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

"It's Nice To Be Nice"

Hello friends!

So yesterday was my last day in Cape Coast. I did my final few lessons on the drum and dancing and did a final performance for the troup. Considering I only did lessons for 1 week I was pretty pleased with how it went it was a really good way to start off my time in ghana! That afternoon abe and I just did lots of running around and sorting things out etc. Kookua had taken me to a seamstress and got this really kool skirt and dress fitted and sewed for me with this material she had. Its really kool:) I had started to warm a lot more to mama t the past few days as well. We had a few showers together and she was so excited by my shampoo and was asking me all these typcal girly questions and washing my hair. It was really nice. Anyway I realise shes just a little girl growing up into a woman and finding her way and i liked her a lot more. Shes very eager, smart and exciteable and its good to see, a it bossy but hey who am I to talk?:P Anyway my last night I spent with Abe and on wednesday morning got up for my final breakfast with the family. Mama T was crying her eyes out because I was leaving and was just sitting behind the house and wouldnt go to school! I felt bad and realised I would miss the family a lot and was quite humbled by how much they were going to miss me too. I was very lucky to be with them and have them take care of me. Good old nesta helped carry my bags to the taxi and we hugged goodbye and I travelled up to the bus station where koffi was waiting. He was going to accompany me to accra and take me to where I could order and choose a djembe drum from a freind of his who makes them. So glad he came with me because accra on first inspection was friken intense. So loud and busy, people and tro-tros everywhere and people just screaming out random stuff. Anyway he took me to the art centre which is just like a market area where people are making and selling traditional african stuff. Its a place where many tourists go to buy souveniers (some literally get off the plane, stock up there and leave!) and is quite expensive. Anyway we met koffis friend called Kwasi and I chose a drum design for him to make for me. I chose 3 adinkra symbols from the book I bought (strength, spirituality and examination) which all have deeper meanings which I wont go into now, but is really special and should be awesome. Will pick it up at the end of my trip. Anyway I was going to go stay at some place called akuma lodge which was close by and in the lonely planet book and get the guys to take me there but Kwasi and Koffi both said that place has gone down hill over the past year and was not a very clean/safe/enjoyable place to stay anymore. Kwasi the guy who makes drums said I could stay with him for the few days before I move off if I liked! I was stoked and his junior brother godwin took me there straight away. The people here are so accomodating and friendly its amazing. Everyone says hello to each other in the morning and although admittedly some of the attention I get is very questionable there is little evil intent rather understandable oppurtunistic behavior which you can resist quite easily Kwasis house is right near a place called labadi beach and is very small, clean and perfect for the next few days. Kwasi says he has lots of people stay with him because he meets many travellers through his drums and was happy to have me. Both boys have been so helpful already and always call me to check up that I am okay while they are at work. I bought a cheap phone here in ghana and now have a ghana phone number and mobile to use which is very handy. The boys came home at about 6.30 and Kwasi who loves to cook made us a really nice stew with rice. Kwasi had 3 pictures on top of his tv of him and this ubrunni girl. When I asked godwin who she was he said she was kwasis girlfriend from america. Later Kwasi told me that he met her when she was in ghana and they got in a bit of relationship and became lovers for the time she was here but she never answers his emails anymore. It made me sad. There is a lot of that sort of dilusion around here and theres not much you can do about it but try and be tactfully honest..Anyway we watched some really random movie called The Gods Must Be Crazy which I think was british or something but was based in africa, it seemed like a sort of cult movie like Life of Brian or something? I was so tired that I fell asleep before it finished. That morning I woke up and walked to the toilet with the boys (they use a public toilet nearby which you pay for) then me and kwasi made breakfast. He is intent on teaching me how to cook and i spilt water everwhere:P He also told me that traditionally you have to do things such as eat, pay for money and shake hands with your right hand because it is believed you wipe your ass with your left! Must remember that. Anyway they went off to work and I caught a tro-tro to an area called Nima where I was meeting with a lady called mercy from volunteer program called iKando to see whether we could organise me working for them for awhile. They were very nice and it seems to be all going ahead despite the late notice from me, I will start next monday working at the refugee camp as a teacher/assistant teacher for 2 weeks. My plans are already changing dramatically but it is all working out. I am trying to not make big promises anymore because it is so hard when travelling and peoples feelings are at stake. People in ghana are very big on sticking to your word so if you cant stick to it 100 percent dont say it. Its a good theory. the people here have such a subtle spirtuality. like yeah there is all the christian stuff which many of them proclaim loudly and proudly but what I have found to be much more endearing and interesting is this really simplistic and beautiful nature of some of the people. Its like there is so need to go into some deep philosphical debate all the time, things are just what they are. When I was saying to Godwin yesterday afternoon how helpful everyone was being and how lucky I was blah etc blah he just replied with. "Its nice to be nice" I loved that! I will always be an analyser but its nice to be indirectly put in my place here, pulled back down to earth and reminded of the imporant things. Yay for ghana. x

Drumming, Dancing, Dungeons and Dinosaurs

Hello.

So I havent written since friday so there is a bit to catch up on as its monday afternoon now. I will try to remember. Friday night I think I went to bed pretty early because I was so wrecked from my day at Kakum. Played some games with the kids though and we did all the hand clapping stuff which was fun (apple on a stick etc) Mama T is such a bossy bitch and whenever sofia tries to join in with me she likes slaps her and growls stuff in fanti! Its so mean. She just likes to be the centre of attention and is definitely her mothers daughter.

Saturday woke up and went to Assasipa (where the asanti guys rehearse) and practiced there. The rest of the day was spent wandering around with Abe. I told the guys at ashanti that kookua was a bit of a control freak and I was feeling quite suffocated so when abe came home with me they ended up having a conversation about my safety etc but how they had to give me my space as well. She has toned it down a lot since then. Kookua made fufu that afternoon and I had a go at making it (involves pounding with a massive stick) and everyone stood around rather amused at my style. The fufu was awesome though and we had it with chunks of meat, big whole crabs and fish. Oh Ya Day (Tastes good) I am learning a lot more of the local language now and its really nice when you walk along the street and the people realise you speak a bit of fanti..They are always really smiley and happy about it, suprised that an ubruni has bothered i guess. It's nice. I sometimes get over being a novelty though its like with many of the people here Im always a bit of a joke. However its usually all in good humour really, Im just over sensitive. its definitely good to have abe and koffi around because those guys are just normal and I can be myself and not feel like they are looking at me i like I am some amusing foreign creature. Anyway Saturday night came home and ended up finally having an in depth religion discussion (I knew it was coming considering how hardcore christian the bigger towns in ghana are) The conversation was quite uncomfortable at times because I just didnt even want to tell him some stuff and just leave him to be ignorant. I have always thought that this concept of 'truth' is one of the most important things ever and everyone deserves to be informed and live honestly. But what is honesty and truth at the end of the day? Everyone twists and turns it to suit their owns lives and everyone lives in some form of dilusion. If it isnt hurting anybody then just let it go. These people really dont have much here and who am I to take away their faith if thats something which makes them happy. Its very easy to be philosphical and righteous when you are sitting on your leather couch at home eating a beautiful meal before popping off to your queen size bed and fluffy pillows. I wouldnt want to be told I have complete individual control over my life if all I could allow myself to think about every day was that I made enough money to feed the kids. Existentialism doesn't come cheap. Anyway I was still going to answer truthfully about what I thought about the bible and religion in general, credit to him, the pastor did listen to what I had to say and the discussion was perfectly mature. When he was saying that gay people were wrong and stuff though I started to get quite shitty, he thinks Im a lezbian now Im sure of it. haha cherry on the cake was when I asked him about where he thinks dinosaurs came from if adam and eve were the first people on earth...he hadnt even heard of dinosaurs! Ahh...even in a lot of the bookshops here 60 percent of the store is full of books on god and christianity, so what do you expect? Anyway I now have the local pastors intent on 'saving me' and keeps giving me little pamphlets and stuff about the path to righteousness etc. Im the ubrunni devil child. Anyway that night Kookua takes me down to this little bar tucked away behind some trees near our place. As soon as we got there she saw some friends and I was stuck with some really old sweaty ghanian man who kept hugging me and talking/slurring extremely loudly. I left very soon after that and went home. Abe came over later and we went out. Went to his house first and watched some more ghanian tv which was like some dating reality show (my speciality) which I really didnt understand. They definitely need to look into a ghanian Date My Mom. Later we ended up going to this place called Oasis which is like a big bar/hotel where lots of ubrunnis stay. Had a few drinks at the bar and ended up meeting this little rasta (farian) xylephone player who was some of Abes friends, we smoked a joint with him on the beach and then had a bit of a dance upstairs under a blue light to some regaae music. One of the asanti guys had a motorcycle so me and abe hoped on the back of that and got a lift home after (sorry mum!) Abe is basically my ghana boyfriend at the moment and we hold hands and stuff..aww cute! haha hes a great guy though.

Sunday morning I got up and had to go to church with Kookua and mama t. I thought it might be a bit exciting like black gospel people singing and shit so agreed to go along. Kookua made me wear this really ugly bright orange long sleeve thing, full decked out in african gear with matching headband, I looked like such a douche. It was so hot, I hadnt had much sleep and they kept buring incense throughout most of the service. I nearly chucked. I came home after it and went to sleep for a few hours then felt much better. Never again though. That afternoon I got up and decided to go check out Cape Coast Castle. It was converted into a castle by the dutch and british in the 1600's or something when they realised that the coast was full of gold and had vast trading opportunities. Anyway they did heaps of shit there but later on it was a significant port for the capture and trade of african slaves. Had a guided tour which was very intense and we went down into the male and female dungeons as well as the confinement cell. It was really disturbing seeing how small and dark these areas were and to hear the stories, the size of an average living room filled with like 200 people who had to sleep chained together amongst their faeces. The confinement cell was the scariest. That was where if one of the slaves who was slightly rebelious would be taken. No air, water, food or light, and left to rott. It was so extreme to just stand in that dark room and feel the walls and the pain of hundreds of people so many years ago. The way these people were treated was disgusting and disturbing. Anyway on a lighter note the tour guide was a pervert ha. Came home that night and watched Nesta climb a massive tree and get a paw paw from the top! It was kool as. He talks much more now and is quite outgoing. I realised the other day why he doesnt talk much though - he is shit as at english and half the time I dont think he knows what Im saying! But anyway I started feeling really homesick though, as I said felt over being a novelty and felt lonely and sad. Missed everyone especially my family and yeah just ended up having a big cry. Kookua was nice about it and conforted me. Its only been a week as well haha! I think I will definitely have more moments like that over the rest of my trip but majority of the time I am very happy. its only natural especially being alone. The place is so foreign and sometimes your just like fuck I want to be home watching mtv and eating potato salad and charcoal chicken chips. Anyway Abe came over again last night and we went to see that little rasta man alex from saturday perform in his drumming and dance troup. They are just like asanti and were doing a performance at this open bar area. It was very good. They have these friken awesome bugs here which I saw when we were walking home. They are like tiny fire flies but they hang out in long grass. So when you look out they all flash on and off moving around in the grass like fairy lights!! I was excited as seeing them and it was really pretty. I want to go check them out again tonight.

Today is Monday and was supposed to be my last day here in Cape Coast. Couldnt concentrate today at practice and I decided i wanted to stay another day so I could perfect both the dance and the drumming of the Cuckoo (?) before I leave. Have to do a performance for the troup tommorow as my graduation day! ahh. Anyway that's really all I can think of to say so I will sign off for now. Love you all please send more emails or leave a comment! xxx

Walking On the Treetops

Hello Hello. So I am feeling much better about everything at the moment. Best news of the day yesterday was when I came home, sophia runs up to me and she's like 'I get to go to school tommorow!!' I was so happy. dont know what the deal was, but obviously her dad figured something out. Anyway last night I came home and just started to be a bit more firm about what I wanted to do and how I could fit it in with their plans etc. I said that I wanted to go to Kakum national park tommorow no matter what which I was quite pleased about because kokua was nagging me to go to abbra with her in the morning. Last night was fun we had sausages and rice and sat around talking. Watched some Ghanian tv which is soo funny and ridiculous. I wish I could've taped it or something and brought it back. We watched the african movie of the night which starred this little midget man (literally an african dwarf) who leaves his rich christian home to pursue the high life- sex drugs women and parties. but on his trip this other african midget guardian angel dude keeps popping up whenever the midget starts being a rebel and fucks it up for him in the name of god . It was so funny because he treid to get a prostitute and the angel was like No No you know fornication is the devil. hahahah ahh..they also all love this show called rebeca which is like south amerrican or something and is dubbed in english. like a poor mans days of our lives/passions (and yes it is possible to get poorer than that!) anyway that was quite entertaining. we were sitting inside and this little kid belts through the door and jumps back so scared as soon as he sees me and screams UBRRUNNI! hhaha it was the funniest thing, I liked him straight away. When I started speaking a bit of fanti he was even more shocked. his name was henry or yeow (YEOW!) and he ended up dancing for us which I filmed. it was great and he was such a character. anyway went to bed feeling much better and woke up this morning for breakfast as usual. I realise how lucky I am to be treated so good by these people. sure there is a bit of a novelty ubrunni obession and I sometimes find it a bit suffocating but kokua is always looking out for my welfare and saying "Safety First!" She always gives me such large servings and says BIG BIG! and asks me if I am okay all the time.. I really do appreciate everything at the end of the day. everyone helps me with working out the currency and how to get places and I dont know what I wouldve done if I wasnt staying with them. Anyywaay today I walked into town and met up with abe who showed me where to catch a tro-tro to Kakum national park. The tro-tro was extremely hot, fast, noisy and crowded.. I enjoyed it though. Saw heaps of big eagles flying around on the way there and even saw a massive one lift off from the road next to us which was awesome! the driving here is pretty atrocious most of the time but we got there. Kakum national park is this massive protected tropical forrest area which is famous for its tree top canopy walk which lifts about 40 metres off the ground. There are only a few in the world and I'm sure you would;ve seen pictures. They are like swaying foot bridges which pass from tree to tree. Anyway waited around for the tour to begin and bought a book of indigeous ghanian symbols and their meanings which was awesome. On our tour there was a big group of school children, 3 germans and an old dutch couple. As we approached the first little bridge I heard some rumblings of thunder and it started to spit. We let all the school kids rush ahead but me and the 2 dutch people were right at the end and took the tour quite slow. Before I knew it it was absolutely bucketing down and i was loving it, There I am walking these tiny little swaying bridges looking out on absolutely humongous trees and really lush vegetation as huge raindrops fall, soaking me to the skin. It was absolutely awesome and beautiful and i loved every minute! I cant even explain how it felt and I just kept laughing to myself as I stood looking out, how good it was. At each tree there was a platform where you could stop and I had a few chats with the old couple from Holland, they were a nice pair but we sort of kept to ourselves. It wasnt really a talking experience. After that finished I paid 2 dollars for a picture which was taken by a photographer of me on the bridge which is good to keep. After that I walked out to the side of the road and waited for a tro-tro to pass by. After about a minute a white car pulls out of Kakum with the old dutch couple (bram and mekin?) in it and another man called peter driving. They were driving to cape coast and offered me a lift! Yes! They were really nice people and the guy peter has been living in africa for 17 years now. Got sick of his life at home and his marriage ended , so down he comes. He has driven through the sahara desert and works in conservation. kool guy. Anyway came back and was still dripping wet so walked home. My nose is extremely sensitive today for some reason and I am noticing every smell to the extreme, body odour, poo, chicken, rice, lollies, fish, ocean. My sense of smell has become noticeably heightened. I was thinking smell is the sense linked strongest to memory so maybe theres so much to take in here that my nose is working over time. I dont know whatever it is its started today and isnt always a good thing considering the open drains/sewers! I am now exhausted. was an awesome day though and I am excited about what lies ahead. love you all.

Want To Be Happy? Marry an Ubrunni.

Hi Hi. So it is now thursday the 8th at about 1pm or something. I am feeling a bit up and down at the moment but I will catch up with all that has happened over the few days before I get to now, bear with me. So Tuesday night I came home and hung around with the kids and stuff. I let them come into my room which I think was a big mistake in itself. They were having a look at all my stuff and kept mama t (13 year old) kept saying how everything I had was so beautiful and she was really excited. I never wear my sunglasses here and she really loved them so I told her she could have them if she liked. She then went on to ask whether she could have one of my dresses, one of my hats etc etc which made me feel both guilty and uncomfortable. Sophia the cute 7 year old came in looking upset and they started having a conversation in fanti..mama t told me that sophia was upset because she couldnt go to school yet because her dad could not afford the fees. That made me really sad because sophia is the most awesome little chick and so sweet. Mama T shits me a bit because shes quite calculating and tries to take advantage of me at times but sophia is the bomb and I really love her. So anyway I asked mama t how much school fees are and she said it was about 40 cedi maybe which is like 40 australian dollars!! I'm not sure how long that was for but I was like shit man I'd pay that, that's nothing! I have a feeling Mama t then went out to the rest of the family, spread the news about how much stuff I have and that I wanted to help sophia out, it was a snowball effect from there. When I joined them outside they all kept talking in fanti which really pissed me off because I had picked up it was about me and it was very obvious. Sophia's dad then comes over, sits next to me and asks me whether I will take Sophia back to Australia with me and take care of her because she loves me. I have a feeling when some of you read this you will laugh because it seems so ridiculous but I can assure you it was 100 percent serious and really upsetting considering his situation and the fact that I really care for sophia. I tried to make light of it and just kept saying ohh you will miss her too much etc..but he kept going on and on and sophia is sitting there starting up at me with her innocent little face and I was just like no no you really don't understand I cant take her. Kokua was not even supporting me at this stage and I just felt really ganged up on, like I was some selfish white girl who only cares about myself. I know this is not the case but it was really distressing. Then some guy comes into the courtyard and introduces himself to me and starts interogating me about my 'mission in ghana' and why I am here. I ended up feeling really uncomfortable again and had to say 'im sorry but do you have a problem with me being in your country?' he was very taken aback and was like OH NO NO NO NO! I have noticed Ghanaian people place this big importance on respect for everyone, but animosity towards white people is still sometimes prevelant but they try to present it in this really subtle way, it's not very nice to experience. Sophias dad then comes up to me and tries to give me this bracelet. He had just begged me to take his daughter from him, I decline, and he gives me a piece of jewellery? There's no way I was taking it and I refused. He seemed really offended and hurt and we had this sort of verbal struggle as we passed the bracelet back and forth. I got really upset at that point and I told them I didn't come to ghana to be made to feel bad about where I come from and how much money I have. Then it was sort of dropped but I felt very depressed for the rest of the night and went to bed quite early. Even the next morning at drumming/dancing I was feeling quite strange and it took me ages to get into it. My mind was somewhere else. The asanti guys are really cool though and it's nice to have them to hang with. The family are great but I sometime feel like I am their little white doll and that I have to constantly be so courteous, respectful and obliging to the point of suffocation. Asanti guys are much more laid back about everything. After my lessons I went and hung out with Tita and Abe (tita is the director abe is the sexual dance teacher) we went into town and I got a bottle of coke. (They are massive here and in glass bottles) We had some great discussions about western society vs here and it was very interesting. They are definitely at a different point of evolution, but so far I have been shown that evolution really has shit all to do with fundamental values. It made me think a lot about the links between money, selfishness, greed and compassion. Anyway we then went and got a famous ghana dish called fu fu. Its like this savoury dough stuff which they pound with a big long wooden stick/mallet called a kasava or something. It was alright but the dough here is too much for my stomach. Haven't gotten sick yet though, TOUCH WOOD!! They also filled me in on general young people stuff . Abe asked me about the bush parties which we have here! hahah Even the africans want a piece of the bush doof action, can you blame them? Coke is the drug of choice here by the way. they also sell one hundred percent alcohol in these barrels and I didn't believe that people actually drink it so we went and tried some..tasted like 100 percent to me...urgh! anyway I then took Abe to the internet because he really wants to apply to be in cirque de sole. Although their website boasts they want people from all different countries and cultures they make it pretty damn hard to apply online if your not from australia/america etc. That pissed me off. we are going to film a clip of him dancing later this arvo and I will try my best to get it onto the computer, but I'm doubtful..That night I came home and Mama T and I went to a place called Abbra to see Kokua at her work. Lots of attention there, I am going to leave on Tuesday morning because I feel like I can not give some of these people what they want and I am over feeling guilty. it's like if you give an inch they take a mile and I have to learn how to say no and be strong. Kokua and her son have some warped idea that me and him are going to fall in love and get married I think and he keeps calling me and trying to get me to come to accra. I am starting to doubt how much of Kokua's love for me is really genuine and how much is fueled by the fact that she wants me to have babies with her son and take him to australia..I have decided once I leave this place the story is I officially have a boyfriend back in australia and we are going to get married, I should've done that from the start but I didn't think the 'Oo here's rich ubrunni who can change my life' idea would be so prevalent. On a whole I have been treated very kindly here and the people are nice but I think it will be more pleasant if I am a taken woman. Me and Abe hung out last night had a drink and went to the beach. There were a few 'kiss the girl' little mermaid moments (disney fans will understand) but I decided against it...neh. Anyway I am going to go to this national park tomorow I think do some more lessons and church this weekend, start standing my ground and leave tuesday morning.

Sweatylicious

Hello Hello!

So it is now tuesday about 1pm i think and I seriously feel like I have been here for a week or so. Considering Im going to be around for another two months I have a feeling adjusting back to normal melbourne life is going to proove to be quite difficult. ah well deal with that when I come to it I suppose! So umm when I got home yesterday I chilled out with the fam for a bit. They have welcomed me so much it is really beautiful and nice. My aunty/mum is called kokua (pronounced koh-koo-ah) and she is the best. She wasnt around last night and I missed her. When you are in such a foreign environment you really rely on people who make you feel comfortable. you need those 'rocks' or you're fucked. There's this little girl sophia who is the cutest little thing, whenever i havent seen her in awhile she runs up and shakes my hand and then just stand there and doesnt let go. All the kids are pretty quiet around me and they sometimes they just stand there staring but they let out huge bursts of giggles more and more as time passes. They had a ball with my camera last night and took heaps of photos of all of us. Esna who is my 18 year old brother is so kool as well. Theres just something really comforting about him. He hardly says a word and when he does I have to get him to repeat it about 5 times (perhaps why he chooses to say nothing to me:P) but he is always around looking out for me. Last night he knocked on my door, came into my room, and just sat on my bed next to me saying nothing at all really. It was really nice though. I have given up always trying to make conversation with him because its all in vein,I think he will talk in his own time if he wants too. I really like him. I had to walk to the asanti dance room place for the performance and he came along with me. Met up with Koffi and when we got there we watched a drumming and dance performance by the guys, it was really awesome. One of them had the best body ever, topless, sweaty..shaking his hips and booty ahhh - hot. hahah I got introduced to all of them but can hardly remember there names. That is a big problem Im having here. I am absolutely terrible at remembering names and here it is considered very important to adress people by their name when you speak to them.they sound so foreign as well which makes it harder..but anyway Im trying! I definitely can't get away with calling people dude, man and bro anymore though:P So Esna and I walked home after the performance, he showed me lots of shortcuts which I treid to put in the memory bank. Heaps of kids call out Ubrunnnii How Are You!? now. When I say 'Im good how are you!' they just laugh their asses off...its a bit of a novelty so you just go with it. Its funny when older people say it because its not really social ettiquette to yell out Hello White Woman! and most adults know that, you get the occasional ubudan? (crazy person) yelling it though.. Ah I could keep writing so much more, all the little details i dont want to forget..which you might not give a shit about..well jsut skim over the boring bits and let me go yes? So ummm yeah we came home then and I ate pineapple and met some new people. There was this guy called called joohe who was very spritely and intelligent, he ended up asking for my adress which lots of the men do so I may be receiving some mail from him now:P I have had about 6 direct and indirect marriage proposals. and kookuas son who hasnt even met me yet is full serious and calls her phone all the time to speak to me hahaha he is a vegetarian nurse from accra. I met another guy who invited me to come to their school tomorow cause he is setting up a volunteer program there or something, so I will check that out I think. Everyone is just very friendly and if not friendly, perfectly decent and i am very lucky. I feel quite ashamed of my wealth sometimes when I walk around and am quite hesitant to take photos in busy areas, I feel like I am being patronising or something. Of course it is impossible to just blend in, but there is enough of a difference being white let alone flashing around my wealth. Its jsut a weird insecurity. I am also quite hesitant to buy things yet because I suck with all the money and am only just comign to grips with the currency -they are going through a currency change at the moment so there is old and new floating around. Even when I get ripped off I get annoyed but remind myself that come on, I am paying 80 cents for a bottle of water instead of 50, these guys dont have much - put it into perspective! Ummm anyway where was i? So took esna and mama t (shes 13 and a little fire cracker) to the internet cafe last night cause they wanted to see harry potter which they had heard about. I had to search through for clips which WERENT 'harry potthead' or some hermoine porn which was quite difficult, but we watched a few bits of footage from that and came home. I was absolutely wrecked so went to bed at 8pm. They wake up sooo early here. muslim man is harping into his mic at like 4am so bedtime is pretty damn early for me. This morning I woke up and had breakfast with the family again. Its still quite hard to stomach in the morning..had hot as chilli, those little fish and the salty dough again which is called buku or something. Kukua took me into her room and pulled up her dress showing me 2 strings of beads which you wear just above your underwear. She got me to pick some beads then made me some for around my waist too, plus a bracelet. It was nice:) She told me how much a cab would cost to asanti (20 cents) and esna walked me up and put me in cab. Once esna left the cab driver told me I had to pay 1 cedi insteadf of the decided 2,000 (which is only about a dollar anyway) but I decided I'd walk. Esna had already left and I started to doubt my memory on all his shortcuts, but started walking in the general direction anyway. After about 5 minutes, Whaddya know my faithful Esna pops up and asked me what I was doing, he then led me so I knew where I was :) i love esna. So dancing and drumming was soo good this morning. Abe (ab-eh) is the head dancer and I started off doing two hours with him. We got about half way through a dance called the CUCK-COO (im sure its spelt differently) and it was great. I had never done african dance before but he was a great teacher and we had a lot of fun. I sweated about 3 Big Day Outs worth of perspiration by the end and was absolutely dripping throughout the entire session. He moves his body amazingly and is a pretty sexual character. When I watched them perform I actually found him more sexual than 6 pack sweaty man, he just moves really well and has a big penis too..hahahah ah thats so inappropriate considering I have some family friends and relatives reading this but he does!- prooving the big black penis theory correct! haha anyway so that was great. Its really interesting how much I am learning about myself from some of these people and the things I am doing. African dancing is so metaphorical for a perfect way to live your life spiritually. I could write a whole essay on that shit but I wont bore you - ask me when I get back if you care. But yeah I felt really inspired. Drumming was good too, we only did an hour of that because I was tired out and koffie is feeling sick. But I love drumming there are many many life lessons in that too. Tita is the director at asanti at the moment and he is a nice man too. We went into town and did some stuff then I bought another pineapple, water and a bread role and here I am! Kukua wanted me to go visit her at her market stall but I dont know where it is so I might go try and find out. Tommorow I am going to do some more drumming and dance but we have to go out of town to a beach because in cape coast it is illegal to drum on a wednesday! apparently this is when the gods are having their day of rest therefor if you drum you will disturb them. The cops will full arrest you if you do, take you to the palace in town and then you have buy a cow and some goats and drinks for the cheifs if you want to get out of it.hahaha I asked them what their gods were and we had a chat that the cape caost gods are really anything you want them to be. You can go to the beach and pick up a rock and make it your god. Its your own perspective and decision to make whatever you have your own god and the power is within you etc. I liked that. Even if it is now just a bit of a scam so the cheifs can get pissed and have a feast thats much kooler than the Jesus crap in my opinion. Anywaysss I think thats all for me now! off to eat my pineapple and chill out. I feel so hot and a bit burnt. I had my first shower here yesterday. Its just a bucket of water which you pour on yourself. .rougghiin it. Im sweating so much though which is great for the skin. I hear from some of you that you have to get a google account to comment on this thing..which is shit. Some of you have sent emails which is awesome so if you can be bothered send me one!Love to hear from you. thanks for all the emails so far. and who the hell is leicum or whatever who left a comment? anyone know..? Byyyyeee!

Abbana is Bakkuu (Vanessa is Good!)

So we wandered along the streets of cape coast and headed for the main town. There were little kids running off to school in their uniforms, people setting up there shops and washing their clothes, random animals everywhere! scrawny chickens, kittens, dogs, goats, lizards... The day begins so early here as it was already bustling and it was only really 7am or something ridiculous. It is only about 11 now or something and feels about 4. Anyway there are taxis everywhere on the streets constantly tooting which koffi said is basically like a form of advertising, so we dont forget they are there for us to use. (like its hard) I havent seen a white person yet apart from when we went and had a drink at this hotel by the beach. Koffi said a lot of westerners come here and just stay in the big, nice hotles, drive briefly through the town with their windows down then reside swiftly back to their hotels and cocktails..thats shit as. I get a bit of attention but nothing overwhelming. Little school kids yell out Ubbinee or something sometimes when they see me which means white person. Koffie told me how to say black person so I can yell it back to them but I cant remember! Ubbididi? so many things to take in I can barely get my own name right! There were shitloads of white people on the plane here so obviously they are all somewhere, but yeah i didnt see one today. I met a guy on the plane who has been working in the mining industry in ghana for the past two years and says he works with heaps of australians and there are a lot here. Ghana was originally called the gold coast and he told me they still excavate (word) very large amounts of gold and have for the past 40 years. we walked through the main street. I saw tomatoes being dried in the sun which I thought was awesome, women and men with heaps of stuff on their heads. ah so much. So many sites and I didnt have my camera so I think I will go into town and get some food soon and take some pictures. Im not sure whether I will get more attention now that I am not with koffi though..time will tell. We went down to the beach which was lovely palm trees etc and there were fishermen pulling in nets from the ocean and singing while they worked. Will take a closer look tomorow. I had to pay koffi for the tro-tros and taxis and stuff which ended up being like 30 cedi (which is basically 35 australia) which is shitloads over here, considering I just paid like 60 cents for one hour internet and you buy one pineapple for like 60 cents. Bit of a rip But i figure asanti are a business too and they have been really good so thats okay. I think i will only stay here for a week or something because I wont be able to afford so many lessons but we will see. Aunty (i really need to get her name again) wants to take me to church on sunday haha. there is A LOT of jesus loving going on here. massively christian and muslim community (man singing this morning was doing his prayers) in the main towns while more traditional beliefs I think are further up the country. although ghana is still a very young country so traditions are far from ancient. Many taxis with CLAP FOR JESUS and I LOVE THE LORD on them, little churches everywhere and jsut lots of jesus paraphenelia in general.. from marijuana postcards in amsterdam to religious bumper stickers..love it. koffi doesnt even go to church now because he has dreadlocks and everyone looks down on him. everyone needs to believe in something i guess. anyway ive crapped on wayy too much and I know not all of you will even be fucked reading all this. I need some food or something. I wish I could make this more descriptive and really paint the picture but its hot and I suck at descriptive writing. Im at an internet cafe right near where im staying by the way. Going to the asanti rehearsal place later and they are going to give me a performance which should be good...medassi for reading ..bye!

Yah man!

Okay so hi again. So I left the airport and came out of baggagge to heaps of people downstairs holding signs with hotels or names of people on them. I searched for mine but couldnt see anything and was sent to the information booth. They then informed me that anyone with a pickup has to report to information and no one had come for me yet.(It was already about 8.30pm and my flight arrived at 7.30) I started to get a tad worried and no one was answering the only contact number I had..ahh After about 15 minutes of sitting in the information booth really getting nowhere I decided to walk outside and see if someone was perhaps out there waiting for me. There was this big long baracade fence with shitloads of ghanians standing behind it watching everyone leave the airport, some were taxi drivers trying to get business, some had signs and some were just having a squizz. I was starting to stress at this stage and begun to frantically peer closely at all the the pieces of paper hoping there would be something with my name on it. suddenly I see the funky looking dude with dreds holding up a sign saying VANIKA AUSTRALIA! close enough! I just hugged him straight away, I was so happy. His name was Koffi and he is a performer/drummer from cape coast from asanti music theatre which is where I am starting in ghana and will do some lessons etc. He is a kool guy, very helpful and says YAH MAN all the time which is funny as. We got in a cab and caught it out to a tro-tro station in accra. It was hot and wet at this stage but I was just so pumped trying to soak everything in. accra is the main capital so it is quite established but there is just so much variety, everywhere you look something is going on. This was a sunday night at about 10pm and there was a market still going. Woman with big bowls balancing on their heads, and young rowdy men screaming shit in fanti (a local language here) and people sleeping on doorsteps. so many taxis and buses everywhere. We hopped into a parked tro-tro which was going directly to cape coast and waited. i think we waited 2 hours in that thing. The way they work is you pay your fare then you just sit and wait for them to fill up before you leave...no matter how long it takes. (Tro-tros are any form of transport which isnt a taxi, so they are like different kinds of mini-busses which will take you anywhere. ) When we hopped on there were only 2 other people in it, so we had to wait for about 10 more people to come aboard before we could even leave! Apparently they are usually quite fast but because this was direct and it was a wet sunday we had the short end of the stick in regards to numbers. Compared to people back in melbourne cracking the absolute shits at Connex if their train is 5 minutes late this accepted norm was pretty amazing to see. We bought these frozen yoghurt things from one of the men selling them outside our tro-tros window. They have these glass carts with a little candle in them and they open them up and there are frozen yoghurts in a cabinet underneath for you to buy. There are also people who have the yoghurts in a glass case on their head, and some on bikes. These guys hover around the main streets and parked tro-tros trying to make a living. Anyway after sitting around listening to gospel reggae, talk back and mariah carey on late night ghana radio we were full up and off. Took ages to get to cape coast and koffi dropped me at this little place where I was staying. It was very late and dark by this stage so he said he would come for me in the morning and show me around. My room is green walls with a bed in the right hand corner, that's it. Its simple and clean though and tehre is a fan. I set up my mosquito net and listened to all the sounds outside before drifting off to sleep. There were heaops of roosters making cocka-doodle doo sounds at like 1am which was rather random. I was woken up at about 5-5.30am by some man singing something in a different language. All I know it was terribly off key, he had a microphone and it was fucking early. He repeated this every 20 minutes and the roosters were going beserk. I could hear people outside but had no idea where I was and who they were so I was a bit hesitant to even come out of my room. By about 6.30 I was wide awake and opened my door to my new family. Straight away there were these ghana boys about 16-20 who said hello ansd welcomed me. I was shown to a toilet. I cant even explain this shit its so surreal but I totally embraced it and loved it. There is like all these little rooms around a sort of courtyard area. There are bucket showers and a drop toilet around the back. From what I can gather some of them are related some are just friends but they all live in this little establishment called antien? The main lady gave me the fanti name abbana (spelling) and they have all started calling me that. I helped them cook breakfast by faning the fire and I was invited to eat with some of the kids. this dsalty dough stuff with these little fish still with heads all shrivelled and sauce. It was hard to stomach for breakfast but didnt taste too bad. I have to finish here which sucks because I have already been on for an hour but I think i will pay for another and finish off because there is so much to say. Its so hard to pronounce peoples names let alone remember them. But I know how to say How are you? Im fine, im good! OSTEN DAN BUKKAW OHH YEAHH hahah it sounds better when they say it but mmm.. my little aunty (cant remember her name) always jsut says ABBANNNAA OSTEN DAN SOMETHING..and Im like OHHH YEAA (which means im fine) the kids are so cute and they are so nice. aunty lady wants to do my hair for me tomorow and they are going to take me to cape coast castle. koffi rocked up after a few hours and we headed into town.

filling in the gaps

ahhh hello! well where to start. hello from ghana i have arrived. i dont even know what to say okay. so Ill start back in amsterdam on the saturday night. nothing really interesting happened. came home and went out with anika and flo to china town and some other parts of amsterdam city, met up with two of their german friends patrick and another elena.then we left them and came home for dinner and had a beautiful thai prawn curry and more red wine:) patrick and elena told us they would meet up with us later so at about 9 they called and were off their faces. They each decided to pass time by eating big fat space muffin at one of the coffee shops which were labelled NOT FOR BEGINNERS...haha they were stoned as. Patrick was having minor panic attacks and kept forgetting to breath so I did some breathing excercises with him and we drank more vodka and laughed at them. Anika flo and I then went out to a few bars nothing massive just had a few drinks and a chat. There was this really cute black cat at one of the heiniken bars and it jumped on my lap and we made friends (pictures on myspace once again) Ah came home to bed and left in the morning. fare evaded on the train once again (rebel) and got to the airport. I really started to feel more at ease as soon as I headed for the departure gate for ghana. just felt more relaxed and in myself than the past few days. bought a bottle of water from a dude at the airport who upon recognising I was Australian was like ANTHONY CALLEA ROCKS BY THE WAY! hahah i laughed. he said he would love to sing with him and I said he was a dickhead (which he didnt understand) I then got him to sing to me and he belted out some song from Hairspray on cue. ahh americans gotta love em:P So yeah flight was pretty good this time, KLM lifted their game. We flew over the swiss alps and had an awesome view which was great. Lots of interesting looking people on the flight. Heaps of middle aged men actually. Okay so got out of immigration which took ages (thank god they didnt even check the yellow fever vaccination cause I left mine at home) and came out of ghana. okay im stopping this blog ehre because I feel ghana needs a nicer introduction.

PHOTOS ON MYSPACE myspace.com/vanessa5745

Netherlandian Nuff Nuff

Greetings earthlings.
I do feel as if I am in another world right now so felt that was appropriate to say. Had dinner with elena (her name isnt elenore oops) and anika last night, we had spag bol and had a chat over a bottle of red. Both girls are really lovely and helpful which I am greatly appreciative of! Elena made a great comment when I told her I was still feeling a little overwhelmed..she told me to give my soul some time to catch up with my body. That really made sense to me: i think after being so high up in the air after such a long flight there is no possible connection with the earth or an opportunity to ground. I think our souls just get stuck back in our mother country for a short period when we travel and it needs time to catch up with us and bring us back down to earth. I still feel I am hovering between the ground and the clouds at the moment although I think I'm slowly coming down.Decided to stay in and go to sleep rather than go out (weak i know) but my head hit the pillow at about 9. Woke up today thinking I had slept in, before looking out the window and realising it was only the wee hours of the morning and I had about 5 hours left of sleep left! had to force myself back to dreamland which was suprisingly easy.Woke up and had breakfast with Anika and her boyfriend who is visiting at the moment from germany.I gave him some vegemite to try which he said wasn,t bad! Anika didn,t want to try any after her first experience with the stuff. I left the lovebirds alone for some 'catchup' time and went for a wander into the town. Anika gave me her map and said I was welcome to use her bike but I decided to go on foot for the first part. There are so many kool looking people around. there's this really natural sophistication that all europeans have, it can be quite intimidating at times. Went to these really funky markets which had absolutely awesome stuff there.boots, warm hats, jackets jewellery and a shitload of marijuana pariphenalia (spelling?) I definitely think I,ll be back for a shopping expedition on the way home and will have to buy another bag for it too..Decided to walk into one of the famous coffee shops and ended up buying a joint, couldn't even work the lighter properly and it took me several attempts to even light up. haha ah eventually I got it going and smoked a bit of that and watched the boats float by on the canal. I was walking down a sidestreet and these absolute feral bogens were stumbling around. One had a jacket saying 'fuck you you fucking fuck' and they said hello to me. I commented on toothless #1's lovelychoice of clothing, he thanked me and proceeded to piss on a tree. I went to take a photo of his back thinking it a hilarious site, when he whips around mid stream! So my picture missed his t-shirt slogan but captured his urine shooting through the air. magic. Apparently lots of people were pissing in the street here so now they have these open urinals around the town. I decided to go home and attempt to do what locals do and go for bike ride. The bike was so huge and heavy that after fumbling around for ages, when I tried to get on I fell right off and into a bunch of other bikes..haha. this guy told me all his australian friend couldn't do it either so that made me feel a BIT better..loooseer. Unable to light a joint or ride a bike...so not cut out for amsterdam! so anyway that killed my buzz a bit and I came upstairs, back to the flat. Anika and Flu (short for something..) were home and I ended up going to china town and walking around a bit with them and two of their friends. I feel like I am intruding on their lover weekend a bit but they are so nice and welcoming and I guess I'll be gone tomorow anyway. I have more things to say but we are going out tonight and I better go. Might write up another blog tomorow morning then it's down to Ghana I go. x

Floating in the dam..

Hello there

So it is 6.30pm on a friday and i have just spent 10 minutes looking for the friken @ key on this dutch laptop. I am staying in a little student flat in a highrise building in amsterdam with two girls called Anika and Elenore. I was put in touch with them by a friend from germany who used to go on runs with anika in ireland...or something..either way I am here and staying two nights before I go down to Ghana. Feeling quite overwhelmed at the moment. I met some dutch girls in the waiting area for my amsterdam flight who had just been in New Zealand studying lame cows (as you do) Played cards with them while we waited for the plane. KLM (dutch airways) was shithouse compared to Qantas and the flight was pretty crap.. There was a lovely flight attendent man with very kind eyes though so I forgave them for their lack of mini tvs, alternative films, itchy rugs and shit food. A man with kind eyes can do that:P So got off the flight and went to get my luggage. Was then thrown into absolute mayhem at Schipol station. Due to a lack of arms I had to wear all the clothes I was holding, balance a bag in each hand and a mother of backpack on my back. Sweating like a bitch I wandered around trying to work out where the hell to go, so many people I asked weren,t even from amsterdam so they had no idea either. As I waited in line to buy a ticket a man came up to me and asked me if I was going to Central Station because him and his girlfriend had just bought an extra ticket accidently, so yay I got a freebie, looking like an uncomfortable sweaty tourist does sometimes pay off! I havent had time to even take in where I am but the streets are full of funky looking people on their bicycles. Everyone rides a bike here and there are these cute little canals with boats just outside anikas bedroom window. I have also noticed that a typical fashionable dutch man has this fullivy league thing goin on...tweed jacket, straight leg jeans, nice shoes. Very different to the fluro metro thing. I have my own room here because some of the other housemate re never home so that's sweet. As I said still feeling pretty overwhelmed and emotional. Not having someone to share the experience with in its entirety makes it harder to adjust I think. But hey its the second day in, I'll get there. Off to have a shower now. Mmm.. x

P.s Global roaming hasn't worked on my phone so don't bother messaging..stupid optus.

Share the Love

Hello everyone! So it is only the second day of my trip and I am already on the bloody computer! I am currently at the hong kong airport where they have free, fast internet access and have to wait another hour to check in so here I am! The plane from melbourne was a bit late but I met some friends (both were going to end up on contiki tours..urgh) in the waiting area and we ended up having a chat, They were nice kids. I was so excited when I first rocked up out of customs. Everyone around me seemed so relaxed and almost complacent and I was jsut jumping out of my skin and dropping stuff everywhere. Scatterbrain. When I finally got my shit together and sat down an old man smiled and winked at me knowingly..it was nice:) I liked my flight, The man next to me really wasn't down for a chat and his shoe-less feet smelt friken disgusting, I had a little honky kid behind me kicking my seat for awhile but apart from that it was all good! they had awesome movies playing which I was rapt about...full art-house and independent film section with shitloads..I was so tired though that I only watched one. After I got off the plane I walked like 2 kilometres around the Hong Kong airport trying to find where the hell I was supposed to be, some giggling asian men yelled hello to me which was cute. There are so many travellers around, all going on their own little adventures whatever they may be, it's quite exciting. A lot of people in their own worlds though, I feel like I'm always so desperate to connect with everyone and I need to learn to accept some people just want you to fuck off..hahah I'm intent of putting it out there though, because I think deep down everyone likes making a new friend. Okay I'm going to go now because I don't have much more to say. Thanks for the letters Dad and Tanaaz, I cried in both they were so lovely! I'm realising what a big deal it is to be here by myself. And how every moment is mine and mine alone. It's quite confronting to realise that and I think there are going to be some big lessons learnt while I'm away..bring it on I say. Love yas! x