Rita Goes to Accra

On Friday we went to Accra for a bit of grocery shopping which is a two day trip - drive down Friday, stay overnight, then shopping on Saturday morning and drive back Saturday afternoon. We usually do this trip every 3 - 4 weeks, or whenever the grocery supplies are running low. This time we decided to take Rita with us for a little treat.

She was pretty excited about it, she has been to Accra before but hasn't stayed in a hotel before so everything was new and exciting. Sometimes you don't realise how much you take things for granted....

For example, when we got to the hotel we went into the lift to go upstairs and Rita says "What's this little room? Oh we're moving!" She had never been in an elevator before! Soon afterwards we went to the swimming pool, and she had never been in a pool before in her life, and obviously doesn't know how to swim. But she is very game to try new things, so she got into the pool - clinging onto the edges for her life!! But she soon saw me swimming and said she wanted to try that, so promptly threw herself forwards.... and sank to the bottom of the pool. I had to quickly scoop her up, spluttering and coughing - and laughing!! So next we tried just floating with me holding her underneath, and kicking holding onto the side of the pool. While I don't think she'll be swimming any time soon, I give full credit to her for giving it a go. She loved it, and so we also went back the next morning for another swim.

After our swim, we went back to our rooms to have a shower - but a few minutes later Rita knocks on my door, wrapped in a towel, saying she doesn't know how to turn the shower on! It was a single lever swivel type which she hadn't seen before.

We went out for dinner later at an Italian restaurant, and Rita was disappointed that they didn't have banku with okra stew on the menu - because that's her favourite. But she settled for spaghetti bolognese. Spaghetti is a challenge for anyone to eat elegantly, and especially when you're not used to eating with a fork - usually they eat with their hands!

Anyway, with a full belly of pasta and a nice big bed all to herself - she slept very well, and tells me it was like she "went to heaven".

Weekend in Kumasi

We thought it was time for a little change of scenery - after a few weeks of being in the same house, in the same lounge room, every day..... I think we both start to go a little bit "loopy". So we decided to go to Kumasi, a big town/city about an hours drive from here, and stayed at a nice hotel overnight. We didn't really do very much there, but it was nice to sit in the bar and have a drink, and have someone else cook your dinner for you.

What I enjoyed the most was having a swim in the pool - ah I miss it!! It was very overcast and looking like rain, so no-one else was swimming so I had the pool to myself. Did a few laps of freestyle (although its only about 15m long so not too serious a swim). It was very therapeutic and relaxing.... Although I did manage to get a bit sunburnt - overcast days always trick you don't they?!

No Water!

We've got a bit of a problem today - this morning I turned on the tap to have a shower - the water pressure was a bit low, and then turned into a trickle, and then.... stopped. Only half way through washing my hair....

The water usually comes from a nearby dam, but apparently the pump is broken. So now we've had no water all day today. For some unknown reason, the hose tap outside still works (maybe comes from a bore?), so trusty Rita then filled up about 10 big buckets outside, and carried them on her head (they must be at least 20kg!)inside to a big container we have in the bathroom just for those occasions when the water supply breaks down.

So I can finish washing my hair with a bucket of water and a ladle. Now that's old school!

We're quite lucky in that we have running water (and its only really been a problem a couple of times since we've been here). But many of the local people don't have any running water, so they go every day to the local well or bore, and have to pump a big handle up and down to pump the water out. Then carry it on their heads back home again. Its always the girls' job to get the water, so often you'll see young girls maybe 10 years old, carrying buckets almost as heavy as themselves!

I often see young children standing on the side of the road, near the gutters, having their "bath". They'll be completely in the nude, wet themselves a bit with their bucket of water, soap themselves all over with a sponge and soap, and then tip the water all over themselves again to rinse off. Usually singing a song....

Its quite cute really, but is also one of those things that make you realise how lucky we are to have the simple things in life - like taps that always work.

Thank you Alec's Meats

I'm sure I've mentioned before about the lack of quality meat here - for some reason its always so tough, so we've taken to cooking everything in a slow cooker for at least eight hours to make it tender enough to eat. But we really have been craving a good steak every now and then....

So on our recent visit to Perth we visited the local butcher near my parents house - Alec's meats - and he vacuum packed some scotch fillets for us, and I bought them back in my suitcase!! I figured it would probably work because I left Perth at night time and once in the plane it would keep cold, then a quick two hour stop-over in Dubai, then in the plane again. Then I get the meat in Accra and put it straight in the fridge at the hotel, then the esky for the drive back to Konongo - voila! Fresh tender steaks for dinner.

There were six precious steaks, but now there are four because we had our first steak treat last night. And was it good - you bet! You could cut it with a butter knife!

Madam, your buttocks have come!

Ghana is definitely a country of big bosomed, big bottomed women! Junk in the trunk.... bootylicious... I think you get the drift? And they don't mind showing it off either - the tighter the pants the better, and boobs pushed up and squeezing out of your top is the way to go! And wiggle your bum when you walk.....

Maybe this is why there are so many babies around town?!

Anyway, most of the time I wear long flowing dresses or loose tops to keep cool, but every now and then if I wear a jeans or a skirt, the girls here (Latifa in particular) comment "Oh Madam, your buttocks have come!! You have hips!"

Which, to be quite honest, is not really what I want to hear! They think its so great that I have good childbearing hips and gluteals - exactly what I don't want! Anyway, I'll just have to accept that in this country at least - I got the goods!!

By the way, the photo above isn't actually someone here - I just found it on the internet, but it is quality isn't it!!

I'm back!!

For those avid followers of my blog - I'm sorry if you've missed my musings over the past six weeks or so ;-) but I've been home in Perth for a bit and it just wouldn't be the same blogging about life in Perth would it?! How can it be Adventures in Ghana in Perth? Although I did have a very nice time in Perth, and also had a few days down south and in Sydney as well (holidays within a holiday.... within a holiday.....) It was very busy though - I had lots of things to do while I was there, including some wedding planning - which took lots of time. So now it feels really quiet here - there's nothing really to do! (Although once I get back into the swing of things there's always something to do - its just not the same scheduled intensity of things as in Australia!).

So what's changed around here while I've been away? Well we now have wireless broadband internet! Yay - my saviour!! Its much faster than my previous MTN stick, although that doesn't always mean that it works! So I may even be able to skype now - will test it out soon.

However in a trade-off of technology our television hasn't been working for three days now - I think that's because they didn't pay the bill for the satellite TV though! So hopefully that will be rectified soon - what does one do at night if you don't have TV!?!

And another new thing - Mercy Mission which is the charity I have been doing some volunteer work with for people with disabilities - has got a new website! Check it out: www.mercymissionghana.org . The website has mostly been organised by Comfort's son Gideon (who works here at the mine also) and most of the photos are ones that I took when we visited the local villages. If anyone does feel the urge to donate to a good cause let me know (no pressure or anything!) - its probably easiest to transfer money to me and I'll pass it along (I promise!).

What else? There are a few more obrunis (white people) here at the mine site at the moment, some contractors involved in getting the plant up and running - so its quite good to have some other people to talk to and hang out with occasionally. Although still no more girls, so there's just me and Helen... I think we might have a curry night this weekend.

And at the moment that's about all the news I've got....

My toaster! My toaster!

For Christmas we gave Rita a toaster - she had been eating toast at our house and liked it (she hadn't had it before), so we bought her a toaster because she's just moved in to her own little house at the single people's quarters. She was so excited - and did a little dance singing "my toaster, my toaster, eh eh eh eh" over and over!! Funny!

When I came back from holidays I asked her how her toaster was going, and she said "it doesn't taste as good as when you make it - the bread is black!". I think she had it turned up too high and was burning it! Oh dear - so we had to have a little "toaster lesson" ....