Accra, The Capital of Ghana

I’m meeting Georgie, the very gorgeous young and confident founder and director of charity Afrikids. I’ve said I’ll come out to Ghana and see whether I can do anything to help in the schools that they work with. I don’t know too much about the organisation. I’ve been too busy to find out. My sister Catherine’s firm are major sponsors and that was how I got to hear about their work initially. Minor panic as Georgie doesn’t appear to be waiting at the aeroplane gate. I wonder if I could possibly have got the wrong date in all my rush. But she arrives on the plane, together with Andy, very young enthusiastic whizz kid and new strategic manager. The flight is uneventful.

Accra is typically tropical, steamy and musty. I fall asleep, the  room  resonating to the sound of a croaking bull frog chorus. Some quick sight seeing. The main tourist attraction in Accra is the beach. Otherwise its monuments mausoleums and museums. The Kwame Nkrumah Park, manages to combine all three. Adjacent, Independence (or Black Star) Square is the other place to take your camera. The Gate sports a black star commissioned by Nkrumah to represents Africa in general, as well as Ghana itself. It represents the country/continet's supreme power to control its own affairs. Ghana was the first country in Africa to achieve independence (from the British) in 1957. The Portuguese had been the first colonists in the area in the 15th century, but they eventually conceded to the British in the mid nineteenth century.

Ghana

Well, we booked flights north to Tamale on the Citylink website, but someone forgot to tell the website that they don’t fly on Wednesdays anymore. Fortunately, Amtrak can fit us in along with the Norwegian Rescue Mission contingent who are mainly from Liberia. The terrain changing from dry coastal savanna to grey-green rainforest to flat lush bush, wet season velvet green. as we fly north.

Ghana's borders encompass four separate British colonial territories: Gold Coast, Ashanti, the Northern Territories and British Togoland. (The Gold Coast, as the country is the second largest producer of gold in Africa.) They were unified as an independent dominion within the Commonwealth of Nations on 6 March 1957, the first colony in sub-Saharan Africa to achieve sovereignty. Ghana is 'a unitary constitutional democracy', one of the freest and most stable governments in Africa, led by a president who is both head of state and head of government. As a result, Ghana is considered the most peaceful country in Africa and has played a leading role in supporting other colonised countries in their efforts to attain independence.

The Afrikids pick-up and a beaming driver, Dremani, waiting to take us the last stretch to Bolga (short for Bolgatanga), the hub of the Afrikids projects.

Afrikids

Countless introductions: Nich the Ghanaian director and operations manager at his office in the new Afrikids Academy, Sebastian the academy manager and teacher at the ICT suite there, (The roof has only just been replaced after the recent storms blew it off), Freddy/Felix (everyone has an English name and an African name) the manager of the Next Generation Children’s Home (NGH) for orphans and street children, (abandoned, sick, abused, raped and other horrific stories, a menagerie of children grinning and anxious to say hello, dragging me off on a tour of their dormitories, round faced Timothy who’s 16, struggling to read, but desperate to try, and Mamma Laadi presiding proudly over her foster home.

Mamma Laadi's Foster Home

Mamma Laadi is now in her third house, brand new and beautifully sited with amazing views over farmland. She was originally found in one room with 14 children she had taken off the street sick. She now has 30. As we arrive they all shove gently, wanting to be the ones to take our bags and show us round. Little doe eyed Joseph is uncharacteristically quiet today. He’s recovering from another bout of malaria.

Everyone loves Mamma Laadi's cooking. Rice balls, chicken and spicy groundnut sauce (they call it soup here).

Where to Sleep in Bolgatanga, Ghana?

Georgie and Andy are staying at the "in" place in Bolgatanga. “Comme ci Comme ca” lives up to its name and dinner takes an hour to arrive. Small red snappers and rice. They don’t have a room for me; a party of missionaries are in town. I can hear their very loud, very American, very sanctimonious voices at the next table. My lodgings, however, are the best in Bolga. Hot water and patterned sheets, top and bottom. But they are out in the sticks and the manager is very surly. I decide I probably won’t stay long, but am wasting my time deliberating. The Minster of Health is coming to town and has commandeered the house. Playing the King in four and twenty blackbirds, peering over his stacks of cash, Surly informs that I’m to be evicted in two days.

Currency in Ghana

Dremani has changed me some money - a hundred pounds. At 16,500 Ghana cedis to the pound I’m handed fat wads so large, I have to get a carrier bag to transport them.

Microprojects

We tour a number of projects. Fresh starts for girls who have been rescued from various indescribably awful situations. Some have depicted their previous lives on poignant videos. Now they are apprentice hairdressers and sewing machinists. There is also a micro finance project – a homestead in round mud huts near the soft green hills of Tongo. Goats are important. One goat will buy a year of schooling for a child. Three calves will buy a wife. The Single Mothers Association is also pitching for cash.

Sirigu

More projects in Sirigu, another northerly village famed for its art and pottery. Recklessly, I travel in the back of the pick up. The work experience boys have woven bright pink plastic patterned seats to bounce on, my head clearing the metal roof frame by a fraction. Dremani expertly weaves in and out of the potholes and I get an instant face lift as we tear up the road.

The homesteaders here are again pitifully poor. Their cylindrical grain stores are perched over a slurry of mud pools. A pair of grizzled patriarchs wearing hand tanned skins and wielding huge rusty machetes appear for yet more pictures. There are two small babies with moonfaced unceasing grins. They are triplets; their sister was too small and died. Afrikids is supplying millet porridge as basic food. Still they insist on presenting us with a large dish of guinea fowl eggs. A women’s basket weavers collective. Another riot of colour and gentle camaraderie.

And I’m beginning to think that Afrikids is linked to every single project I’ve seen advertised in Bolga. Georgie and Andy are very impressive in action. Very focussed, very objective driven, whilst still very compassionate.

The Schools of Bolgatanga - Bright Academy

Then to my first school, Bright Academy. It’s even more basic than I had expected. Open classrooms, another roof being replaced, canes and cauldrons, wooden benches, bare concrete walls and floors and painted blackboards. The Sorcerer’s Apprentice meets David Copperfield. The children are delightful, a mix of fee payers and street children. Beautifully behaved, they wear purple check pinafores and sing “We are happy to see you”. The excited headteachers are a partnership called Moses and Timothy.

The Schools of Bolgatanga - Zuarangu School

Another day, another school. Zuarangu School is right out in the rural area and is surrounded by a number of small projects. Families are granted loans or gifts to breed goats, or produce shea butter from peanuts. The homesteads are afloat with millet drying, guinea fowl and chicks racing in tiny flocks round tin pots. The homesteaders are grateful and keen to talk and demonstrate what they can do. The children rush out of school to pose for pictures in doorways.

The teachers eat jollof rice (tomato paste risotto) from bowls in the nursery whilst the children mill around. The youngest loll on their benches. The food is cooked in an empty classroom over a hastily constructed charcoal fire. The cauldron is carried into the playground. The nursery teacher hands out bowls and they eat with their fingers.

Pastor Charles and I are drawing up school plans. They are very excited about a planned computer suite. But they haven’t got electricity yet. There is another thunderstorm and the sky is so black I can’t see what I’m writing. Playing a scene straight out of Dandy a teacher is pursuing a child round the courtyard swishing at him with a cane. Later the head teacher, Timotei turns up. He has been suffering with malaria and looks as if he should still be in bed. The children have notes to take home telling their parents how to prevent and treat bilharzia. Most of them have it already.

They are taking their tests here too. At least they are running around screwing up bits of paper. I cause a Mexican wave as I walk round, as pupils rise to say good morning every time I go by. The nursery children all chorus “happy to see you, happy to meet you” relentlessly. Their teacher is working hard, lying on a bench with a blanket round her. I take an impromptu science lesson but the chalk won’t work.

Catherine has sponsored two sisters called Cynthia and Cecilia. They are extracted from their classes to say hello and topple out, shy, bewildered and beautiful. Then we go to visit them in their homestead. Catherine has sent frilly white tops for them. They look gorgeous but they don’t have skirts and I try to focus on their top halves as they pose for pictures in their knickers.

Planning Teacher Training Part I

Now, I have been round to see all the classes. Nich wants me to train all the teachers together but I’m beginning to feel incredibly daunted. They work so hard and have so little. There are a few battered text books and the children write in tatty exercise books. Some classes sit on the floor. Some of the younger ones just use fibreboard slates. Anything they practice reading has to be copied. The children are very polite and can hardly be heard even when they answer questions. The teachers’ knowledge is variable. The teachers straight from high school are totally untrained. Many English words are spelled incorrectly. One guy is teaching fractions totally wrong. He gets to set the exam paper so perhaps it doesn’t matter? The report cards are small single side tick box affairs. The test papers are full of grammatical errors and inaccurate information.

The gap between teaching here and in the UK is just huge. How to begin without demoralising everyone utterly? I’m trying to talk to Nich about the planned teacher training. It’s on Wednesday. How will it be organised? What do they want? Nich says he won’t be there on Wednesday, do what I like.

The School of Night Rabbits

Next, another project, evening classes for the street children. They have been begging or working in the streets all day. Diminutive, ragged and rheumy they recite the alphabet and spell orally, their backs to the board to test their memory. The one flickering fluorescent tube is dim and they are tired, but they all concentrate amazingly.

There is a debate over what to call the newly formed school. It has been christened The School of Hard Knocks, but we all think that something more optimistic is called for. Georgie wants an animal name so that the children will remember it. but the suggested owls are not deemed to be wise in Africa. Rabbits are the clever animals it seems, so the school is rebranded as The School of Night Rabbits.

A bucket of round green oranges is passed along. David, a medic and volunteer attends to the children’s many sores. They sit patiently, enjoying the attention and not even flinching when the purple iodine goes on. Then they troop off, back to the streets to sleep where they can.

Life in Bolga

Bolga sprawls unexpectedly, like an American frontier town. Well, its not that far from Ghana's northern border, with Burkina Faso. It 's a proliferation of painted signs announcing different missions and charities and projects.

I wander into town, attempting to get my bearings at last. There are countless small grimy booths and little braziers carrying scorched maize cobs on the litter strewn streets, brilliant bright basket stalls and the most amazing inside out conical straw hats. The people are wretchedly poor and desperate to sell. Goats are ubiquitous and each brazier has one chewing at the discarded husks. Their kids frisk around on the roads bleating loudly. Each business has its own hand painted sign. Never Be The Same haircuts. My Way and Sons Enterprises. The people have huge friendly eyes and strong high cheek bones. Most carry tribal razor slash markings. Their costumes are cheerful eye catching headscarves, kaftans and sarongs. Nearly everyone has a smile and a greeting as I walk past.

Brightly coloured statues of saints and biblical figures surround much of the town. No-one knows why Moses (the statue that is) is sporting a pair of horns.

Bolga Market

The market is an amazing whirl of activity, dotted with beneficiaries of Afrikids. Two small boys in checked shirts pursue us stealthily, their heads peeking into the corner of every photo we take. Rows of beans balanced in rosy Jenga like towers, brown shredded puti, (essential for the local liquor), round balls of goat droppings, (prized for adding flavour to the local soups) and wedges of tobacco. This is a new enterprise for the concoctions doctor, a sort of local pharmacist, his major occupation previously was murdering children judged to be inhabited by spirits.

The grain areas are really interesting, full of women endlessly raining basins into one other from on high. Although I have been warned that they won’t like photos, after a while they are jostling to have their pictures taken, striking poses for me and giggling. Market day is a moveable feast but takes place roughly every three days, a maze of stalls and bodies, women balancing huge metal bowls on their heads with poise and elegance. The bowls contain everything from sewing machines to precarious castles of guinea fowl eggs. The women are casually confident and rarely even use their arms to steady their loads. More goat droppings and some evil smelling piles of dried fish. Really nice flip flops at 50p a pair. And I buy rather too many of the gorgeous hats and baskets. I’m not sure how on earth I’m going to get them all home.

The Next Generation Home (NGH)

Up to the NGH to hear Timothy read . (My scooter man appeared in the nick of time.) When I arrive Timothy’s busy helping to skin a cow. The carcase is draped on the ground and all the boys are hacking at it. He goes to wash the blood off his hands before he can touch his book.

A small group gathers to watch. He doesn’t seem to mind. And then the rain starts again. It’s so noisy as it clatters on to the tin roof that I can hardly hear him speak. I'ts six o clock and I realise I haven’t had lunch yet. The rain has stopped cascading off the roof in waterfalls and turned into “English rain” as the locals call it. I venture out trying to leap over the newly formed rivers and cascades that are swirling through the red mud of the streets. I buy a large black plastic bag and tear a hole to put over my head. It covers me and my bag nicely to the amusement of the few brave folk outside.

Where to Sleep in Bolgatanga, Ghana Part II

Nich has found me a room at the Christian Mission. No he hasn’t. The occupants are still there. And so I end up at the other end of town. Estate Country, in the Balungu Princess (Annexe)

Admiring my new room. The toilet seat has come apart and the mattress is disappearing into the floor. Well it’s home, but not for long. At breakfast the owner tells me that the house is fully booked from Monday.

Nich takes me out in the pick up to look for somewhere else to stay. We view an endless assortment of shabby little rooms. Some are gloomy and depressing. Hot water is non existent. All are full in any case. There are numerous conventions on – missionaries, doctors. Nich finally remembers a “hotel” near the centre of town. Hallelujah! They have rooms and I am promised one for Monday.

A quick dinner in the All People’s Canteen. Though I’m the solitary diner tonight. Ground rice balls, spicy groundnut sauce and roast guinea fowl. Only lukewarm, but tasty and good value at about 80p. Now it’s dark and there are no street lights. My place is a mile out of town and I’m told it’s safe to walk alone. I collide with a large moving shape. It’s a pig frolicking. They emerge from the sewers, their usual home, to enjoy their favourite weather. Then I find a very large puddle, up to my knees. At least I hope it’s a puddle. I eventually arrive drenched. The kind owners boil me up big pails of hot water “to stop me shivering”. It’s thirty five degrees. But it’s great to wash my hair and to have a welcome cup of tea.

Paga, Ghana

I sleep fitfully. The air con has given up and the fan has five speeds that are all supersonic. It’s like camping in a hurricane. The foam mattress is leaning crazily at forty degrees. Outside they have been sweeping up water till late. The dogs have been joining in. Early in the morning they meet for a smoke and a discussion outside my window. This is succeeded by the strains of the Gospel Choir shepherding in Sunday. Thirty percent of the population here are Christian.

With Mark, the caretaker from the NGH to visit Paga, a town on the border with Burkino Faso. We travel luxuriously by taxi. The windscreen is a spidersweb of cracks. The driver navigates by one wing mirror and the exhaust continuously threatens to part company with the car. White Woman in Town is quickly joined by a host of would be guides.

We see an “ancient village” full of archaeological finds and some distinctive geometric black and white patterned walls. Then a slave fort complete with drumming on the entertainment rocks and punishment demonstrations. I nearly fall out of a tree trying to get up to the look out rock to do a lion king impersonation. The countryside spreads out for miles beyond,  flat, pea green and bestrewn with rusty rocks.

The highlight is a visit to the chief’s sacred crocodile pond. The locally told origin of the pond was that (600 years ago) a crocodile brought a dying man to the pond to drink, After surviving he declared the pond to be sacred and that no harm should come to the crocodiles. ] It is said that the souls of the people of Paga resides in these crocodiles, so they are protected. Tame (ish) Nile crocodiles are tempted out of the water with dead chickens. Laughing Ghanaians tweak their tails and pose for the camera. I bravely take the pictures.

Lunch is chicken in a tomato spicy soup (I search carefully for signs of droppings). The fowl were provided by Joe, the Sirigu project manager. These are less tough than most and the flesh can be hacked off the bones. Every meal so far has featured oily red tomato paste in some form.

Where to Sleep in Bolgatanga, Ghana Part II

So back to my next dwelling. Moving down the AA scale the Azonsolum is maybe a minus one star. I’m not looking too closely. There’s definitely no hot water and what there is, is very brown. I’m in room number 18. Another door in my room is labelled 19. A suite? No it’s the balcony. The manager tells me I’m lucky my phone works. When I want to change the channel on the TV I can phone down and tell them and they’ll alter it for me from Reception. I wonder how I’ll know what’s on so I can choose, but no problem. They can’t get any of the channels at the moment.

I decide a Gordon’s Spark on my balcony is called for. Reminiscent of Aquavit but gin laced and pretty potent. A jolly good 50p worth.

Arranging Teacher Training in Ghana

A head banger of a morning spent talking to the proprietors of Zuarangu School (ZS) and the Bright Academy. Each school has a proprietor and a headteacher - American system. I had arranged with Nich to see Pastor Charles of ZS at 10. He was to be asked to come over to the Bright Academy. He arrives at my lodging at 8.30. We discuss training. Georgie had told me that the teachers are very keen for training and will happily give up their holidays if necessary. Nich said that school finishes in mid August. They both say it is now school exam week and it will be easy to release teachers. I say this is very different to the UK where teachers are tired at the end of term, have reports to write and just want a holiday. They say it is.

Pastor Charles tells me that term in Ghana finishes on August 3rd. After that the teachers go home. Many will not be able to train as they have to stay at home and help on the land. That gives us eight days. He says maybe three or four of those, but transport will be a problem. Only if they can resolve transport. Headteacher Timotei is unwell. He’s not sure where he is or when he’s coming back. Maybe malaria. Charles tells me he is the ‘assemble man’, he’s been voted to lead the whole community. Status seems to be a major incentive for Charles. Ok, status. I tell him all about my job and how important it is and exaggerate all the money I earn.

“Ah” he says. “Rather like a consultant.”
“I am a consultant”
“Well in that case we are blessed to have you”

Pastor Thomas is not at Bright Academy. No-one has told him I’m coming. He and headteacher Moses were expecting training during the holidays. Maybe one day a week? It is very difficult to release the teachers during the day. They have to teach. They have to mark the test papers. They have to fill in report cards. They are very tired. Only three teachers are staying on anyway. Well, maybe the ones who are leaving can cover whilst we just train those three? No we’re not telling them they’re leaving till the end of term. We’re interviewing now. Will they get certificates? There is more incentive if they get certificates. Maybe four days on afternoons next week.

They heads tell me that they and the teachers all get paid the same amount. Thirteen pounds sterling a month.

I head of in search of my own jollof lunch. No jollof in the hotel kitchen (two fires here). Instead fried plantain and beans and more cold leathery chicken in tomato paste. Too early for a Gordon’s Spark?

There's a staff dinner in the evening, a buffet: all the different types of tomato paste and leather chicken at one sitting, spicy fish and sweet yam balls. I've found a dress to wear but the humidity is wreaking havoc on my hair. I look like something out of the fifties. Some of the men are wearing their best outfits, great thick woven kaftan tops that flare out in whirls like mini dervishes as they walk.

Georgie weaves her magic, aided by a large dose of directorial authority. Moses and Thomas demand to see me “in private”.

“Sue we will work with you all day every day. Sue we appreciate you so much. Sue we love you.”

Moses has been drinking the local tipple. Malta Guinness spiked with strawberry liqueur.

Back inside Dremani is disappointed that I won’t marry him. He wants to love a white lady. But will I go dancing with him anyway?

Teaching Computing

Up at the Afrikids Academy to watch Sebastian teach computing. But Sebastian sneaks off and I’m left taking the class instead. I  have never used the Paint programme before and am  diving into Help, hoping the students can’t see me. I write a report on Sebastian’s teaching using my laptop. Just as I finish there is a power cut and I lose the lot.

Where to Sleep in Bolgatanga, Ghana Part IV

And I’ve actually unpacked for the first time. I have finally moved into Comme Ci and am assured I can stay here till I leave. The missionaries have gone. Another lot have arrived but I’ve squeaked in alongside them. Another lunch and another hour's wait for it. I have just realised that the drink mats aren’t mats at all. They’re to put on top of the glasses to stop the flies falling in.

My hot water idyll didn’t last long. I hopped into the shower to find there was a distinct lack of wetness. The woman next door got my water instead. All over her bedroom floor. The guy on hotel reception won’t get it repaired. He’s sulking because I told him I won’t take him to England with me. I’ve lost count of my marriage proposals now. A student with a scooter keeps popping up to give me lifts round town.

As usual when I travel, my hotel room has become a veritable menagerie. There’s a huge vicious looking millipede undulating across the floor and the whining mosquitoes are ever present, waiting their chance. A tiny gecko is hiding behind the wardrobe. I can just see five scaly pressure pad fingers twitching. A pair of purple and orange agama lizards are doing press-ups on the wall outside the bathroom. Weaver birds are warning me away from their basket nests. Little iridescent blue birds are cautiously curious and a gorgeous scarlet version of a sparrow swoops by. Over in the compound the buzzards are pacing as if they were waiting outside an operating theatre. A discreet distance from them the goats enjoy scattering the guinea fowl and hens. Swallowtails and amber dragonflies shimmer in and out of the scene.

Back to Comme Ci in the pitch black. I have decided it’s too hairy walking at night. A torch was one of the many things I forgot to bring. It’s bad enough during the day trying to dodge all the bikes, goats, pigs, donkeys, chickens and taxis. At night the only illumination is the scattering of smouldering oil lamps on the street stalls. There are great swathes of rural land between blocks of buildings and these are eerily quiet. Not many of the bikes have lamps and the roads are lined with open sewers. I’m terrified I shall disappear into one. Guys in bars hiss to attract attention, so it’s red alert the whole way. Where is my motor bike student when I need him?

Once, in my room I decide to try the TV. There are seventy or so channels but I can only find the same two programmes repeated whatever the channel number. One is a documentary on the slave trade. The other is a succession of excruciatingly bad Nigerian soap operas (Nollywood). No wonder the English in the schools isn’t so hot. Nerinda Looses Love (sic). Each one has a sponsorship logo so large it covers half the screen. Shocko!

A Weekend in Burkina Faso

See Burkina Faso

Training Day 1

A little apprehensive today… I’m finally going to do some training this afternoon.  I'm not sure how many people are attending, how it will be organised or worst of all, whether they will be able to understand me. My stomach is twitching. It’s been a little graunchy ever since I arrived but some sort of fight has been taking place in my gut this weekend. It’s not really surprising considering the washing up arrangements. Plates are rinsed in cold water and little washing up liquid if you’re lucky. The same goes for cutlery. Because everyone eats with their fingers it’s traditional to perch a small washing up bowl and a bottle of liquid detergent on each table. And however religiously I scrub my palms I can guarantee that as soon as I step out the door someone will be enthusiastically greeting and wanting to shake hands.

Ghana is feeling like hard work at the moment. Everything happens at the last minute. I arrange my own chairs. Sebastian finds notebooks. Pens, though ordered, do not appear. “The teachers will have to manage” they say.

The training goes quite well. The 30 teachers are very well behaved compared to English teachers. One has brought a baby who lies quietly on the floor. The Ghana local education officer is there. All and sundry say they will drop in to get some tips. They all demand handouts. And certificates. The register is completed twice. Once with the names they use every day and once when they realise that the list is for the certificates and they should use their official names. They have trouble with my accent and the rain pelting on the roof doesn’t help. I spend most of the time shouting about how to manage good discipline. I’m trying to convince them to abandon the cane, but Moses jumps up and interrupts.

“We only use it to frighten them with, so it’s okay”.

I fetch the refreshment Fanta drinks from the fridge but it turns out these are not ours. Sebastian was “waiting” to go and buy them. 'First come, first served,' I say. I have learned.

My last chance to visit Bolga Market. I buy two skirts for Cynthia and Cecilia for a pound each and four packets of biscuits for the teachers for £1.50.

I have a little pile of addresses on torn bits of paper. Every child wants to be my friend and every adult my sister. Autograph hunting or a desperate wish to find a way to the UK?

Training Day 2

Day 2 of the training. No rain today but instead a radio blaring from the little village next door. The teachers did really well considering how much they knew before. Assessment for learning is now alive and kicking in Africa. Cultural differences are awkward for me to grapple with. I’ve remembered to avoid owls but Task Teddies don’t go down well either. “What’s a teddy?” Rabbits are again the preferred option though rabbit tasks doesn’t have quite the same ring or connotations. And I demonstrate using the task of writing instructions as I always do in England. Except that here making a cup of tea begins with the direction “first set the fire” Have been trying to show how to write specific simple learning objectives. “It isn’t easy being easy!” says one guy.

A minor complaint that the teachers were hungry as they had not had time for lunch. I have asked Nich to get them meat pies tomorrow. And I’m not sure where they’re going to the toilet. There isn’t one at the Academy. I nip round the corner and five minutes away to the local church. I've decided they must be using the village maize patch as no-one seems to disappear for very long.

When it comes to drinking water out of plastic bags I am still a beginner . I wish I could master the art of biting the corner off without getting totally splattered.

I have decided to leave on Saturday. School term finishes on Thursday and it’s not the most exciting social life I’ve ever had. Me and the Ghana TV or the man selling hats at Comme Ci. I’ve managed to book myself some hotels found on the internet and a bit of travel to the coast. I hope the weather behaves, I think the rainy season has finished in the south.

Training Day 3

Everyone’s still turning up but they’re beginning to feel tired now. I get them doing some mime and lighter stuff. Not meat pies but cream crackers. And my sweet biscuits go down well. I'm not sure if folk are hungry or just plain selfish but I have to prevent them taking too many. They don’t seem to care if there’s none left for anyone else. And yes they are using the maize patch. I start to take photos and end up like the school photographer doing the whole class. I have promised to send everyone a print.

And the best thing on TV tonight is an old World Cup soccer match – Netherlands v Cote D’Ivoire from Stuttgart. It says 'live' at the top of the screen.

Day 4 Training

The final training day. I realise that it isn’t a lot of different women turning up each day, but the same women wearing different wigs. I present certificates to everyone and they have their photos taken again receiving their certificates. It’s going to take forever to print all this off when I get back. They also have their photos taken altogether inside and outside, patting their own backs and giving thumbs up signs. I have my photo taken putting on the blue stripey kaftan they gave me at every stage of dressing and undressing. Fortunately, over the top of what I am wearing. They all write really lovely evaluations and that is it. Quite emotional really.

I give Sebastian money for the schools to have copies of my ring bindered book as they are anxious that the colour copy won’t get shared equitably. Worryingly, given any budget issue the schools’ attitudes seem always to be” who will give us the money?” rather than “how can we earn it?”

Last Day in Bolga

A whimper rather than a bang. A final meeting with the gang from the Bright Academy. They promise to try to become more self financing and to stop using the cane. A last walk up to the Afrikids Academy. I donate my shoes to a lady in a shop who asks for them. They’re only old black slip ons. The streets are very quiet now all the children are on holiday.

So back to Comme Ci and half an hour with my receptionist friend who can’t add up the bill properly. All the while my stomach is going ballistic. The teachers kept giving me little titbits to eat yesterday. It’s hard to refuse. Pastor Charles was coming for a final meeting at three but he hasn’t shown up. At least I can lie down. But not for long. I spend the rest of the evening vomiting.

And now I really have seen everything. Nigerian Big Brother - they seem to have missed the point rather. It isn’t really about how they get on with each other at all, but more about very complex individual competitive tasks. And they have visitors in the house - TV stars. At 8 o’clock Pastor Charles arrives, only 5 hours late. And I’m still chucking up. It's definitely a whimpering day. Peter Lilley is making a flying visit to the Ghana projects on Sunday and will stay in my room. Good luck to him!

Tomorrow a bus to Kumasi and the Coast