Waking up to a multitude of sounds to what I can only describe to give you an idea of this place, picture a farm smack in the middle of central London. It is like a 'city farm' Accra, Ghana's capital with a crowded population of 23 million. The paved streets can barely be seen with all the over flowing market stalls selling just about everything you could imagine and the smells ooze as you walk by and are not all pleasant. Some smell sweet with frying plantains and sugary donuts while in the same breath you can inhale smoked fish, or rotting meat and the wide open gutters reveal smells of stagnant sewage. Roaming goats and chickens somehow manage to keep off the roads, dust tracks often lead on and off Tarmac bits of the road which can be confusing so I try to be vigilant at all angles for cars Incase I have found myself on a road.

To me it seems chaos and yet is no busier than london, children run across the roads without a care dodging tro tros at top speed. Loud music pumping from enormous bases, people chatting which sounds like background noise to me not understanding their mix of six spoken languages. instead sounds to me just a blurr of loud pitches and screams.

My last few days in Ghana I have decided to leave the rural compound I had been staying at to see more of Accra. Stepping out even to buy a piece of fruit feels stressful but intriguing at the same time, despite having seen a lot now I am still equally as amazed each time I go out at the different experiences I am encountering here.

I visited Accra craft market which was another stressful encounter, after navigating several tros across town and weaving my way through crowds I made it to the stalls. The stalls are tented and divided into small shops which mostly sell the same merchandise. Most shops sold the same factory bought beaded jewellery, souvenirs and the usual pointless items you can't remember your reasoning for purchasing. However further along the market there is another part that would seem it is more for the locals, selling much more authentic products. I saw a man making drums, stapling strips of fresh animal hair still with skin and blood on. They mostly use cow hide or goat for the drums and the best quality sound is from the antelope hair which comes at a higher price. Just a few stalls down I was roped into having a drum lesson, I tried to explain I'm not musically gifted and find it impossible to match others sounds but after much coaxing and coaching, I managed to make a good beat in duo with him. Sadly his sales pitch didn't work and I'm not coming home with a bongo!

The material stalls are great too offering every imaginable coloured fabric, elaborate patterns and prints in African colours. A yard is around 6cds which is a £1.00 and tailoring for say a pay of trousers is £15cds so around ) £2.50. I have myself a pair of crazy coloured trousers made that I will have no where to wear back in England and some dresses for my niece that I am sure will fit despite the clothes being very small here as the children are absolutely tiny for their age.

The markets are a lot to take in with so much to see and just being out for a few hours it's worthy of a nap. Later in the afternoon one of the volunteer staff invites me to a church service with him, odd being on a Thursday I went along to see. Once again the service was lively much like the one I visited at Wli Falls and I didn't feel out of place amongst the crowds but welcomed. After the service the paster or prophet as he called himself invited me to his house. I went over with the volunteer staff to meet him where we sat in his living room for a chat. Instantly something about his character and confidence I was in trawled to listen to his every word and I can easily see how he captures the congregations attention for their four hour services! He had such a authoritative and confidence about him that no matter what he could be saying, I too wanted to believe it.

He didn't really know anything about me or had barely heard me speak, which is unusual for me. He prayed at my side, knowing only my name and soon began to tell me things that he could see in my life and personal experiences I have had. Shocked and sceptical at first at his extreme knowledge of me but I realised he knew absolutely nothing about me to go on. The things he spoke about would be extremely incredible guess work and that just maybe he really was getting a word from God to me.

With a lot of excitement for one day and a lot of thoughts and questions following church I spend the evening back at the house. Two of the children next door have been over to play several times since my arrival but on discovering my iPad today they decide they no longer need my interaction. We have another of many series of daily power cuts in the house and the normal routine of congregating in one room with a candle, no longer seems odd.

I help the cook prepare dinner, as I am the only volunteer at the house I tell her not too worry and prepare local food for us to share with the other staff. We sit on the kitchen floor with my phone for light while she prepares Bankou and dried fish, beating the life out of chilli peppers in her pestle and mortar while I write down the method. We have long chats about her culture and religion, she tells me about marriage and dating here. Trying not to probe I ask many a question to which I learn that like our culture it is custom to ask the permission of parents before marriage proposals however with this they are given a list by the parents of what he must purchase for them and a price he must pay for their daughter. It is not of course a john Lewis list but does consist of similar household goods, fine wines, money and clothes and without these gifts it is very rare an offer will be accepted.

I also learnt that despite being Christian they will marry as young as 16 and the Muslims here 13 upwards you will be pressured for a match quickly. Childbirth older than 25 you are mostly deemed as getting on a bit, most men have been surprised when they hear I have no children and to them seems very strange that I am not at least married already.

Like any young person though, being nearly the same age as me she does tell me she too does want other things in life and would love to study but the pressures of her family and traditions have to come first. This doesn't surprise me as she explained to go against the grain or not to follow your families beliefs you are out on your own, which not many can afford to do.

I was reassured when asking what the dating scene is like here to which didn't sound much different to how it is back home. It seems that people do get married much quicker so around six months to a year is the norm of dating before marriage. Although mostly being Christians or Muslims there is still such thing as rebellion, they would call themselves a 'left side Muslim or Christian' which means they have a belief but either not practising or pick and choose what to follow. Again doesn't sound very dissimilar to how many of us live at home.

I had to laugh when she thought she was telling me something that she believed was very unique to Ghana until I told her this is a universal problem regardless of the country. She told me that men behave badly here and cheat at times or they go out with you for a while then dump you for a new relationship, which can happen many times before you marry. We laughed and I think to myself were not so different really, yes we lead very different lives but we still share such normal issues to our generation.