Day 1 & 2 - The Journey!

Hey

So I've finally managed to get to a decent internet cafe here in Ghana and managed to log in to my email and this blog at last... will update what I can today but I will probably get back here again before I leave too.

So the journey to Ghana went well. I woke at 3am after going to bed around 1am, and left for the airport. There were no hiccups along the way and everything went smoothly. I was able to take a third bag of donations with me as someone donated the euros I needed to pay for the extra bag... thankfully they did... i would never have fitted it all in otherwise.... I had a lot of stuff to bring!!

The flights were ok and went quite quickly... there was some turbulance but nothing too bad. I even managed to get about an hours sleep! The guy sitting next to me on the plane was originally from Ghana but had lived in Canada for 20 years. He is a nurse in a remote part of canada and we had some long conversations about nursing and the hospitals we've worked in etc. He was really nice and once we got to Ghana he helped me with my bags and getting through immigration etc. I had no trouble although my bags were last out and took ages to arrive.

When I got off the plane I was in my travel clothes (jeans, t-shirt and a hooded jumper). The heat just hit me and I was melting even though it was late at night.... i had so many bags I couldn't take my jumper off and was unbelievably hot..... Peter (the nurse) helped me find my driver and once inside the IVHQ van I was fine. Ivans and Jonathan picked me up from the airport and drove me to the volunteer house in Accra where I would be staying for the weekend. They were both really nice and told me all about Ghana and the kids I'd be working with etc. Ivans even lent me his spare sim card so I didn't have to buy one.

On arrival at the volunteer house I was sooo tired and wanted my bed but i stayed up a little while and met with Brenda, from Canada, who was just starting at the blue program, David from the states also starting the blue program and Lucy from NY who had finished from the brown program. I was put on the pink program. I also met Eddie and some of the others who work here. The facilities at the volunteer program are ok but you can't flush paper down the toilet, you have to use the bin (trash can) next to it which was interesting! Other than that it was fine and there is a cook who makes your meals.

The next morning I woke early and ivans took me to exchange my money, The exchange rate here is great for GBP. I got 2.20 Ghana cedis to the pound!! After lunch myself and the other volunteers went to the beach for the afternoon to relax before we started our programs. We had a lovely day at the beach and saw all the buskers etc. On our return to the house Kathryn had arrived from New Zealand (shes on the blue program) and later that night Mattison, Matteo and Dean all arrived. Dean and Matteo were from the UK and were on the purple program whilst Mattison is from the states and was on the pink program with me.

I was still tired and went to bed early that night too ready for an early start in the morning at the orphanage.. this is when the nerves kicked in and I was wondering what to expect......