Edith and Stephen’s wedding
It’s been all change this week with the departure of Team 1, Charles and Dr. Nick, and the arrival of Team 2 – Pip Gardner, Karen Gardner, her boyfriend Ross, and a film crew – Graham and Asif. These last two are here to make several short films about ATE and the work that the charity does.
However before the changeover we had the enormous pleasure of attending the wedding ceremony of Edith Kebo, the new ATE project assistant, to her long term partner, Stephen. The ceremony was held in the Baptist Church in Lawra and there were about 300 guests. It was a beautiful colourful occasion and much of it was very similar to the wedding service that we have in England. Edith looked absolutely stunning and they had two female attendants dressed in pink and yellow. The choir was fantastic and the congregational singing was raucous at times! It felt like one big party with everyone joining in! The only time there was peace was when the vows were being exchanged and even then the pastor had to ask for quiet! One of the pastors was an American missionary who has been working with his wife in Ghana for 43 years. He gave a beautiful address and we all felt that it had been a privilege to be involved.
After the wedding ceremony we joined Charles and Nick at the trotro stop. Somehow they managed to get their luggage crammed into the boot of the battered, bullet wounded, vehicle and after a great deal of time wasting and huffing and puffing by the driver and his mate they set off for Wa where they were due to pick up the night bus. Needless to say this rusty old piece of van broke down after only 40 minutes on route but luckily could be repaired to time to get them to the bus station where they had an uneventful journey down to Accra and onward to the UK.
As we’d missed out on the wedding reception, Habib, Sarah, Ken and I went to a couple of bars on the way back to the house so the beer o’clock time arrived slightly earlier than usual. We cleaned the house in the afternoon ready for the next team to arrive and Habib cooked a great dinner of egg and noodles. Simple but perfect for our needs.
Welcoming the second team to Lawra!
The following morning we waited in great anticipation for the bus to arrive. It was so exciting to see them all and strange to think that their bus had crossed in the night with the one going south! We stopped for breakfast with everyone at the tea shop and then went back to the house for a planning meeting. Everyone was so excited about the prospect of the forthcoming week, especially Karen, Ross and the film crew, none of whom had been to Ghana before. We visited the weekly market again that afternoon and met up with some of the small business owners there. Graham and Asif did a small amount of filming which attracted a huge amount of attention from the locals! It was a great start to their week here.
On the third Monday of my trip (I can’t believe that I’ve been here that long!) we all went out to see some of the businesses. The first one was the Zambo weavers. Needless to say I had to search for the new puppies that were only a couple of weeks old last time we were there. There was only one to be found but she was quite happy to sit on my lap for the whole of the meeting. Ken, one of the consultants, and my extremely good driver, was saying that he had planned to get a dog so we decided to ‘adopt’ the puppy – I said I would pay for it plus the first 10 GHc of food. We said we go back for it the following day – how mad!
We also visited Patricia the weaver again. 
It was lovely to see how much better she looked since our last visit and she and her apprentice were working hard on the loom. Our next stop was to Salam, the vulcaniser and we all sat in the shade while Graham and Asif filmed him being interviewed. Such an inspirational man!
We ended the working day as usual at 5pm with dinner at ‘Junction View’ with Gabriel, Adeline and the girls, and we were also joined by Ken later in the evening. The food was great – rice and spicy barbecued sausage plus a Club and Guiness which I’m getting quite a taste for. It seems a very long time since I had my last glass of Sauvignon Blanc but I can honestly say that I haven’t really missed it. That may come as a surprise to some of you reading this!!!
On Tuesday, as Pip had recently celebrated her big birthday just before she came out here, we allocated this day to celebrate with her. However before any serious celebrating could be done we had a day’s work to do so started by going out on the bikes to Dowine School so that the film crew could do some filming of the cooks at work. It was an incredibly dusty journey, more so than usual, and by the time we got there we all looked disgustingly dirty. However no-one seemed to mind and we spent a great couple of hours meeting and greeting everyone. Ken and I made a diversion on the way back to collect the puppy from Zambo. The owner was quite reluctant to part with her as I think they were planning on breeding from her but after a lot of bartering we ended up paying double the price that the other three had been sold for and settled on 40Ghc (about £8.00!). Amazing to think that I had paid £200 for Harry, my own dog, when I had bought him! What a bargain! I carried the puppy back on the bike and on to Karbo Primary and Junior High Schools where the children were all most amused that one of their UK visitors had arrived with an exceedingly small puppy in tow!
That afternoon we dropped the puppy at Ken’s house and I met the whole family – his mother and brothers and sisters, which was really lovely. They have a great compound and it was the first chance I have had to have a look into a house within a commune. It’s incredible how they all have their individual separate buildings, or very basic rooms, to live in and then come together at meal times.
Later that afternoon we all went to the SNAP (Special Needs Awareness Programme) committee meeting which was held at Peace’s house. There were 4 members of the committee there and we were surrounded by small children who were very keen to get in on the action of the filming. All the committee members had come along with their children all of whom have special needs of varying degrees. It was so humbling when Margaret and Peace gave their interviews to be used in the film. They all manage to cope with running their businesses as well as looking after all their children. It was a great group and we all loved the afternoon.
As a celebration for Pip’s birthday Habib cooked sen-seng for dinner. It was absolutely gorgeous and full of beautiful flavours. It was then time for celebrating and we ‘danced’ to African music. A good night was had by all!!
On Wednesday we had another day of playing at being a tourist with Pip, Sarah, Karen, Ross and Ken, and with Prosper driving the nyabba. It was such a great day – we went back to the river and crossed to Burkina Faso – this time I had much more sensible clothing on and made no attempts to fall over the side of the boat! I was quite proud of myself! We wandered around what does seem to be a wilderness of sand, gravel and plants with the occasional track for small vehicles. It is a desolate place and there’s no sign of any civilisation for miles.
Prosper said that he knew of a pool where there were definitely crocodiles so we set off in the nyabba to find it. In addition Habib and Ross went off in search of much needed drinks. The pool was amazing – full of plants resembling lilies in flower and teaming with wildlife. There were a couple of local women collecting water and they said that they had seen crocodiles earlier so it was definitely worth visiting.
However we waited and waited and waited! In the end Prosper and Ken went and got the benches from the nyabba and we sat in ‘relative comfort’ to wait. I have never seen 7 people sit so quietly for so long but after a while out they came. One of the crocs that we saw was probably 8 feet long. Luckily it was on the other side of the pool but even in spite of this one of the women went in to collect water. We did wonder whether this was a wise move as there is no indication where the crocs are in the murky water! Ken went in to help her gather her water – totally bonkers in my mind!
It was another fantastic touristy day and that night we were invited to Habib’s family home for dinner. What an amazing experience! Georgina had cooked a beautiful meal of stew and banku and we all sat round the table outside with Cali, Habib’s father, and the other children who live there. They made us so welcome and the hospitality was amazing.
Our last two mornings were spent weighing and measuring all the children at Karbo primary school. It was absolutely hilarious monitoring the tiny children in the kindergarten. Trying to ask them to stand up tall against a wall, with their feet firmly against it seemed beyond their capabilities and it took 4 people to do this with each child – one to guide them in place, one to place the feet and two to measure!! What a nonsense! We were all laughing so much – it was a very special couple of hours’ work and possibly one of the most satisfying in the past 3 weeks!
The film crew and Ross took the consultants out for an afternoon session. Apparently they spent the afternoon discussing football, birds, booze and fixed rate mortgages of all things! They certainly enjoyed themselves and by the time they came back to join us a few of them were slightly worse for wear! However that didn’t stop all of us going out, including Sue, for dinner and another great night of fabulous food, beer and company! I have seriously got used to this!
As I write this part now it is 5am and we are half way on our journey back home. We had the most amazing last night in Lawra with 20 of us going out for dinner. It was a fantastic occasion filled with great food yet again, laughter and dancing, but also a hint of sadness about having to leave. Our journey back down to Accra had to be an improvement on my journey up but when we left in the trotro at 12.30, after a great deal of hugging and saying goodbyes, there was always going to be an incident or two and sure enough half an hour into the journey we had a completely flat tyre! This is hardly surprising as the ‘bus’ is packed and the driver thinks nothing of hurtling along the gravel roads and flying over the bumps. The tyre took a while to change while we all stood by the side of the road getting dustier with every passing vehicle! At this point nobody seems to care about how they look or feel – all you want to do is to reach your destination in one piece!
The rest of the trotro journey went without a hitch and we were dropped off at the bus station at 3pm. Just time for an early beer before getting the night bus which left at 5pm. This bus was a vast improvement on the previous one and in spite of no sleep the journey was almost a pleasure! We arrived in Accra at 4am and having been hassled by every available taxi driver we secured two cars to take us to the hotel that we had booked for the day. We had asked for an ‘early check in’ but maybe 4am was just a bit too early! However the amazing Ghanaians at this place were happy to let us in and show us to our rooms at this ridiculous hour of the morning! We tried to sleep but to no avail in most cases so we met for breakfast at 7am. Time is much the same as everything else in Ghana. It moves on but at it’s own rate and breakfast took over 2 hours! However there was no hurry and we were just happy to sit and watch the world go by.
We wandered round the town for the rest of the morning and were all amazed at the contrast of this big city compared to the town and outskirts of Lawra. In Accra everyone seems to be hurrying somewhere and there are very few smiles to be seen. The traders are desperate to entice you into their shops and there is the persistent pressure to buy something.
We did however have a good meal and a few drinks at Frankie’s at lunchtime. It was the most expensive meal we have had anywhere but just to have a taste of cheese on the pizzas was worth it! The afternoon was spent at the hotel trying to avoid the mosquitoes and we left at 8pm for the airport.
I am now sitting writing this back home in Ramsbury and find myself reflecting on probably the most inspiring 3 weeks of my life. The idea of this trip was so far out of my comfort zone but I have absolutely loved every minute of it. I have witnessed some of the most extreme poverty in the world but in the midst of all that there is hope for a better and brighter future. The Ghanaians in Lawra are amongst the most welcoming people I have ever met – in spite of the adversity that they face they are always grateful, there is very rarely a cross word and their level of respect for those of us who are trying to make a difference is immense. This experience has not only taught me a huge amount about what is really important in life, it has been incredibly humbling and I am so grateful for all those who donated to my pre trip fundraiser, therefore enabling me to go. I certainly plan to return and hope that the inspirational work of Action Through Enterprise will continue in Lawra for many years to come.
If you have been inspired by my blog and would like to help the charity continue with the incredible work that they have started, please do contact us though the website at www.ateghana.com or you can donate to my fundraising page directly – https://mydonate.bt.com/fundraisers/sarathompson1. It is so simple and there are several ways in which you can help:
- As little as just £10.00 can feed 10 schoolchildren for a week!
- To ensure a child has everything they need to attend school – uniforms, materials, health insurance, daily school meals costs around £60 a year
- A SNAP workshop costs £100 to run
There are plans in the coming months to increase the number of small businesses that receive grants and loans and to expand the Special Needs Awareness Programme to enable more families with severely disabled children to have access to workshops and get the help that they so desperately need. Please help if you can – absolutely every penny makes a huge difference. Thank you!
Keep an eye out for a final blog piece by Sara as she spends some time penning some closing reflections on her trip later this month.