Donations Please!!

Myself and Abena

So 5 and a half weeks to go, and I'm sure many of you have heard me banging on about it!! I will be returning to Ghana on the 11th June for 6 weeks, to the orphanage I visited last year for 3 months. I met 72 amazing children out there and can't wait to be back with them!
I've paid for flights, programme fee etc and am now looking for any small donations which can be put towards the needs of the children (please take a look at the photos below). Last year I saw a lot of what money can do. We were able to buy nappies for the babies, pure water (rather than drinking out of their well, which often makes them ill), medicines and malaria medication, food, stationary, etc etc.
There is so much a small amount can do, so any donations will be much appreciated, I'm sure you can manage one less drink this weekend! You can see where your money has gone by looking at my blog and photos when I am out there :)

          Thankyou!!



                Click here to donate by card or paypal...

                                                                           

 For more information on my previous trip keep on reading :)
                Also check out  http://www.ghanaiangwen.blogspot.co.uk/
If you're interested in volunteering abroad visit http://www.volunteerhq.org/

Many of the younger children sleep on the hard concrete floor, donations are needed to buy mats and blankets, and possibly even mattresses for them to sleep on

Donations are needed for clean clothes and soap to handwash clothes for the 70+ children

Medications needed for sores like this

Mercy and Godwyn: donations are needed for food

With donations we can buy sachets of safe, pure water for the children to enjoy rather than water from the well

Donations for buckets so the kids can clean the yard (and also buckets for washing)

For a long time I have been meaning to write up some bits from my trip from a journal I kept for the duration of my visit. So I'm finally getting round to it so if you want more info on my trip, the orphanage or volunteering then have a read :)

Feb 11th- May 16th 2011

                          Friday 11th Feb

•  Left for Ghana on a very rainy, miserable British day.
• Sat next to a Ghanaain man who fell asleep with his arm on my DVD controls, so unsuccessful flight!
• Arrived at 10pm and was hit by the heat
• Met at the airport with a heartwarming hug from Evans, one of the staff from Ghana Vol Corps. Jonathan drove us to the main volunteer house and they promised they would keep me safe.
• Met Eddi who was very welcoming to me and headed to bed!!

                                                                    Saturday 12th Feb

I was sitting on a step up to the volunteer house in the nice shade. I've just had a nice lunch of rice and spicy vegetables, although apparently that was mild so not sure what I am in for! This morning I woke up after a shabby nights sleep at about 6am although it felt a lot longer. Another girl, Sarah had joined my room and arrived a few hours earlier, arriving with her boyfriend Zac (soon to become great friends of mine, and housemates for the following 3 months). I braved a cold shower and joined everyone for breakfast of omelette and sweet bread. I then met the rest of the team and a couple of volunteers who are leaving tommorow. Evans then took me and Juno, another volunteer to a market. We walked part of the way then got tro tro's around. They are crazy! The driving here is definitely something to be wary of. We saw some craft and clothes stalls with lovely African things. Then we headed to the mall which was a lot more Western. I bought my new African sim and had to register it in the shop. On the way home through the village we saw some random chickens, dogs and goats wandering around. Later, whilst ringing home to let them know I'd arrived safely I saw a couple of orange and blue lizards :)

Outside the house

The main house

In the afternoon a lady Denise and her daughter Julie arrived at the house from the Pink Programme where I will be going and gave us a heads up on what to expect. Loan and Roman also arrived from from Normandy. In the evening we all went to a 'spot', where an African reggae band were playing in a petrol station next to a bar.

La Pleasure Beach

                           Sunday 13th Feb

• Another day in the volunteer house, met lots more arriving volunteers
• Spent the afternoon with everyone on La Pleasure beach

                                                                  Monday 14th Feb

•  House got very busy as plenty of people arrived for orientation
• Most of the day consisted of Orientation- confirming placements, twi lesson, safety etc. Eddi and Eric founders of Ghana Volunteer Corps were very helpful and answered any questions we had
• Luxury of a shower and hairwash to last me a while

                                                                                              Tuesday 15th Feb

Dodowa

We woke up early and had breakfast ready to be taken to our different placements. 2 hours behind schedule we drove to the Pink programme squashed in the minibus. We trundelled down a dirt track into a more rural area surrounded by plantain trees, goats and chickens. The other volunteers were sat on the porch of the house ready to welcome us.





Pink Programme Volunteer House

We met Talina, Sara, Emily, Catherine, Jayne and Josh. Inside was a kitchen and a 4 bedrooms, me and Sarah settled in one bedroom with Brandy and Nate. We had no lightbulb, electricity or running water! Josh suggested we take a look around the orphanage so we took a short walk through the village across the field. Everyone was so friendly saying hello or 'etisen' on our way. The orphanage was pretty empty as at this time the children were at school, so we got a look around.

Walk to the orphanage

The orphanage is based around a courtyard, with a male dorm along the left side, work/eating room at the back, and girls rooms along the right. On the 4th side is an office and store room. In the middle is a well which the children use for drinking, cooking, and washing. They like to enjoy sachets of 'pure water' which is safer for them and can be brought with donation money :)

Younger children sleep on mats or concrete floor

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Older children sleep on bunk beds

Children age from 2 (estimated) to 18. Many of the children have parents who are sick, or unable to care for them, whilst a few of them have no parents or have been found and brought to the orphanage.

Later we walked to pick up some of the children from the Methodist school in the village which was a short walk from the house. I was completely overwhelmed as some of the children ran towards me to welcome the new volunteers with massive smiles on their faces. The heat was pretty hard to deal with at first, I was sweating buckets! But it was so worth it to walk with the children back to the orphanage as they clutched my hand and chatted away asking my name.

Soon after we arrived at the orphanage we had a meeting held by Mama Jane who is the founder of the orphanage. She welcomed the new volunteers and talked use through some issues.

We played with the children until about 6pm. They were amazing!! All so full of energy and laughter, despite the fact that their living conditions were quite shocking to anyone from the Western world. I played with a load of children, and at the time couldn't really remember many names out of the 72-odd children!

Back at the house we had rice for tea and I experienced my first bucket bath. The bathroom was more of a wetroom and a bucket! The toilet next door needed to be flushed with a bucket and water from a big barrell outside the door. The lack of running water was definitely something to get used to. I spent the rest of the evening getting to know the rest of the volunteers.

Schedule, 'rougly' followed by children and volunteers


Wednesday 16th Feb

   My first full day at the orphanage! The typical day is to wake up at 5.30a, prepare the children for school until 8am and then eat breakfast. On a weekday children are at school until 2pm whilst volunteers can have free time to rest, go to market, go to shops, run errands etc until picking the children up at 2pm. Volunteers then spend the afternoon with the children playing with tem, organising activities, chatting, singing, dancing, helping with homework etc. We then go home for dinner about 6pm and can go back up to the orphanage after dinner to help with more homework and putting the younger children to 'bed'. I woke up at 5.30am after a long hot night disturbed by very noisy goats and roosters. I was so tired! But looking forward to the day immensely. We arrived at the orphanage about 6am to help the children to get ready for school- it was manic!! All 70+ children have to have a bucket shower, brush their teeth, eat breakfast and get dressed before school, which we eventually walked them to. Some of the children are sponsored to attend Word of Faith, an American run school. These children get the bus from the 'stop' by the field. The majority of other children attent Methodist school. At 8am we went home to have breakfast, cooked by Aunty Beatrice, the volunteer house cook who also works at the orphanage. Breakfast was sweet bread and tea and coffee. I went for a walk through the village 'shops' and attempted to use the older, slowest computer ever in an 'internet cafe' that looked a bit like a shack! I eventually managed to send a quick email out to the family. It was so hot so I went back to the house and fell asleep, waking in time for lunch of beans and yams. At around 2pm we walked to collect the children from school again. We did ALOT of skipping (unsurprisingly hard in the heat) and I even played a bit of football with the young boys. The kids were lovely. Godwyn, the youngest child (his age is unknown as he was found) was adorable, and I grew very fond of him throughout my visit, as I did with all the children! I picked him up, but as Catherine had warned me he balled his eyes out whenever I tried to put him down, so I was stuck with him for a long while before passing him onto someone else! In the evening I experiences 'light out' the ghanaain term for powercut. Not only did this mean a great deal of children running around the orphanage in the dark screaming 'light out', it meant no fan (= very hot night) and torches at the ready.

Myself and Godwyn for the first time


Thursday 17th Feb & Friday 18th Feb

•  Much the same as yesterday.
• Experienced my first Ghanaain rainstorm (probably the best shower I ever had in Africa)
• Eddi and Eric came to check on us and we had another meeting with them and Mama Jane and the volunteers (meetings involve discussing a lot of various issues surounding the orphanage, and responsibility of the volunteers, which I won't delve in to on here. Many are irrelevant now, over  a year on!)

Outside the orphanage

Saturday 19th & Sunday 20th

Visited Cape Coast slave castles

On my return home in Dodowa on Sunday after I noticed a perculiar trail of... ANTS. One of the delights of getting used to new surroundings!

Monday 21st Feb- Sunday 27th Feb

• During this week I got to grips with a lot more of the childrens names, and got to know them all a bit better. Godwyn is just hilarious. He waddles around and peeks behind walls running towards me shouting 'Dopie!!'. No wonder he is such a hit with the volunteers, and the other children.
• Brandy and Nate left. Jill from another orphanage programme joined the house because she had been ill and needed to be a nearer distance to the hospital. What a blessing in disguise as she turned out to be a great friend.
• Experienced a crazy thunderstorm. Just as we were about to go to bed there was the most horrendous noise of the rain smashing down on our roof. Needless to say our house was powerless, so we all ran through the hallway in the dark. Our garden was swimming and it was pitch black apart from the lightening, it was amazing to watch. A number of us took the opportunity to wash our hair!! We woke to still no power and a load of SOAKED clothes and shoes! On the walk to the orphanage the path had massive puddles and some trees had been uprooted. Unfortunately some of the children's uniforms were wet and muddy. Unfortunately at the Methodist school the children are expected to be clean and presentable otherwise they will be cained (thunderstorms are, apparently, no exception). Luckily we managed to find some spare uniforms.
• Put up my mostiquito net over my bed
• Chased a mouse and spider out of the volunteer house
• Introduced to some orphanage dances/games 'Anita nita'
• Spent a while chasing Stephen (13) and Emit (13) out of their school uniform
• Went to the market in Dodowa and tried my first sugar cane
• Some of the older girls shared their love for Celine Dion. The older girls that help cook in the volunteer house sing 'I'm alive' when they are cooking
• Missed going to Dodowa waterfalls with the other volunteers because I was sick (possibly due to Malaria medication)
• Sarah and I gave the children a Geography lesson with the help of a large world map we found in the office (which contains books, stationary and games volunteers have brought for the children)
• Got my hair braided for 3 hours by 5 woman. Easily the most painful experience of my life hahaha
• The children carried water from the village well in buckets on their heads to our house to fill the barrels we use for showering and flushing the toilet. Made me feel guilty, they are very willing to help us and are so grateful for volunteers that they are more than happy to do this. their strength is amazing! Arrangements to get a tank for running water began, but a slow process.
• Took Bismark and Joshua to the 'internet shack' to show them some photos of my family and friends. 

Walk to the orphanage after the storm

Mama Jane the founder of WORCSA

Women's Refuge And Child Survival Africa

Playing with the children






Children writing and playing



Aunty Beatrice cooking for the volunteers






Francis sweeping the yard




                                                                                         Irene brushing teeth in the morning
 
                                                       Monday 28th Feb - Thursday 3rd March
 
•  New volunteers came. Nurse Michelle, partner Perry, daughter Jess and friend Michelle arrived along with a guy Naheem. We showed them around the orphanage and told them the routine. Michelle, Perry, Jess and Kayleigh bought with them lots of huge bags full of clothes, shoes and medicines for the children.
• The kids were very well behaved on Tuesday morning, all ready for school when we arrived, to impress the new volunteers!
• Jill, Sarah and myself had a discussion regarding the scructure of the children's afternoons and decided on arts, crafts, music, geography and sports which could be done on different days of the week.
• Decided to decorate the back room so it would be more educational and enjoyable for the children to be in. This led us to all paint the back room.
• Helped Ema and Moses with their homework. I had to teach them long multiplication which was hard considering I haven't had to do that in years, let alone teach it! The children's English is very good (particularly the older children) so at least they could try and understand.
• Served breakfast for the children in the morning. If it is damp and the fire can not be lit the children won't get breakfast or will wait for it and be late/
• The older girls taught us volunteers how to handwash our clothes using cold well water and soap. It is amazing how Ma Maggie (who lives and helps at the orphanage) and the children manage to wash their clothes. Children as young as 6 hand wash their small number of clothes.
• Gave Joshua some batteries for his torch. When the lights go out it is really dark in the orphanage, and especially in the mornings at 5am the children are not keen on getting up! So torches and batteries are very important. The older children have the responsibility for these.

Crafts afternoon

                                                                                 Friday 4th March- Sunday 6th March
                                                                  Visited Busua in the West of the country

Monday 7th March Ghana Independance Day

The children had the day off school because of Ghana Independence Day. Michelle organised a part for them to celebrate. We prepared for the party by buying pineapples, washing mangoes, bananas and other fruit for a massive fruit salad for the children. Michelle paid for the village 'DJ' to come along and play music. The children dressed in their best clothes (some of them looked hilarious in oversised waistcoats!). The children showed off their talent of dancing, under the hot sun ALL day. The older boys got particularly into it and had the best time, they were so so happy. We gave them fruit, bread and eggs which was a massive treat considering their usual basic meals. In the evening there was a powercut so i had to help with homework in the dark!! The older boys were doing physical and chemical reactions. Their homework is so hard!

Food on Ghana Independance Day

Dancing on Ghana Independance Day

Tuesday 8th March

After the children went to school, Jill, Sarah and I went to Madina market which is about 40 minutes away. You travel on a tro-tro, a van type vehicle with around 15 seats. The market sells food, shoes clothes, soap and essentials. In Dodowa itself there are a few shops to buy bread and drinks from, food and basic essentials like soap. Pure water (in sachets) is available in many little 'shops' along the tracks and roads. It can be bought in bulk from a small place by the orphanage. The children drink from the well in the orphanage, but they love drinking pure water which volunteers try to buy as often as possible with donation money. After Madina we went to Kaneshe market to look at fabrics and jewellery. We also visited Accra mall in the capital which is very Westernised with proper internet and supermarket amongst other shops.

 The well used for washing, showering, drinking and cooking.

                                                        Kojo with his pure water

                                                                   Wednesday 9th March & Thursday 10th March

Michelle had brought lots of clothes with her and we spent a lot of the afternoon delegating the clothes to the boys which was a long job! They were very grateful. One child Daniel 'Lucky' (6) was so happy with his new pants and clothes he kept jumping up and down and parading round in them, it was very touching. A lot of the younger children don't wear underwear so get very dirty! The youngest children Godwyn (2 ish) and Beauty (2) require nappies which they didn't always have, which was horrifying. Luckily donations managed to provide the children with nappies a lot of the time. The children keep their clothes in 'house bags'. I had a very difficult morning trying to get the children to school. Joshua hadn't finished his homework so was in a bit of a panic! In the end he missed his bus so we had to give him some money to get a taxi up to Word of Faith where he is sponsored to go.

                                                                 Sunday 13th March

This morning we went to church! Word of Faith church is joined to the school. Volunteers and children all dressed in their best clothes. Everyone crammed into two buses. When we got there I sat in on some of the children's bible class. The church are very welcoming to the children from the orphanage and they all take part in bible class before the service. One of the American ladies who runs the school led the class. It was my first time seeing Word of Faith school where the sponsored children go. They are very privelidged to attend here as it is very well run and they get a great education and work hard. We then all went into a big hall type place for the service to be held. As it is international it isn't quite the same as an African church service, but it was still very lively and powerful. The children all enjoyed it very much, with some of them going to the front of the church to sing hyms together as a group. The service was very long! Afterwards, everyone sat to have a meal together.

                                       Monday 14th March- Sunday 20th March