Australia. Brazil. Costa Rica. Denmark. Ethiopa. France. Germany…

One of the many games played by volunteers to while away the African evenings. Each time a new alphabetic country is added, the list grows longer and the chances of a mistake will render you drunk on Star/Stone/Gin. Lefond, I salute you. That's the Maine thing.

And so to Cape Coast and it's beaches. We have discovered a hotel with a private beach called Coconut Grove in the neighbouring town of Elmina. We visit it regularly after the building project to relax by the hotel swimming pool and walk along the surf. Coconut trees line the shore and sway in the evening breeze. The sun sets behind Elmina castle as the fishermen pull in their daily hauls. It is a world away from the mountains of Akuapem, but just as I am about to move on I am beginning to feel at home again.

The building project continues apace, although with less people and a more relaxed building site than the Hills, we are more like the tortoise than the hare. Slow and steady wins the race. Here the Ghanaians guiding us are Eko and Kobbe. They call me 'Akuapem Brother' because I speak Twi with an Akuapem dialect and did the building project in the Hills. Building blocks is the order of the day at the minute. Today we made 105 blocks between 8 people. Mixing cement with sand and some water and filling block frames to lay and dry in the sun. It is tough work but when they are stacked the next morning we are able to see the fruits of our labour.

Last weekend was a lot of fun. Friday began with a bonfire on the beach in front of a bar called Oasis. On Saturday a rugby match was organised on the beach and I was roped into playing. I enjoyed it a lot, although my neck and shoulders are still recovering. Like our soccer match in Kwamoso, the game was Obruni v Obi Beni. As you can imagine, rugby is not a very common sport in Ghana, and the game was organised by some volunteers working on a rugby placement here in Cape Coast. There was even a Ghanaian national rugby player on the Obi Beni team. No, I did not score a try, but will you believe me if I told you I made an assist? Sam - my Welsh boy blue, did the honours.

Saturday night was both bizarre and fantastic all at once. A pool party. Yeh, that's right. A party for volunteers, round a swimming pool. Music. Drink. Swimiming. So much fun. Try organising one of those in Warrenpoint. Maybe in Portadown? It's got flumes.

On Sunday we went to Cape Coast stadium to watch the local team, the Marvellous Dwarves, play. They won handsomely against another team from down the coast on a scoreline of 5-0. The heat was unbearable and our seats were uncovered so a lot of obrunis left the ground with purple faces and impressive sweat lines.
We visited a national park, Kakum, near Cape Coast, after work yesterday. There is a canopy walk 600 metres high and the ropes looked a little to frayed for my liking. I concentrated on surviving and continued across the bridges. The park was beautiful and it was a fun day.

I have had some messages from home, particularly from the footballers of Warrenpoint. All are appreciated and made me chuckle. The thought of you guys tackling Kilbroney over the last few months brings a smile to my face. I am excited to see Kevin's new hairstyle and Gaby's new pair of ankles - is it true he won player's player of the year? Can't believe I voted for him.

To the children of St. Joseph's primary school in Bessbrook who are following my blog and have asked me some questions, I say the following:

Alliah - the children here go to a mixture of private and state schools, mostly private schools which their parents pay for and which are affiliated to the various churches. As in Bessbrook the children age from 4 or 5 years up to 11 or 12 at primary level.

Aislinn - the children at school take great pride in their school uniforms which are always very colourful. They do take baths, but as water is a precious commodity they must be very careful with the amount of water they use. Someone will have to fetch it from a well and then it is poured over your head from a bucket!

Craig - Ghanaian food is very unique. Jellof rice is a common spicy rice dish. Fufu, Banku and Kenke are all made from the local ingredients to hand like cassava and maize and are sticky balls which you mix in sauce and fish. Yam and plaintain are very common. They also like wakye, a mixture of beans and rice dish with s***o sauce. Everything is spicy!

Nathan - the children love to play football and it is the main sport in Ghana. They are all looking forward to the world cup where Ghana will play Germany, Australia and Serbia in the group stages. They also play oware, which is a game with pots and beads, and draughts.

Ruth - most of the teachers here do slap the children. The obruni volunteers here of course do not, but be grateful that you go to school in Bessbrook where your teacher does not cane you!

Christian and Jack - unfortunately many of the schools do not have enough supplies to help the children learn. We have even visited schools where they learn outside under trees as there are not enough classrooms for all the children to be taught in.
Michaela - pets are not common, but most households in Ghana have chickens and goats so they have eggs and meat at the ready for dinner.

Blinne - there are no shops. Only stalls. I cannot buy a lot of things here that I can buy at home. For example, I really miss milk and cereal, and proper chocolate and crisps!

James and Ciara - there are over 40 languages spoken in Ghana. English is the official language but it is spoken in a very different way to people in Ireland and often in the rural areas where people may not have been to school they do not speak any English at all. The most common language in Ghana is Twi (pronounced Chwee). Other languages are Fante, Ga and Ewe.

Rory - they don't have very many potatoes. And I miss them! They have yams instead, a more bland version of the potato. They also have a lot of plantain, which can be fried and eaten with beans (red red) or roasted. The fruits here are tropical and much tastier than at home - for example the bananas, mangoes, coconut and pineapples are all delicious. The money used is the Ghanaian Cedi. Each Cedi is worth about 45 pence.

Blinne and Alliah - it depends on the school as to how many children are in each class. We have seen classrooms with as many as fifty and sixty in a class!

I hope this answers most of your questions. I will be travelling for the next two weeks in the north of Ghana visiting a national park with elephants and other wildlife so won't be able to answer your questions, but good luck with your project and make sure to cheer for Ghana in the World Cup!