Hey y'all well been here nearly two weeks now and doing great, its just gettin better and better. I travelled up to Vakpo in the volta region on sunday night and was greeted by 2 american girls who were there, it was amazing to actually talk to someone western, felt so weird having spent the last week with only Ghanians. i started at the orphanage on monday and the other girls said they were a little dissapointed cas it was more like a day care centre cas the kids arrive in the morning and leave at 3 which is fine by me, even though most of these kids are orphans, ghana works on an extented family system so if theres a kid whos got no one, there will always be a family to take them in, which i think is really amazing.

theres so many things i love about this place, its probably one of the friendliest places i have ever been to and also the only country i have been to where women seem to be totally respected. theres so thing here that ive seen that only women cook and clean, everyone seems to help out, men and women do the washing, cooking, weaving, pottery, everything seems to be so equal. although a really weird feature of the culture is that public displays of affection bewtween man and women arnt done, yet i'll see everywhere two really western lookin guys that look just like from london or anywhere and they'll be holding hands!! and not like the cupping way like the intertwined finger way...and thats not considered gay at all...infact homosexuality is illegal!

anywho....back to the orphanage..its basically one room of about 40 little kids and i just play with them all day long, its great, i spend my days colouring pictures, reading Dr seus books and golden books, singing stupid songs and just makin em laugh, and there so cute, its not like i even have to look afterthem, they seem so independent. these two years old are walking to school and back on their own..how is the possible! and if one of them is crying, theres always another kid that comes allong and will give them a hug or shares there toys...and if im cleaning up like collecting all the lego, most of the kids will help me and tidy everything away and clean up after themselves....and most of them are only 3 years old! sure by the end of my day im covered in mud, tears, snot and pee but its ok, im not complaining, im really getting into my outside showers...had a shower in a thunder and lightning storm which was awesome. i hardly have electricity cas theres so many power cuts but im getting use to it, its actually pretty nice to walk down the street in pitch black and just be a normal person instead of a yavoo --ewe for white person, which im shouted at about 60 times a day...its a friendly greeting but gets a bit tiring when thats all they know you as. i was in a market a few days a go and someguys were laughing at me, i turned round and said what and they just said 'your so white!' im like ummm i think i know that already!! its kinda nice cas everything people say isnt ment to offend people...people openly refer to someone as 'the fat person' for example, and its just whats done over here...no political correctness in sight which is such a nice change from england, its weird, i dont actually miss england that much, i miss the poeple i love but not the country---havnt even craved m n s food yet...the food here is awesome---probs mainly cas ive temp stopped smoking and when i do that im hungry ALLL the time and ive been travelling on the trotros so when you stop at traffic lights the van is bombared with traders selling icecreams, meat pies, dougnuts ect ...a couple days a go when i was travellin on a trotro i even ate a whole dinner of salad, spagetti and stew out of a plastic bag that i bought from a trader...and i did it with my bare hands...eaten with hands is so hard and those who know how messy i am its not a pretty sight! anywho im off to carry on with my adventures, travellin to Cape Coast today to see the 500 year old european forts used to transport the slaves to the slave ships (Ghana was the first country the europeans started expotorting slaves from) so its gonna be pretty interesting.

bye for now xxxx