Ghana 2012 - Week 6

So 1st July was a bank holiday in Ghana and as a result we had a free day. Our team decided not to waste it and see something. This time we went to different places. Patrick along with Piet (Dutch volunteer) and Ganew (son of Ibrahim) went to Gambaga to visit the witch camp. The camp itself is like a village and has around 200 women living in it who are believed to be witches. Guys told us that they had quite a nice look around, but the trip to the place took most of their time (about 3-4 hours to one side). Because Margarita was still feeling sick because of Malaria, she decided not to go and rest that day. Meanwhile, I and Caroline went to Tongo hills. Tongo is a village about 15km from Bolga, so it was supposed to be a short trip. And it was, but the problem was in the departure, which was around 3 hours later than we expected. The driver does not want to leave with a half empty trotro, so he waits until it is full. Apparently, Tongo is not the most popular destination so it took a while for a trotro to fill up. The journey itself was cheap and quick and in few minutes time we were 5km away from the hills. At that point we had to leave trotro and walk. Because we were feeling adventurous and full of energy it took us no time to reach Tongo Hills. We were met by a guy, who later on told us was a son of a chief. After familiarising with all the rules and destinations within Tongo we started our hike. We started with the palace of the chief, which looked more like a whole village. The chief had 17 wifes and many kids and grandkids, possibly a hundred or over. The family was massive so everywhere we went we met members of the same family. We were taken to few places. First one we visited was a donkey cave. We were told that if someone had a problem that could not be solved, they could have told the problem to the cave and then it would take care of it. If the problem was solved in the end, a person should have sacrificed a donkey. The cave itself had a lot of skulls of donkeys and looked pretty interesting. Next stop was the shrine. The interesting bit about it was that one can only enter it topless and without shoes and socks. The second one was not that complicated, but the first one seemed to be a bit of a trouble for any girl. Boys decided to go first and have a look. It was not much to see there, just piles of feathers of dead birds and bows and bags. It was not very clear for me what was the purpose of the shrine, because we were only told that if a woman could not give birth, the family should have sacrificed an animal and then they could have children. The purpose of the bows and bags was not clarified very well though.

After that our guide decided that we have seen enough and started going back towards the office. When we asked to show us more and that there were many more things in the list he unhappily showed us some other places. Later on we found out that guy was hurrying to get his lunch, because he was hungry. Oh well. The next stop was the hyena cave. When there we many trees in the area, hyenas used to gather there to rest in the shade, but since the place was cut out they do not live there anymore. The cave is now used for gatherings of village elders. Our last stop was the hiding cave. We were told that when British attacked the village, locals used to hide in the cave and if necessary defend themselves from being taken. By that time we were also hungry, so we decided to let the poor guy go and get his lunch.






On Tuesday we started realising that it was only few days of teaching left and that we are leaving Bolga very soon. We also tried our new cars for the first time. The second design worked so much better, so our lessons (hopefully) were easier to understand and challenges were much more exciting, because the cars actually worked well. However, the kids found it extremely difficult to grasp the bit that energy can be stored in the elastic band by winding up the wheels and released when you let them go. This usually took most of the time and there were not too much time left for the race and the fun bits. Anyway, kids seemed to enjoy their workshops so we were happy as well. 

As Wednesday was a market day we have seen so many things that were very funny. Everyone was taking animals to the market, but the funniest thing ever is how people get them there. The trip from our host family to schools started with me noticing a pig tied on the back of the bicycle. The other thing we saw was sheep and goats on the roof of the trotro, but the highlight of the day was definitely a cow on the roof of a car and another two cows in the same car along with two guys. I found that hilarious. I suppose that is quite normal here, but for westerners it is not. I will try to upload a picture or two from that day.

Another thing we did was the interview with a science teacher in a local school. She told us some quite interesting things and emphasised our mistakes and gave us useful feedback. We are glad we met this teacher. She seemed to be the most interested in our classes and came to assist us every time we taught in that school.

On Thursday we had another case of malaria in our camp. This time it was Patrick. It was a shame, because Friday was the last day and we all wanted to be there and take some pictures for memory. Anyway, we were really surprised when on Friday morning I started feeling very sick. I decided to miss the school and go to see the doctor instead. After long hours of waiting in the hospital I was diagnosed severe malaria. I was not feeling good at all. Hopefully I managed to reach home somehow with the help of the father of our family. The last bit I could not cycle at all, so I was just slowly walking towards home when I met the father. He helped me back and put me into bed. We were so disappointed that although we all took these super expensive medicines to prevent malaria all four of us had it. Another thing is that I missed the last day in school and I could not attend the picture taking and gift exchanging part.

I was not feeling well for the following 4 days and this is why the blog slowed down and I don’t really have many pictured either, so I will try to do my best and put something up from someone else. About malaria, it is a hell of a disease. I heard someone saying that it is not too bad, but if you have the more severe case it really is. I could barely move for 4-5 days and could not look at food at all. Malaria drains all the energy out of your body so it is so difficult to fight with it. Luckily, I managed to fight it and now I am feeling completely fine.

This was the end of Project Ghana 2012. We spent 6 nice weeks teaching in 2 different regions of Ghana. We approximated that about 500 kids received our 6 hand on workshop course and most of them told us that they thoroughly enjoyed it. We definitely enjoyed our stay in Kasoa and Bolga and most importantly established good relationships with locals so our project can continue. We also want to thank everyone who contributed to the project, helped us and read this blog. I will put some updates on how our travelling is going later on, so please do not forget it for now. :]