Jungle Walk

Went for a walk out of the other end of the village today. It's about a 10 mile loop to go out to the next village and back round to come back via the other road but that was a bit far to undertake by the time I left. I'd knocked out a quick design for a new canteen before lunch (2 mono pitched "wings" with goat-slide roof since you ask. One "wing" joins the other at a jaunty angle taking advantage of 2 different floor levels so that one roof can oversail the other forming a porch for both; if that makes any sense. Perhaps I should enter it into the Hyde Park Pavilion competition). Anyway, the walk took me out past farms farmed by the community and into a rolling jungle landscape reminiscent of a never ending Winkworth Arboretum. Background noise was like a low level dawn chorus – nothing to be heard apart from the birds.

Back with the work gang

First day with a proper work gang today – 4 masons (who happen to be men), 4 masons labourers (who happen to be men), 6 general labourers (who happen to be women). Great to be working with people who know what they are doing when it comes to checking levels, digging trenches, marking lines (we are constructing a drainage channel). To some extent it's a novelty for these people to be working with a bruni (literally: white person but normal applying to non-Ghanaians so a black Londoner would also be a "white person"). They ask questions: about are clothes dried in the UK, do white people fish? When it comes to get the cement from the yet-to-be-stocked-with-books library it becomes apparent that all the cement is missing. Much exclamation on site about this "stolen" cement which is worth about 170 Ghana Cedi (equalling 110 1 litre bottles of Star Beer, 850 portions of rice and stew, or monthly pay for a teacher). The assembly man, who is my interface with the local people, borrows 4 bags from the village to keep people going. Things continue in a manner typical of construction world-wide when it is discovered that there is a wheelbarrow but no wheel. Man cycles off to next village with a wheelbarrow wheel in need of repair but by the time he comes back a complete wheelbarrow has magically appeared. By now it is 1pm so assembly man (in true construction style) is off to the woman who makes fresh doughnuts and returns with 25 of them – very nice too. Work carries on to good standard with me constantly encouraging, "less cement, less water, more mixing". By the end of the day, about 2 tonnes of concrete has been laid which is about a third of the way through.

Enquiries regarding the missing "stolen" cement lead to the suggestion from a child that the cement has been moved for safekeeping. Sure enough, but to my surprise, through the shutters of the primary school storeroom, I see 18 No. 50kg bags of finest Ghana cement.

Viper Day

On site again and due to recent rain, snakes are being found in the grass: a shout from a man pushing his bicycle through some undergrowth and suddenly men are running with clubs (well, hoes actually) suitable for flattening. Apparently the snakes are harmless, unless disturbed.

Sunday 26 April – oh what a lovely day.

Lovely day weather wise today here in Ghana. If only all days in Ghana were like this – dull, overcast, slightly chilly breeze coming off of the sea, no bright sunshine to burn the skin. Fantastic.

Vampirical Research

Noticed first hand evidence today that I'm only 6 degrees from the equator – when you walk at certain times of the day, you don't have a shadow because the sun is almost directly above you. This also means that unless you're bird spotting, the sun doesn't shine in your eyes.

the next land mass to the south of here is made of ice

The beach at Brenu, Ghana

Elders Meeting

Here's a photo (complete with bewildered onlooker) showing some of our party returning with the elders and other local people after the last Elders' meeting.