Last few days.....

Wednesday

Today we left Kumasi, and headed off on our journey to Cape Coast. We headed back to the orphanage for a final goodbye- emotional, but it was lovely to see that the children were ok, and looked happy playing with the equipment that we had left with them!

The journey to Cape Coast was bumpy, but was also very interesting, seeing African villages along the way- we even stopped to use the non-existent toilet, and also had a stop as our tro-tro needed a new tyre!

On the way to Cape Coast, we stopped off at Kakum national park. Visiting the park was amazing- it is a beautiful tropical rainforest, with lianas, buttress roots and basket ferns- the lot! We had a 10 minute walk up to the high rope course, a wood and rope contraption about 30ft up in the air through the canopy of Kakum's rainforest! It was awesome to be able to look down into the tops of the trees, and up to the really tall ones, but it was also a bit daunting- I'm sure Becky will agree! It was quite a way down, and a bit wobbly.

We then headed on to Cape Coast, and we were all very excited to see the sea! It looks very different to other places that we have visited, with sandy beaches, boats pulled up to the shore, and lots of palm trees! Our accommodation is really lovely- the Babob foundation, aiming to teach skills and provide employment for the locals. Claire and Cara were very excited to discover it's vegetarian restaurant, where Ellie decided to try Palava sauce- we still aren't sure what to make of it!!

Thursday

Today, after being woken up by a loud man praying and some gospel singing, we explored  Cape Coast. We enjoyed watching the waves at the beach before going on the visit the slave castle. Ghana, especially the coastal regions, have been subject to much fighting over by varying countries, but after a colourful history of invading European countries, including Denmark and Holland, the English gained control of Ghana, and therefore Cape Coast Castle. The English established the slave trade in Ghana, capturing Ghanaian people and taking them to America or to work in plantations- somthing that we were all appalled at. The English stored slaves in the Cape Coast castle, and so visiting was quite moving. It was very emotional to see the dungeons in which men and women would stand for up to 3 months in the dark, cramped conditions before being moved on the ships. We also saw a room where the slaves would be assessed by prospective purchasers, and the "gates of no return", which when the Ghanaians passes, the lost their rights, property and identity.

Whilst we were inside, Mary and Leah met a young girl selling water, who helped them to try carrying water sachets in a large bowl on their heads- apparently it was really hard and very heavy. We then headed back to our accommodation for lunch, before packing our bags into the minibus, and heading to just outside of the settlement to a very special experience- a dance and drumming workshop!

We started off singing a song, during which you had to go and dance in the middle of the circle, depending on the day that you were born- embarrassing , but highly amusing! We were most definitely out-danced by the workshop leaders. After a gruelling warm up in the Ghanaian sun (it was sort of sunny!!), we started to learn a traditional Ghanaian dwarf dance, which was nothing short of hilarious, as it included a lot of wiggling of our hips and moving our bodies in a way that I don't think any of us have before! Some of us (Becky....) got the wrong end of the stick of some of the moves, but in the end we all got the hang of it, and I think the teachers weren't too appalled.

We then did some African drumming , which was really good fun, and I thought it sounded amazing. We learnt some really cool rhythms, some with sticks and some with our hands, before amalgamating them all together. It required a lot of concentration, but even then Cara simply could not get the hang of one particular riff that we were taught!

We then had to say goodbye to Cape Coast, and set off to Accra- a very memorable journey to put it mildly. We experienced Accra's rush hour- involving driving between lanes, up the wrong lanes towards oncoming traffic, and even off the road! It's all part of the Ghana experience....

We arrived at our accommodation to find it located in a Muslim area of Accra, between 2 night clubs on the last day of Ramadan..... I can't say it was my best nights sleep ever!

Friday

:( Our last day in Ghana, and the last proper day of was had been the most incredible trip and experience ever!

We were picked up from our hostel by the Chief Commissioner of Ghana Girl Guides- who incidentally had been at an international guide camp in Settle, and bumped into Becky's grandparents!! She told us about her job, on the way to Guide training centre that we had visited and worked at on arriving in Ghana, which felt like a really long time ago! They seemed delighted with the equipment that we gave them.

We then went on to the Global Mama's shop- a fair-trade shop and foundation, aiming to empower Ghana's women. After lunch we returned to the first craft market we visited in Ghana, which was a lot less scary than the first time! We all spent pretty much every last Cedi that we had.... Claire, Cara and I spent about half an hour choosing then haggling over the cost of an awesome african Djembe drum each! It was a bit intimidating with 8 African guys all arguing over who was selling what to whom- but it sounds less so than Mary and Nat's experience. Everyone bought lots of lovely souvenirs and gifts, before heading back to the Hostel. We caused a racket drumming on our balcony- disrupting the leaders pre-dinner nap! We had a lot of careful packing to do, and spent a lot of time chatting and playing cards, before an early night.

Travelling

After getting up at 2am, we headed off to the airport (just as the night club music ended), saying goodbye to Ghana. We had to say goodbye to our drums, before snoozing in the airport, and then sleeping in the plane. We had a very long stop over (of about 6 hours?) in a very hot Casablanca airport, eating pizza, sleeping and browsing the shops! We then had another scary take-off (I think I was the only person scared though!), and saw the really dry deserts of Morrocco.

Landing in Gatwick was a very surreal experience..... toilets that flush with loo roll (!), lots of white people, and people not saying 'obrunei' too you! We had a tearful team hug and farewell to Claire, before setting off on what felt like a very  long drive back up north. We said goodbye to half our team at Knutsford and then arrived back home at Preston, to see all our parents waiting-.

it was very strange to see our parents- it was nice to have a big hug, and start on the telling of our many stories, but also the realisation that our trip was over.

 

The trip to Ghana has been amazing, crammed full of wonderful experiences that none of us will ever forget, meeting many special people along the way, being part of a fantastic team. I have learnt so much, and it is so touching to know that we made a difference to the lives of the children in the orphanage. It's so exciting now, sharing all my stories and photos with everyone.

 

Laura

LAST DAY AT KING JESUS CHARITY HOME

After 5 days of being at the orphanage we planned a fun sports day for all the children. We created lanes from the elastic Ellie brought, trying to create at least some organisation in each team.  We came up with many different races, which involved: bean bag races, piggy back races, skipping races, wheel-barrow races, space hopper races and a three legged race. We split them up into three teams and painted each team with a team colour - ours was green. They really enjoyed the races and even the little ones were getting involved. After all the races were complete we got to spend our last few hours with the children taking pictures of them playing with all the equipment we left for them.

When it was time to leave and to say our last goodbyes a tear (or two) was shed, by both us and the children. It especially hit home to one boy, Ato, who we found hiding in a corner because we were leaving. We finally peeled ourselves away from them all and started our walk back to the hostel. As we were walking up Joseph (14 years of age) came running towards Nat and I tears streaming down his face after saying “boys don’t cry”. Along with Joseph was Thomas who both escorted us all back.

King Jesus Charity Home has touched all of our hearts and we know that one day we will be visiting again. Happy memories we share with everyone there from the age range of 3 months to 22 years of age.

‘A SPECIAL PLACE FULL OF SPECIAL PEOPLE’

-By Mary and Nat.

Team Ghana in their Sunday best!

Hello again!

On Friday we spent a full day at the orphanage with a variety of activities including crafts, singing, painting, and volleyball. We decorated our banner with the handprints of all of our team and all the children, even the three-month-old baby. 

Yesterday we watched a football match between two teams from the orphanage before continuing our programme of activities at the orphanage. At lunchtime we headed into Kumasi in a minibus with Pastor Kofi who took us to a museum about the Asante kingdom then to the National Cultural centre where we had ‘lunch’ (Ghana style – AKA at 4 o’clock PM) and did some shopping at the market.

Today we got up and about a little earlier than we are accustomed to and walked down to the orphanage at about 9 o’clock. When we arrived we were shown to the church which was in a building not far from the orphanage. Pastor Kofi arrived in his Sunday attire and we were greeted by a number of the children who were also dressed in their best outfits; they looked very sweet.

The service was due to begin at 10 o’clock (I say ‘due to begin’ since this is Ghana, where time is fluid and nobody is ever in a rush) but before the service was a Bible study group, which was split into two groups, one in English and one in Twi. The topic was ‘giving and tithing’. Becky was rather surprised when asked to pray for everyone but she managed splendidly. More people joined us for the service itself which actually began a short while after 10. The service began with some enthusiastic and joyful singing, during which we all walked around shaking hands with everyone to greet them. Becky had to do a Bible reading then Francisca (one of the girls from the orphanage) sang a lovely solo. Pastor Kofi introduced us to the entire congregation by inviting us to the front and Cara spoke about what we have been doing in Ghana. The rest of the service consisted of a sermon, more music and dance, prayer and offertory. It was interesting to note the similarities and differences between this service and the services which we have attended at home, some of our group found it much livelier than services which they have attended in the UK.

We had lunch at the Sports Hotel then went for a swim in the outdoor pool there. It was good fun and we are already discussing meeting as a team at a water park in the UK some time since we enjoyed it so much!

This evening we sorted out the equipment which we will be taking to the orphanage tomorrow and some which we will give to the Guide Training Centre in Accra.

The first few days

Hello from Ghana!

It feels as if we’ve been here a week, but in reality we’ve only stopped 1 night in Accra. That is not a bad thing at all- just we’ve done so much already.

Yesterday we arrived at 5am, to a 25 degree heat. There is a time difference, as although the time zone is the same in Ghana as the UK, Ghana does not change the hour for British summertime. When we arrived we were picked up by Simon, the minibus driver and somebody else with a truck for our luggage. They brought us to the Ghana Girl Guides Training Centre. We were welcomed by Betty who gave us breakfast of soft bread with sausages or apricot jam, with tea, hot chocolate and multifruit juice; Betty is a teacher and has a troop of Ananse Guides (Brownies) and Guides who would be coming to the Training Centre for a camp to meet us. It was fantastic to hear that the girls were as excited as we were to join together and play games. After breakfast, we had a rest since we had all been travelling for about 24 hours. We are staying in rooms which are named after flowers and are arranged around a courtyard, so after we had all rested a little we met up again in the courtyard and decided to take a walk around the Training Centre. Then we elected to get a minibus into Accra in order to visit the National Arts Centre, a large craft market. On the way we had to change our dollars into Ghanaian Cedi, so we stopped at a foreign money exchange, which was in the same building as the Ghana Girl Guides Association Headquarters. Sylvia, who was showing us round today, also took us to their offices, including the Chief Commissioner’s Office and a conference room with photographs of the previous Chief Commissioners, the Founder and the President. There were also large pictures on the wall of Ananse Guides, Guides and Rangers.

We got back on the minibus to go to the market. On the way we saw many people selling things by the road. Lots of them carry their goods on their head and walk between the lines of traffic selling them to passengers waiting in queues. At the market we looked at stalls selling fabric, clothes, jewellery, ornaments, souvenirs, shoes, bags, flags, drums, other musical instruments, traditional music and much more besides. As a large group of white women we attracted a lot of attention, and we wondered if wearing our team vest tops had been a mistake as the stallholders read our names and called them out to catch our attention. Many people shook our hands and gave us high-fives, asking where we had come from and welcoming us to Ghana. There were some people who thought we were something to do with one of Ghana’s political parties because the colours of our neckers are the same as the colours of the party.

After the market we visited a shopping centre to buy Ghanaian sim cards and chilled drinks, then we returned to the Guides Training Centre for lunch. Betty prepared a traditional local dish of bean stew with fried plantain and vegetables, which we all enjoyed. We planned some activities for Betty’s troop, who arrived at about half past four. First, they sang a welcome song for us, then we all introduced ourselves, before heading out to the hall at the front of the Training Centre to sing songs. We taught them Alice the Camel, Singing in the Rain, Peel the Banana, Crazy Moose, the Penguin Song, and Thunder Thunder Thunderation.

We then split into groups to play games and then played parachute games, which the Ghanaian Guides seemed to really enjoy! They had dinner while we had a break, and the sun went down. It is very noticeable how quickly it goes from dark to light and light to dark here.

Today  (Thursday).

After a very interesting breakfast, we headed off to the King Jesus Charity Home. We were soon chatting to the children, getting to know their names and their personalities - some of the older girls were asking us if we had ever seen snow! The younger children are adorable, and they loved holding our hands. They clung to us and refused to be put down when we were carrying them about the place. It was really touching to see how attached to us they were after just a few hours; Mary and Elizabeth had children fall asleep on them.

We played some games with the children, sang some songs and introduced them to the parachute which they hadn’t seen before! Pastor Kofi, who is the founder orphanage came and greeted us, and spoke to us about how he started orphanage. He had a dream in which he was feeding the children on Kumasi, and he began by teaching children he found on the streets, that weren’t in school. The children were so delightful, and it saddened us to hear their stories and how they joined the orphanage.

This afternoon we headed off in a Tro-tro (the Ghanaian minibus service) in search of a supermarket, which we found the 3^rd time, after a memorable journey. Kumasi’s roads are rather bumpy, and we were all rather cosy in the minibus, with Rebecca and I sat on Cara and Ellie’s laps..... we are all getting to know each other very well!

We had a relaxed evening, planning for our activities at the orphanage tomorrow- we are all very excited.

5 days to go....

With only five sleeps left until our trip to Ghana, we are all getting very excited now! All thirteen of us are gathering the kit we will be taking with us, as well as resources which we will take to the orphanage in Kumasi, such as exercise books, coloured card, poster paint, sports equipment, balloons and much more! Also this week we have all received our team kit, which consists of a very smart lime green polo shirt, a dark green vest top, and a purple hoodie, all of which have our team badge and names on. We will wear the polo shirts to travel in on Sunday, so if you happen to see 13 people all dressed in lime green on the way to the airport, that'll be us!

As we make our final preparations, we have also been finding out more about Ghana and some things we might experience while we are there. Cara has been speaking to the retired archbishop of Ghana's wife who passed on some helpful tips, such as buying a Ghanaian sim card to contact the UK, trying to get some traditional clothes made for us while we are there, being aware of hygiene (e.g. not eating salad or fruit which could have been washed in dirty water), and being prepared to see poverty in the streets.

Emily also found an interesting blog written by someone who is currently visiting Ghana to teach. The writer mentioned a number of things which she found particularly different or interesting on arriving in Ghana, and it certainly sounds like Ghana will be a very new experience and culture for us all!

Claire

Badges

Don't our badges look amazing?!

Nearly there....

It's so exciting to think that in 3 weeks time we will be in Ghana- time seems to have flown by, and in 11 days we will be setting of down to Gatwick to take our flight to Accra.
Amongst the GCSE and A Levels exams and university open days, we have all been getting ready to set off- including having yet more injections, and buying all the kit that we will need out there. We have all sent off for visa's to allow us to enter the country (which I'm sure will feature the flattering passport photos we sent off!), and now it's the final wait before our African adventure begins.
I am so excited about meeting the local people that we will come across on our travels, especially the Guides and children at the children's home in Kumasi. More equipment has been gathered and donated, which will be wonderful to take out! I keep trying to imagine what it will be like in a country so different to our own- pretty amazing I'm guessing :)
Our team badges have arrived- they are adorable featuring an elephant, as well as the Ghanaian and British flags. Team kit should be with us soon- it's all so exciting!
It will be fantastic to be underway, and finally have Team Ghana together- and I'm sure we'll get to know each other even better after 2 weeks of each other's company!
Nanteyie! (Akan for goodbye)

Laura

Last meeting

This weekend we met at the new region HQ in Preston, which is much more impressive than the old one! This was our final meeting before we go to Ghana, so we had a lot to prepare and finalise, including spending time eating cake in celebration of Emily's birthday! And the sun made it a better day as we were able to sit outside for lunch and soak up the rays! :) We needed a lot of sun preparation before we go, so it gave us a head start on our tans...

Unfortunately we still weren't a full team, as Leah was missing, so the first time we will be all together will be on our way to London, which brings us onto our first topic of discussion for our meeting today. We have decided to meet at region HQ in Preston rather than the airport, so we can all travel down together. Becky has booked a minibus and driver for all of us, so the wheels on the bus will go round and round!

We received our final kit list and itinerary so we are now looking forward to our shopping trips! As recommended by the orphanage, our accommodation arrangements for the time we will spend in Kumasi have changed. We will now be staying at the Mount Olive Retreat Centre. Besides this we also know where we will be staying on our return from Kumasi in Cape Coast, called Baoboe, where we will also be able to take part in a cultural workshop, for example drumming. Also at Baoboe, there is a shop where local people sell their crafts so this will be a good opportunity for some retail therapy!

We gathered all our equipment donated or collected from across the region. These include more pencils, parachute (signed by Endmoor Brownies), foam fish stickers, hand sanitiser and colouring books. Also donated was a twister mat, which we plan to play at the airport on our long wait. We also sorted what we still need to collect, so we leave the meeting with items to find!

The excitement is building, and we all can't wait to go!

Claire and Rebecca

From Garstang to Ghana...

Hey there! Leah and Ellie here with our weekend update:

Emily is now officially integrated into Family Ghana. We're having a great and silly time planning our trip on our briefing weekend, not only have we come up with loads of amazing ideas but we've tested some out too. The photos are to follow as we most definitely had to take advantage of some English sun by playing games (duck, duck, goose; stuck in the mud; ladders, traffic lights) and singing some songs (Quartermaster's stores; have you ever had a penguin come to tea and others). We carried on the singing in the kitchen too while washing up which ended up becoming a cheesy song session with plenty of dancing, party songs and the Spice Girls.

We started our meeting with a special guest, Sue who has lived in the North of Ghana working at a secondary school and has travelled to Kumasi and Accra. She brought along with her a road map of Ghana which we found very useful to plan our journeys between Accra, Kumasi and Cape Coast. She also brought photo albums of time at school and of the places where we might want to visit. She also answered some of our questions we had that we wouldn't have known otherwise, like our worries on food and transport and cultural aspects of Ghanaian life.

In a more serious manner, we have decided the itinerary for when we're at the orphanage in Kumasi. We have decided on the first day to have lots of fun and meet and greet the children to help us understand what they already know and what games and plans we may need to alter that Thursday night. We've also decided to have a day dedicated to the Olympics and sport as well as a cultural exchange, sharing some of our interests such as food, fashion, music etc.

On a touristic level, we've discussed what we'd like to do and places we'd like to visit when we're not in Kumasi. This is a draft of our itinerary;

Sunday- GirlGuiding NWE set off!! Destination: Accra via Gatwick and Casablana.

Monday - 5am- Land in Accra!
-Guided Tour around the capital.
- Visit a place of interest we've seen on our tour or a cultural workshop

Tuesday- Undecided

Wednesday - Take the  STC to Kumasi, maybe visiting the botanical gardens and a cocoa research plant on the way. Check in at the guesthouse.

Thursday- Orphanage meet and greet.

Sunday- Possibly attending a church service

Wednesday- leave Kumasi. Visit Kakum National Park. Go to Cape Coast.

Thursday- Visit the castle in Cape Coast that shows the history of slavery
- Go to a cultural workshop in Cape Coast.
- Travel back to Accra

Friday- Maybe shopping and/or workshops in Accra and seeing something at the National Theatre in the evening.

Saturday- Leave Accra and say goodbyes to Ghana to head home with all our stories to share :)

This is just a draft plan, more details are to be decided :D

What we can say is this... We're so excited now plans are being put into place!! :D

Garstang weekend

POSE!

Playtime!

Enjoying the park.....

Update from Claire

This weekend, Team Ghana (or, ‘Family Ghana’, as we have become accustomed to calling ourselves) will be meeting up again for another briefing weekend, but just because we haven’t seen each other since February doesn’t mean that we have forgotten about our trip in the meantime!

We have welcomed a new team member, Emily, who will be the third leader for our trip. Emily is an assistant leader of a Brownie Unit who is training to become a Primary Teacher, and she loves travelling. We are looking forward to meeting her this Saturday. 

There have been a number of exciting updates about the trip itself, most importantly, the flights have been booked! We will fly from Gatwick to Casablanca, then on to Accra. The first flight will take 3 hours and 15 minutes and the second will take 4 hours and 25 minutes.

We have all been turning into human pin cushions as there are lots of vaccinations recommended for travel to Ghana. The most important is yellow fever, as without a yellow fever certificate you are not allowed into the country. The recommended inoculations include Hepatitis A and B and rabies. For protection against cholera, rather than an injection, the vaccination needs to be drunk (apparently, it tastes horrible!). 

We are all looking forward to the project work at the King Jesus Charity Home, and in preparation for working with the children there we will all be organising activities for our Guides, Brownies and Rainbows to get used to managing groups and to check if our ideas will work. In addition, we are beginning to collect some items to take with us when we go. Laura wrote to the Derwent pencil company, who donated a huge box of pencils. Her Brownie unit have also said that they would like to buy a parachute and book of parachute games for the children at the orphanage. Also, a lady in Nat’s village has given Nat some knitted soldiers in their bearskin hats – very British looking and very cute – which we will also take to Ghana with us.

So, with the briefing weekend coming up we all look forward to seeing each other again, coming up with more ideas and planning the trip together.

Claire 

Braiding Ellie's hair kept the girls entertained for a while!

Our Team Ghana cake made by the very tallented Claire!! It tasted as good as it looked! Yummy!

2nd-3rd Feb briefing

This weekend we had our first overnight get together in order to plan for Ghana, and to get to know each other better, in Preston. We arrived, and started off discussing fundraising (we all seem to be doing well!!), and then started on some silly games, and made our own coats of armour.
We spent a long time discussing our plans for our trip to Ghana, especially planning our week of volunteering. It was very exciting, as it now seems to really be happening!
We are going to spent 2 weeks in Ghana. On landing in Accra, Ghana's capital we will be spending nights at the Ghana Girlguiding centre, and will hopefully meet some Ghanaian Guides and Brownies. We are going to spend time exploring the city- visiting markets, and possibly partaking in a drumming workshop. Accra is s...uch a different place to the UK- we probably couldn't be more immersed in a different culture.
We are then going to drive to Kumasi, north of Accra- possibly stopping off to explore the tropical rainforest on a high walk way! We will stay here for a week, and will have the amazing opportunity to work in an orphanage, educating the children about health, hygiene and basic first aid, as well as organising lots of fun activities, including a mini-Olympics. We will also have the opportunity to explore Kumasi.
We will head south again afterwards, and have the chance to visit a slave castle, beaches, markets in Accra or might pay a visit to Cape Coast.
We spent a lot of time planning activities to do with the children, as well as brainstorming songs and games to teach them. We also made friendship bracelets to give to the Guides in Accra.
We had a really fun evening, going out for dinner, and ended up plaiting Ellie's immensely long hair, and doing Yoga in Leah and Nat's room!
This morning we emailed Pastor Kofi, who runs the orphanage, letting him know our plans and also wrote our group charter. We also wrote and briefed our parents of our exciting trip.
The weekend was really good fun, and was a great way to get to know everyone better- and we have become 'Family Ghana'! Now it's just over 6 months until our exciting adventure begins!
Laura

Second Meet..

After an intresting start looking at everybody's presentations, we made a plan for the meeting! We decided to make a quiz to help with everbody's fundraising, write a letter template to give us a good idea of how to start writing to different companies and decide on kit colour (which is still in process!) and badge design.
We discussed some potential dates for the trip. End of July to the beggining of August seemed highly likely. Beckie told us that we will be staying at the Girlguiding training centre in Accra, and we might be able to meet some Scotish Senior Section members who travle to Ghana every 2 years! This will be useful as they can help us acclimatize.
We talked about what we would be doing out there, the presentations that the team gave really helped us see what there was out there that we could do. we are thinking of working with guides in Ghana to give workshops, possibly about personal hygiene this will give them a variaty from craft and games.  
We then set about looking at possible colours for our team kit, designing the badge. We havn't yet made a decision but the favourite colours seem to be pink, green and purple.
You can see are ideas for the badge below.

Nat & Claire

Hard at work

 

Making Ghana pin badges at our first meeting

Team Ghana!

Welcome

Hi, we are a group of 13 Girlguiding UK members who have been selected to take part in the North West region trip to Ghana in 2013. The group consists of 3 leaders and 10 girls (introductions to follow).
Keep up-to-date with our blog to find out more about the planning of our trip and how our fundraising is going.