partied out already!

Hey guys! So im in amsterdam now. feel like ive been here a bloody week already and i only got here yesterday morning. voice is gone already haha. My flight was pretty good got some sleep and arrivved into amsterdam at 5.30am. It was a lot quiter and less hectic at botgh the airport and train station which was nice so I could take my time and relax. Met a kool american guy on the train who had been in ghana as well but we arrived at central station then parted ways. So there I am wanderingthe streets of amsterdam at 5.30 in the morning wearing nothing but a flimsey t shirt and a scarf, holding a massive djembe drum and a huge backpack in the freezing cold and rain completely aware that my surroundings had just changed to the extreme in less than 10 hours. eventually found the place and arrived the same time as this guy called Ze from the UK. They told us we couldnt check in until later so we had some tea and headed into town to check stuff out. The place was absolutely dead until like midday but we checked out the ocean and just got to know each other etc. Ended up going to the sex mueseum whivh was disturbing/hilarious/interesting all at the same time and didnt get back to the hostel until about 3 in the afternoon. Met lots of new people and just hung out for the rest of the afternoon. there is soo much weed here and a lot of shit talkers but Ive met some really kool people too. Ive had no trouble meeting people and everyone is fun and really nice but I still wish I was here with a good friend just to share it with. it makes it kind of empty when theres no 'love''. Had dinner with some new zealand, south american and an american chick and then we just all sat around drinking talking and went out at about 11. the tourist night life here is pretty terrible really bad bad music and taste but with the right people and enough substance you can have a great night. met this really funny australian guy and girl and we basically adopted each other because the new zealanders got a bit frightened of our outlandish behavior and became quite placid. We went to about three bar/clubs (ladies get in for free everywhere here) and just danced up a storm and had a ball. Wandered to the red light district picking up random people along the way. The food here is so decadent, its especially crazy coming from ghana walking past these shops with like pileas abnd piles of crossaints and waffles and icecream its just like what the hell! got some chips from a store and the guy was black and we were just joking around together. i realised our interaction was really familar and then realised he was from ghana! haha i was so excited and we hugged. hes doing really well here so good on him! the red light district was pretty disturbing actually all trhse really bneauitufl woman standing in red light booths in their underwear trying to seduce people./ i brought it upon myself to start interviewing men who would walk out from various windows about their experiences which was quite interesting. basically they all think they get wexactly the asme deal but they really dont. ewveryone pays 50 euro but experiences differed from one guy getting half an hour of sex a chat and massage to another guy getting only 15 minute where he didnt finish then getting the boot! haha. anyway my shoes and feet were soaking wet and so at about 4.30 we wandered home . Sat around at the hostel for awhile then went to bed. This hostel is pretty kool, free internet real;ly good music and nice people. Cant be bothered typing anymore but today i went to the van gogh muesuem which was alright if you like that sort of thing (sorry greg) i mean i could appreciate it all but i cant say i was wetting myself with excitement or anything. came back here at about 3.30 and have just been chilling out talking with people. think ill stay in tonight but who really knows with amsterdam...am glad to be leaving for germany on wednesday. this place tires you out!! cant believe im coming back to australia on sunday! whoot im excited as . queensland baby. love you all x

Goodbye Ghana Hello Amsterdam

I have been in Ghana for almost two months now and tommorow night at 10pm my time in this country will come to an end. After coming here I am in agreeance even more with an old friend of mine who once told me that people only travel because they are searching for something they dont have. . So have I found whatever it was I was looking for coming here? I think I have, and exactly as I expected being here was nothing like I expected and the lessons I learnt were equally as suprising. Ghana has reminded me once again that no matter what you think you WANT, you always end up getting what you NEED.





When I think about what I will miss I dont even know that I will exactly miss anything. I probably will be relieved to get back home where I dont have to constantly be wary of alterior 'white woman' motive, to be just another person again will definitley be a breath of fresh air. But all those surreal moments will be things I remember forever. Ill remember the smell of african sweat. Fanyogo, plaintains, The predictable ghananian family - the possessive and loud mother, the quiet elder, the cheeky boy the impressionably young girl. I might even miss having a marriage proposal a day and little children chase me screaming obrunni. I saw elephants, I rode on the top of a cargo truck, I went to a topless shrine. All of it was great fun. But what did I learn? In a way I flew through a lot of things here in Ghana. I admit I think I may have righteously thought I would be able to come here and inspire and influence and change people in the space of a few days or weeks, when really by simply observing and listening to others who are on their way I was the one being inspired and influenced myself. I feel I has travelled through this country every bit the pupil and very rarely the teacher. I have learnt so many little lessons and gotten so many new ideas and perspectives that i dont even think a blog couldnt do it justice. so i will stop here and say medassi ghana love you long time. x

The Festive Season

hii kiddies. so hope everyone had a super duper christmas. mine was defininitely far from the usual but hey.

Saturday went off to Kokrobite and had a nice day with a few of the camp people. Got rather drunk that night and stayed up late drinking at the bar with the biggest mixed crowd ever; stoned rastas, bogen new zealanders, dickhead canadians (one named jesus the other a acid tripping loud mouth), a ditzy blonde german and just the regular over exciteable ghanian boys. it was a good night though and on sunday afternoon I headed for cape coast to see my family there. Because I have lost my phone I've just been rocking up places and hoping it all works out (of course it has) so I arrived in cape coast at about 8pm and walked down the familar street at agric junction towards Antein where my house was. It was really nicewhen a few people remembered me and were like Heey Arrabba! I walked in and there was Kookua who was so suprised when she saw me and ran over for a big hug. It was really good to see everyone again and Im so glad I made the extra trip to see them all. Had another pastor come and have a big conversation about god/religion and basically he told me in the nicest way possible that I was going to hell and I called god a prick. hahaha it was actually suprisingly civil though and we ended on good terms. I sat around with Mama T, Nesta and the rest (Sophia has moved back with her mum which sucked) and went back to my old room for a good night sleep.

The next morning (the 24th) was a fake christmas and I had bought presents for all the family which they really liked. Kookua laid out my breakfast for me (including the half eaten jar of vegemite that I had given to her- REPRESENT!) it was a nice morning but I had to leave for Takoradi so Mama T walked me to the taxi and cried once again because I was leaving. I really learnt to love that kid. Before I left Kookua spied one of my tampons and asked what it was. They only have pads here so a few of the older ladies and me proceeded to have a little lesson on how to insert a tampon. haha it was quite funny and they were all like OHHH WOWWW! i gave them one (I needed the rest!) and promised to send a pack down. ha anyway I went up to Abe's house to visit him of course and we went around ran a few errands, bumped into Koffi the rasta drum teacher which was really great and I left about 12 for Takoradi. Where we were staying for christmas was a bitch of a place to get too actually and everything was just super crazy because it was christmas eve but FINALLY i arrived and jumped straight into the ocean. 3 of us shared a tent that night, apart from poor TH who someone got a large amount of kerosene soaked into his pillow from our reading lamp it really wasnt that bad! They had a massive bon fire and drumming on christmas eve but I had the worst cramps ever and didnt really join in on the festivities unfortunately (finally over all that for those interested)


The next morning was christmas its really not a big deal here at all. the santa concept is basiocally non-existant and some people even go to work, definitely made me realise how much I love the festive season due to not having it. I decorated our tent in tinsle, brought a santa hat and gave my friends a little drum keyring and a note from santa. the morning actually started out pretty shit. had a regular breakfast and then jessie and I decided to do our laundry. So there we are christmas morning side by side on the ground hand washing our clothes with soap in these huge buckets which took forever. by the end we were just like oh god this sucks who decided to do this! finally we finished and opened up the bottle of absolut vodka (17 bucks!) and started drinking and being merry as jesus wouldve wanted:P Had a pretty nice lunch and lay around on the beach swimming and relaxing. The waves were massive at the beach and jessie and I spent a long time in there playing surf chicken where you have to stand facing the waves and no matter how big they are the aim is to try to brace it and not swim under..the advanced surf chicken is when you put your back to them so you have no chance to even prepare yourself for the dumpers. haha the psychologist side of me says its just another example of human beings weird fascination with suffering but some other side of me says 'shutup bitch its awesome fun' so I went with the latter and completely exhausted myself to the point of a leg cramp. Was pretty tired after that so I laid out in this massive comfy hammock and read my book which was great. Anita Ros and John rocked up later that arvo and we all had a really nice dinner of king fish wrapped in banana leaves with all you can eat salads then brownies for desert. it was soo good and to make it even better they chucked on good music and we sat around listening to jurassic 5 and chilling. After the good food and music I was definitely content with my christmas day:)

The next morning we left at about eleven and got a cab and tro-tro to Takoradi. Said my last goodbyes to john and anita the californians and Ros and I headed back to Cape Coast. There were some weird festitvities going on in the town of Takoradi ranging from huge parades of kids in these fluro warped outfits which I guess you couldve called 'traditional' aside from the fact that they all had random masks on such as einstein, george bush and scream. that is 100 percent ghana for you. hahah its a strange place. There was also a group of three young guys decked out in woamns clothes -lipsticks, weaves and skirts who ran up and started grinding up against us and screaming. hahah anyway had a breif epsiode where I thought Id lost my wallet (I didnt!) and got back to cape coast at about 2pm on boxing day. Had left some stuff at Kookuas and also saw Abe again. My feet are really fucked up because we got bitten so badly by bed bugs and mosquitos down at the beach that I have scratched the shit out of my feet and they are now all bloody and pusy! Kookua noticed and sat me down, forced me to wash and applied all this antiseptic cream and bandages on for me. It was so nice and very comforting. I had been losing patience a bit with many of the people here that day (hormones definitely played a factor) and being a cared for obliging patient definitely calmed me down a bit. Headed back to accra, caught up with papalopaah and went to bed.

Today we have just been running errands and tonight I think we are going out dancing. Kwasi girlfriend from american (I think I mentioned her) came down from america last minute which was great news so they hired a hotel room today (so she could 'sleep') and tonight will be a welcome for her and farewell for me. should be fun. I will miss this place.

Merry Christmas!

Hello Hello. Happy Christmas Eve everyone! So it is 10am on the 24th of December and I am back in Cape Coast. The past weekend has been relatively quiet and relaxed. Had a bad case of pms on thursday and friday which resulted in me being a unmotivated lazy bitch who ended up missing my bus to the volta region and sitting around the house having myself 'Obrunni night' where I proceeded to go to this western shop in the heart of accra called 'Koala' where they import western goods and charge a shitload. I stocked up on pringles, maltesers, a cheap version of wizz fizz and a massive container of skittles which costed 10 cedi alone and also bought the dvd Nanny Diaries! haha i seriously needed that night though and am feeling much happier now. I cant be bothered writing about the past weekend. On friday I was shopping for christmas presents for some ghanian people and had some how met this guy prince who ended up helping me out and taking me to different shops to get what I needed. Bought some fireworks, they sell huge ones the size of your arm on every street corner so I bought 10 medium sized ones on a stick for christmas day which should be fun. This really drunk guy in a bar asked if he could have one so I though why not? and let him. He stumbled over to a bush and set it off startling the passers by which was quite entertaining. Ended up having lunch at this little place and was drunk after 2 smirnoff, left my phone on a table and someone stole it! so i am now uncontactable. I am not in the mood for details and really have to get going to Takoradi but for the blogs sake saturday night I went to kokrobite and sunday suprised kookua and the family who I stayed with at cape coast which was really nice, We were so happy to see each other and Im really glad I got to go back although brief. Gave them all their christmas presents this morning and am now with abe for the next hour and will head to Busua beach for christmas. My christmas plans have changed about 5 times over this trip but what has finally been decided is I will spend christmas with my obrunni friends I have met along the way (mostly volunteers) at this really kool eco-lodge down by the beach. It should be a nice day. Christmas isnt such a big deal here and it made me realise how much I love christmas back home! I have bought a santa hat and some tinsle and made little cards from 'santa' for all my friends which i will slip under their door at the lodge tommorow morning. anyway Im about to get kicked off here so I will say goodbye. leaving ghana on friday the 28th at 10pm. MERRY CHRISTMAS !!

Reflections Of a Murky Lagoon.

whats up! so its wednesday now and I am back in Accra.


So I left off last saturday when I was about to embark on my 17 hour bus trip to Takoradi. Flex and Mohammod took me and all my stuff to the STC station and saw me off at 1pm. STC buses are comfortable air conditioned couches used for longer trips which are more expensive but safer for night time driving etc which is quite horrendous here so it wasnt that bad.It was suprisingly not as ubnbearable as I expected. the worst part was the fact that most of it was at night time and the bus was in complete darkness which meant I couldnt read, so lots of thinking time. The only way you could tell the bus wasnt from the western world was the fact that the pristine luggage compartment underneath the coach contained a lonely goat locked up amongst all the suitcases! haha ah there are that many animal right violations here its extreme. when you think about the state of some of the humans own lives though that its not suprising or even appropriate to critisize in my opinion. I have been continuely reminded of the adaptability of humans on this trip. How quickly things become 'normal' and you aclimatise to shitting in urinals next to old ladies, eating the most stomach wrenching foods and even just simple things like not being bothered when the menu at every resteraunt is basically a fictious document disguising an extremely minimal pantry. patience and a high level of easy going-ness is neccessary to even breathe here and ive suprisingly found it easy...when theres no other choice you realise how much more you are capable of and how simple it is to just slip into things. anyway we had a few stops along the way, nothing that exciting happened on the bus, I met a ghanian monk and bought a few 1 dollar englightment books, was too dark anyway to read them anyway(symbolism anyone) gave a baby half my dinner and made him happy, and got asked to financially support the muslim man sitting next to me. thank you teacher...dont ask.


Arrived in Takoradi at about about 5 in the morning and asked a taxi driver how much to busua beach. He quoted me 30 cedis which I knew was the biggest rip so I ended up asking this girl who had been sitting near me how much I should really pay and turned out busua beach was right near her village so I could catch a share taxi with her and her friends and it would be much cheaper! yay they were nice girls who attend university up north and were coming home for the holidays. dropped them at their village and their brother cornelius (they have the most random english names here) came with me in the taxi all the way to busua to make sure I got there okay. the place the others were already staying was called Ellis hideout..and it was a hideout in every sense of the word. right at the end of these very long red dusty roads through really thick tropical vegetation there was a hardcore remote village called butre. A man called Solomon helped me carry my bags across this rickety bridge with the ocean on one side and a beautiful lagoon on the other. The sun was just coming up from the sea and it was a gorgeous sight. We trudged along the white sand and arrived at this absolutely beautiful little paradise hideout complete with palm trees, hammocks, rotunda huts , a bar and an awesome beach. It was bloody great. Saw danika first and we had a really good catch up and had some breakfast with the best lemon grass tea ever (real lemon grass!) Ag and Jessie (melbournians) woke up later on and we all relaxed on the beach for the rest of the day and did shit all. The water was really nice and the waves were a perfect size. That night we had a beautiful dinner of tomatoe fish with rice which was amazing! had a few drinks and all went to bed feeling very content. I find myself feeling really guilty reading over this considering some people here have seriously nothing, Im not sure what else to say about that but figured backspacing that sort of comment would be dishonest so there you go..

the next day was much of the same lazing around and we also went in a dugout canoe on the lagoon and saw all the mangroves which was beautiful. we had a bon fire that night and on tuesday Danika and I got a cab to Takoradi and caught a tro-tro bus back to accra. The bus kept breaking down during the last half hour of the journey and whenever we slowed down the whole engine would shut off so it took awhile to get there but finally we stopped at Kaneshe (they didnt bother going right to accra) and I got a tro tro and taxi to the boys house in Labadi. It was great to see them again and I realised I only have 9 days left of my time in Ghana! I will miss those boys heaps and am really happy with all the things i've experienced and learnt here..I have more ideas and more places to go and ideas to explore that I can even fathom now..but its all in the memory bank and I have no doubt will bring new inspiration for more years to come. I am so glad I came here.


today I went with the boys to their shops and bought heaps of stuff, so many presents and way too much money but its nearing the end of the trip and I had to bring something back for you lot! We went back to Kwasi's shop and we all sat around drumming, dancing and singing and all the kids joined in too. It was heaps of fun and really nice to see how imbedded music and rhythm is in these people. Its just this really lovely part of their nature and something I wish was part of australian culture too, everything has rhythm and melody and beat and it installs this really basic spirtuality that I believe can only come with freedom and power of music..(quite an outlandish statement but Im standing by it for now) I can pinpoint many times in this trip where I was confused and lost and off the planet and still have those times now to be honest. Times where I have doubted myself, felt insecure and fallen into the same self-dug holes I was falling into more and more this year. Its funny I think in some way I thought coming to ghana would automatically take away all that doubt and fear I would just snap out of any self depricating bullshit straight away. Like travelling here would be some magic recipe for my soul and Id be a changed woman. what it has done however is given me the realisation that things take time and it is a very pointless excercise to be constantly analysing yourself . sometimes who we want to be and who we actually are are very different things and being aware of this and have some level of contentment with that thought, for me has been an important idea and one that is still a work in progress. hm anyway enough of the self reflection Ill save that for myspace when I get back..haha. love you all x

Hip Hop Hater

Hi Hi. So its saturday morning and I am leaving Bolgatanga today. pretty happy about it to be honest and it is definitely time for me to go. I have these weird rashes on my elbows and fingers and my moods are up and down like a bitch and just want to get back down to the coast. Flex has been pissing me off a bit which I cant be bothered going too much into now but we have been butting heads due to him having no time for exchanging ideas and difference of opinion and the general african ignorance which you come across at times here is definitely prevalent in him. usually I dont let it get to me but he cuts me off all the time and doesnt even pretend to listen to a conflicting idea which REALLY gets me. Its quite frustrating aswell because some of his ideas and attitudes are really really good and its like we could both learn from each other but he gets me shitty and then we both get nothing... Im over his fucking music too. its like this really terrible hip hop shit and he plays the same mix cd over and over again. Its already bad at a normal volume but of course he puts it up full boar the stereo is terrible.ah fuck its bad...if I hear the words "thank you mama for the 9 months you carried me through" one more time I will seriously cry. hahahah..no really i will. Last night he came home drunk too and was trying to hit on me which really pissed me off because its not like that with me and him and I was trying to sleep and he continued to do it after I repeatedly told him off. He claims he doesnt remember it at all this morning though. I dunno overall we have had a great time and I really appreciate most of him and everything he has done for me but yeah the heat of the north means patience wears quite thin :P Anyway! I cant really be bothered going into the past few days. I stayed at his village for a night which was really nice..had a bucket shower under a massive sky with beautiful stars and lay outside on mats with the family who basically couldnt speak any english but we had a laugh when I used my torch to make hand puppets and then the kids wouldnt leave me alone. it was nice. considering its a hardcore remote village I thought perhaps I could get some peace and quiet away from flex' bad music and blue lit room, but nope! the younger boys were playing fucking sean paul till about 11..damn globalisation to hell I swear.The village I stayed at has been pretty fucked up by the floods and I helped the ladies re-paint their village sign which is at the main road entrance. It was fun and we danced around and drank Pitu from a big bowl which is like the local alcohol here and was really nice. The typical local ghana woman is both endearing and intimidating at the same time..I cant work them out.. always loud though. Went to a mosque yesterday and ended up sitting with the ladies, washing and praying which was pretty pointless but you know 'when in rome.' . Anyway. Yesterday I went to the slave camp which was used to house and sell african slaves. It was really intense and interesting and I bought a book about it because the history was really important and intriguing and considering I have a 17 hour bus ride ahead of me it will be put to good use. One thing was the slaves recreation time. They would be released of their chains and would play this rock up on a high platform which when struck, made a sound just like a drum (I was given a performance by some locals) everyone would gather below in this open space and dance. I was really disturbed by that and couldnt even fathom how the slaves wouldve felt during this time of their day..was it frusting? sad? or was it happy, ah I dont know I couldnt work it out and dont know that I ever will. The fact that they were able to even dance shows strength of spirit . Anyway catch a tro-tro back home and there was a beautiful sunset like a perfect golden egg in the sky which was wicked. Met this really kool rasta guy last night and had a great conversation. ah there are so many little things to mention which are so significant which a few sentences cannot do justice which is annoying. I am catching an STC bus at 1pm today which will drive all the way to the bottow of ghana (im at the top right now) and will get to a place called Takoradi at dawn tommorow morning, as I said - 17 hours! I am meeting some of the volunteers from camp at this little beach hideout and we are going to spend a few days relaxing there. should be nice I have bought so much stuff the past few days and have lots of presents for everyone..am going to ship a bit of it back to avoid problems at airports due to excess luggage etc...might take a few months but hey it'll get there. anyyywaay im off..bye bitches

La Ku Meh! (fra fra for "the woman is tight!")

Heey! Greetings from Bolgatanga waaay up north! Loving in here and very happy. it is now wednesday and a few days since I last wrote so will catch up on the whirlwind ghana escapades...


Continued Day 6...

So not much happened for the rest of the day, found out from the lady at the internet cafe that the guy who had given me his sob story about the worms was full of shit and does it to everyone particular tourists..which was dissapointing to find out about. Its such a difficult issue trying to work out who to give things to and who to not. Its sort of like who am I to pick and choose who is more deserving you know? I really hate being given that power..anyway we had dinner at some obrunni-esque resteraunt that night which I didnt think was that great but we tripped out on the sounds of fruit bats and tacky flashing lights as we ate which was probably the highlight. I was starting to have some intense 'inner conflicts' about the whole whirlwind trip and seperating between doing what I want to do and what everyone else wants to do, anyway I wont go into it but I finally decided I was going to leave the whirlwind and go up north to bolgatanga myself. It had been really fun so far but I felt it was nesscary to move on. Anyway Anita said she was down for coming up to Bolga for a day as well and seeing as her and John are pretty inseperable he said he would come too. That night however John got sick again and was vommiting so they had to go to the hospital in the morning and get him tested for Malaria because he was so sick.



Day 7

Test came out negative which was a relief and John, Anita and I got on a tro-tro to Bolga at about 11.30am today. Ros had some work to do so stayed in Tamale. Anyway Tro-Tro ride up to bolga was pretty damn uncomfortable because I had my huge ass bag on my knee the whole time and was it was as squashy as hell but we finally made it! Bolga is very hot and dry with beauitful trees and motorbikes everywhere. there are these winds called the harmattan blowing up north at the moment and it actually makes the weather pretty bearable. Ive definitely adjusted to the heat here now (amsterdam for new years is gonna be a challenge to say the least..weather wise anyway) bolga is pretty kool and everyone rides little motobikes or bicycles everywhere, even the beauituful women decked out in gorgeous african fabrics zoom past you on these hotted up bikes - its awesome. Anyway we walked to a hotel called the Sand Gardens which wasnt far and was very nice. John went straight to sleep and was still pretty fucked so because it was only 3pm Anita and I decided to go to a place called Tongo to the Tenzung Shrines. - it was pretty fucking kool. My friend Kwasi from Accra had given me one of his best mates numbers, who lives in Bolga and basically shows obrunnis around when they come - he told me to give him a call if I made it up there. I decided to do so and told him we had arrived and were going to the shrines. Quick as a flash he is with us and offering us a driver and all the help we could ask for! His name is Abdullai (or Flex as he introduced himself) and is basically a really really kool casual tour guide who has been showing obrunnis around since he was 17 (now 24) and his name is even mentioned in the ghana guide book! And now, because I am Kwasi's friend, he is MY new friend for free! tee hee hes really awesome though and we have had heaps of fun so far..im very lucky. We got some food and then a flashy mini van (africa standards) with plastic covered seats and a driver wearing a suit, rocks up next to us and in we get. Another lady got a lift off us holding 4 tied together guinea fowls upside down in her hand, but apart from that it was just Anita and I, Flex and the driver Ben in this private van.. The village of Tonga was really kool and came up next to us all of a sudden. Mud huts, baren land and really impressive boulders everywhere. It was the perfect time to go too because it was nearing the end of the day and the sun had kooled off. The light was beautiful and we were having a ball of a time just looking out the window! Once we got to the village of Tengzung we met a guide who took us to the Chiefs house and we met him and looked around the village which was really awesome (Im not being awfully decriptive tonight so please forgive my overuse of the word awesome and amazing) Ben the suited up driver came along with us (which may have been due to the fact that he was more than aware of the fact that when you to enter the shrine you have to go topless!!) but either way he was the funniest man ever and I loved him. There we are climbing up these huge ass rock/cliffs trying to get to the shrine and he is slipping up them in his polished shoes on his mobile telling everyone he spoke to "Yes Im climbing the big rock in tonga now... yes yes ha ha!!!" we got to the foot of the shrine and it was show time. All these "shrine keeper" dudes are standing around us and Anita and I were like 'err so this is where we get naked right?' I opened up the bating and it was slightly uncomfortable at the start but then we were like okay fuck it and braced our next step with our boobies out. Lucky we are both relatively flat chested so rock climbing half naked wasnt a big issue but it was definitely an experience. The shrine was pretty interesting and basically some big ancesteral spirit is supposed to reside there and people of the village go to the rocks, sacrifice a chicken and ask for something. The guide told me that he had done this and asked for immortality then on a tro-tro ride to kumasi that he was on had a big accident and he was suddenly out of his body and unscathed outside the van! I have actually read about this west african magic and find my analytical and spiritual sides collide dramatically with the topic. I think I need to experience it more to really make a better judgement but it made me ponder a lot of things about belief and reality. Anyway we left the shrine very satisfied with our experience and got a tro-tro back to town. Flex invited us to his house and we met all the family in the compound where he lives and were invited to dinner. We went back to the hotel and picked up John who was feeling a tiny bit better and came back to the house and had a lovely dinner of stew and rice. Flex's sister latifah (queen) is kool and definitely the typical 'obrunni mama' you meet at nearly every family compound. There are always gorgeous really little girls, and curious younger boys and I love the predictability of it all. Anyway we came home later and were all exhausted so went straight to bed.

Day 8.

The next morning I got up and had a last breakfast at the hotel with Anita and John. It was a very good breakfast too which was nice. John and Anita had decided to leave and catch the 10am bus down to Kumasi to meet Ros and head back down to Accra to start their bike trip. We bid farewell and hopefully I will meet up with them again, atleast on Anitas last day. They are kool people and I am very glad I travelled with them a bit. So I met up with Flex just before they left and we went to this house close by and meet a guy called Mr Moodoo or something who has his own tro-tro. The day was going to be spent going around to flood affected villages in the area (there were massive floods up north recently which are over now but the people in the rural areas are still pretty fucked) and giving them sacks of millet (which is like this flour/seed stuff used to make heaps of different starch foods) These U.S people who knew Flex had paid for them and we just had to distribute and take photos to show them where there money was going. We went to Flex' village first which was really kool- these lovely painted huts with chicken holes and men weaving baskets and I helped (which really consisted of taking a ball of mud and putting it on the wall) the older men build a part of the house which was fun. We unloaded a sack from the roof of the van and all the women from the village would hold out their big bowls and we would give each of them an equal amount. It was really fun and nice to see and they were all very appreciative of it and very excited about the camera! We drove to another village and did the same thing and they gave me these kool shaker things (im going to be fucked in australia customs by the way) The third village was much of the same but it was a really good day and there were so many kool moments. There are massive Boabub trees everywhere, the dirt is red and the skys are very blue. it is definitely a typical picture you would paint of africa. I love all the old women here they are so beautiful. Many of the people in the village have like patterned scars on their faces. some resemble spider webs some are just three stripes on each cheek but apparently it signifies what family you are from and they do it to the children when they are young. We also gave some of the millet to this group of 4 blind ladies and their children who are also participating in this fair trade thing where they make door mats then they are sold in america. It was a really good day. Was pretty exhausted by the end of it though and just stayed at Flexs place (in his room with a blue light haha) and gave one of his friends 'obrunni love advice' over butter and margarine. haha his mates are all really nice and flex is just a kool guy with a great attitude. Had dinner with Latifah and went to bed.

Day 9.

Today I woke up and we went to one more village to drop off the last sack for now. Flex warned me that the people in this village were 'crazy' and that the people from the U.S are scared of this place because the people are so intense when you give them things but I went along anyway and thought it was just the general Flex exaggeration...nope! The people in this village were crazy and it was intense as. there was no concept of sharing and it was really every man for himself. I was somehow put in charge of who got food and who didnt which made me receive the brunt of the intensity, but I was basically told old women and people with disabilities get first priority because they are unable to work so it wasnt too hard once we started. At one stage athe guys were on the roof of the van with the sack of food and I was on the ground amongst a shitload of people shuving bowls in my face and above my head in desperation - it was depressing and exhilirating at the same time- definitely utter crazy chaos. there were so many pricky men pushing in front of these helpless old ladies too it was terrible! Anyway I am still at a loss as to why that village is so crazy while the others were perfectly civil and fair but we got the hell out of there and drove back to town. Flex said he would take me to the Ghana/Burkina Faso border so we could cross it (he has a friend who works at the border) and I could say Ive been in another african country! We took his motorbike there which was really fun. I am going to miss riding around on that thing. Anyway it was a pretty long trip and about 3/4 of the way there some police at a barrier stopped us The asked us why we werent wearing helmets (which no one in all of bloody bolgatanga does) They took Flex aside and started talking to him then the other cops were telling me they were going to detain me and arrest me. it was bullshit though and I just laughed at them and they laughed too which was fine. They were pretty assholish though, lucky I have a sense of humour :P John the main cop was saying that we should be freinds and Im like ohh john come on I cant be your friend when your arresting my friend! He thought that was pretty funny but they still stuck to their guns (literally) and said they were going to arrest Flex. (which basically meant write him a paper and send him to court) We ended up having to friken bribe them which they pretended to be offended by for about 10 seconds then ' for the sake of the white women' took the money with ease and let us go. (not before I got a photo with the main cop with me wearing his helmet though!) hahaha anyway we finally reached a place called Paga which is famous for its crocodile ponds and this lovely man named Allasan showed me around his village in all the huts and I bought some kool stuff and got to try on this traditional viking like costume. It was kool. We got to the border and crossed it. There were shitloads of donkeys, different currency, french language and brighter fabrics but basically as far as we went wasnt too different from ghana. But hey I entered a new country which i can add to the list which is kool:) Flex and I were a bit nutty by then (probably because we hadnt eaten since bread and butter breakfast) so we hit the road and travelled back home. We got some awesome spaghetti and here I am. Really love it here though will probably spend a few more days and then go down to accra then see the volta region. Miss everyone and australia occasionally and find myself dreaming of home at the moment. But this trip has been amazing so far and I am very happy. hope you all are too! Christmas soon cant believe it. x

Whirl Wind Ghana PART 1

Okay so on tuesday we commenced our whirlwind ghana trip and it is now sunday and we are basically half way..this will probably be a massive entry but I know atleast my one dedicated follower (tanaaz) will read, so here goes.

DAY 1 - TUESDAY

Met up with Anita and her boyfriend john in Accra and we half walked half ran to the Stc Bus station to catch the 4.00pm bus up to Kumasi. When we got there they told us that the bus was all full up so we were lke shit, but with a suspicion that they were talking shit we waited and at 4.30 they allowed us to board the half empty bus! (not exactly sure why they told us it was full but hey perserverance paid off) STC buses are much more luxorious than regular tro tros and are good for long trips especially ones are night as ghana has like the second highest death rate due to car accidnets in the world or something ridiculous and many of these accidents happen between late night tro-tros. Anyway the bloody driver had the air conditioning set to serious below zero temperatures and we were all freezing our asses off the whole trip. When we stopped for a break and got off to buy some food when we hopped back on it was literally like stepping into a cold meat freezer! at that point i was seriously fantasizing about being packed in like sardines in a sweaty bumpy tro-tro, but we survived. 6 hours later we arrived in Kumasi at about midnight and walked to a little hostel place where their friend Ros was staying. We sat around eating bifarella and bread (bifarella is like some nutella rip off tastes like chocolate icing) and then went to sleep. Ive been sleep talking a fair bit apparently and usually wake up feeling as though Ive had quite animated dreams here. (dont remember much of them though) Anyway it was a pretty exhausting trip but we made it.

DAY 2- WEDNESDAY

Today we all woke up and had a pretty slow start to the morning. I was full of beans and getting pretty antsy about getting up and doing something, but they were all lazing around reading and shit and John wouldnt even wake up (which is definitely the annoying thing about travelling with others) but eventually they decided they were going to go get food and do stuff and I took myself off to Kejetia Market which is like the biggest market in west africa or something and indeed it was. I got a bit lost on the way there but eventually found it after asking a shitload of people for directions. Kumasi is a pretty clean city compared to accra but they are all relatively the same. Kejetia market was massive as and from high up you could look down on it and it was just this huge area of flat topped stalls all crammed together. Its basically enclosed with like a zillion different little twists and turns- areas with massive chickens all locked in cages, piles of herbs and vegetables, bloody meat, leather works, carpenters, seamstresses and of course the usual random shit people love to sell here which can range from piles of cheap plastic barbie dolls, hideous christmas decorations and frilly socks. Met a few funny characters and some really lovely ladies and bought a few little nesscaties but it was more the experience or 'ambience' rather than me actually having any interest in purchasing anything. I have absolutely no room in my bag anyway and have had to dump heaps of shit already so most purchases wil have to be made in the last few days regardless. At one stage I had a begger come up to me asking for food, I had some pineapple which I offered him, only to have him turn his nose up at it! hahah i was just like shit if thats not a beggers cant be choosers moment I dont know what is. apparently it happens a fair bit here. Anyway came back to the hostel and met up with the guys and we walked all over the place in the stinking heat trying to find a bloody tro-tro station which was going to Techima. Finally we succeeded and all piled in with our fan yogos (these awesome frozen yoghurt things which are bliss) ad pure waters and off we went. The tro-tro was pretty good actually apart from when I kept falling asleep and we would hit a bump my head would flip back giving me minor whip lash haha. I like driving past all the remote areas though its really interesting. We arrived in a town called Nkoranza and decided to stay in this hostel they have their called hand in hand which is basically a really kool community project right next to a school for abandoned disabled kids and lots of oeple stay there and volunteer at the school at the same time and you pay your room and board which goes to the schoolm etc. I twas a really lovely place with these cute little round white huts with brown thatched roofs and lovely gardens etc. Ros had heard the place had a Rock Room so we were excited as when the hostess said we could stay the night in it if we wanted! It was fucking kool. Basically there was a group of these huge boulders which they had built a room in. It was called the hermitage and I dont think many people stay there because when the creaky door was pushed open, about 3 lizards scammpered away and it was rather musty. We soon christened the place however and sat out on the little cement balcony at dusk looking out over this really pretty vegetation and smoked some ganja ros had scored from a rasta..it was perfect. Had a lovely dinner of spaghetti and slept pretty good tryin to forget about the massive spider we indirectly chased under our bed a few hours earlier...i love the rock room.

DAY THREE - THURSDAY

Today we woke up and again it was a pretty slow start which was quite annoying. We had a good breakfast and bought some beads which the disabled kids make but didnt even have enough time to go and see the school and had to leave which was a bit dissapointing. Ros and I found a little new born chick which couldnt walk so Ros picked it up and put it aside next to a tree. Later when we came back it wasnt much better, so she took it to one of the hostesses and the lady simply took it from her and threw it over the fence! Haha ros was not impressed and words were not spoken after this incident. We walked to the taxi station and spent a large amountof time trying to bargain our taxi fare down. All the men were like in packs screaming and being dickheads. it was quite the ordeal but eventually we got something reasonable and off we went. Was the dustiest road ever and because we are up further north now the dust is bright red so safe to say I was filthy but the time we arrived at Boaboa Fiema Monkey Sanctuary. This plae was less of a sanctuary moreof a little village which happens to have shitloads of monkey who live in the forrest next to them and come and roam in the village too. We were expecting something a bit more organised but it was really good anyway and this guy took us into the dorrest and these two really cute little boys came along aswell. Got really close up to the monkeys and their babies which were so cute and saw some really awesome trees and had a good time. Ros and I really wanted to go to these falls whihc werent too far away but we realised we needed to get further north by tonight and didnt have enough time. I made the suggestion that we need to start getting up earlier then rather than wasting away mornings when things could be happening and john (the main sleeping culprit) agreed which I was happy about. We caught a taxi back to the tro-tro station and eventually found a tro-tro which was going to a place called Bole where we would spend the night. As I have mentioned tro-tros sit there waiting until they are full before they leave (no matter how long it takes) and this one was barely full when we arrived. We realised we had a long wait ahead of us and probably wouldnt arrive in Bole until very late. A night tro-tro was the only option and Anita was shitting herself. Especially when half way through our wait we realised about 15 goats were coming along with us tied to the roof! Haha watching them throw them on the roof along with bags of oranges was so one of those "Were not in Kansas anymore" moments which I love. The ride was fine however and we arrived in the random town of Bole at about 1am. The guidebook (which is basically johns gospel no matter what) said that there were two guest houses in the area. And a man gave us very detailed directions that "The one that is far is very far and the one that is close is not" and we walked up the street and found what Im guessing was the close one. We knocked on the door and called out a few times but there was no answer. Eventually we went round the back and came into a little foyer area which was in the centre of the surrounded rooms, a few couches and a man fast sleep. We tried to stir him but basically only got a few grunts that we should go to sleep and he was back in dreamland again. Its 1am we were all pretty delirious and exhausted, standing over this sleeping man who really would not wake up. Agin we tried to stir him and he surfaced long enough to tell us that his junior brothers son had the key and passed out again. I was off the planet at this stage and just kept pissing myself laughing and lost control. After another few minutes we woke the man up again and he got us a mat and some couch cushions and invited us to sleep on the floor in the foyer. This being our only offer of course accepted and actually set up a pretty kool little place for ourselves. My double mosquito net came in hand and we put it up and all slept squashed together in the corner. It was cosy though.


DAY 4 - FRIDAY

At 4.30AM a bunch of muslim men got the shock of their lives as they got up for their morning prayer and there are a bunch of half naked obrunnis lying on the foyer floor under a net hahah. We woke up pretty early and went off to get some breakfast. Had bloody egg and bread again (which I am officially over) and went to check out the Bole mosque which wasnt that exciting but looked kool from the outside. I didnt know they had like a man and woman split and accidentally walked over into the male area! oops haha lucky they dont practice there anymore though so it wasnt that big of a deal. Only john was allowed to go up on the roof because he was a dude which we thought was bullshit. Ros chucked her cap on backwards and posed as a man to make it to the roof, but apparently there was shit all up there anyway. I think I lost my wallet in the mosque as well which was pretty shitty but luckily I had removed my visa so it was no big deal. Anyway we caught a taxi to this little town called Soal or something which is on this junction. We were heading to Mole National Park and were told tro-tros only run at 6am which we had definitely missed. When we consulted our guide book again John was horrified to realise it had specifically mentioned the current route we had taken was virtually impossible and gettng a tro-tro to Mole would be a nightmare. When I first got to Ghana one of missions was to at some stage ride on the back of a truck. You dont see it all the time but occasionally ghanian men hitch a lift on the back and it looks so fun that I kept saying to Abe "I have to do that!" whenever I saw it. When we found out tro-tros were basically a no-no I mentioned that I really wanted to ride on the back of a truck. No sooner were we talking to this guy who had a huge truck with massive bags of sacks piled high on the back full of shea nuts (as in shea butter stuff) and he said we could get a lift on the back! AHHH I was so damn excited and it was friken awesome. The guy was really kool as well and was very happy that obrunnis were willing to rough it and climb up so high and ride with him. We had such a fun time. Clammered onto these huge sacks and bumped along the 2 hour road through tiny villages and gaming areas to a place called Larabanga which was right near Mole. The ghanians would spot us on the truck and their reactions were priceless - screams, laughs, waves and some just looked downright bewildered. but it was great fun. It was so funny to be tihnking that only a few years ago I was standing in the bodyshop talking shit to a customer about shea butter and fair trade knowing really no idea what I was on about. Who wouldve thought in 2 years time I would be in africa riding on a cargo truck full of those exact shea nuts. it was really kool and we were all happy as. Arrived In Larabanaga and started walking along this very long and dusty road towards Mole. Luckily half way there some dudes in a ute who were working at Mole picked us up. We were so dirty and dusty by then it was ridiculous. Mole was really nice and there is like big hotel which overlooks the massive national park and you can look down into the water hole and watch the elephants. We saw one down there and started to hear talk that because it was mating season all the elephants werent really around. ahhh because the national park is not enclosed at all they are free to roam and do so when they are looking for partners and for the past few months have been doing so. We still saw some warthogs though (pumba) and heaps of baboons which are so evil looking and roam around. there was a group of them like attacking this guys ute and they steal your clothes and food as well apparently. We had drinks by the pool and ordered a Guinea Fowl (these grey chicken looking things they have here which originate in guinea) french fries and salad. The Guinea fowl episode was fucking hilarious. It was extremely hard to eat so we all gave up on the knife and fork and proceeded to take turns at holding the entire bird one at a time with our hands and ripping it to pieces with our teeth then passing it on, all the while pissing ourselves with laughter at how feral we looked. It was literally the only way to eat the thing though if you wanted to get the most out of it - and we definitely sucked the thing dry. We all kept drinking but went to bed not too late. It was a good night.


DAY 6 -SATURDAY

Today we got up at 6am to go on the 6.30 safari thing where an armed ranger takes you down into the bush and you look for animals. It was pretty nice but unfortunately we didnt see any elephants and I was like ohhhh :( I was intent on seeing one before I left though and was pretty confident we would. We saw heaps of antelope though, monkeys, water bucks and lots of birds. The area is really nice and they have lions and hyenas but they only come out at night and the place isnt developed enough to do night walks etc. anyway we had lunch outside the hotle at this little bush canteen which ended up causing some big drama with anita and john who were fighting for the rest of the day about this lady who didnt give anita enough chicken then was rreallly rude and ah fuck it was stupid but whatever they got over it after like 5 hours of bedroom discussion! After lunch we saw that there was an elephant down in the waterhole so we asked our guide to take us down there to see it. He told us that there was already someone down there so we should just go join him so we went down. The elephant was so kool and massive just minding his own business having a bath. He was in there for hours spraying water on himself and just chillin out. Got some kool photos but we didnt get to see him out of the water which was a bit of a downer. One of the rangers yelled the shit through us saying we werent supposed to come down alone and told us we were liars when we tried to explain what our ranger told us. There were some real pricky people at Mole and we were just like fuck you guys! Anyway went back to the hotel and had a swim etc then I decided I wouild go to the 3.30 safari so I could hopefully see an elephant. Anita and John were still fighting and Ros couldnt be bothered so I went alone and ended up going with these america kids who were really kool ...and guess what? We saw an elephant! Yay! it was so exciting we were all stoked. He started getting a bit aggressive at one stage and started running and all the birds around him were like flying up in the air it was kool. He pissed off after a bit though probably got over us watching him but we all felt very satisfied that we saw one properly. They are really beautiful and I just wanted to hug him :) Came back to the hotel and I had dinner with the americans. Met these two really kool aussie chicks from Sydney too and we spent the rest of the night drinking with them and these ghanian boys who knew captain planet which was awesome! Sally the aussie chick had it as one of her ringtones and as soon as the intro of EARTH..FIRE..WIND.. started they were all like Oh Captain Planet! hahah apparently its on Ghana tv on Sundays. The only bus which leaves Mole is at bloody 4am so all of us left today and had about 2 hours sleep. Im still running on empty today and we arrived in Tamale at like 7.30am or something. Its now about midday and I think I shall go get something to eat and then go have a sleep. John is really sick and Anita and him are going to the hospital to do some malaria tests and I'm not sure what is happening now. This whirlwind trip has been fun but I think I want to slow down a bit and they are unable to so I may just go further north by myself tomorrow or Ros said she might join me. either way this has been awesome fun and I am excited about seeing more places. Okay hm some man just came up to me asking for money saying he was sick and had worms which I know is a big problem here. I believed him and gave him 5 bucks for the medicine. He had a receipt and everything from the doctor and I just sad for him...I feel like a bitch here being like oh they are just going to spend it on drugs and the begger thing is a touchy issue because its like I hate people just seeing you as a rich atm obrunni but I also feel bad saying no every time..hm anyway farewell children.

Let Me Hear You Say Hooooo!

Hey Hey! So I got my email back whooo! After giving a guy called richard at hotmail every single detail about the contents of my email (including the fact that I am on aussie match maker HAHA) I was finally deemed legit and my password was reset! yay!! . I feel like I have really missed out on a lot of writing but here goes. I will start from saturday.

Got back from Kokorbite at about 2 and went straight to the liberian culture centre on camp where a group of the volunteers were doing a graduation performance of dancing and drumming. they have been getting lessons for the past month and had their debut at a performance which the kids were putting on. it was so awesome. As soon as the obrunnis came on stage and started shaking their booties the liberians just went absolutely NUTS. They were standing up, stamping and screaming and waving hancercheifs you name it. I had this tiny little man called willy sitting next to me and he was just off the planet, he had his head buried in my lap at one stage and we kept hugging and clapping and holding our hands in the air, It was so crazy and amazing to see the effect it had on these people and really lovely. TH was like the king with all the men and they adored his white warrior moves. Was such a buzz and I wasnt even performing! Anyway that night we were going to have a big dinner with everyone and then go out to one of the clubs on the camp. ended up getting very very drunk and dancing around like a worm, being felt up by a bunch of liberian refugees, drinking scotch and red bull and dancing to 90's disco such as rhythm is a dancer hahah it was so surreal and a pisser of a night. Me and the melbourne girl jessie decided to see how bad we could dance before the guys would be turned off and leave us alone. Safe to say even after jumping around like a limbless worm having an epileptic fit..the threshhold was not reached..hahah one guy full made out with me oand when I tried to run away he grabbed my arm and told me he loved me so I had to pull out the big guns then and sprayed him in the face with a bag of pure water..hahaha The dj who was soo bad had a ittle booth with a microphone so of course I thought it would be a great idea to run into the booth and get on the microphone and scream LET ME HEAR YOU SAY HOOOO!!!......LET ME HEAR YOU SAY HO HO HOO! hhahahah we were very much the drunken fools you can spot a mile away when you go to any club..but it was much needed and very fun..

The next morning was a different story however. Woke up feeling slightly queasy but went to breakfast as usual; at a little place called the brotherhood where we basically go every morning and get bread and egg with tomato and mayonaise - its the nicest thing. anyway had my food then we headed to a beach called Fetteh. as the morning went on felt more and more sick, we arrived and hit the water which was a full surf beach with massive dumpers. I got stuck in a rip which was a bit scary and got thrashed around a lot. The stomach which probably still had remants of the golden spark (a delicious chick drink they have here),smirnoff, beer, scotch and gin was really not happy with me at that stage and I spent the next hour rolling around in the sand away from the beach under these beautiful palm trees only thinking about how fucking terrible I felt. Kept dry retching but my stomach wouldnt let me vomit. The taxi ride home was even worse and as soon as we got out I proceeded to the hotel, ran the last 5 metres and vomited up my bread and egg and a bucket of fluids...lovely. felt terrible for the rest of the day even up to about 10 o clock at night. Started to get worried I may have got malaria or something cause I had a bit of a temperature too but was assured that mixing drinks, dehydration and hangovers in stinking west african heat can be pretty damn bad - and turns out they are..never again! on the plus side i stayed back at the hotel that night and watched a friken amazing documentary called the invisible children which trina one of the other volunteers had on her comp. we had a really good chat after that and I left her room feeling slightly less queasy and full of emotion and thought...an interesting combination.

With the weekend over monday was my last day at the bububuram refugee camp and at carolyn a miller school. They had a little leaving ceromony for Tui and I 9another aussie girl who was leaving the ssame day and gave us these [pretty hideous outfits and certificate. The children had mixed reactions some were genuinely sad and really lovely then some who you didnt ewven know were extremely manipulative and one boy even fake cried to try and get a copy book and pencil out of me! that was really disturbing and made leaving much easier to be honest. you cant really blame the people on camp and their desperation for money and freedom but i dont know whether i couldve lasted 5 months there like Tui did. its emotionally exhausting. anyway i am glad I went and know why I did and feel i have learnt a lot about the refugee situation and also about myself. feel more ideas and thoughts will resurface in the future about this place but I definitely glad I did what I did. anyway my time on the net here is nearly up and I am about to go meet up with a girl called anita and her boyfriend john because we are heading up north and will be at Mole national park on like friday to see the elephants! who knows where to from there. Its tuesday 3pm now btw and I am in accra...love you all send me emails! x

fucking dodgy ghana internet cafes

Whats up! Today is saturday evening and it is a lovely night. Friday spent the rest of the afternoon around the school. Caught a little parade going down the main street which was pretty random. It was like a celebration parade for one of the schools birthdays. There was like singing and drumming and each group wearing a different uniform and doing something different. Highlights were a group of boys doing pelvic thrusts and a taxi with two little kids dressed as a king and queen waving to the crowd complete with crowns and sashes. hahah At about 3.30 Anita, Danika and I headed for Kokrobite. Got shown to a room we had booked which was lovely. A little wooden cottage type thing with a loft. Went for a really lovely swim. Got back and the other guys came later and we had an awesome dinner and a chat. Went down to Big Millys and watched a bit of drumming but were all pretty tired so came home for bed. Ended up chatting till about midnight anyway and attempted to go to sleep although there was some crazy screaming church session going literally all night with tamborines and a microphone- thats ghana for you. It sounds like they are doing some sort of satanic sacrifice when that shit goes on seriously. Anyway this morning we woke up and had awesome breakfast and headed to the beach again. Had a full entourage of african naked kids rolling around in the sand with us which was a bit of entertainment. Anyway I am going to stop writing now because I am pissed off and worried because Ive just realised someone has changed my email password! ahhh if you get emails from me which are weird please comment here and let me know. I will try and get my sister to fix it up back home but at the moment Im screwed...no good.

A slice of paradise.

Hi Hi! So today is friday.I havent written in a few days and feel there is much to say. Wednesday I went to Kokrobite beach with jessie, a guy called sam and a carpenter.We went to set up a little store down at the beach for the beads project jessie has just started up. Basically abadoned children come to workshops each day and make beaded jewllery which we then sell and all proceeds go to their education fund so they can go to school.Its an awesome project and the beads are really kool aswell so I think it will do reallywell.Anyway Kokrobite was a beautiful place bigpalm trees and beautifulsand and water. we set up this really great wooden stall at this garden/hotel thing which took ages then had a little swim at the beautiful beach and a smirnoff ice with a pizza and beautiful fruit smoothies :) It was lovely and a very productive day. Wednesday night we dyed jessies hair I think, which was a bloody ordeal considering there is no running water. It was pretty funny though trying to dunk her head in a bucket of water. Had dinner with all the gang at TH's house (denmark dude) which again took ages because the stove broke so we had to cook the food on coals borrowed from the neighbours! A new girl Danika from the US just came this week aswell and shes a kool.Chatted in our room for ages then off to bed. Yesterday I was around at the school did a few classes then had a meeting with the after school tutoring program guys. Was a bit exhausting to be honest. it can proove to be quite frustrating to get some people here to take initiative rather than hanging off every word a white person says.Obrunnis speak the gospel in regards to organistion. Some of the men had great ideas though they just need to trust in them. Anyway got a fair bit of work to do for them before I leave. I also some how got roped into taking passport like photos of year 9 kids for their exams? Part of me wants to stay longer here but the other wants toleave and travel a bit more.Only decided this morning what I would do. Last night went to the guys dance practice at the liberian culture centre oncamp.The volunteers who have been here for ages have been getting drumming and dance lessons and have a performance on sunday. The centre does lessons with the kids and is a really important place for the camp.The kids were so happy seeing obrunnis dancing..it was lovely. Im very happy at the moment and things are going reallywell.excited about everything. anyway Im going to getkickedoff here in 5 minutes so I have to go.Got my hair braided again here.Its a very goodthing to do Ive noticed men give you less attention and women respectyou more.about to head to the kokrobite beach for aparty tonightand leave the camp next tuesday and will be travelling up north with this american girl anita and a few of her friends.should be fun! x

www.refugeefunrun.info

WWW.REFUGEEFUNRUN.INFO


Please check this website out...there are so many good projects going on here at the moment and the girl organizing this one, is running a lot of them...all proceeds are completely tangible and really necessary. Money raised from this one goes to getting the kids a toilet block and any left over money will go to the beads project (high risk children making jewelery which then gets sold and all proceeds to go their education fund) or the womens project which is basically the same idea but with sewing. This fun run is on the 9th of December and will be around the botanical gardens. will be drumming and a barbie after. if you are busy or cant be bothered getting off the couch there are ways to directly donate through the website. anyway hope some of you can get involved x

Something

Gday,

My blogs have got pretty shit lately so I apologise and will try to make this one a little better.. but you know, it happens. Anyway saturday caught a tro-tro to labadi to visit the boys (papa and kwasi) and was really good to see them again. Went to sister joyces and saw akua and the gang too. Decided to stay the night in accra rather than going to kokrobite. Just had all these little feelings pointing to the fact that I shouldnt be going there that night, so I decided to follow the gut and pass, wanted to spend more time with the guys anyway so had dinner with the family and Kwasi and I caught a tro-tro to a bar called next door which was playing like live hi-life regaae etc. We had a really good chat and a drink then went down to the beach which was so beautiful. It was a really clear night, full moon in the sky, and the waves were crashing on these big black rocks where we were sitting. It was really peaceful and even the stoned rastas couldnt ruine it. Had a good little dance too, every time I dance here I feel so alive and I realise how I should really be aiming to do it every day. Movement is so important and I am going to look into doing much more of it when I return to australia. Anyway came home about 1am and went to bed. The male attention here is getting a bit tiresome to be honest. Guys constantly come up, first question is "Can I be your friend?" second is "do you have an email address?" I have tried to explain that you have to develope a friendship and get to know each other first etc but it usually goes over their heads and has gotten to the point now that I have just had to sometimes say " No I have too many friends sorry" they cant argue with that and just go away! I hate having to frequently avoid/ignore people here though because its really against my nature but if I didnt I would spend the whole day exchanging emails. Two of the girl volunteers here are having sex with refugees (talk about giving an extra helping hand) which is a pretty delicate situation and something Ive kept my mouth shut about . I do sometimes forget that I am living amongst people who have been through extreme trauma/circumstance. Many of the rebels who did some really really fucked up stuff live on camp too which is pretty frightening. I am sometimes reminded again of where I am when I notice people with stab/gun/burn wounds on their bodies or hear another story. Because the conflict in Liberia ended awhile ago the people here are not technically considered as 'refugee status' anymore because they are technically free to return to their own country. Going back brings into the picture a whole new set of problems however, many which involve money. They dont have a house to go to go to plus majority are are unskilled therefor would not be able to get jobs or support themselves. Plus the fact that there is still a certain level of danger in going back. Although there is rarely outright violence in Liberia, I was speaking to a guy the other day who said there is still a small amount of hatred/animosity boiling away in some areas and people are known to return and be quietly killed with poison in their food etc. Many of the people here and have not seen there families for over 10 years either. Going back is just a very complicated process for many so most choose to just stay here living a life which atleast offers some level of stability and I suppose makes it easier to try and forget. Its no wonder us obrunnis get so much attention though when you really think about it- Desperation is the key word and I do not blame them in treating us like ATMs with boobs, Not to mention a ticket out of this place and a chance for a new life. Anyway sunday morning met up with Jessie who was in Accra to go back to camp, on the way home we stopped off at this little area called Kaneshe. There was this market there which was so intense. Humoungous live snails which they get from the bush somewhere (not exactly sure what they do with them but they were selling them anyway) Massive crabs scuttling around in a bowl and I saw a dried dead goat with his tongue hanging out amongst other indecipherable cuts of meat dripping with blood. As I said - intense. Really love that shit though where you just feel like you're in some alternate universe and love every minute. Came home and bought some fruit, played Yatze with Michelle which was fun and then had dinner with Jessie, Michelle and TH. They are very very intelligent people and we had some great conversations over dinner (cooked plaintains, tomatoes, groundnuts,lime and onion-yummy!!) Made me really want to start learning again and am definitely intent on studying something next year, whatever it is, just to keep my mind busy and start re-lighting that flame again if that makes sense. Today was a good day and pretty productive. Feel like I will be able to leave this place and have done something atleast, which is so important. I remembered a little thought I came up with awhile ago which has popped back into my head over the past week. Make sure with everything you commit to or experience (no matter how big or small, seemingly insignificant or pointless) make sure you leave having; Something to Show, Somewhere to Go and Something New that you Know.


Amen to that (and no dont worry I havent been converted yet)

Yeah

Hi brothers and sisters of the sunburnt country,

Im not sure when I wrote the last post but it is now saturday so basically a week has passed since I arrived on Monday. The kids are absolute little crazy monsters but adorable at the same time. Their education levels are appalling and the school is pretty pathetic with its organisation. Being here for 2 weeks I have basically decided to only tutor in small parts of the day where the rest of the time is spent helping out with the other volunteers projects and trying to organise a schedule for classes, future volunteers and tutoring. This chick Jessie who has been here for awhile and from Melbourne is doing some amazing stuff including a jewellery project where the kids get together each day for workshops and make beaded jewellery then it will be sold locally and shipped to markets around the world then the money raised will go back into sending the children to school. A new group starting next week are children who spend all day pushing wheelbarrows. I went to the class yesterday and it was great what she is doing the kids were so good at it! a piece of string tied to their big toe as they braided at impressive speeds and they were just so diligent and happy to be there. There is no power on camp so at night the place is in complete darkness apart from little candles lighting different stalls and the help of generators in some areas (including our place) I have heard some frightening stories about people back in sierra leone and liberia and seen something disturbing/weird/shocking every day. Last night it was a man at a stall with pet eagles kept in a tiny cage! Today it was huge cooked pig hooves in a basket on a womans head. Stories of people who have seen their parents murdered before their eyes, gang rapes, impalements. fuck some terrible things went down. I have been moved into a different room now so no more noisey generator but still get celine dion each night. Took my braids out last night and had this friken awesome amazon woman afro but it was so dirty from not being washed so shampooed it out this morning :( Jessie and I came to accra today to do a few things and bought sewing machines for this bag making project that is being organised. We also went to the australia high commision to try and vote but they told us it was over! Heard on cnn radio that johnny lost and kevin is in. About time I say! Yesterday was 'sport' day at the school which was really an excuse for the teachers to not have to 'teach' and the kids were all hyper as. We were told kickball was going to be held at a field so michelle and I walked down there to check it out. We arrived at this huge dusty area of land and as soon as we arrived and were spotted herds and herds of screaming kids charged towards us at a high speed. It was the funniest scene and my first instinct was to just run in the opposite direction there were soo many of them belting towards us! ITS A STAMPEDE! hahaha they all just surrounded us grabbing onto every inch of our boddies, yelling - haha it was hilarious. There was no ball or teacher to be found so I organised a few running races with them and we did some dance moves and clapping which was fun. They were impossible to organise and kids were up on huge rubbish piles with their pants down pissing, some girls had each other in an headlock and there was constantly atleast two kids clinging onto my waist. It was chaos. fun though. We organised a very loose game of kick ball- wonky bases represted by piles of leaves, which didnt really last - then a teacher finally came with a ball and took over. It was a joke of a sport day but as I mentioned the whole school is a bit of a joke a lot of the time. We had a really productive meeting with some of the teachers and the principal and finally convinced him that tutoring was the way for volunteers and finally he started to come around with a lot of ego stroking etc. He is a pretty ignorant head-strong man but ultimately does care about the kids. Anyway that was pretty promising and I think we can do something before a lot of us leave at the end of next week which is great. Anyway Im about to go see kwasi and papa in labadi and go to sister joyces house for a visit then am supposed to be going to kokorobite beach tonight for a party but dont know how that will go. . Feeling much more at ease here now. Really want to travel so much more now. I am excited about how much possibility the world has to offer. How lucky I am. x

Getting an education

Hi guys. so still here at the refugee camp. Feeling a bit better about the whole situation.. Ive realised that trying to make a significant difference in 2 weeks is close to impossible considering how poor some of these childrens learning abilities are it will take much much longer. however actually organising the process and contributing in that way is another thing and I am intent on offering my ideas and organising setting up tutoring programs and processes to get these guys going, i really dont want to leave here feeling like i havent contributed, Have learnt so much so far about how dire some peoples situations are and its amazing, disturbing, heart breaking and shocking. politically i have always been pretty ignorant but i am learning and becoming aware of how important it is. I am now respecting these passionate philantrophists that surround me and learning from them, rather than feeling intimidated or envious. everyone has their passion and it is so awesome that these guys are living it right now and they have done soo much. it makes me realise how i need to start chasing my passions down again and start committing to things rather than flitting around scared to land, with a fear that it might be the wrong choice again (omd) i really want to be inspired and commited and have projects and be constantly thinking again. Perhaps thats a big reason why i am here. I dont know if this place is my 'purpose' so to speak but at the same time it has inspired and encouraged me to get back into things again. Am feeling more at home with the other volunteers now which is good too. might be doing some onward travel with one of the girls who hangs out here and her mates too which would be awesome. who knows? I tend to end many of my blogs with those words...who knows? By the way my ghana mobile number is is 0273088421 if anyone wants to send me a message or something. x

Not a happy camper.

Hi guys. So I am at the refugee camp right now. feeling pretty average to say the least. I will start from monday. I left the internet cafe and walked back along the main street to the iKando office. All of a sudden all these cars and trucks started zooming past. Guns were firing in the air, police men swerving from side to side of the road of their motorbikes, loud sirens, groups of men piled up on the back of their vehicles - just complete organised chaos it seemed. I asked the guy next to me what the hell was going on and he thought the president was coming! He then realised\ that someone important had died and they were all doing this charade down the street to announce it! His view was that ghanian people need to cherish the concept of being alive rather than spending so \much money on death. I have definitely noticed this myself. Funerals are a massive affair here and sooo much money is spent. Posters are put up around the town and there is like this huge expensive party where everyone is invited etc. These people barely have money to live,yet they will spend a fortune once its over. It was good to speak to another ghanian who also believed this and was thinking that way. Anyway got back to the ikando office and waited for another hour then we were off. Arrived about 2pm and met the principal and the creator of the camp. Kassus or something? He is such an amazing man liberian himself he was inspired by an amazerican lady who set up schools there and decided to create a school for his people.. The whole camp is for liberian refugees from places like the ivory coast etc where there has been a shitload of civil war, rape, murder, etc. The school on the camp is so youth can received free education and develope skills to live and work in the community and perhaps return to their home country. It is really amazing what some people have done in a short time being here and the volunteers are extremely commited. Anyway this computer is so slow and I really cant be assed writing lots but basically I am feeling pretty inadequate about what I can do here in such a short time. The organisation is very unorganised which doesnt \help and today prooved to be quite difficult. the first part of the day I felt like i was fighting a losing battle the kids were just fucking around and it was pretty frustrating. I spent today taking small groups of grade 1 students out of their class and trying to teach them how to read. the kids could read the book perfectly on first inspection, but I started to notice they werent even pointing to the right word...so when i closed the book they were still getting it correct, i realised the knew the bloody book off by heart!At first I tried to bribery tactic and got out the blocks saying if they got an answer right they would get a block but that ended up being this whole competition and they would steal from each other or from me which was a nightmare. I then tried a few different things and ended up makng little pieces of paper with different words on them and teaching the kids to recognise the word alone first. No more Betty and Sam! (the stupid book the kids knew off by heart.) Then they would have to pick the piece of paper out of my hand and read it out then arrange them. They ended up being able to actually read and recognise about 6 words which I was so excited about and we had fun. In the afternoon i offered to help out with this after school tutoring program which has just started - it was a nightmare. This teacher just chucked me in a class with like 30 kids they were so loud and bouncing off the walls. The other volunteers had told me many of the teachers hit the kids and the whole autocractic method is feared and respected. Ubrunnis therefor arent really listened to in a large classroom environment- to say the least.. Many of the children did want to learn but couldnt hear because of the noise and it was just a big waste of time\ I am staying in this budget accomodation with my own room and I realise how much i miss living with ghanian people and there families. I felt so lonely last night, the generator next to my room was ridiculously loud and celine dion greatest hits but blaring from a speaker next door. Im just not sure I can really do anything and leave a mark here in such a short time especially if they try to chuck me in anymore big classrooms. I just feel down and out at the moment. The other volunteers are alright people so far. they have helped me out and stuff, buut they all have their own projects and most have been here for months and are leaving soon too so its just like ah~! theres a girl called jess from melbourne who is really kool though and has set up this jewellery program where the liberian kids make their own jewllery then they are going to sell it at markets and profits go to the school. its jsut like funky beads on string but good quality. i will try and get the link so you can take a look but if anyone wants to buy some let me know and ill bring them over. money is going somewhere tangible which is important. anyway hopefully this gets better but at the moment i am feel overall quite depressed, down and lost. we will see what happens. missing you guys.

Corn rollin gangsta baby..

Wassupp! so guess what? vanessa has CORN ROLLS! hahahha funny shit hey? I love them. i look like such a little kid especially considering i wear no makeup every day either, but they are really awesome and only cost me 5 bucks! you will all see photos eventually but at the moment its too hard to load. anyway its monday morning 10.30ish and I will fill you in on my weekend. There are so many things which happen and I just want to run straight to the computer and recount the moment perfectly so its written down fresh and forever but I cant so I try my best to commit it to my memory for a few days and then catch up..its difficult though.

Saturday i got home and washed the dishes while the boys finished cleaning up. Kwasi's junior sister Akua who is my age, came over with his nephew ni (11) and erika (4) Ghana kids are usually quite scared of me at the start and really shy, but its so nice once they start to get comfortable with you and they just dont leave you alone. Anyway they invited us over to their place in the afternoon for lunch/dinner so we said we would see them later and headed down to the beach. I had the best time!!! The water was so warm and nice. The waves were just big enough and I just felt really happy. Got hardcore swarmed by all the kids there. The lifted me up and chucked me in this big black tyre, i was floating in it and they are all surrounding me screaming and jumping around hahah it was so surreal I was just pissing myself. After that they were constantly around watching my every move, a wave would come they would dive under the water and 'accidently' touch me, when they went for the ass grab though I had to put a stop to that! hahah the kids ranged from like 7 - 13 years old I'd say. There was this one kid who was the biggest little show off and he kept bossing everyone around and trying to get my attention and impress me I just wanted to sit him down and tell him that wasnt the way to impress a lady and probably improve his future picking up chances ten fold, but decided against it:P At one point I lay on my back and started to float and all the kids were like HEY HEY HEY HOW DO YOU DO THAT!? They were absolutely amazed and I was equally taken aback at their reaction. Most kids here cant swim at all or or not very well, and had obviously never seen anyone float. The beaches arent really patrolled (apart from a few dodgey rastas who asked me for money yesterday claiming they were life guards) and there are a lot of drownings. So we then proceeded to have a little swimming lesson- floating 101. Like 20 little ghana kids watching me in the middle and trying to float. Some of them did it really well and some never got it and were flaily around like spazz', but it was really fun. I got out of the water after ages and attempted a bit of soccor with the boys then me and the kids started playing in the sand. We made a castle and I wrote my name in the sand, pretty soon every kid was doing the same and calling me over to show me their name. It was so cute. We drew pictures and I attempted to inspire their creative side and stop them from drawing exactly what I did, haha one of them drew a house which was kool - I liked him.Then little show off boy drew over it and asked for my number! hahah These older boys came over and we started doing like yoga poses and puttting our legs over our heads and cycling in the air. it was so fun. Anyway then one of the kids had a bike which they were riding around in the shallow water (dont think they know about rust either) and he let me have a go. It was a perfect size for me (unlike the bloody amsterdam bike) and so off I went, dripping wet riding up and along this huge stretch of beach. There I was peddling along the shore, twisting and turning as the water sprayed up from beneath the wheels. there was hardly anyone around apart from the occasional person who would wave to me and I was just so happy. It was such a beautiful moment. On the way back this rasta man literally ran down from the bank and stopped me, saying I looked so free riding along that he thought it was nice for two like minded souls to say hello and share respect. "Peace and love!" and papa kool roll was off again (i think that was his name) Haha love it. Anyway came back and had another swim then we came home had a wash and headed down to the boys sister's house for lunch/dinner. Its so funny because I thought you know, being in africa and stuff I could just go a bit feral and not give a shit about that stuff but the boys are always asking me whether Im going to take my bath and encouraging 2 a day...haha hint hint.. nah everyone here is just big on personal hygiene. put in my place with the 'dirty african' generalisation wasnt I? So anyway walked down to the sisters house and had lunch there. The family was very nice. sometimes the language barrier gets a bit ner because they all speak Ga (a local language) but overall they were very welcoming. Erika got so exciteable and was like dancing around shaking it, the kids kept giving me story books to read to them and erika and I kept making pig and cat noises and raising our eyebrows at each other. shes the cutest thing. Sister Joyce who is like the head of the house said I should come back tommorow and she would get someone to do my hair a way I liked.Anyway we werent there for too long but we ate our spaghetti and stew, watched some tv, came home and went to bed soon after.

On sunday Kwasi went to church and me and papa hung around the house and cleaned up a bit. we were watching more crappy ghana tv and i started to get really restless and shitty. ghana tv can do that to you. the shows are fucking terrible and I watch some pretty bad television so its safe to safe its pretty bad. Its always the same shit; midgets, magic, whorish black women, and medicine (drugs secretly given to hurt/take advantage of someone) i was like dude i have to get out of here. Papalopa (thats godwins african name) and i went down to the beach again had a quick swim, came home and went to the sisters house. Had such a great afternoon/evening. We all ended up getting drunk on big bottles of ghana beer, dancing around in circles chanting and clapping thse little songs, playing tennis, doing this weird game which I will have to teach when I get home (Its like a rhythmic paper sciccors rock with kicks and claps) and just having a ball. i got my hair done and we sat around big bowls of fufu and soup eating with our hands and feeling very satistified. They were all like 'Sistteerr Vanessa!' And I just felt really welcomed and loved they said they were equally greatful of my respect towards them too. Great day.

Today is monday and i am back in Nima ready to go to the refugee camp for 2 weeks, no idea what to expect which pretty much sums up my time so far anyway! time shall tell. fill you all in soon. happy birthday to those i have missed and hope the wedding was awesome amy! xxx

Do You Wanna Get Arrriii?!

Good Morning.It's a saturday at about 10am right now and I have been up for about 4 hours already. So thursday afternoon I travelled to a place called Osu which is a part of Accra that has lots of place for tourists to shop and eat. It was quite scary because there are heaps of people selling things and as soon as they see an obrunni they rush up shuving their goods in your face. There was a particular moment when I had about 5 men crowding around me and this little curly head kid clinging onto my legs and I was like ahhh! Found out later from this guy that those kids are homeless refugees from chad and are always there begging for food:( I was eating lunch at this stage and had heaps left over ( I dont think I have finished one meal since I got here because the servings are so big and spicey!) So I ended up getting a bag from the resteraunt and giving the rest of my food to the refugee kid on the street. I went to the bank after this to try and get money out, the machine told me I could only get 2 million out (200 dollars) so I called the security guard over at this stage to see whether he knew if there was a way I could get more. But as we were talking the machine swallowed my card!! I went inside the bank and the lady told me that it was because I had taken too long and the card would be sent to my bank, when I told her it was in australia the bitch shrugged and was like, oh well thats too bad! After a minute or so she agreed that I could come back tommorow with my passport and they would give it to me. thank god! Anyway after that I was walking along and met this rasta dude and had a chat with him. There is quite a big rasta farian community here and like the hippies of ghana and have beach parties every week, listen to regaee and smoke a lot of weed! They all say DO YOU WANNA GET ARRIII or something which is like high/happy etc. He was a nice guy but just like many heavy dope smokers he was pretty lost and pretty stoned too I think. I ended up meeting all his other rasta friends at this little club where everyone was smoking massive joints and sitting around bleary eyed at like 3pm in the afternoon. I went home pretty soon after that. Catching tro-tros around everywhere, they have like one of the drivers mates who basically hangs off the side of the bus sceaming where the tro-tro is heading and peple hop on and off as they please. There is like a fixed rate which you pay (about 20 cents australian) and they just say Yes Yes throughout the ride when they want you to pay. When I was coming home from my rasta afternoon I hopped on the tro-tro and moved to the back. This guy sitting closer to the front turned around and smiled at me then when the driver started asking for the money he motioned that he would pay my fare! I called out that it was fine but when I hopped off at my stop the driver told me someone had already paid! Stuff like that happens a fair bit here and it makes me feel both apppreciative and guilty at times. Its like you get special treatment because you are white. Its better than being treated badly though I guess. Anyway I came home and watched the tyra banks show with very bad reception and the boys came home at about 6.30. I helped this little girl deborah with her homework and me and kwasi got ready and went out. We went to this bar/club in Osu called like Budyam (thats a complete guess and definitely not correct but i cant remember) which has a live band every thursday night and plays ghana music such as high-life (the local ghana music which is like this sort of salsa/tropicana happy music and of coruse a bit of regaee for the rastas! When we first got there they were playing like really kool live blues and the singer was this really old little man with a beautiful voice. I had such a great night and we danced heaps. The music is very fun and everyone gets up and has a good time, old, young, black, white. Kwasi is really kool and looks out for me but is not too clingy and lets me do my own thing which is great. Throughout the night I did notice many beautiful women dancing with really old ubrunni men. I thought it quite strange and noted the whole gold digger factor but kwasi told me later that this place was renound for prostitutes and all of them were indeed living up to the rep. After that I noticed heaps more around and realised like a quarter of the crow consisted of young beautiful black prostitutes and old pervert white grandpas. yuk. Still had a great night though and we caught a cab home as a big lightning storm hit. That morning I woke up a bit late and went to the toilet. Started feeling really sick and came home and vommitted. Got over it pretty quickly though so that was good and just had a small sleep then went to Nima again to give a final payment for the refugee volunteering that starts monday. I didnt do much in the afternoon just bought some food (yam, plantain chips and pineapple) and came home and washed my clothes. Still trying to get a hang of the handwashing thing but Im getting better! Plantain is my favourite food here, its so good, on first inspection they just look like bananas but they actually taste similar to sweet potatoe. You can buy them fried, roasted or in chip form (savoury or sweetened) anyway they are the shit:) They eat a lot of fish here and you always see women walking around with bowls on their heads full of massive massive fish. That night me and boys went and got dinner and were going to go out but were quite tired so came home and went to bed. Today is saturday and I woke up and went to the toilet then down to labadi beach. Had my first step into the gulf of guinea (atlantic ocean) and came home and made breakfast. The beaches here are quite dirty but not as bad as i expected there were heaps of boys playing soccor and more groups pulling in big fishing nets. When I came home the boys had bought me a bag of plantain chips because they knew they were my favourite. haha aw. I think there is entertainment going on down at labadi later this afternoon so I may go down there and check that out and hopefully go out to party tonight. Still trying to perfect the handshake all the boys do here its like this little gangsta thing with a click at the end haha its kool. No one here speaks fanti really so I am back to being a typical english speaking ubrunni. There are a number of local languages here in accra so its harder. So far I preferred cape coast as a place its a smaller town people are friendlier and there isnt as much of the hustle and bustle ignorance that comes with city life. I am travelling to the refugee camp on monday and will be helping out with teaching there for 2 weeks. Have tried to upload some more photos onto myspace but it is taking ages so there are hardly any. will try to put some up slowly. anyway hope everyone is good back home! baiii