A long distance bus journey in Ghana is an insight into the resourcefulness of the Ghanaian people and also the limitations of their bureaucratic systems. First up are the frustrations of buying a bus ticket from Accra to Lawra (a 14 hour overnight trip): you must visit the bus station in person with cash 24 hours, or if unlucky 48 hours, before the intended day of travel. There is no other way of booking a seat, and as it entails a trip through the chaotic Accra...

Wax crayons spill from their box to the brown earth below as little Naamwime decides which colour to use. He selects the blue crayon then jettisons it to pick the purple crayon, and now he attempts to make some marks on a page. His fingers are unused to holding a pencil and so the marks he makes are light and hesitant. Naamwime is eight and deaf mute, and he doesn't attend school; he probably never will. The Ghanaian education system has no space for children suc...

A simple and very withdrawn boy was presented to us when we arrived at the house, seemingly incapable of any activity, but now Babaako is drawing fat tight yellow circles in oil pastel with intense concentration. We're sitting on a bench that Babaako's mother brought out from her house to sit amongst the roots of a tall shady tree. As she sees her son draw she gasps in astonishment. 'I never knew he could do anything like this!' She tells Kenneth in the local lan...