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Akwaaba!!!!!!!
The first thing that greeted me as I stept of the plane was a giant painted advert with the work Akwaaba on it - Akwaaba means welcome in Twi. Due to the problems with my flight I didn't arrive until 12am and I still had to get up at 6am!!! But I can't really complain because I'm having such a great time!
So during my first day in Ghana I went eith Mavis to the Ripple Healthcare Centre which teaches its students about palliative healthcare and had to talk about my life as a christian and differences between England and Ghana for 3 hours! The time passed really quickly and everyone was really great to talk to. The class gave me my Ghanian name which is Ama because I was born on a Saturday. My first day in Accra was quite a culture shock and on my first journey on the tro-tros I saw some of the poorest parts of Accra.
Thursday was a particularly tough day because it was very emotionally draining. We got up early and travelled to a village outside Accra called Atua which has a very high Aids/HIV popultaion and went to the hospital there. Ripples sends its students there for a 5 week training course. All the Students were really nice and they took me on a tour of the hospital - it has all the same parts as hospitals in England but is a lot smaller with less equipment. I found it really hard seeing the Aids victims and talking to them - even though they had been through so much they never curse God they just accept what has happened to them.
As I hadn't seen a dead body before I was also taken to the morgue...there was a fresh body and one of the men who works in the morgue opened some of the fridges for me - it really creeped me out! I also met the hospital director and he invited me back next week so I can spend a few days there. I accepted.
On a lighter note ... we travelled from the hospital to Orphanage Africa. The kids were adorable and I'm going back later on to spend a week with them, so I'll keep you updated and send some photos.
Yesterday was more of a chilling out day. I went with a girl called Cynthia to the Kwame Enkrumah Memorial Park. Mr Enkrumah was the first President of Ghana and helped it gain independence from the British in the 1950s. The Park is absolutely beautiful and its was great fun to see all the small school children on their school trips looking around and learning about their heritage.
After the Memorial Park we went briefly to the Arts Centre were you can buy lots of traditional sculptures and clothes etc. I'm having a special drum made for me!!! From the Arts Centre we went by Tro-tros to the Beach @ La Palm Hotel Resort. Its a beautiful beach but the funniest thing about it is the tourists. They all stay at the resort and come to the beach during the day - I spoke to an American Girl who actually thought that she was really experiencing Ghana!!! I can't complain too much though because the guys who were playing beach soccer let me join in - it was great beacuse not only where the tourists playing but also the local traders.
Today I went to a Wedding. It was quite an experience- very colourful with beautiful garmaents and lots of music and dancing. I didn't follow a lot of the service though because it was in Twi and all I can understand of that is that Wo ho te sen menas how are you?!
Well anyway check out all the photos and I'll write as soon as I can.
Lots of Love,
Manda xxxx
PS A tro-tros is a mode of public transport a bit like a mini bus.
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