Sorry it's the same old photo, there are a lot to upload but Cressida didn't bring her cable with her today!

Oh my, where to start! This past week has been a rollercoaster of emotions... At the moment, I'm just quite annoyed that banks are closed at weekends, as is the SYTO building where any post is sent to, because I work Mon-Fri, 8.30-5, so how am I supposed to cash in traveller's cheques!? I don't recommend them!

This weekend all of us volunteers (plus a couple more I hadn't met before) went to Lake Bosumtwi - it was absolutely beautiful!!!! I can't explain this properly without the photos, so I'll get those up as soon as I can.. Before you get to lake it's like Jurassic Park jungle! Most of us swam in the lake, it was really warm, but now we're worried we have snail parasites eating up our livers... ah well! The price of where we stayed was a bit much which seemed to be a downer for some people, but so far I'm spending as little as possible :) There was a donkey there as well, that was quite random.

So on Friday the journey took us 6-7 hours (should've taken 4!) on very very bumpy roads which isn't great when you need the toilet! I've been homesick a couple of times since I arrived in Kumasi area but so far there's been no I WANT TO GO HOME TANTRUMS. :) I'm staying with a woman called Josephine and her son Kofi (Dale) who she calls 'Junior' a lot.. he's 3 and great fun to have around! There's also a 23 year old called Eva, she's a student at Josephine's school (for employable skills) and she helps out around the house a bit and laughs at me when i try speaking in Twi!

The fact that most people here go to church means I don't feel like the odd one out for a change! If you're atheist here, people don't really understand! So.. it's pretty much the opposite to England. I need to try and find out whether the Brother in Kumasi actually exists because I'm pretty sure there isn't an ecclesia near here.

I've been ill quite a bit this week too, but all better now! So, I had a couple of days off the orphanage (where I visited Josephine's school; the students really seem to work hard and they love her! I also went to the hospital which involved a 4 hour wait but the cost only came to 10cedi.. about four punds!) but managed to get in Tuesday, Thursday and Friday! The days passed in a blur of smelly babies!! I think the most difficult thing has been the lack of help from the staff there.. they haven't taught us anything or told us what they need us to do... I've changed a few nappies, I still find it completely revolting but I wanna man up a bit about that! A lot of the day is playing with 16 babies and todlers.. keeping them entertained and stopping them from fighting, crying, so on.. It sounds like a day of fun but it's been SO exhausting! My patience lacked a bit on Friday but Tony, a guy who works there, let us witness a ram being slaughtered (ha!). He's the most friendly guy there and the kids like him, but he's supposed to be in the office all the time. So yeah, slaughtered animal. Some guys were just holding it down waiting for us to come outside and watch! There's me with a teeny baby falling asleep in my arms and a goat with blood spurting from its neck (which causes a very comical sound!). Then it was thrown on the fire, it's muscles twitching... later on, it was being chopped up, having it's stomach emptied.. Liver, heart and so on on the fire grill with some sweet chilli sauce, actually tasted nice! That was a really, uh, interesting Ghanaian experience!

I do miss a lot of people back home and I need to start writing letters as I know it'll take a while before they arrive! If you do wanna send me anything, the best place for it to go is:

Briony Kemp (Bunac Volunteer)

SYTO Kumasi

SSNIT HOUSE ADUM

P.O. BOX 813

KUMASI

GHANA

I've been trying hard to stay up to date with my readings, but after a day at the orphanage there's no energy left, so I don't know what to do... Everyone (as in, my volunteer friends) wants to go to a monkey sanctuary next weekend but, as much as i love monkeys, I want some time to relax, catch up on Bible readings, The Christadelphian, reading about how to take care of babies and not completely destroying myself.. but I dont want to waste my opportunities of experience here either... :/ Hmm...

I really do appreciate everyone at home (and in Ghana!) praying for me, it makes me feel very safe :)

My internet time has almost run out and I haven't updated you all about Dominasi where I am or about all the babies and toddlers, what they're like but hooopefully with the help of photos I can do that maybe next weekend...

My time here so far has been a mixture of exhausion, challenges, breath-taking scenery, a completely different culture and mainly very friendly people! I am dreading a week of very hard work I have to admit, but now i can eat properly it doesnt seem toooo daunting.

One last thing: appreciate the food you have! Such bad cheese and chocolate and cereal and strawberry and bacon and pesto and cake cravings!

Much love to all, I miss everyone at home and please continue to remember me in your prayers!

Afua (Pronounced like Afee-ah, my Ghanaian name!) xxx