Nasara settles in, goes to work, market and Binaba.

Back in Zebilla, I've been getting to know the town a little more, and apparently the town has been getting to know me too. The children that live nearby are now shouting 'sista Aiee-ma!' (huge emphasis on the E now, so cute) when they spot me even from a mile off, and a few people on my way to work are greeting me with 'hello Amma', 'how are you?,' 'how is your house?', 'how is your mother?', 'how is your father' and of course the obligatory 'are you married yet?'. Some people have even started skipping all the other questions and getting straight to the point about whether I am single or not! My worth has apparently now gone up to ten cows - pretty impressive I think! (Don't get any ideas dad!).

Operation clean up has continued at my house, and I am slowly making progress against the thick brown dust. I've decided this place is definitely my own little scout hut, or barn that you find at a camp site (the place where you go to shower and wash your pots), and at night I have fun putting up my mossy net and climbing under it pretending I am camping here. (Well, I figured I may as well embrace the crazy-ness of it!). The nights here are like those on noisy campsites in Cornwall - I can hear everything! And every sound seems to be like it's just outside my window. I am sure all the crazy noises are now filtering into my dreams... pig squeals, goat grunts, honking horns, bicycle swoosh's, babbling children, motorbikes revving their engines, teenagers spilling out of the local spot, and the constant dum dum dum of the techno beat pounding out of the speakers that our neighbours have hired for a funeral (loud affairs that carry on for daaaaays and niiiiigts on end!!!)...it's making for some pretty surreal dream-land experiences!

I have been into work a couple of times, attending a couple more morning devotions where I learnt about the importance of the fig tree in making decisions (that 'fig'ures haha), and which tree would make the best leader out of an olive tree, a fig tree, a palm tree or a bramble bush (answer = the bramble of course, duh), and reading yet more fat reports and dusty files handed to me every time I start to look for something to do, some of which are on topics like the issue of disability in Ghana and the work of World Vision so they are actually more interesting than the yellow pages at least! I was warned that it will take some time for things to really get started at work, and to be honest the most important thing at this stage is getting to know the people and building relationships. So I spend a lot of my time just chatting to people, which of course suits me just fine!

This week I went to the market for the first time, thankfully accompanied by Bev who knows her way around otherwise I probably would have still been wandering around there at nightfall trying to work out how on earth to get myself out of the utter maze that it is! I absolutely love it there though, it's a colourful and friendly, neatly sprawling buzz of a place, with a rhythm and flow of it's own. It's noisy in a nice kind of way, with the hub-bub of sellers trading, children playing, music flowing, ladies chattering, and traders wandering about shouting about their goods.

There is no hassle, which is fantastic, and although we got lots of attention, standing out like two white wide-eyed pink Scottish salmon at a festival for Ghanaian cuisine, it's still friendly, kind and very welcoming. Not one person has tried to pressure me into buy something or dragged me into their stall in desperation (as I have experienced elsewhere in the world, especially India, and even in Camden!); everyone is simply curious about why we are here and they are just really happy that we would come to their local market to buy from them. I had a whale of time feasting my eyes on all the different things they sell there, and can't wait to go back with a bigger bag and more small change in my pocket - I am now soooo grateful that they give us our allowance in heaps and heaps of 5 cedi notes (worth about £2 each) - at first this baffled me, but now that I've seen how much things cost at the market and how much small change is required for all the bartering, I totally understand why!

I have also been out to a sports and literacy programme out in a community called Binaba being run by my fellow VSO volunteers here Tom & John. It's a great introduction to some of the local girls who are at risk of dropping out of school, and a useful way to start to understand some of the issues they face. What has struck me the most so far is how bright the girls are, and how much potential they have. This is in a harsh and uncomfortable contrast to their level of education, they are mostly 14-15 learning probably what most 8-9 year olds do, and the huge barriers that they face such as poverty, family responsibilities, early marriage, lack of confidence, gender discrimination that is closely tied into cultural and traditional practices and so on.

Meeting them and supporting the sessions is so enjoyable, but the reality is worrying and I am yet to understand how such a small programme can tackle such large issues. Hopefully on a very personal level for each of the young girls will increase in confidence and be able to in some way be able to better negotiate her way through the challenges to be able to stay in school. But its early days, and there is a lot to learn. This week they wrote letters home to the children in a school in the UK, and practiced making speeches about what they want to do in the future. Then they practised their volleyball skills and played a game in the scorching afternoon sun. Most of them have plastic sports shoes, but prefer to play barefoot, and their skills really are impressive. They really enjoy the programme and it's really nice to start to get to know them.

With love from Ghana

xx

Photo: My neighbour's children standing at my back gate, I sometimes help Ayesha (the taller one) with her homework, and othertimes we talk girl-talk over a warm bowl of popcorn .