Dec 28th

Once again I am amazed at how quickly things change in Africa and how helpful people are. But I'm jumping ahead so let's rewind.

Samuel came to pick me up and take me to his house on Christmas night. As he works on the internet cafe behind the Phoenix, I assumed he lived close by ( I really should know better!). Turns out he lives miles away at Cape Coast which is lovely and close to the beach....a nice beach. He sometimes starts work at 7 am and tells me on those days he leaves around 4.30am to get to work!! Have I mentioned the traffic is crazy here?

Having had almost no sleep, I'm grateful to sink into a sofa and watch tv. Early the next morning we set off to Feta (pretty sure that's not how it's spelt) and spend the day chilling out. I learn that Sam's going away in February and thinking he means for a holiday, I flippantly suggest I look after his house.....he's actually going to live in the US for 5 years and says I can stay in his house for as long as I like when I come back!!!

Yesterday I came back to change TC's and head to Jamestown to see the HIV slum with Ratty...so much for plans. A lost charger means I can't speak to anyone and the banks are still closed. Ho Hum, C'est La Vie.

back at the Phoenix I get chatting to an american guy who knows somebody who used to work for the Ghana Health Commission and now runs an NGO for PLWHA 3 hours away. A phone call is made, and voila-I'm hoping to leave later to day to go and stay with him and see first hand what he is doing.

I'll keep you all posted.

And, Nix....loving every minute. Jelly tots.

Dec 27th (friends in high places!)

I seem to have missed Christmas, boo hoo. Quite literally this year and most definitely in my heart. While Ghanains celebrate in theory....nothing actually seemed to happen and I still heard nothing but non stop reggae!

Christmas Eve started well enough- Caesar and I went off to Oxford St (!) to the mall so I could buy cookies and sweets for the kids in the local village. AARGH. 10 pounds worth of treats for the bargain price of close to 40 in Ghana. Oh well-its christmas.

I stopped off to write to you all and the nice man at the vodafone store gave me free internet, then topped up my phone with free credit. Shucks, I think he likes me. Later that day, the girls arrive and having established that they also intend to complain to the volunteer agency we stop off at the internet cafe again so I can forward Emma all the emails I sent. We figure 3 of us making the same complaints has to account for something. They have at least worked most days....I'm still hoping.

As we're about to leave Sam asks for my number- everyone you meet in Ghana asks for your number (even the beggars) and as he's been so kind, I hand it over, wish him a happy christmas and leave.

Back at the Phoenix and it seems the evening is about to start and I naively expect it to be fun. I met Ayanbila who runs an NGO up north who tells me all about what he's doing and invites me to go and stay for a few days if I have time. He introduces me to his sister and the most gorgeous couple who have been volunteering with his charity for a month. They show me photos and can't say enough good things about Ayanbila and what he's doing. I soon realise his sister, Cynthia is sharing a room with the couple (how festive-no room at the inn) and invite her to share with me.

Then they crank up the sound system. OMG....WHAT IS THIS??? There are no words in any language to describe the noise level. It's like sitting next to the sound system at the 02 with a thrash metal band playing. I am in hell. My room is furthest from the system but it is 5am before my walls stop shaking and I get some sleep. I wake at 6.30 christmas morning, bad tempered and exhausted. All I can think about is that that night I'm due to sleep in the room NEXT to the sound system. I want to cry. No sleep, no christmas tree, no champagne...wtf?

The only way I can describe what follows in dialogue. It was a truly African day. I have told you all over and over how much I love Africa and I do but sometimes it is the most maddening, frustrating, confusing place on earth....and possible the loudest.

Let me rewind a little. Christmas eve with Caesar: 

C " Julie, would you like to go to the beach tomorrow?"

me; " Yep, but not Labadi cos its really crowded and noisy"

C " No, its horrible, I know a nice, really quiet beach that you can go to and lie in the sun.

Christmas morning. Sam rings " I'm going to Labadi beach- would you like to come?"

me' " No, but thank you. It's too noisy and I'm going somewhere with Caesar"

Ayinbilla " Are you going to Labadi?"

C and me " no- its too noisy"

Off we go for breakfast and a friend of a friend I've been trying to meet since I've arrived rings and asks if I'm going to Labadi. I say no, and as we get on the tro tro, I ask Caesar the name of the beach we are going to..."Labadi" he says " AAAAAAAAAAArrrrrrrrrrrghhhhhhhhh.

Ready to explode having now turned down two lifts. Half an hour later we get off the tro and start walking along the beach. Suddenly 2 men appear and ask me for money......for walking along the beach! I refuse and we double back and walk for MILES to get to the gate for Labadi where we pay a man on the gate to get in. Labadi beach is the only beach on earth which is STRESSFUL! I'm convinced somebody stole the sound system from the Phoenix and brought it to Labadi. My mood is not improved and all I can think of is the noise to come later that night. I get a text from Samuel wishing me a happy christmas and asking if there is anything he can do to make my christmas. In desperation, I text back that he could rescue me from the noise. He replies that he owns a 5 bed house on Cape Coast and I may stay as long as I like!!!! I wake Caesar and head back to the Phoenix to get ready. I ask Ayinbilla if he would like to stay in my room as I'm leaving and tell him, I just have to collect my bags before I leave. Samuel rings at 7.30 and says he's on his way to collect me so I ring Ayinbilla to see where he is with my keys. " I'm coming" he says and hangs up. Assuming he's the other side of the bar (its VERY dark)..I wait outside my room. Ten minutes later I ring and ask him where he is coming from " the airport'! AAAAAAARRRRGGHHH. Why? why would you leave and take my keys with you? Samuel arrives and we wait 2 hours for my keys to return. At this point I realise I could have given my room to Caesar who hasn't slept inside for almost 2 years!! I instruct Ayinbilla to hand the keys over to Caesar until I return to make sure he sleeps there.

There is more...but I'm out of time, need to **** and you'll have to wait!

Dec 23 (Home sweet home)

After 2 nights with my new host family, I knew I didn't want to stay anymore! Daniel (who's room I had obviously stolen) was in and out of 'his' room all night which involved lots of door slamming and lights being put on and off and I wasn't sure he wasn't trying to wake me up. I spent many hours hiding under my sheet pretending to be asleep. Although they kept repeating that I was welcome, their actions spoke much louder and suggested the opposite. Without my own room or a lounge, it was impossible to read or study and they insisted I spend my evenings sat outside the bar with them where they all drank vast amounts and shouted lots in twi. Not much fun and once a very drunken friend of theirs announced he had given up his job to spend his time talking to me ('talking' being his word for letching and breathing beer all over me), it was time to plan my escape.

Yesterday Jordan and Emma managed to escape the clutches of their host family long enough to come into Accra. I showed them the Phoenix, took them shopping and introduced them to my new rasta friends. They decided they would come back today and stay the weekend so not off to the beach after all.

I spoke to Phoenix about getting a room and sneaked out early this morning, telling Daniel I was leaving early for the beach to avoid traffic. You have to experience rush hour in Accra to believe it but it was a viable excuse and I have no plans to go back.

Since I last wrote, I have met with the wonderful Dr Kenu again. He is so incredibly generous with his time and knowledge I cannot thank him enough. He instructed me to read the latest National Strategy Plan from the GAC before returning next week so I can pinpoint, exactly what I want to investigate and he will place me in the right department.I asked, off the record why he had chosen to work in HIV/AIDS and he smiled the most beautiful smile and said when he started 8 years ago, nobody was interested in PLWHA but he is very attached to his patients and loves his job. I think the PLWHA in Accra are blessed to be under his care. I offered to send him anything I wrote about him or the Korle Bu before I published it here or wrote it in my dissertation and he insisted this was unnecessary.Given the problems they have had recently with volunteers who have not behaved appropriately, I feel honoured to have gained his trust in such a short time. Unfortunately my 3 weeks at the Korle Bu will be more like 3 days but it's out of my hands now. I tried to track down the NSP and found it was unavailable to the public. Another doctor rang me and said he could provide me with a copy. I suspect this is officially a leaked document and I am extremely lucky to have obtained it. What I have read has turned my dissertation topic on it's **** quite frankly but it's an intriguing document and if I jiggle my dissertation topic/ title, I think I'm on the home stretch.

I digress...I arrived back at the Phoenix just after 7 am and I feel so at home, I can now start to get ready for Christmas, Ghana style. The boys are arranging a beach party with drummers and dancers this evening 'for the empresses' ( this is Emma, Jordan and myself). A girl could get used to being treated like this!

Tomorrow, Hawa wants to take me to see her Grandmother who is also here in Accra but also has a house in London and tomorrow evening, I have been invited to a christmas party by a friend of a friend in London. As for Christmas day...anything could happen by then. This is Ghana after all. I'm already dreading leaving. I always knew I would return to Ghana but I never dreamt how hard it would be to leave. 

I have yet to tell you all about the main man 'Likle Joe'. The wisest most wonderful man you could wish to meet. I'm guessing Joe is in his 60s, possibly older. He is committed to his Rastafarian lifestyle, deeply proud of his African roots and culture and every time we speak, I feel I have learnt a lifetime of knowledge. My writing skills are far from adequate to relay Joe's teachings. Were he in the West, he would be a world famous philosopher and people would surely fill stadiums to listen to him. He paid me the biggest compliment I believe I have ever received when he told me how he was fed up of white people, their NGOS and governments coming here and telling African's how they should live and what they should do. That he doesn't believe anything they do is with an open heart but only to better their own economies; and then he said " But you, you are different. You have an African heart and you are welcome always." High praise indeed from such a man. When Joe calls me, I answer my phone and follow him like a lost puppy, awaiting his next lesson.

For now, there is only one thing left to say: HAPPY CHRISTMAS. I hope you are all as happy as I am and that you all have a wonderful christmas and a very happy New Year.

 Dec 20

What a great day!! I feel like I achieved something. Mooched around with Caesar in the morning and then got chatting to the quite wonderful Mr Ratty. We had a long chat about what I was doing here and got into the ways in which HIV is transmitted. He told me that there is a township close by called Jamestown where it is prolific and offered to take me there if I get time. Its running out fast :(

Ratty tells me people don't use condoms here because it spoils the sex. I tell him that's not the case but I  can see he's not convinced. We talk and laugh some more and I tell him he only has to have sex with one girl and he could get sick but if he uses condoms, he can have sex with as many as he likes. I suspect I'm going straight to hell for advocating promiscuity but I can see he liked the idea. He's still not convinced about it spoiling the experience so I ask if he'd like to ring my lover in England who will confirm it doesn't. I then pull a condom from my bag which has the words 'never go in without a skin' emblazoned across it and he laughs and says when he finds a girl he will use it!!!! Then he smiles and says he will think of me before realising what that means and laughs so more. So now I have sent the beautiful Mr Ratty off to explore the joys of safe sex and he says he will tell his friends if he doesn't mind the condoms.

 Dec 21st

Slowly, slowly, by the time I leave I should be able to start work! One step forward, 90 odd steps back. Yesterday the mysterious Franklin appeared and drove me to the Korle Bu to meet the doctor in charge of the HIV/AIDS unit. It soon became clear, he had no idea who Franklin was and was less than impressed with his recent conduct. Dr Kenu was also shocked to discover I had paid $700 dollars to volunteer with them. Not sure where my money went but none of it went to the hospital. Dr Kenu suggested I send him my dissertation proposal and come back today.

I was then taken to meet my new host family. After just four days at the Phoenix, I felt so at home that it's hard to leave and to relinquish some of my freedom. Bit of a shock- a very small house with one room to sit in, two bedrooms and a bathroom. Nowhere to cook. AARGH...missing the Phoenix food already. I did my washing and had just finished when Gilda called and invited me to lunch so I jumped in a taxi bound for Osu. Gilda lives in a beautiful flat opposite the Irish Pub! And, yes...it is green. We settle for coffee instead of over priced European food and go down the street to a local bar to eat before going back to hers to hang out. I manage not to cry when she says I should have gone to stay with her in her beautiful 3 bedroom flat, having just been moved to a host family.

It gets dark early here and the traffic is extreme so I left late afternoon and headed back to my new family. They own a liquor store (result!) but I'm on my best behaviour here so settle for a fanta and spend the evening chatting and trying to work out how many people I'm to share a room with. EEK. Relieved that I have a room to myself but more than a little guilty that everyone else has been shunted around to accommodate me.

Day 8 (? ) lost count 19th

Have I told you all yet how much I love Africa? I think there'll never be enough time to write why or to explain but this morning is a prime example. It is barely 3 hours since I was last writing and the world has changed again. Having left the internet cafe, I went to the bank to change my TCs. I'd been there maybe five minutes when a lady sat beside me and we started talking and I met my newest friend  and the lynchpin to a whole new network. The very gorgeous Gilda is an american professor who is here on holiday but works with refugees when she's at home in Washington DC. I explained what I'm doing here (or not doing here) and she was very enthusiastic and told me she has a friend who has a charity here which uses street theatre to raise awareness of HIV/AIDS in Ghana. Jackpot!!! This is exactly the sort of thing I'm here to explore. Gilda said she is meeting her friend for lunch tomorrow and invited me to join them. She then told me about a local man who calls himself the 'AIDS star' who is proudly and openly HIV positive and spends his time talking to anyone that wants to listen from what I understand and she can make sure I get to meet him.

Can you imagine this happening in London? I'd start a blog just to announce a stranger spoke to me.

I headed back to get some breakfast and asked Caesar to escort me to the Korle Bu to meet Sister Beque. The Korle Bu is enormous. Not much of an exaggeration to say it's almost the size of the town I grew up in. It took me about an hour to locate the correct building with the aid of a very patient security guard who I'm sure has better things to do with his time. I met Sister Beque and briefly explained my situation an she then introduced me to the administrator for the HIV/AIDS unit. I repeated my story and he listened patiently looking alternatively bemused and shocked. They seemed to share my view that Franklin is a mythical creature. More calls were made (on even to Franklin) and I met Doctor Patricia Nkansah-Asamoah who was extremely generous with her time and information. She explained that I would be unable to interview patients or anyone Living With HIV/AIDS (LWHA) without ethical clearance here in Ghana but she would be happy to meet with me another time ( if I have time as everyone is about to break for Christmas) and gave me her email address.

Progress!! Another call to another professor and the mud is clearing. It seems the Korle Bu had indeed stopped taking volunteers but the much aligned (mainly by me) Franklin has actually been doing something and I have now received official permission to work in the research unit starting tomorrow. And there's more!! They have found me a new host family closer to the hospital so no more expensive hotel bills...though I will be sad to say goodbye to the Phoenix but no longer have to worry about money and can afford to hit the beach at weekends. Priorities after all.

I rang Gilda to explain I couldn't make lunch tomorrow and she was very excited for me and promised we'll meet one evening or at the beach this weekend.

I'm in little doubt none of this would be happening if I hadn't stamped my feet and ruffled a few feathers but really looking forward to starting work tomorrow.

By the way, people....sign that anybody is reading this would be good...and feel free to comment ( good or bad). I'm taking loads of photos but as I can't install my camera on a public computer, won't be able to upload them until I get back.

Day 7

Having spent the evening, editing Hawa's proposals, I ordered a 'small' portion of dinner which would easily have fed 4 and spent the evening getting to know my fellow guests and workers.

I met Ceasar, my new best friend/ tour guide/ body guide who is permanently stoned but appears to be a font of knowledge. He told me that the fastest growing religion in Ghana is Rastafarianism and there are approx 700,00 rastas in Ghana today. I think most of them live where I'm staying! I fear I am days away from greeting everyone I meet with a fist bump and a heart felt 'Rastafi'. I am curious as to what impact is having on the HIV/AIDS pandemic here but I think it's best to get to know them before diving in with such questions. Each person ask why I am here and when I tell them I want to research the impact of the pandemic, they tell me it's a problem, that they are grateful that I am here but they are unwilling to discuss HIV at a personal level. I'm here for enough time that I think this may change.

One of the older guys runs a football academy for young boys to keep them out of trouble and is hoping to build a school and I hope to speak to him and establish what, if any sexual education they will receive.

I spoke to a guy called Micheal who is here visiting family but lives with his girlfriend in Germany. He told me about a better, cheaper beach I could stay at and I gave myself a big kick for paying for 2 weeks up front but I'm overlooking the beach and a 5 minute walk from the city. I am moments from the Nakrumah memorial! I arrange to somehow get to big millys over the weekend to check it out.

Day 8

My tour of Ghana begins bright and early with Hawa arriving at 8am to drive me out to the edge of the city where she has bought land on which she plans to build a new office for her NGO and living quarters for her and her staff. I have no doubts her NGO is up and running but I suspect she views me as a cash cow which given my current circumstances is more laughable than worrying. I'm happy to give her money for fuel here and there in return for being driven around in luxury. Even if I secretly miss the atmosphere of a sweaty crowded Tro Tro but when I told her this, she thought I was mad.

After seeing the land she has bought and been shown where she will build my house (yes, my house; large pinches of salt are being taken now) we head back to Accra and I find Caesar waiting for me. We head off to Nakrumah park where he tells me the history of Ghana and how Nakrumah presided over Guinea for two years before his death. There are a dozen or so weddings taking place when we visit. Nakrumah is still held in high esteem here and much loved. From the park we walk to independence square and after I have taken several dodgy pictures of the arch, Caesar agrees with me that I am an excellent photographer and the arch is indeed wonky!

We walk along the beach to the castle but when a big man with a gun appears, decide to leave that for another day and we walk back into the city for dinner. We eat sitting on the floor by the roadside and I actually break my no photo rule just to show you all....I know Shelley will freak out! The food is amazing but I'm too stuffed from lunch to eat much.

I head back to shower and change and walk back along the beach to a club for which we are too late. I suspect this could be as Caesar needs a lot of 'rasta' breaks to get in touch with his concious. He smokes a lot of weed.

Day 9

At last, up to date with you all and hoping to day is the day things start to happen. I'm going to the Korle Bu this morning to meet the head of the HIV unit and hope she will at least allow me to interview her and maybe some of her staff if it is not possible to work there. Having already paid so much to the volunteer org and now paying for food and accommodation, I really cannot afford to pay anymore to work there. Accra is an expensive city and my room at the Phoenix is costing me $30 a night- the cheapest room in the city!!

Day 2

I think its fair to say nobody slept well that first night. Possibly as the last thing George told us was that today we would all be taken to the hospital and that we must not cry when we saw how bad the patients wounds were! GULP. I think he meant actual sick people. I kept repeating that I'm not a med student and the girls came to work in the local orphanage. I'm here to volunteer in the research unit of the Korle Bu Hospital- Ghana's leading teaching hospital and HIV/AIDS research unit and to educate and mentor the teenagers they have staying there who are living with the disease.

I was given a reprieve as my suitcase had arrived and I was told it was at the airport awaiting collection. So off we went to the airport by TroTro. I waited at the desk, clutching my claim form naively believing it would be waiting. You'd think I'd never been to Africa! Nobody knew where it was so I was left to roam the airport until I found it abandoned in a corner. At least I could wash and have clean clothes.

Nothing much else to report. We got into a really interesting discussion with George about the differences in each of our cultures. I was startled when he brought up the subject of female circumcision and how he believed it was wrong and it is now illegal in Ghana- though it still happens 'in the north'. It appears there is always a north/south divide. Anything less than good for Ghana seems to happen only 'in the north'. I wish I had time to travel to find out if those in Tamale believe 'the south' to be the root of all ills.

I tried to broach the subject of HIV/AIDS in Ghana and the conversation came to an abrupt end.

Again we were promised (threatened?) that 'tomorrow' we would all go to the hospital where we 'must not cry'.

Day 3

We woke up and after drawing the water from the well to bathe, were given breakfast and headed off very nervously to the hospital. Of course, this is Africa so we had to spend several hours driving around to different buildings waiting to speak to people. Just before lunchtime we arrived at a run down building and I asked where we were. 'This is the hospital' George announced. AAAARGH, was my first reaction. I pointed out quite calmly that this was not the Korle Bu and George looked dumbfounded. He had no idea I was due to work at the Korle Bu and they live about a 5/6 hour round trip from there. I'm due to work from 8-3. 

George rang the project cordinator here in Ghana; the now mythical Franklin. There was much shouting (not at me this time) followed by much confusion and George announcing that Franklin had just told him the Korle Bu no longer accept volunteers!!

Colour me furious. So I have at this point, paid close to $1000 to stay in a house, with no running water, sharing a room and I'm 3 hours from the city. I decided the best thing to do was head home and find an internet cafe and email the organisation in America. Five hours and one email later, I returned to the house trying not to explode with frustration. The first time I've come to Africa under the 'care' of somebody else and it's all gone pear shaped...to say the least. And I'm broke. 

Franklin phoned later that afternoon, pleading for patience and promised me everything was under control and I would be at the Korle Bu by Thursday. For sure. I emailed America to update them and to ask why they were unaware of the situation and requested they find me alternative accommodation. While the host family, and my new daughters are lovely, it is still to far from the hospital. AAAARRRGHH. 

The girls arrived back and reported that they had made it to the orphanage and escaped the hospital. We settled to watch our new favourite soap opera-Alma and awaited dinner.

I have never been so pleased to be vegetarian or felt so guilty at the same time. I was given a plate full of raw cabbage and onion while the girls were presented with fufu and cow leg; a huge hulk of fatty gristle. I though Emma was going to cry and was torn between rescuing her and risking offending the family.

Day 4

Time to do something useful ahead of finally starting work tomorrow- having lost almost a week. I wondered into the village and checked my mail again. An email from America saying 'We are pleased to hear Franklin has sorted everything out for you and we wish you luck'. What the **** is this man telling people? I've heard nothing and still don't know what I'm doing here.

I left the cafe and was greeted by a voice in the dark  calling out "come and speak to me, I want to be your friend". This is how I met my new friend Elizabeth who told me were going to be sisters and we must drink soda. She gathered up some friends and we walked the long way around town so she could show me off. Not sure how I feel about being a trophy friend but I came for adventure and its time I took control of this trip and had some fun. Within an hour we were sitting in a local bar drinking fantas and several men appeared to propose to me. Imayo with his western dress and very flash car insisted he was going to take us somewhere and then I would agree to be his wife.

You'd have to be some kind of stupid to get into a car with 3 very large men you've known for ten minutes and one young african girl and go off wouldn't you? Call me stupid. We spent the afternoon driving around playing music so loud I wanted to cry and 'making joke'. They told me the singer Akon had died!! Still yet to verify this...anyone?

I arrived back at the house about 6 hours after I went to buy bread and I was told off my my host mother! I promised to be a good girl and not run off with strange boys any more.

Day 5

No great surprise- I have heard nothing from Franklin and no emails from America. I'm lucky enough that thanks to friends at uni, I have contacts here. I called a guy called Kwayie who said he knows some NGOs and has friends who may be able to find me somewhere to stay. I emailed Eunicea who by chance worked at the Korle Bu and asked for help. This evening, Eunicea rang me and gave me the number for the director of the Korle Bu and said she had spoken to Sister Beku who was expecting my call and would help me!!

Now I just needed to find somewhere cheap to stay. I googled the beach I stayed at many years ago to find it's now  luxury resort at $100 a night. OOPS. Several hours of trawling the internet and I found a place to stay- 5 minutes from the center of Accra, overlooking the beach, with a vegetarian restaurant run by an english guy who'll give me a good price. Things are looking up people.

So this is my home for the next few days or weeks!! The girl done good and I'm off tomorrow.

Day 6

Not surprised that I've heard nothing. I'm officially on my own now and feel so relieved. I may suck at a lot of things but finding my way around Africa has never been one of them. There are any reasons why I want to stay.

Woke up this morning all set to head off to find one of my girls is sick. I feel strangely maternal. I've known this girls 5 days but they are alone and naive and one of them is ill. I tell myself, she'll be fine, it's not my responsibilty and start packing. I can't leave until she is up, walking and looking less grey but when she hugs me goodbye and walks to the main road with me, I am relieved she is better and genuinely touched at her making this effort for me.

I equip them with my number, email, new address and directions before I go.

I'm bundled onto crowded Tro with my suitcase on my lap and somebody helpfully stuffs my large bag onto the small space between my head and the Tro roof. To the beach!!

Somehow, the Tro only takes 90 minutes to reach Accra and before I know it I'm cocooned in the Phoenix and shown to my room overlooking the sea. Its's really rough and looks more like the Themes than the picture above but who's complaining?

Sister Beko calls an hour later and worryingly but not too surprisingly tells me she knows nobody called Franklin and knew nothing about me until Eunicea called her. She has invited me to go and see her Monday morning. Fingers crossed.

I order dinner and within minutes a smartly dressed lady introduces herself as Hawa and asks why I am here. I recap my tale of adventure and woe and she tells me she she has an NGO in Tamale which she has been running for 8 years and asks for my help. Within minutes I am seated at her laptop with a stack of aid proposals to work through to check her spelling and grammar. Her organisation is the Northern Friends Foundation and helps girls from the North migrating to the south (Accra) where they end up often selling sex to survive. In 8 years, close to 30 girls have graduated under her tutelage and are now running their own small businesses. Having seen her proposals and pictures of the girls, it looks like a great project. She has already asked me to return next year and work with her if she is successful in obtaining funding.

Day 7

Is yet to be written...there is more but now I have work to do

WEEK ONE

Hi all,

Sorry for the delay-its been a bit of a drama so far and I do not have much time today so bare with me!

My flight from London was delayed which resulted in me arriving in Ghana after 11pm last Saturday night. Let me recap my week so far.

Sunday

I arrived in Ghana late thanks to a delayed flight to discover our luggage had not been loaded when we all changed planes in Lisbon. I finally arrived at my host family just before 1 am and was shown into a big room with a huge iron bed swathed in mosquito netting and was then redirected to the mattress on the floor next to it where I was to sleep. I was too hungry, tired and dirty to care so lay on the mattress and slept...for about 20 minutes. It soon became clear the rooster outside my window couldn't tell the time. At 5am I was woken by Boney M blaring out of a building somewhere shortly followed by the noise of a child wailing loudly. Welcome to Ghana.

I came out of my room looking for my host family who were nowhere to be seen, and waited several hours until they appeared and asked if I was hungry. I said yes and tried to look too disappointed when I was given 2 dry pieces of bread.

George who had collected me the night before arrived and announced I owed him $60 dollars for the airport collection (I paid $90 to the organisation before I left). I said as soon as I'd changed the travellers cheques I'd been advised to bring, I would pay him.

Later that afternoon my two room mates swept in-they had flown from Melbourne and were exhausted. I was glad they were two girls and unsure how it would be spending three weeks with 18 year olds, one of whom had never left her state before she told me. Luckily, they are delightful and within days I felt I had somehow acquired 2 teenage daughters. They unpacked and we were invited to go with George to attend a community meeting which sounded great and exactly what I'd hoped to be doing here. Fifteen minutes later, we were seated on benches outside the Boney M playing church eagerly awaiting our first experience of Amsaman. Twenty minutes later we discovered that was to entail various men taking turns to point at us three and shout very loudly.

More tomorrow people...