THANKYOU MESSAGES TO ANNA RYDER RICHARDSON

WEDNESDAY 13TH JULY 2011

Today at school we sang more songs and also made thankyou messages on large A2 paper to Anna Ryder Richardson for all the T-shirts she gave me to give to the children who were so happy to receive them ,i gave about 50 T-shirts to the school children and the rest went to a very poor community over the other side of Lake Volta

The children loved having their hands painted :) They also loved the glitter glues and foam shapes of flowers and butterflies etc
These children were only used to using a pencil which they sharpened regulary and blackboard work to a tatty exercise book so this was a real treat to be using big white paper , lots of different coloured paints , paint brushes ,glue and coloured glitter and foam shapes for their pictures :)
It was lovely to see the children enjoying themselves in school .

A Job well done by all the children !!!!!!!
In the video below the children thank Anna Ryder Richardson for their T-shirts :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZuLrS1reP0

LOTS OF VERY HAPPY CHILDREN BELOW WEARING THEIR MANORHOUSE WILDLIFE PARK T-SHIRTS FROM ANNA !!!!:)

Below is a photo of a typical taxi in Ghana ,they usually had us all packed in like sardines as many as they could fit in ,no seatbelts and cracked windows was quite normal actually this one was an unsually good one and they would always have music blaring something like the artist Shaggy singing or some kind of Reggae music ,loved it !!.Then usually a policeman would wave us down and collect his money in some form of a bribe from the driver ,ther were road blocks everywhere we went apparently this is what they had to do to make up their wages ,they had no income from the police only a house .
Tonight all the volunteers decided to go out for a meal in a nearby village called OBO just a taxi ride away , we jumped in a taxi to have something to eat, drink ,dance and just let our hair down :) Some of the volunteers from the Chief`s Palace house where i was staying in Atbie ,making our way to catch a taxi :)
When we arrived at PointRoyal in OBO village some of the local children showed Jack and i how to dance the Ghana way :)
Thes boys really knew how to dance like so many Ghana men ,woman and children.they loved dancing and moving their bodies :)


Unlike me !!...........
After we were well fed and watered we went back to the house some hanging out of the boot of the taxi which like i said is quite normal even in the rain ,it usually rained at night in Ghana which was a blessing or we would have no water in our tank to have a wash in the morning !

FIRST DAY TEACHING AT BEPONG PRESBIE PRIMARY SCHOOL

TUESDAY 12TH JULY 2011,

We were all called out of our rooms in the volunteer house this morning due to a fire ( caused by a young volunteer who put butter in the oven to melt and left it there ,i thought the place was going to go up in flames ,black smoke everywhere but the people living there seemed to get it under control,thankgod!)
It all went downhill from then on ,the housekeeper was so fed up with some of the volunteers not washing their dishes and attitude she just didn`t bother turning up,so we all cooked our own meals and it didn`t work very well with so many sharing one kitchen :( !
Anyway after the drama this was my first day of teaching the children and i couldn`t wait to watch the children`s face`s working with all the arts and crafts i brought them from my wonderful friends ,Maurice,Tom,Gina,Annastacia and Judith who donated money and arts and crafts for me to take on my trip ,these donations made all the difference to me and the children and i couldn`t of done what i did without their help !!
I also started the class with a warm up song "If your happy and you know it clap your hands"!!! :)I practised this in work and at home to get me in the swing of things and watched endless other videos of nursery ryhmes on youtube to jog my memory from when my children were young !! :) Writing the words on the blackboard paid off and they sang nice and loud including me !!
Below is a video of me singing with the children !:)







Today we made some fabulous faces with paper plates and paints and they absolutely loved glitter paints!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
There was complete silence in the class because the children were happily engrossed in what they were doing ,then hildren from other classrooms without volunteers looked through the open shutters along the wall watching and wishing they were in our class .

The teacher was so excited and loved what she was watching the children do with the arts and crafts and brought in other teachers and the headteacher to take a look who they kept thanking me and my other volunteer friend Sandra :)
Here is a video below ,the teacher is filming us and you can hear her shouting at the children ..........



Felt shattered when i arrived back at the volunteer house ,voluteers were arriving and leaving all the time .

We had a meal cooked for us by Rose the housekeeper which was Black eyed peas and plantin and very nice :)

BEPONG PRESBIE PRIMARY SCHOOL

MONDAY 11TH JULY 2011


This was the first day at the school when i mainly observed.............


The children would bring their books for me to mark :)Take note the naughtiest boy in the class standing on the right .................................it wasn`t long before i was teaching the children on my own with the help of another volunteer Sandra .

Breaktime was complete madness ,i had them running between cones and playing ball games !!!A barbeque was organised at the volunteer House and i spent the evening getting to know other volunteers :)

Lots more volunteers at the house .........................

TAFO WATERFALL

SUNDAY 10TH JULY GHANA 2011 ,

TODAY WE VISITED TAFO WATERFALL THIS IS WHERE WE COULD HAVE A NATURAL POWER SHOWER!!!!:))








Me and two other volunteers Sarah and Natalie :)

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!:)