There is a scene in the 2007 science-fiction-horror- apocalypse movie, 'I am Legend', in which Will Smith runs home before the sun goes down to bolt up the doors in his Manhattan house and lie hiding in the bathtub clutching his shotgun while listening to the zombies outside wail and scream and try to penetrate his doors and windows so that they can eat him.

I am involved in a similar scene almost every night here in Ghana. Instead of hiding in a bathtub, however, I take cover under my net and behind my screen. Instead of sitting out an attack from virally mutated creatures during the night, I cower pathetically in my bed from the dreaded mosquito, waiting patiently and hopelessly for the sun to rise and for day to break, listening to them buzz and hiss and fight to get in, vicious and malaria-latent, evil and unrelenting, trying to eat me.

I foolishly mentioned in an email this week to my friend, Joe Marley, that I had been having no problems with my health and that the only stool I had given any thought to was the bar stool in Mama's. Joe confidently predicted that I was 'not to worry', as some form of toilet related sickness 'was in the post'. This weekend the postman arrived with a vengeance. Delivery as Joe envisaged.

Coupled with a strange headache which I am finding it difficult to shake, this meant yesterday one of the more interesting toilet experiences of my time in West Africa thus far. I was at work, our building project in Akropong Methodist School, and when it was time I visited the 'bathroom'. I looked down. A hole in the ground. One more difficult than those holes to which I have grown accustomed as there was nowhere to put the feet, no 'leverage' so to speak. The smell slapped me on the face. I began to sweat even more.

I looked around again. No toilet roll. As nature called, I in turn called on nature and ran out behind the school to collect some leaves from a coconut tree. Now, not to dwell on this moment, but it was one of the more undignified times that I can remember in my life - at least the indignity experienced when, for example, a drunk person eats a kebab, goes unnoticed by the perpetrator until the following day when he looks at the remnants of his doner or is shown a video of his crime. As I crouched under the blazing African sun, clutching my leaves in my hand, I was acutely aware at that moment of the absence of my dignity.

My underperforming stomach, however, did not prevent me from enjoying a weekend away from the Akuapem Hills in Cape Coast. The journey was a cramped one, tro tros from Akropong to Madina, from Madina to Kaneshie and then another onwards to Cape Coast. Five to Six hours. We met some volunteers who had worked in the Hills but who had just recently moved to Cape Coast and they were able to show us around.

Cape Coast vies for third largest city in Ghana and is the spiritual home of Michelle Obama, hence a presidential visit in July of last year from Barack (great great great grandson of Fulmouth Kearney of Moneyglass, Co. Offaly). The highlight, aside from the beaches, is the Cape Coast Castle, where slaves were kept by the Europeans before being shipped to the Americas or to Europe. For a place where such evil was perpetrated, it is absolutely beautiful, with views out over the Atlantic and Gulf of Guinea. We took a tour and I can confirm that the dungeons where the slaves were kept did not enjoy such views or airy spaciousness.

On Saturday we visited Elmina, half an hour away from Cape Coast, where we swam in the sea, lay on the beach reading under palm and coconut trees and where we even managed to find some pizza! It was a relaxing way to spend the weekend before embarking on the long journey back to the Hills in preparation for another week on the building project.

When we arrived back to Mamfe on Sunday, however, we were able to join a crew of obi benis and obrunis together watching the African Cup of Nations final between Egypt and Ghana. As I am sure you can appreciate, this was a huge game, a match to decide the best team on the African continent. To put it into context, the last time Ghana won this tournament was 1982. We felt privileged to be there to witness it and sat on the edge of our seats as the game kicked off on a small TV screen in Bula Spot opposite Mama's (Mama has no TV).

The story behind the game was that Egypt, who missed out on going to the World Cup this year (due to defeat in a play-off by their bitter rivals, Algeria) had gone through the tournament unbeaten (including a 4-0 semi-final demolition of yep, you guessed it, Algeria). This was Egypt's third time in a row in the final of the tournament, having won in 2006 and 2008. Ghana conversely had been hammered in their group game against Ivory Coast, 3-1, but had slipped through the rest of the group quietly, beating hosts Angola 1-0 in the quarter final and the Super Eagles, Nigeria, 1-0 in the semi-final (Gyan scoring both goals). To add to their achievement, Ghana were missing five or six of their starting line-up and senior players, including Michael Essien, John Mensah, John Paintsil, Stephen Appiah and Sulley Muntari.

Ghana started brightly. Their work rate as usual was very high and I could sense as the first half wore on that the Egyptians were getting frustrated. The second half saw more Egyptian possession, but it was at a time when Ghana were perhaps playing their best football and were certainly on top that the killer blow came. It was delivered by Mohamed "Gedo" Nagy, when a perfectly worked one-two on the break with Mohamed Zidan ended with Egypt taking the lead. 85 minutes. Everyone had been braced for extra-time but to the Egyptians went the spoils.

Most Ghanaians, thankfully, recognised the scale of the achievement of their side and the experience gained by their younger players throughout the tournament coupled with the return from injury of their more established players must certainly give them much confidence going to South Africa in the summer. The celebrations yesterday as they returned to Accra confirmed this. I am sure they will be a handful for Serbia, Australia and Germany in their group at the World Cup.

And to conclude, news of the building project - with much of the plastering/rendering completed in the new classrooms at Akropong Methodist School, I understand that this week we will be mostly painting (both painting the walls and painting the alphabet and cool pictures for the kids on the inside of the classroom). Watch this space for a report on my artistic achievements during the course of the week.