just before christmas) ouch!