8th to the 13th of July (by Emilie)

Hello dear subscribers,

I am very sorry to have made you wait such a long time, but squeezing in a trip to the Internet Cafe has proven more difficult than expected as we are so busy enjoying this beautiful country and its welcoming people. But here I am!

7th and 8th of July were spent traveling, which doesn't really leave much interesting to say. The drive to London was exhausting. but quicker than expected, the flights were comfortable and good and the arrival was also as good as can be. The only aspect that was not enjoyable at all, was the transit in Tripoli in Libya, but I am not going to dwell on it.
The first night was spent with Captain Ecku at the Salvation Army Hostel in Accra, the capital. Needles to say that after welcoming the other people in the dormitory, we quickly went to sleep.

9th of July: I wake up at 5am, because of the sound of people rummaging around outside the dormitories. Yes, Ghanaians wake up extremely early every day and it's no shock to hear some people say they wake up around 4am or even earlier. This is mainly so that they can avoid working in the hot midday sun. I wake up a very sleepy and confused Ben and we tell Captain Ecku that we will be having a walk around the area, before meeting our coordinator, Simon. The first impressions of Accra is that it is a crazy city that never sleeps: taxis all horn at us to welcome us as well as to make sure we don't get lost and we get stopped numerous times by people saying: "You are welcome!" When we return, we meet Simon. He is a Ghanaian living in South Africa, who has come over especially for us and we quickly realise our luck: Simon is a true example of the Ghanaian spirit: proud of his country and people, honest, committed, funny, loving with an amazing love for life and humour: no matter what he has to say - be it serious, bad, happy or sad - everything is followed by a roar of laughter. We have breakfast together and he gives us our orientation briefing, which includes all the information we may possibly need to know, including safety issues, work, host family, etc. He makes us feel at home in his country straight away. We then go to Accra and after buying a Ghanaian sim card, we have our first roadside lunch. It's absolutely lovely, but I realise too late that my stomach is not made for such spicy food and so I end up hill at the hostel all day. We were meant to go to Denu to visit our host family, but thanks to me we had to delay it. No more spicy food for me! So the first day is not really worth mentioning any further.

10th of July: Wake up at 7am and set off with Simon in his shabby little car. We have a roadside breakfast and yet again the food doesn't deceive us: delicious butter bread with a vegetable omelette and a cup of 'Milo' (hot chocolate).

We stop somewhere to have the car fixed at a car repair centre.

Instead of driving from Accra straight to Denu on the coastal road, Simon takes a detour so that we can experience a little of the lush green Volta region. We stop at 'Ho' (capital of the Volta Region) and have our first proper Ghanaian meal: Tilapia Fish with Banku. The fish comes fresh with head and everything and we are suppose to eat all of it... with our right hand. It's delicious, despite the fact that the head keeps staring at us and Simon makes us suck the juice out of it. Yes... we sucked a fish's head! Banku is a different matter: a ball of dough made of grinded corn and water. It is very heavy and probably the only thing Ben and I aren't too keen on. But at least we tried it.

Along the way, Simon buys something from a street vendor that looks quite meaty. It's not until we have finished it, that he reveals we have eaten a big rat, or what they call 'grascutter'. I have a picture of it in my guide book and it looks hideous. Thankfully we didn't know this while we ate it! It's delicious though! After that culinary experience, we set off to Denu and finally get to our Ghanaian home. We briefly meet some of the family, but get quickly dragged to our room so we can have a good long sleep and leave the acquaintance-making to tomorrow. We have a great first night in our big bedroom with double bed and fan keeping us cool through out the night.

11th of July: first day in Denu! We wake up and our host-sister, Bless has already prepared a hearty breakfast. Unfortunately we are accompanied by an elderly American, who stays with the family every weekend. His name is Godfrey and even though he comes to Ghana on a regular basis to teach and fund a boy's school education, we have never met a more negative person. We eat as quick as we can so that we can enjoy the sun and the company of Bless and some of the other people living in the compound around the house. Bless decided to take us to the beach, which is a short walk away on the hot sand. It is stunning: the sands are golden, the people along the way welcoming and the strong waves crash down on the beach from the ocean. We relax under the coconut-trees and have a wonderful time. Everyone greets us with an excited: "yavoo!" (white person), followed by: "how are you?" or "eh foa" (in the local Volta language Ewe).

As we return Simon awaits us to take us to Keta, a lovely town a couple of hours away. Keta used to be the former capital of the Volta region, but most of the city was washed away by an enormous flood that washed half of the town away. We have another beach walk in the lovely sunset, while Simon crazily chases the crabs. What a wonderful first day! We help Bless cook dinner and have our first meal together at the house and feel right at home!

12th of July: Happy Birthday Mama! We get woken up by a church service held in the church next to the house at 5am. It is full of excitement, chanting, drumming and you couldn't ask for a nicer and more vibrant wake-up call. After breakfast, Simon comes over to bring us to the bank so we can change our money into the local currency: Cedi. The rest of the day is interesting yet rather tiresome as we visit the neighbouring border town Aflao and go to the construction site to help out with some measurements and other organisational stuff. We just want to get our hands dirty straight away!

The rest of the day is much nicer: we have lunch in a lovely restaurant and then visit one of the other volunteers who works at a hospital: Julia from Germany. Then we wait around in the area while the Ghanaians have a meeting regarding the projects that they run. We meet many local people: a family from Togo, excited children asking us to take pictures ("yavoo, snap a picture of us!") and we learn as much Ewe as we can from the locals.

As we return home and have dinner, we at last meet our host mother Celestine, who was away for the weekend. She is the stereotype of a loving big 'African Mama' and she screams with excitement as she meets us and cuddles us to death! She is as lovely as the rest of the family!

And unfortunately my time has run out, so I will have to pick up on the blog when I get a chance to make another trip to the internet cafe. Hopefully it will be sooner, so that we don't have to make you wait such a long time anymore, but hopefully this will keep you going!

We miss you all very much, but are having an amazing time here. Ghana has treated us with kindness and much love and we are treating it as our second home. We love it here!
We hope you are all well, much love from Emilie (a.k.a. Yawaa (meaning Thursday in Ewe, as I was born on that day). Make sure to read the entries by Kwame (a.k.a. Ben, meaning Saturday in Ewe, because he is Saturday born).