Rehearsals..

It is the end of the month. Work on the site has progressed beyond the drainage swales. Work on the foundation for the first classroom has begun, with the second classroom to start this week. A huge polytank is erected for the site water, while the site signboards go up and bamboo is split for the site fencing. The swale continues at the far end of the site where it will carry the flood waters away. The engineers are busy too, ensuring that the levels and measurements are precise. All in all, progress is reasonable.

As we draw nearer to the ground-breaking ceremony as well as mock exams, the school has been engaged preparing for both events. The chief and elders of Ayensudo have personally taken it upon themselves to put on a good show. So, every night we hear drumming and singing in the classrooms that lures us out of our home. We sit watching the dedicated children dance with the chief leading them in songs. The spectators, mostly kids, also join in, dancing and revelling in the music by the corridors of the school usually having to be hushed by a bark from the elders. In the meantime, the teachers hold lessons with music in the background as the older students sit for their BECs this April.

This weekend, a trip to the beach was much needed. Ko-Sa Beach Resort is close to Ampenyi village and idyllic. The trip was meant to ease Lawrence, the trainee engineer back into swimming in the sea after his whirlpool scare last weekend. He had gone swimming in Brenu and got sucked into a riptide that pushed him far out to sea. Having never experienced this phenomenon, poor Lawrence fought the current, using up all his energy. A friend who was on shore managed to alert the lifeguards, who calmed Lawrence and pulled him back to shore. We advised him not to let the incident stop him from swimming but he escaped to Takoradi this time.

Joe's 30-minute walk turned into an hour (as I had predicted). It is recommended on a cloudy day as the road is quiet and very suitable for a political debate. We passed through friendly and colourful Ampenyi on our way to the resort.

Ko-Sa is relaxing and has a circle of rocks which helps prevent nasty currents from tugging at you. The local boys were even somersaulting into the water. A fresh coconut, reclining beach chair and interesting book did the job nicely as did people-watching.

Tip: I had discovered the joys of plaintain chips (50 pesewas for a bag – about 20 pence) on my first day in Ghana. Imagine my glee when I discovered a new version. The regular chips are yellow while the new ones are dark brown, nearly black. The yellow ones taste a little sweet but mostly salty whilst the brown ones are sweet! A must try out here.

Another Tip: Small bags of red ice cold natural orange/pineapple juice flavoured with lots of different herbs and spices make the perfect refreshing hit at the end of a long day in the sun, for just 10 pesewas!

Here are some photo's. Please view by SET.