I'm writing this blog sitting on the beach in Kokrobite. It's mid morning and the waves are crashing onto the white sandy beach, the hustle and bustle is picking up below me from where I am sitting in my gorgeous roof-top spot (!) and the sun is softly melting away the clouds. The breeze is cool (ish) and fresh, and later the weather will be sizzling so I am making the most of this quiet moment, drumming in the distance, a lady singing as she sets up her bright shawl store below me, palm trees swaying all about, its gorgeous.

I figured it was about time I caught up on my blog, and admitted the fact that I have now left Zebilla, and am well and truly on my way home...

My life is like a stream, ever flowing, always going this place or that, sometimes slow and chilled but usually rushing along at some speed, undercurrents of emotions and swirly rock pools of excitement and crazy things happening. The last few weeks have been a real rush of many things coming together at once and flowing quickly towards the end point of this chapter in my life. People, experiences, Ghanaian culture, my placement, friends, community activities, projects, rural life...when it dawned on me that I only had a couple of weeks in Zebilla, everything started to speed up and time began to slip through my fingers like sand.

It's kind of hard to think back to mid December in Zebilla, when NDC had won the election, the post-election parties had died down, and Ghanaian 'winter' was in full swing and it was time for me to start thinking about going home :-(. It's a real challenge trying to fit everything into the last few weeks of a placement, but boy did I try! I had lists coming out of my ears of all the things I wanted to squeeze in before I left, such as getting gorgeous dresses made by my talented seamstress, learning how to cook my favourite dishes, and cycling to the Burkina hills, lists of all the things I wanted to do, and achieve, before I left my placement (sooo many things, so little time!) and then of course there's all the practical things like booking a flight and starting to figure out how on earth I'm supposed to get all the colourful clothes I now own into my suitcase!

All the things that had been my daily life for months on end suddenly became 'last time I'll...'s and so going to the market, seeing friends, walking up to the baobab trees near my house, playing with the children, going to morning devotion at work, trying to ride my bike whilst staring at the stunning scenery, cooking red-red with Ghanaian friends, riding my moto to far out communities to be met by hundreds of squeal children at a rural school where they sit under mango trees to learn, dancing Azunto, singing in the mornings, chatting over a cup of tea with my volunteer friends, cuddling my new volunteer friends' baby, and ... all suddenly had an element of 'this is it...I'm going home'.

Writing my end of placement report was a chore, simply because I have done so much here and been involved in so many different initiatives and projects. It turned out to be about 27 pages long, oops! As a volunteer here I've found it difficult to really know what impact I've had sometimes, partly because it's been a challenge to self assess my progress so independently, and partly because my placement has been so busy that its been difficult to take the time out and reflect on what I've really achieved. But writing the report made me realise what a difference me being here has made, on so many levels. I can finally see now that I have had an impact on the organisation I have been working with, the people I have been working with, the communities I have engaged with, and the children and young people that benefit from our projects, and do you know what, I am really proud of what I have achieved. It has not always been easy, and although I have absolutely loved my placement for what it is, working from 8am until way past sunset most days, juggling many different things at once, dealing with the daily challenges and frustrations that plague development here, and being part of a super hardworking team with massive targets and a huge mandate to bring development to a whole deprived district has been a lot of hard work. It's exactly like my dad said though, it's just like my granddad when he was gardening, the fruits of our labour are seen long after the graft and effort has been put in, but the outcome is beautiful and utterly worth it.

Sitting here thinking back I can't actually write much more as the emotions are starting to kick in and it's getting hard to think that my time in this placement has come to an end. More than anything it's had a really profound impact on me, and as so many other volunteers have said, it's true that the biggest impact for me here has been on a personal level. I have changed so much, I have grown as a person, and been stretched beyond what I imagined I was capable of handling, I've done things I never imagined I might do (riding a motorbike in Africa!, changing children's lives by getting them back into school), and I've developed a sense of identity and involvement in a cause that I have never had before. I can honestly say I have had one of the best years of my life, and I think the experience will be with me for a long time to come.

With love from Ghana,

Em

Xx