clad children running around my placement. They are all outties and vary in size from the size of a kumquat to your fist. Today I had finally become used to seeing the monstrosities (sarcasm! which F.Y.I is totally lost on Ghanaians) when, while in market circle I saw a little boy with one the, I kid you not, the size of a grapefruit! Which, after getting over my initial shock, was a positive experience as I remembered to tell you all about this! Unfortunately belly buttons are the most exciting thing to happen in Takoradi in quite some time. School is out for the next month and travelling with the volunteers is about to commence. Last week Kim and spent a couple of days relaxing at the infamous Green Turtle Lodge (which I would recommend to any traveller it's dirt cheap to stay there and you always meet the most amazing people. This time it was an American couple volunteering in Niger with the Peace Corps, a French/German couple volunteering in Burkina Faso, and a grumpy New Zealander with a hilariously sarcastic sense humor.) which is quite off the beaten path so in order to get there we had to Tro-Tro though many rural villages. It was then that I had a better realization of the economical situation many Ghanaians are in. Many of the families there live in shacks made out of drift wood and mud, most of the children wear an odd assortment of tattered and dirty clothes donated by a variety of charities (a lot of which, I have discovered, never reaches them but is sold in the local market for a exorbitant amount) and, as the Tro-Tro rumbled past, they begged for money throug
h the open windows. Though the greater population of Takoradi is not well off, I and not seen this side to Ghana before. However it didn't shock me or appall me like I expected it to. It merely made me extremely sad for the state these towns have reached and the measures these people must take in order to live (like drinking exceedingly questionable water and eat grass cutter - a local jungle rodent). However despite they're rather unsavory circumstances the people of these small villages seemed relatively happy especially when they saw us and ran after the Tro-Tro yelling "Obrouni! Obrouni!." It's surprising that when they live in such a desolate place they can find such happiness in 2 white faces bumbling along a dirt road.
h the open windows. Though the greater population of Takoradi is not well off, I and not seen this side to Ghana before. However it didn't shock me or appall me like I expected it to. It merely made me extremely sad for the state these towns have reached and the measures these people must take in order to live (like drinking exceedingly questionable water and eat grass cutter - a local jungle rodent). However despite they're rather unsavory circumstances the people of these small villages seemed relatively happy especially when they saw us and ran after the Tro-Tro yelling "Obrouni! Obrouni!." It's surprising that when they live in such a desolate place they can find such happiness in 2 white faces bumbling along a dirt road. 
Okay second attempt to write this. The food looks limited but the goats sausage sounds really good. Not a lot of green veggies!!
ReplyDeleteI love the picture of you playing soccer with the children in the Vancouver shirts you took over. How is the teaching for understanding going!
Have a wonderful month away.
Please stay safe
Madeleine