Kids Christmas Party

(Sshh.... I'm actually adding this post in February although the Christmas party was in December they day before we left to come back to Australia. I hadn't had the time to download the photos until now....)

So this was the Christmas Party for all the children of the mine employees (and a few extras too!) - about 1000 children! So they had tents set up on the oval with tables and chairs, all the children got some chicken and rice to eat, and then got completely spoiled with lollies, biscuits and soft drinks. They don't have those things too often so they were bouncing off the walls!

They also had some competitions and activities like musical chairs, a dancing competition, a poem-reciting competition (?!), and then as per usual everyone danced - they love a dance around here! I also was dancing with the kids, but they all wanted to crowd around me and touch me (I was twirling them around), then one little one fell over and almost got trampled in the stampede! So the security guards had to step in and tell them to all go away - so I couldn't really dance anymore - too dangerous!!

I also took my camera with me, so all the kids wanted their photos taken and then to look at it on the screen - I took about 200 photos I think! Here's some of them... You might notice in one of the photos is a little albino girl - she goes to the school here so I've seen her quite a lot. The other kids always say she's my sister (and in fact, her skin really does look like mine - white and freckly!), but poor little thing - she gets really embarressed when they point her out. It must be bad enough being the only white girl in a black population! I've also seen one other albino woman at another village - apparently they get treated quite badly because people think they are witches or evil.... On the other hand, they don't seem to think I'm evil at all!!

Malaria from anti-malaria workshop?!

I didn't put this post on last week because I thought it might freak my mum out a bit - and then I discovered that she hasn't even been reading my blogs because she didn't know how to log on!! Mum - get with the technology!

Anyway, last Wednesday I was invited to an anti-malaria workshop which I thought might be quite interesting. The invitation said "8am prompt. Please don't be late" so I got on my bike and rode up the hill to town, arriving at 8am. Of course, no-one was there, the building wasn't even open yet and in fact, even the organiser didn't arrive until 9.30!

Here's the bad part - while I was waiting around for everyone to arrive I got bitten by a mosquito!! Agh! Normally I'm fastidious about insect repellent and long clothing, but I thought "no we'll be inside so I won't need it" - not considering the late factor.

The incubation period for malaria is 7-10 days so I think I'm past the danger time. Phew. But how ironic would that have been - getting malaria at an anti-malaria workshop?!

Only two sleeps to go!

Only two more sleeps until we come back to Perth - oh and about 36 hours of travel and transit in between! Not looking forward to that part so much, but I'm really looking forward to getting home - its been a long time.

We've been watching the cricket test in Perth the last couple of days, and the weather is looking perfect for our return. Ah, looking forward to a swim at the beach, a nice cup of coffee, a run around the river, a bit of Christmas shopping... and of course catching up with family and friends!

Yay - see you all soon!

Rita's Family

Rita has been a shining light for us here in Konongo - apart from keeping our house nice and clean:-) She's always good fun and has a cheeky sense of humour, she's always on time (which believe me is a blessing around here) and no request is ever too hard. I've come to know her family well too, so we had them around to our house for a Christmas dinner last night. When I asked her mother what she would like to eat she replied "Cake, chicken and Malta (which is a non-alcoholic drink like Guinness) - fairly random requests!

So I cooked up a big feast (with Rita's help) - I thought I'd cooked up an enormous amount of food, but in true Ghanaian fashion they managed to eat it all! And they commented that I didn't eat very much - that's me, who usually eats more than any other girl I know! They have hearty appetites that's for sure (or its quite possible they hadn't eaten that day at all).

Rita's family is headed by her mother Mercy, who is a strong, little matriach (in yellow dress). Her first husband died, and her second husband (Rita's father) already had another wife! So its just her now and she has six children - two boys and four girls, who are all strong women too. Rita's older sister Olivia (in pink) and her three kids, and her younger sister Asha (in blue) and her baby Jacinta and son Jo are in the photos, and also Rita's son Kevin. We gave the kids some soccer balls and stockings filled with lollies, chips and party whistles - I wished they didn't have the whistles after about 10 minutes! But they enjoyed them....

I cooked a big cake too, with icing and Happy Christmas written on top - they'd never had a cake like that before so it was quite a novelty, and her mum asked if she could take the leftovers home with her. I think they liked it!!

Dirty Warren!

Poor old Warren - at the moment his Exploration group are doing a big drilling program, so he's out in the bush every day and comes home covered in mud! See his dirty dirty car, and boots covered in mud. However he sometimes forgets to take them off before he comes inside the house!

Then Rita - who carefully sweeps and mops the floor everyday - picks up his dirty boots, and marches out of the house again yelling "Mr Warren, you're killing me!" (At least its not me who gets blamed for being a nagging wife!).

Mercy Mission Christmas Party

I'm constantly amazed at some of the people with disabilities that I've met through our Mercy Mission visits. The other day we had a Christmas party for everyone, and I saw this guy push himself in a wheelchair backwards up a bumpy hill about 100m, with only one functional leg, to get to the party! And that's what he has to do everyday... (shouldn't have picked such a hilly town to live in!).

It was a fairly big logistical exercise organising food and drinks for 250 people. The hardest part was picking everyone up in a big school bus from 12 different villages, made all the harder by everyone having some kind of disability - no electric lifts for getting wheelchairs on and off the bus! We almost got it right - except we forgot about 30 people from one town, so we had to go back to visit them the next day!

I think they all had a good time, and appreciated having a fuss made of them. They really are such happy people given the circumstances. One boy with cerebral palsy whom I'd met before, came rushing/wobbling up to me on his crutches with a big smile on his face to shake my hand and say hello. Sweet.

Especially for James...

I've made an extra effort to put some extra blogs on this week because my little brother James complained that I wasn't blogging often enough - and he didn't have anything to read on the bus on his way to work each day! Well I'm sorry brother, I didn't realise you were such an avid follower of "Adventures".

Luckily I've got a few things to write about this week, as its coming up to Christmas and we've had some social events and fun things to do....