Life in Ghana is like one of those BIG shiny silver bowls that the women here carry on their heads on their way to and from market; choc full of all kinds of interesting and colourful things, some of which you would never have expected, and no matter whether coming or going it's never, ever empty!

Thus life as a volunteer is as much about the cultural life and way of living as it is about the placement; my life here is more full than it's probably ever been and at the end of the day I'm usually either amazed or amused at how many weird and wonderful things can happen between waking up with the bright sun and the 'hellOOO's!' of the children clambering about outside, and passing out with exhaustion at the end of the day to the sounds of the choir practising in the church at 10pm!

To give you a flavour, in the last couple of weeks I have:

Started running again (yippeeeeee!) in the early hours when it's under 30 degrees and just about bearable to be running about like a loony. The many people, animals and experiences I meet from the moment I leave the house make it a whole different experience to any running I've done before and the views are so stunning they literally take my breath away (yes honestly it's the views and not the fact I'm struggling on these flipping hills here!). I absolutely love it.

Been to church! Just like the running experience, this warranted its own blog post as it was such an insight. It was a real privilege to be invited along by our friends James and Lydia and family, and everyone was so welcoming that it was a really nice experience. I already knew how much people live and breathe religion here, but all the opportunities I've had to share some of their religious practices recently has been really eye opening.

Helped Janice and Nicole to settle in by taking them on walks about town, introducing them to the whole array of wonderful people who are friends with the house here, and taken them for TZ (local staple dish that he Ghanaians say 'if you haven't eaten TZ you haven't eaten at all!') at James and Lydia's.

Further developed my cooking skills, by making a traditional meal of Bitor (one of my favourite dishes) from scratch! We collected the leaves, pounded the groundnuts into a paste using the traditional large pestle and mortar (phew they really work for their food here!), and stirred everything up in the big black cooking pot outside under the stars at a friend's local compound house. The food turned out amazing and I was dead proud. It was a lovely evening sitting under the stars knowing that what we were eating had come right from the ground around us.

Noticed my sweat-levels (a key personal indicator for changes in the weather) increasing as the temperature has started to climb higher and higher. Twice this week it's reached 35 degrees C again, and the familiar feeling of oh my god how am I supposed to do anything in this heat is creeping right back in!

Nearly had a panic attack as in complete contrast the heavens opened one night and down poured a whole load of noise on the roof! I had no idea what was happening as we ran about shutting all the doors and trying to close the windows as huge sprays of water washed in from all directions into the house! We discovered the ext day that it was HAILSTONE (!!!!). I couldn't believe it either, but one family we know said they all ran out when it happened 'to eat snow!'. It even left huge holes it e leaves of the trees! (See photo album if you don't believe me!).

Had some very very weird dreams, which I am putting down to the leaves that we put in the Bitor to eat!

Been to Leela's belated birthday party now that she is back in Ghana and fully recovered from her bout of the nasty malaria. It was heaps of fun as usual, people, music, food, and lots of dancing, all Ghanaian style of course!

Met beautiful baby Alex, a teeny tiny bouncing baby boy from one of the orphanages her, who one of my friends is currently looking after. He is just gorgeous!

Said goodbye to the beautiful green lush fields of crops that were standing so tall and proud all about the place, as the harvesting season has now begun and all crops are being gathered in. Everywhere I go I catch little snippets and glances of women, men, and children weaving about in-between the long grasses with huge silver bowls on their heads or at their waist, collecting the food they have grown that will last them until this time again next year. It's really nice to see the full cycle of life here, true subsistence living in motion.

Helped two little children, one boy and one girl, to be able to go back to school. I'm still mopping up around and about, as I see some children pottering about here when they should now be in school. These two were just standing in the heat with bare feet and threadbare clothes on. I know them and their mother and was surprised to see them there. But when she showed me their uniforms which were i absolute tatters, and I realised that their sandals were broken so they had nothing to wear on their feet, I just couldn't pass by without helping. So many families are just too poor to find the money for everything that the children need.

Stood outside almost every night, simply to stare at the stars. As the skies here become clearer with the rain clouds almost all but gone, and the winds are starting to pick up in readiness for the harmattan (windy season), the skies have become a huge expanse of deep black that stretches so far and wide I nearly crick my neck every time I try to take it all in. The stars are so bright and striking that my jaw just dropped the first time I noticed them. You can even see parts of the milky way. If it weren't for snakes and mosquitoes and goat poo and things I would be camping outside every night!

Even further developed my cooking skills by cooking on charcoal! It was a bit of a shock to the system when I realised we had run out of gas and would have to survive a while without any...but with the kind help of my Ghanaian friend Fati,and my volunteer friend Ellie we bought some coal from the market, carried it in bags on our heads back to the house, set up a little stove and somehow cooked a yummy meal of my favourite Ghanaian dish, Red Red, without any major disasters or totally setting the house on fire. All part of the 'camping' vibe that we've got going on here!

Had a very sad moment when my friend and I were out buying Fufu and noticed fire engines coming towards my house. We were with one of the small boys, a lovely little lad who likes to accompany us when we go out and about, I think because he likes the way we are always asking him to spell words and do sums and do fun homework type things rather than just learning by wrote like they do in school. Anyway, he ran off when the engines came, to see what was happening and why they were trying to drive up the sandy paths that make up the area around our mud houses here. When we caught up and got there we were told that a little girl had fallen down a well. The fire engine could not get any closer because the paths are too small and sandy to pass, so a few people had gone to see if they could help. The little boy we were with guided us through the tall dark grass lit up by the moon and one little flashlight to the house, so we could see if there was anything we could do to help...but when we got nearby we could already hear the wailing and the feeling in my stomach said that this was not good news. When we reached the house we found men sat in sombre silence on mats outside, and the women's wails and cries filled the dark blue night sky that hung above their house, new cries wailed out as the last were carried away by the wind. It was really sad to learn that the little girl had died. She had simply been playing with her friends when it had happened, so many people wanted to help, but no one had been able to save her.

Seen and heard the town change literally overnight as the political rallying has heated up in the run up to this year's national elections. One minute it was all quiet and peaceful, and the next we've got blaring motorbikes whizzing down the streets, voices booming through loudspeakers, people cheering and waving their parties flags in parades about town, busses, bicycles and big shiny cars cruising about with all kinds of colourful party paraphernalia draped all about them, it's suddenly like the place has turned into a political party-town. Rumours were rife the other day that the president had come to Zebilla, and so many people dashed home to get all dressed up and come out in their finest clothes in an attempt to go and meet him. Whether he was actually here or not no one seems to really know (!). Even tonight Janice and I have enjoyed a bit of a boogie in the house as a late night political rally has kicked off across the other side of town - the music is so loud we could have a party in our kitchen! The whooping and hollering going on outside anyone would think that Justin Bieber had come to town!

Been to the local hospital to see the children that I know that are still suffering from malaria. Almost every week at least two or three of the mothers / brothers / fathers I know tells me their child / sibling is sick in hospital suffering with malaria. Even last week I found one little girl just laying outside on the floor amidst the husks of a load of maize that her family had been shelling, just laying there completely unable to do anything. A quick trip to the hospital, most of the children are hooked up to a drip and then given some medicines and they are back on their feet in no time, but the frequency with which it happens is just shocking and I'm still trying to get my head around it.

Had no less than 11 men involved in organising a new gas tank for me (!). The tank went all the way to Bolga in a pick up truck, and then travelled back by tro tro, on a strong man's head, moto and bicycle, until it eventually reached my house. I had no idea who the man was that dropped it off, that's just the way things go in Ghana, everyone is so helpful, and when something needs to happen, people just make it happen. It's like magic!

Welcomed Janice and Nicole back from their moto training, both still just about all in one piece! Finally I'll have company for some long beautiful moto rides yippee!

Seen a man selling a snake in town (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) A snake. A big fat long stripey black and white snake. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! Janice and I were just meandering back from buying some 'small provisions' (as they say here) in market, and there he was, a rather cheeky looking old man, travelling by donkey cart, swinging his legs over the side like a puppet and waving something about in the air with one hand held high above his head. In his other hand was a loudspeaker, through which he was hollering something that at first I didn't understand. Eventually he caught my eye and I realised he was singing 'Nasara buy snake! Nasara snake for you!!" and was swinging an actual snake about all over the place. I wanted to go over and have a look, but the look on Janice's suddenly pale face said 'don't you dare' so I thought probably best not.

With love from Ghana,

Em

Xx