Life in Bawjiase

I've been in Ghana for over two weeks now.  It's amazing how I feel like I've been here for months but at the same time time is flying by. To give you a little summary of my life here i'll explain how a weekday works. Us volunteers get up around 7 and eat breakfast (90% of the time it's pancakes) then we head to the orphanage.  If there are kids that still need bathing we help with that. They line up on a wooden plank outside with their wash cloth and using a bucket and soap we scrub them down.  From 9-11:30 we help out at the school. The orphanage has a school that the younger kids that live at the orphanage and some children from the community attend.  I usually stay with the younger kids, 3, 4 and 5 year olds. From 12-3 it's pure chill time. We head back to the volunteer house to eat and then just relax, read or nap.  It's so hot that time of day it's nearly impossible to do anything else.  Around 3 we head back to the orphanage to play with the kids and help with their chores for a couple hours. We are usually back at the volunteer house by 6, before it gets dark, and again we do whatever we please.  Generally I go to bed before 10, I'm usually exhausted by the end of the day and it's nice to get the extra sleep.

I mentioned above that I've been helping in the class for the 3-5 year olds.  Let me just say these kids are so smart.  First of all their math is unreal.  These kids can all count to at least 20, recognize numbers up to 20, add and subtract numbers 1-9 and this is all in English, which is their second language.  We spend a lot of time doing math, learning to write the alphabet and learning the names of objects in English.  It's a lot of fun. It's also amazing to compare their "classroom" to a Canadian classroom. It's in the main room of the orphanage which is basically a big concrete room with nothing on the walls and no electricity.  There is usually at least one person sleeping somewhere in the room.  There are usually a few kids from the older group milling about.  Usually at least one child is crying for some reason or another.  They all sit around one big table with a chalk board propped against a bench at the front.  They mostly write on individual chalk boards. Some of the older ones get to use paper once in a while. Despite the distractions, for the most part these kids are pretty attentive and eager to do their work.  The hardest part for me is that the teacher disciplines the kids by hitting them. It breaks my heart to watch them get hit with a stick and then sit there and cry. It's one thing if they did something bad like hit another kid but it's the worst when they get hit for getting a wrong answer.  I feel so bad and try to comfort the kid when the teacher is gone. But i guess this is just one example of a cultural difference.

Overall I'm really enjoying my time here. The kids are great, the staff are great and us volunteers all get along well.  The hardest part is probably the heat. It's always so hot. I often think that everything would be much easier if it wasn't so hot - It wouldn't be so hard to have 5 kids crawling all over me if it wasn't so hot, It would be easier to sleep if I wasn't sweating under my bug net. I was pumped to be leaving Canada during the coldest months but I must say there is a certain appeal to a little cold once and a while.  Another challenge is the food. We are really lucky that our food is very "westernized" but it is so repetitive.  We have rice once a day (either lunch or dinner) combined with either a hard boiled egg or chicken.  For the other meal we either have fried yam, pasta or plantains and either the egg or chicken. It's good food but I will never be eating rice again once I leave here. Makes me realize how lucky we are to have so much variety in our food selection.

I have more to share but for tonight this is all i've got!

First couple days

We arrived safely in Ghana friday night after an exhausting two days of traveling.   When we arrived at the airport we were met by one of the staff members of the orphanage.  We then had a 3 hour drive to the house where we are staying in Bawjiase.  The first surprise for me was how far the city stretched and how many people were out and about. There were tons of people with stalls selling everything imaginable all down the street.  The traffic was what I expected, complete chaos. The roads were mostly paved but pot holes have a whole new meaning.

The house where we stay is about a 15 minute walk to the orphanage.  Our house (the volunteer house) has a kitchen, 4 bedrooms, a bathroom/shower room and a living room.  There is electricity but no running water.  We get water from a well that is about a 2 minute walk away.  The first morning I attempted to help with the water collection but had some struggles trying to carry the bucket back on my head.  I tried to explain that I just wanted to carry it with the handle but that was not accepted.

We've spent two afternoons with the children at the orphanage.  They are beyond adorable.  They greeted us the first day with big hugs.  They love holding your hand, being carried and having piggy-back rides. Their energy is a bit overwhelming, especially in the heat! Speaking of the heat, it's been pretty hot but it's nice. 

More to come later! Bye for now.

3 days until take off

As I've been planning this trip many people have asked if I would be keeping a blog.  I hemmed and hawed about it and have decided that I will attempt it.  No promises that I will have anymore posts than this one, but I will try!

For those of you reading this that are unfamiliar with my plans, here is a quick break down:
Jan 12: Leave Canada and travel many hours to Ghana, Africa
Jan 13- Feb 25: Volunteer at United Hearts Children Centre in Ghana
Feb 26-Mar 4: Travel to Poland and Germany
Mar 4-April 27: Complete a french program in southern France
April 28-May 25: Backpack through Italy, Croatia and Greece

I am lucky to be travelling with my bff, Leah.  Since we met in first year university we have been saying we were going to travel after our undergrad, and here we are 4.5 years later and almost ready to take off. It's been a lot of work planning and preparing for this trip and packing for five months (in one backpack!) and various climates  but I feel really lucky to have this opportunity and can't wait for it to begin!