Voluntary work in Ghana 2011

Saturday 9th July ,

Woke up to the realisation i was in Africa ,lots of people outside house making a noise setting up their shops .
Had my first bucket shower in Ghana,WHICH MEANT YOU HAD TO FILL A BUCKET WITH RAIN WATER FROM A WATER TANK OUTSIDE ,CARRY IT IN AND BASICALLY WASH YOURSELF WITH IT ,IF YOU WANTED HOT WATER YOU HAD TO BOIL IT ON TOP OF THE OVEN ,then i was greeted by a cooked breakfast by the housekeeper Rose ,omelette and fried bread and a cup of tea. We were then taken for a drive around the area to get us used to where we could buy food and purchase Ghana MTN simm cards for our phones .




People are very friendly and looking at us because we are white and calling us Obruni ,which means tourist or white person .Music blares everywhere from shops and cars and locals dance and smile all day long!

LAKE VOLTA ...........................

We travelled to Lake Volta in the afternoon where very poor people live and then took a boat out into the largest man made lake .......................

where i jumped over board for a swim to cool off but found it difficult to get back into the boat !!!!!! HELP!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5DKfxd660KMMe

enjoying a sing song with the children " Head Shoulder ,Knees and Toes ,Knees and Toes !!!"

ON MY WAY TO DO MY VOLUNTARY WORK IN GHANA 2011

Friday 8th July 2011 

 

After catching train from Carmarthen to Swansea i was sitting relaxing for 3/4 of an hour when i suddenly realised i had left my passport at home in the photocopier ,a frantic phone call to my husband resulted in him driving full pelt and managed to arrive 5 mins before i caught my connecting train taking me to London Paddington ,quick sigh of relief and i finally arrived at Paddington on time to catch the Heathrow express train but my 2 x23kg bags were becoming a nightmare to carry around plus i had a backpack ,holdall with some of Anna`s T-shirts and also balls and rings tied to one of my cases !

Enter one very nice Polish man who gave up a day`s work in the city of London to get me on the train with all my luggage :)

Little does he know he is now part of my 11 year blog :)

My suitcases were both well overweight and the woman checking their weight decided she just wanted to get rid of me and put me on the flight without charging me ,phew !


Arrived in Ghana in the middle of the night to be greeted at Accra Airport by a man with a transit van and some other volunteers ,we were chucked into this van with cases hanging out and taken on one hell of a bumpy ride to our house where we were all staying ,one girl was sick due to the journey and potholed roads !


We finally arrived at the house at 4.00 am in the morning and went straight to bed ! There were 3 very high bunkbeds in our room and i found it difficult to get and down without a ladder!!,the other 4 volunteers sharing the room were away for the weekend .The toilet was to be flushed via a bucket of water from a tank outside which filled with rain water and we were to use this to wash with as well ,happy days ,thankgod i have done this before in India ,feel well prepared :)

Mad Jackie and Mad Anna:)

Had a wonderful day with Anna Ryder Richardson at the Manor House Wildlife Park
Anna has donated 100 T-shirts for my children in Ghana :)

Love you Anna Ryder Richardson and so will all the children in Ghana when they see these T-shirts X!:)

July the 1st i will be meeting Anna Ryder Richardson again . I met her the first time while she was shopping in Superdrug where i work ,Anna has opened a Zoo in Wales after spending many years on our TV screen as an interior designer and recently in the jungle on I`m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here!!
She is very kindly donating T-Shirts from Manor House Park Zoo for the Children in Africa where i will be spending two weeks teaching them English and playing lots of outdoor games !:)


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1088575/Changing-zoos-Why-moving-Wales-steep-learning-curve-TV-presenter-Anna-Ryder-Richardson-.html

Voluntary work in Ghana 2012 July 8th until July 22nd

I have been donated money by friends,Tom Leonard and Maurice Stephens from America who i met on Facebook on my RP Support Group ,both are visually impaired with a rare eye disease Retinitis Pigmentosa, in my spare time i help support people like Tom and Maurice , i also had money donated by Gina Potter and Annastacia Fulcher from Ireland ,i met Annastacia on facebook and Gina via this blog which i post on Cancer Sites to help inspire people to be positive , Gina is a Cancer survivor after being diagnosed with Bowel Cancer she is now in recovery .

With Maurice`s and Anna`s donations i am using this towards my travelling costs to get me to the schools each day and to cover my accomodation costs .

With Tom and Gina`s money i have bought school equipment .............. i also intend to buy goats ,food and material when i am in Ghana if we are allowed by the organisers.

With the money donated so far i have bought books,crayons,stickers ,baseball bat and ball ,frisbees ,bouncy balls ,two small blackboards to be used for outdoor games and school work ,pens ,coloured and whitepaper ,loads of arts and crafts ,paints ,balloons ,rubbers and lots lots more !!!!!


Thanks to Gina ,Annastacia ,Maurice ,Tom there will alot of happy children when i arrive in July !:))
I forgot to mention a special thankyou to my friend Judith Tucker who has delivered a big box of arts and crafts to my house for the children and lots of bats and balls etc :))

Volunteering to work in Africa (Ghana) is a life changing experience; you are not just putting money into a collection tin and walking away ...........................

APRIL 6TH 2011,MY MRI RESULTS ARE BACK FROM THE HOSPITAL ,my doctor phoned me in work and i have been told after 7 years my tumour is virtually the same ,my doctor said it is pretty stable in it`s dimensions except for a marginal increase in the size which is not very significant !!:)

Looks like my running and positive thinking has paid off :))))!!

I can now focus on my trip to Ghana in July where i am going to help teach children the English language and most important of all my son`s wedding in August !:)

YESTERDAY i recieved a surprise gift in the post from a lady who lives in Ohio in America ,she sent me a beautiful bracelet she made especially for me and a card thanking me for all i do on the internet to help people with RP (Retinitis Pigmentosa).

I have spoken earlier in my blog about my RP Support Group .It is growing everyday with people that are losing their sight to a rare eye disease RP .I failed to find much support after meeting someone with RP and so i set up my own RP Support Group on the internet and basically formed a network of support for these people and they join from all around the world ,Peg being one of those people .

It is a wonderful feeling knowing you have made a difference to someones life :)

Thankyou Peg XXX