Thursday Week 1 of being in Ghana, week 4 or something of being away from home.

2 April 2009 - Took the drawings that I prepared yesterday to a site in Besease (where I'll be staying next week). The drawings relate just to a drainage channel to protect a kindergarten that Sabre finished off for the local community. My only worry is that my specification is to a British standard and the local work force may be used to poorly mixed concrete strengthened by a high cement content rather than the more economical approach of a "well mixed but not too much cement"concrete.
The second part of my work at Besease is the continued examination of the community's drainage problems; these problems are due partly to poor maintenance and more importantly due to the fact that the village is built in a big bowl. Bowls of course are renowned for their ability to hold water: Besease is no exception. Initial hopes are that an area that is currently farmed may be suitable for forming a large lagoon/lake that could take the excess water during the rainy season. 2 problems in working this out: 1) not knowing how much water falls in one go and 2) it's such a vast area that I don't have the equipment to survey it all. I've got hold of a GPS system that shows heights on it, which I will try tomorrow. I'd be amazed if it is that simple – we shall see.
Went to the big town today that is Cape Coast. Came back from the TroTro station which are the 12-seater minibuses that leave to set locations but only when they are full. The station heaves with buses and with hawkers selling, water bags, boiled eggs, doughnuts, pies, packets of biscuits, bread, toothpaste – all being sold from the tops of their heads. It was my first solo trip so I had to find the right bus going to Ayensudu junction and work out which passenger is actually the Tro-boy who takes the money. Although Ghana has English as its official language, most people speak Fanti so there's lots of speaking "English as a foreign language" to work out what's going on. Everyone is friendly and the ones that speak English well use it in a relatively formal way as demonstrated by the chap who got on after me and said, "Good Afternoon to you, why do you not sit at the front?" Anyway, we had a little chat and I lean out the window and attract the girl who has a pan of bags of water on her head. I give her 10 peshwars for a 500ml bag of water, she gives me 5 peshwar back, I give her the coin back and take another bag as I thought they were 10 each. 10 peshwar is about 6p. Half hour later I get out of the bus and walk up a red dust track weaving through tall green palm and banana trees. 30mins later and half a dozen hellos from locals, I've drunk my 6p litre of water and am arriving "home". Feeling really good as I sit down to my lunch that has been saved for me by Mister Ofori.
An hour later, Alice, who is one of the 2 volunteers helping out at the school asks me to come to their newly-initiated Thursday 5pm reading group. Unfortunately for one reason or the other, the children have not been told about the group by the school. This is easily sorted by the 5 of us walking pied piper like through the village, not with pipes but with "Where's the bear" and "Bob the Builder" books. We settle in the community "hall" which is a 12m by 12m roofed but open sided building. About 60 children are there spread between the 5 of us who each have 3 or 4 books each. I get my group spotting animals or vehicles from the books and repeating the noises in the Dr Suess book. After an hour of constant attention from the 12 children sitting on each of us, we form a big circle so that everyone can clap themselves and we can leave for an early dinner on the veranda. The books came on the bus down with us and the children are fascinated by the bright colours and images therein as there is currently just one picture book in school - most of the lessons are just spoken words chalked on a board.